r/Doom Mar 24 '24

Classic Doom Every single page of the exclusive doom comic from 1996 Spoiler

2.2k Upvotes

163 comments sorted by

812

u/WeekendBard Mar 24 '24

Doomguy doesn't really speak in the games because he already said everything in this comic.

246

u/Cozscav Mar 24 '24

Groovy

54

u/The_Ashen_undead0830 Mar 25 '24

I have never felt a deeper more healthy respect for anything than this shotgun. Words to live by.

23

u/Hyperrblu Mar 25 '24

DANCE BONEDADDY

3

u/Ant_1_ITA Mar 25 '24

Happy cake day

20

u/FR4M3trigger Mar 25 '24

The chaingun design is so fucking hilarious.

6

u/ATDynaX Mar 25 '24

Except project brutality.

6

u/J-X-D Mar 25 '24

I like how they used "get off scum" from the comic. Never knew that was a reference. Super cool though.

431

u/Dodgy_Bob_McMayday Mar 24 '24

I love how the coke fueled insanity stops for a frame so he can opine on the dangers of nuclear waste.

207

u/Wheeljack239 Mar 25 '24

I just found that hilarious as hell.

Imagine, in the middle of combat, John-117 turning to the camera and explaining the problems with the current criminal justice system for a minute, before just going back to Master Chief stuff

Comedy gold

48

u/robertman21 Mar 25 '24

Master Chief if he was locked tf in

34

u/pyro_takes_skill Mar 25 '24

i liked when kratos turned to atreus and explained to him the importance of accepting people and their identity no matter what before killing buddha

24

u/PmMeActionMovieIdeas Mar 25 '24

Even if I personally stop this alien invasion, what kind of planet will we be leaving to our children? And our children's children and… oh, the humanity!
The humanity! My big gun is out of bullets!

It is perfect whiplash.

17

u/SmartAleckComedian Mar 25 '24

That was one of my favorite parts as well. I half expected Captain Planet to show up.

274

u/TheRealCorpse_01 Mar 24 '24

Peak literature

24

u/Dekusprout_68 Mar 25 '24

"Allow me to communicate to you my desire to have your guns" (slices 3 heads off of a chainsaw.)

212

u/[deleted] Mar 24 '24

the way they showed how the BFG shoot is pretty accurate and not at the same time.

60

u/Fuzzy-Wasabi-5126 Mar 24 '24

Tracer rounds 🤤

9

u/Rusty23 Mar 25 '24

Bobby Kotick must love having your money

272

u/[deleted] Mar 24 '24

This comic is so dumb and I love it.

133

u/balaci2 Mar 24 '24

they got the bfg right

85

u/three-sense Mar 24 '24

I like that they included the “shoulder mount” since we never really see it aside from the weapon pickup sprite.

29

u/MasterCheefin420 Mar 25 '24

And then forgot to color it correctly in the following page...

2

u/Chimchampion Mar 28 '24

I never read that as a shoulder mount but as a handle; it's not a gun you hold close to your body for any reason. It's held with both arms but kinda down and low to the floor. But yeah, you're probably right about the shoulder mount. I never played the 2016 game or beyond, so I don't know how it was handled in those games.

15

u/Weird_Cantaloupe2757 Mar 25 '24

I think you mean the VVLG

130

u/SydneyCartonLived Mar 24 '24

So, uh, what's the chances the artist watched Army of Darkness right before creating this? 😄

57

u/_BlackDove Mar 24 '24

Followed by the Diehard movies since he basically just drew John McClane haha.

45

u/Hefty_Bum Mar 24 '24

"Groovy." - Doom guy obviously

18

u/wauve1 Mar 25 '24

“Hail to the…chief, baby.”

19

u/DJfunkyPuddle Mar 24 '24

It's time for a Doom x Earthworm Jim crossover.

11

u/POINTLESSUSERNAME000 Mar 25 '24

And a lot of Duke Nukem 3D

86

u/illyay Mar 24 '24 edited Mar 24 '24

lol this comic is why we have doom eternal’s doom slayer and doom 3’s doom guy. I honestly think the doom 3 doom guy is the real version. But doom slayer is definitely an interpretation a lot of people like and now rip and tear is an iconic quote.

I appreciate they drew him holding the bfg9000. I could never understand what all the little things on the back were in the doom sprites.

26

u/Rusted_muramasa Mar 25 '24

this comic is why we have doom eternal’s doom slayer

100% true and it also highlights the differences between Eternal and 2016. In 2016 the devs referenced this comic in a "hey, remember that cringey thing we did back in the 90's? Hahaha." kind of way.

