Random Happenstance

I don't usually post the covers, but this one, well, two things: Doom's mouth looks weird, but I know we've seen Doom with a drink or goblet in hand before (his Select figure came with one!) and how does he drink in that mask? His eye is right there, but where is his mouth? It looks like it has a hinge in it. And the other thing...Doom has blue eyes. (I did have to look that up, but looking something else up, there could be a reason!) From 1990, Alpha Flight #91, "A Thirst for Power" Written by Fabian Nicieza, pencils by Michael Bair, inks by Mike Manley. Cover by Jackson Guice.

Working on a tip that someone was smuggling high-tech weapons, Alpha Flight confronts a group that turns out to be the "Latverian Liberation Front," in some brutally dorky armor. The defeated Latverians blow themselves up, which the recently returned Vindicator finds suspicious as he reports to his wife, Guardian. If they're still married: Heather notes he had been back for two weeks now, but was cold, possibly mechanical now. She has other problems, though, as the tipster was none other than Victor Von Doom, in the midst of trade talks with Canada, and now demanding Alpha Flight serve as his protection while there!

There are a few subplot pages, as Heather visits Shaman and the currently injured Flight members Talisman and Laura Dean; and Sasquatch and a team visit the construction site for their new base, even though he's not keen about sharing a city with the Maple Leafs. Vindicator and Aurora have drawn guard duty, as Doom wants a treaty with Canada to provide Latveria with fresh water after a bacterial infection; but Vindicator doubts that's the real Doom. (Doom also seems to have brought his own chair for the meetings, but I guess he'd have to? That armor would be too heavy for most seats.) The next day, more of Alpha is present, just in time for more of the LLF to attack. Doom's force field protects him from an assassin's blast, which leads Puck to ask why he needed them? Northstar points out, "for the petty sake of looking sympathetic." The Latverian rebels self-destruct again, only Vindicator knows it wasn't "self" destruct--it was triggered by Doom! With his control of electromagnetic frequencies, Vindicator could see Doom's signal and reach through his force field: he realized this 'Doom,' who may or may not have been the real one, was angling for international sympathy. Invoking diplomatic immunity, Doom teleports away, with a variant on his time platform.

Meanwhile, another Doom provides the means to clean Latveria's tainted water, to the ambassador from Symkaria; all part of a ploy against Kristoff. Was that Kristoff in Canada then? Probably, Kristoff had brown eyes, Doom blue. That long-running Doom vs. Kristoff battle was four months away from resolving, though. And in Canada, a general makes a push for Vindicator to be leading Alpha Flight again, not Guardian...