Doomsday +1 #1
Published and © by Charlton, July 1975
Title: “Doomsday: Minus Two”
Synopsis: Three astronauts survive a nuclear war, make friends with a cave man and struggle to survive in a post-apocalyptic world.
Writer: Joe Gill
Penciler: John Byrne
Inker: Byrne
Review: A confession: As a kid, this reviewer loved Doomsday +1, and that nostalgia surely plays a roll in this issue’s high grade. There’s still plenty to recommend this issue: The post-apocalyptic premise has promise and the early John Byrne art clearly has potential. But the flaws are more obvious to the adult reader: Why is the sexy, female scientist blasting into space wearing a swimsuit and thigh-high boots? Is there something hormonally wrong with these horny astronauts? And why isn’t Kuno the cave man freezer burnt? But, even with such flaws, Doomsday +1 remains good fun.
Grade: B+
Second opinion: “The series as a whole was fair reading.” – David W. Cutler, FantaCo’s Chronicle’s Series Annual #1, 1983
Cool factor: Early John Byrne is always cool.
Not-so-cool factor: Wow, is that the cover to Kamandi #1? (Or, as Jack Kirby Museum’s Kirby Dynamics blog points out, to Fantastic Universe? Or an image from “Planet of the Apes”. Time to give that image a rest!)
Notable: Also includes a one-page essay, “What If … ?”, detailing the potential impact of nuclear war. … This issue is reprinted, with a recolored cover, as Doomsday +1 #7. … This series was reprinted by ACG in 1998-99.
Character quotable: “Hey, girls! Someone just launched an intercontinental ballistic missile!” – Captain Boyd Ellis, observant leader type
Editor’s note: This review was originally published by Comics Bronze Age on Oct. 13, 2010.