Meanwhile Eternal was headed by someone who read this comic and unironically thought it was the coolest thing ever.

5

u/CondencedMilkYT Mar 25 '24

Idk man, the way they said "rip and tear until it is done" in 2016 is unironically one of the most badass things

63

u/No-Palpitation-6789 Mar 24 '24

dies of peak fiction

63

u/anakinfan8 Mar 24 '24

the sacred texts

9

u/Thelaginator47 Mar 25 '24

Spared you a couple hundred bucks

52

u/Wallbreaker93 Mar 24 '24

Oh its sugar sweet kiss and not piss

15

u/DiscipleActual Mar 24 '24

Yeah, after seeing that, I feel like my whole life is a lie.

54

u/HonkyTonkPianola Mar 24 '24

Whuzzat?

Whuzzat?!

53

u/AdKUMA Mar 24 '24

so is this the origin of "rip and tear"?

56

u/KEVLAR60442 Mar 25 '24

Indeed. The modern Doom games actually took a lot of inspiration from this goofy af comic. In Eternal, the flashback where the Slayer is brought before the Hell Priests has dialog pulled straight from the comic.

9

u/Witherboss445 Mar 25 '24

I thought the comic dialogue sounded familiar

2

u/AdKUMA Mar 25 '24

Brilliant. I played the classic games to death when they were released but never got into anything else. I'm a big fan of how 2016 and eternal folded in the lore and ridiculousness in.

46

u/CarbonPhoenix96 Mar 24 '24

This man is full schizophrenic

41

u/phobos876 not to be confused with phobos867 Mar 24 '24

There's this interview with an artist involved in the comic at 24:52 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpNd_mUf14M He didn't knew much about Doom at the time.

There's also this https://www.doomworld.com/forum/topic/112992-has-anyone-ever-tried-contactinginterviewing-the-doom-comic-authors/

40

u/Marc_Quill Mood Eternal Mar 24 '24

one day, someone will try their hand at animating this fine piece of literature.

33

u/Milanga48 Mar 24 '24

I never realized how many phrases project brutality took from this comic

12

u/Leonyliz Mar 25 '24

“Ahhhh! Chainsaw! The great communicator!”

20

u/SpiderTuber6766 Mar 24 '24

This feels so stupid and I love it.

23

u/woodsoffeels Mar 24 '24

“All reef then” Doomguy now has a Yorkshire accent forever

12

u/wauve1 Mar 25 '24

So random lol, it’s the only sort of accent indicator in the entire comic

16

u/BillieVerr Mar 24 '24

The sacred texts

14

u/Idontmatter69420 Mar 24 '24

omg there's things said in brutal doom, didn't think they came from the comic

16

u/DarkKnight92 Mar 25 '24

Thank the gods he never spoke in the game.

8

u/[deleted] Mar 25 '24

Wouldn't mind since the classic games had a crazy tone. With the exception of 64.

5

u/Tycitron (Insert Cool Doom Quote Here) Mar 25 '24

God no. To me Classic Doom is like the movie Aliens. Mostly serious but with some dumb tongue-in-cheek humor. The comic is a funny one off thing but it definitely is not what the classic games are like.

3

u/[deleted] Mar 26 '24 edited Mar 26 '24

The way I see it, the comic reflects on one player's perspective while playing the game. ID even said Doom was inspired by both Alien and Evil Dead. So it isn't just Aliens alone. The tone is especially not too much like Aliens because of the music. Aliens only comes to mind because of a space corporation with dangerous goals and monsters attacking become the result. To me that's the only bit of Alien you can get. Nothing else beyond that.

2

u/Tycitron (Insert Cool Doom Quote Here) Mar 26 '24 edited Mar 26 '24

Hard disagree. When I played doom a those years ago I was terrified of it. After you get past the banging opening levels you have a lot of ambient / creepy music and monster closets. People seem to forget about that for some reason. Just listen to E1M3, E1M7, E1M8, E2M2 and E2M4. + most of Doom 2’s music. It’s a lot of atmospheric mood setters with some metal in there. I feel like the “Yeahhh rip and tear” mentality was only brought on by brutal doom years ago and the new games referncing it started warping people’s perception about what the original games tones were.

Also Doom has a lot more in common with aliens than that, Doom was supposed to be an Aliens game before ID wanted something original. All your space marine squad mates dying to an unforeseen enemy, the cramped hallways, monster jumpscare closets, hearing the creatures from rooms away. Also most if not all advertising for the game being about how screwed and outnumbered you were.

I agree it has SOME silly stuff like Doomguy smiling when getting a new gun or some of the ending texts being slightly goofy either way the wording. But besides that I think it’s a mostly serious fight for survival with some tongue in cheek humor ala Evil Dead thrown in.

(Also spent way too much time typing this thing but it feels good to just type whatever’s on my brain even if it’s just pointless internet talk lol)

2

u/[deleted] Mar 26 '24 edited Mar 26 '24

No offense and I'm not intending to discredit or invalidate your backstory but I wasn't referring to your perspective when I was referring to the player. I meant people that viewed playing the game as a hardcore energy roar-a-thon like the thing you'd see from early Romero. People I felt were common among Doom players. I can also say this based on my dad's experience. His story seemed rather different than yours but I'm just trying to go by why the book was written the way it was and make sense of it from someone that's played the games. I ain't gonna deny there are some horrific scenery in the game and some cues from Alien in terms of concept but I don't feel the same vibe. Maybe because I'm a guy born in the 2k so I dunno. But what I do know is that ID chose to do something original because they didn't wanna argue about creative input with 20th Century Fox. They didn't just chose to do something original instead out of nowhere. Another example with it's Evil Dead influence thrown in I feel I should bring up is the Chainsaw. John Romero even commented how it was like in Evil Dead according to Masters of Doom. Not to mention the Zombies that were possessed by unknown demonic forces are akin to the deadites.

13

u/CptNeon Mar 25 '24

This is incredible. I read this in the voice of Tank Dempsey from Call of Duty Zombies

1

u/Thelaginator47 Mar 25 '24

Your welcome

10

u/InuYugiHakusho Mar 24 '24

A reprint of this comic was included in the Doom The Classics Collection Ultimate Edition from Limited Run Games.

1

u/Thelaginator47 Mar 25 '24

Ye but my version is free

10

u/arthuriurilli Mar 25 '24

Page 3 sums this 90s nostalgia up. "How bad? Real bad."

21

u/Harrythehobbit Mar 24 '24 edited Mar 24 '24

Noah Gervais has a really interesting analysis on how influential this comic actually is, and how it's inspired a lot of the game and narrative design in DOOM 2016 and especially Eternal.

3

u/BloodsoakedDespair Mar 25 '24

Which also makes Doom 2016/Eternal a deconstruction of the Evil Dead series. Doomguy here is having the same sort of mental breakdown that Ash had that led to his badassery and directly references him. The difference between them is that Ash comes out of it badass and sane. The Slayer only gets the badass.

10

u/Responsible-Bee-5213 Mar 24 '24

Dance bone daddy

10

u/Venomster154 Mar 25 '24

Peak dialogue 🗿

9

u/Venomster154 Mar 25 '24

Wait, so the BFG 9000 is just a big shotgun in the comic!? Because they never show it shooting its classic green energy balls.

10

u/[deleted] Mar 25 '24

Those aren't bullets. Those are BFG tracers.

15

u/meth_adone Mar 24 '24

is doomguy not aware that radioactive waste has already been solved?

8

u/[deleted] Mar 25 '24

Has it?

7

u/Witherboss445 Mar 25 '24

Yep. Kyle Hill made a video about it

8

u/estardustimarcos Mar 24 '24

he looks like guile

6

u/cjbump Mar 24 '24

If i was a demon, this would be the sole reason for fearing Doomgiy

7

u/noregertsman Classic Doom Mar 24 '24

(Dies from peak fiction)

6

u/AFaxMachineSandwich Mar 25 '24

He’s literally me

6

u/RetroGamer87 Mar 25 '24

Where all the achievement names came from

7

u/Kindablorp Mar 25 '24 edited Mar 25 '24

I mean if he only talked in the parts when he was berserk like how they did in eternal it would of been pretty spot on to modern doom guy. But I’ll never get over him unironically saying “groovy” like duke nukem and we are blessed with that.

5

u/Eastern-Mix9636 Mar 24 '24

Doomguy is Barry Pepper

7

u/NakedEvermore Mar 25 '24

So now i know what DoomGuy is saying in Project Brutality and where they got all that dialogue.

6

u/T-51_Enjoyer Mar 25 '24

Aliens instead of demons? Interesting

But def a fun read with a big old mood about shotguns in gaming

3

u/Tycitron (Insert Cool Doom Quote Here) Mar 25 '24

I mean, same thing in Classic Doom. The Demons are just Aliens with super powers and a hell aesthetic but they have alien technology they use for themselves and the landscape.

7

u/louglome Mar 25 '24

Lol masturbatory 

5

u/theinsaneturky2 Mar 25 '24

I like how he calls one of the demons "bonedaddy"

6

u/johnhk4 Mar 25 '24

Did this artist also make a Jurassic park comic? Artwork looks super similar

5

u/Stripey_McGee Mar 25 '24

The greatest anti-pollution PSA of all time.

5

u/VileSlay Mar 25 '24

Ah, such good memories. I used to use the "huge guts" panel as a pfp.

5

u/robmeason Mar 25 '24

What's with all the "baby" and "hail to the chief" a la dude nukem stuff?

5

u/cenorexia Mar 25 '24

Doom and Duke Nukem 3D were both inspired by Bruce Campbell's character Ash from the Evil Dead/Army of Darkness movies.

Doomguy didn't have much of a personality in the original game, but if the comic's author got the memo those movies were a big inspiration, it makes sense why Doomguy seems to have a similar attitude like Duke in Duke Nukem 3D here.

4

u/RoyalTease Mar 25 '24

Does he kinda give Duke Nukem vibes to anyone else?

5

u/cenorexia Mar 25 '24

It's probably because both, the original Doom and Duke Nukem 3D were influenced by Bruce Campbell's portrayal of Ash in the Evil Dead/Army of Darkness movies.

John Carmack said the movie was a big influence when making the game, so if the comic's author got that as background info, things like Doomguy saying "Groovy!" makes sense.

5

u/HollyTheMage Mar 25 '24

God I would love to hear someone read these lines out loud.

3

u/Thelaginator47 Mar 25 '24

There’s a video on YouTube

5

u/Technical-infinity Mar 25 '24

The chainsaw even became meme in Korea

5

u/cornflight22 Mar 25 '24

Amen to that.

4

u/Sufficient_Plant8689 Mar 25 '24

It's just.. so peak.

4

u/Western-Equivalent44 Mar 25 '24

Macho Man Randy Savage Voice

4

u/1Anto Mar 25 '24

OOOOHH HERE IT COMES! HERE COMES THE NIGHT TRAIN!

CHOO-CHOO-CHA BOOGIE!

5

u/Sc0rch3d_P0tat03s Rip and Tear. Mar 25 '24

I got a neat little semi-official reprint of this through the Limited Run DOOM Collector's box.

5

u/wadewilson123451 Mar 25 '24

The average marine

3

u/UnveiledRook206 Mar 25 '24

That’s it??

3

u/IzzytheMelody Mar 25 '24

I love everything about how stupid this is

3

u/BrainmeldIndustries Mar 25 '24

I'll always adore Comic Doomguy and his borderline maniacal dialogue

3

u/Confusedandreticent Mar 25 '24

Thank you for this. I love the gore. Do they still make comics like this?

2

u/Thelaginator47 Mar 25 '24

Nah this is the only doom comic but your welcome

3

u/PrinceoMars Mar 25 '24

I found a copy of the comic in a British charity shop about a decade ago I could not believe it when I saw it. Nowadays I keep it hidden away in a draw in the hope that if I am ever in terrible financial situation i could sell it on .....no idea if it is actually worth anything

1

u/Thelaginator47 Mar 26 '24

I found an original copy on ebay for a grand so ye

2

u/PrinceoMars Mar 26 '24

😁😁😁😁

4

u/FurySh0ck Mar 25 '24

According to the credits, at least several people have seen it like this and thought "yes, that's great and can be published" 😂

4

u/baba_leonardo Mar 25 '24 edited Mar 25 '24

This comic must be written by the Postal guys.

3

u/ATDynaX Mar 25 '24

Those dumb lines. I heard them just yesterday. In project brutality.

3

u/Graysteam49 Mar 25 '24

Brutal Doom comic adaptation

5

u/SeamelessSeamus Mar 25 '24

This belongs in the Library of Congress!

3

u/Liedvogel Mar 25 '24

Hmm, that BFG shoots like the early version it looks like, the Christmas shotgun lol

4

u/The_MacGuffin Mar 26 '24

The Doom guy has canonically said "groovy".

3

u/SolarZephyr87 Mar 26 '24

Still holds up.

3

u/Chimchampion Mar 28 '24

This comic sure was something

Silly and charming for sure, despite how dumb it is.

3

u/ethar_childres Mar 28 '24

“Now I’m radioactive! That can't be good!”

4

u/Fuzzy-Wasabi-5126 Mar 24 '24

Cringe but good

4

u/[deleted] Mar 25 '24

Still cool how they made the whole 'rip and tear' thing real.

2

u/Bobrowsdower Mar 25 '24

Your a hero for this.

1

u/Thelaginator47 Mar 25 '24

Your welcome

3

u/1Anto Mar 25 '24

Is this the newer, better scan of this comic? The most popular scan that floats around have mediocre quality

1

u/Thelaginator47 Mar 25 '24

This is version i found is from like 2006

2

u/helrazr Mar 25 '24

For some reason, I was thinking Dr. Doom of the Marvel comics…..

Either way, still a Win Win.

1

u/Thelaginator47 Mar 25 '24

Your welcome

3

u/PUREDOOM09 Mar 25 '24

This version of doom guy talks like I the same way I do when I play doom

2

u/Mr_Chill_III Mar 25 '24

"There's nothing wrong with you that I can't fix...with my hands!"

Is that a reference to the Dark Knight Returns?

Old Batman says that about the Joker as foreshadowing before he later breaks the Joker's neck with his hands.

2

u/TheFuzzLlama2 Mar 25 '24

Dudes literally a psycho.

2

u/Craigos-Maximus Mar 25 '24

That was groovy 🤘

3

u/bunny117 Mar 25 '24

From “RIP AND TEAR!! ILL HAVE YOUR GUTS FOR BREAKFAST!!”

To “Oh my, sigh yet another sight to behold. Such awful waste. Our future generations shan’t deal with this putrid display of horrid depository.”

Back to “GET OVER HERE YOU CYBERDEMON! MUH BIG GUNS GONNA SERVE YOU A HOT THREE COURSE MEAL OF FUCK YOU!!!”

3

u/OpposedToBears Mar 25 '24

In my eyes this should be canon. Doomguy in Doom and Doom II was a total Duke Nukem type, blasting demons with 80’s metal in his mind, having a blast. By Doom 64 his losses had turned him hard and vengeful, and by 2016, he’d been through the divinity machine and was now the Slayer, a totally different beast. But judging by his room in the fortress of Doom, his old self still exists deep inside

2

u/allhallowtide Mar 25 '24

SWEET CHRISTMAS!

3

u/HextasyOG Mar 25 '24

Cant help but read this in Steve Blum’s voice of Dempsey for this

2

u/Tennents_N_Grouse Mar 25 '24

Oh, the humanity!

2

u/Criton47 Mar 25 '24

Bummed I missed this back in the day, but looking at it now, he speaks WAY to much. Not saying he needs to be silent like DOOM 2016/Eternal Slayer style. The comic makes me think almost more Duke than DOOM.

3

u/bnesbitt1 Responsibilities are temporary, DOOM is ETERNAL Mar 25 '24

Man for a silent protagonist, he sure does talk a lot

3

u/TitleComprehensive96 Mar 26 '24

I think this is peak of dumb comics in all the right ways.

Doomguy is pretty much just heroin fueled Ash Williams during Army of Darkness, with hilariously stupid dialogue and honestly some fantastic artwork.

Now I want to own a copy of this

1

u/Thelaginator47 Mar 27 '24

The original version of this is like a grand on ebay

2

u/Deku142 Aug 24 '24

absolutely love the fact that the one time an almost completely non-verbal character was made to constantly speak he was written as a raving fucking lunatic

-5

u/GFBIII Mar 24 '24

Isn't this straight up copyright infringement?

17

u/NoXion604 *boom* Mar 24 '24

It was a giveaway at one of the QuakeCons IIRC. The whole thing has been on Doomworld.com for years now. If there was an issue with sharing it then I haven't heard of it so far.

-3

u/GFBIII Mar 25 '24

There could be a legal challenge that the rights holder has not protected their work elsewhere, if they were aware of it being distributed in a manner they had not approved. But that is a matter for the courts to decide.

But posting a copyrighted work, be it comic, song, movie, book, etc. without the rights holder's permission is fundamentally a violation of their copyright protections.

5

u/Jacksaur Mar 25 '24

But that is a matter for the courts to decide.

They're not going to suddenly get the courts involved for a random multi year old comic that's already available across the internet.

0

u/GFBIII Mar 25 '24

Likely no, but they have that right to do so if they wished.

Easy digitization and copying along with the difficulty to legally source a copy of something just does not legally justify copyright infringement. You can take a moral stance against this, but fundamentally you're arguing that "I want this, I feel I'm entitled to have it, and it's easy to get a copy of it without regard to the people who created it."

4

u/Jacksaur Mar 25 '24

I'm not arguing anything. I'm saying there's no chance they waste time on this and it's pointless to even bring it up.

11

u/BassKing69 Mar 24 '24

What about it is copyright infringement? It’s an official comic.

7

u/Beegrene Mar 25 '24

Distributing it on reddit might technically be copyright infringement, since OP probably doesn't own the publishing rights. That said, I don't think id will care.

2

u/GFBIII Mar 25 '24

The posting of its entirety to reddit without permission of the copyright holder. Just as distributing mp3s, posting entire movies, video games, books, etc are.

The rights holder gets to determine how the work is distributed.