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Marvel Graphic Novel #54
Roger Rabbit: The Resurrection of Doom
Roger and Jessica are thrown out of work when Maroon Cartoon Studios resorts to cheaper animation. Meanwhile, Judge Doom plots revenge as he makes a most unexpected and surprising return!
64 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 1989
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
December 27, 2025
Closes we will get to a sequel to the film, unfortunately. I liked the Doom backstory.
September 9, 2019
Está genial volver a ver los personajes de la película, pero no creo que el dibujo y la historia estén a la altura.
El cómic toma detalles de la novela original, como que Maroon tenía un hermano que, supuestamente, quería ver fracasar a Roger Rabbit, pero fuera de eso la historia no es gran cosa. No solo hace que perdamos miedo al "baño" al ver que es tan fácil resucitar a un toon, y que además tiene todos sus recuerdos, sino que también hace que perdamos miedo al Juez Doom, no solo al saber todo de su pasado, y ver como su nuevo plan no es ni la mitad de bueno que el de la película.
Además, el cómic no puede contar con tantos cameos como la película original, pero eso no es excusa para un dibujo tan malo, especialmente con los personajes humanos, que están irreconocibles. Sé que hay otros cómics de Roger Rabbit que presentan un dibujo más profesional, podrían haber contratado a alguno de esos dibujantes.
El cómic toma detalles de la novela original, como que Maroon tenía un hermano que, supuestamente, quería ver fracasar a Roger Rabbit, pero fuera de eso la historia no es gran cosa. No solo hace que perdamos miedo al "baño" al ver que es tan fácil resucitar a un toon, y que además tiene todos sus recuerdos, sino que también hace que perdamos miedo al Juez Doom, no solo al saber todo de su pasado, y ver como su nuevo plan no es ni la mitad de bueno que el de la película.
Además, el cómic no puede contar con tantos cameos como la película original, pero eso no es excusa para un dibujo tan malo, especialmente con los personajes humanos, que están irreconocibles. Sé que hay otros cómics de Roger Rabbit que presentan un dibujo más profesional, podrían haber contratado a alguno de esos dibujantes.
January 23, 2026
Released back when Roger Rabbit was still being kept alive, this is a competent sequel to the Marvel graphic novel. It does require certain leaps of the world's internal logic, but Doom's backstory is solid, and his final death panels are particularly well done.
October 28, 2025
For years, fans have yearned for Roger Rabbit sequel (or prequel), though the chances of that happening have become incredibly remote. Perhaps it's for the best. Sequels often don't live up to their predecessors. Just look at poor Megamind. Recapturing the magic of this film might be nigh impossible, especially now that so much time has gone by. In 1988, Who Framed Roger Rabbit was a groundbreaking marvel, but in the age of CGI, it's common place for audiences to see actors performing in fake environments alongside imaginary characters created in post. A number of people don't even know who the classic Looney Tunes and Disney characters are anymore.
Unfortunately, The Resurrection of Doom is probably the closest thing we'll get to a Roger Rabbit 2 (aside from Who P-P-P-Plugged Roger Rabbit, the novel by Gary Wolf, which I haven't read). This is disappointing, both because I would have preferred seeing these characters back on the big screen, but also because the plot leaves something to be desired.
As a kid, I was excited to get any kind of continuation of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, even if it was in comic form, so devoured this graphic novel with much gusto. In hindsight, as a sequel, it's a bit of a letdown, starting with the supposed origins of Judge Doom outlined in the first few pages. While it's fun to speculate who Doom might have been beneath his mask, if The Resurrection of Doom is anything to go by, maybe his identity is better left up to the imagination.
Evidently, the creators of this graphic novel forgot that Doom's true appearance was never revealed in the movie and that most of what we saw of him was just a rubber mask over his real face. Why else would the artists draw his toon form to look indistinguishable from Christopher Lloyd at the end of the film unless this important detail slipped their minds? This also ignores the fact that whoever or whatever Doom was, his main color should apparently be yellow, as indicated by the paint he left behind, both at the scene of Marvin Acme's murder and after he'd been dipped, not to mention the extensions of his toon body that we saw when he was attacking Eddie. Speaking of, the way he was apparently able to transform parts of his anatomy into different objects, like his hand into a buzzsaw, is another thing that's completely forgotten about here. If I needed to argue against the canonicity of this comic, I could rest my case here.
Other disappointments: a couple characters from the movie are relegated to non-speaking roles, like Benny the Cab who loses his garrulousness and functions solely as Roger's personal automobile. He still fares better than Dolores, who only appears in a single panel (though I guess that's better than in the aforementioned Gary Wolf book, where she and Eddie break up so he can get together with Jessica's diminutive sister).
Since they were apart for much of the film, it was nice to see Roger and Jessica interacting more, at least. Also, this might be the only Roger Rabbit comic that involves Eddie Valiant. In the subsequent comic series, he was replaced with a new character, Rick Flint, so Disney wouldn't have to pay Bob Hoskins for his likeness. Eddie isn't quite the same guy as he was before, though, his rough edges having been sanded off and the drinking habit he shook in the movie being replaced with a more kid-friendly jellybean addiction.
If Who Framed Roger was made today, it would probably merit a PG-13 rather than the PG it got. Besides being wowed by the combination of animation and live action, child me was a little shocked by some of the mature elements in the film. That movie was written for a sophisticated adult audience but could also be enjoyed by kids, even if certain stuff went over their heads. The Resurrection of Doom, on the other hand, is mostly aimed at younger readers (apart from one slightly suggestive page in which Roger slips into bed with Jessica and turns out the lights so they can play patty cake), and I can't deny that I found it satisfying as a kid, both for the toony artwork and just for a chance to spend time with some of these characters again.
I recall being amused by Roger's failed attempts to emulate a more limited animation style, though it struck me as anachronistic, since as far as I knew, the golden age of animation was still flourishing in the forties and we weren't yet at the more budget conscious style of Hanna Barbera or late-stage Looney Tunes. However, a quick search reveals that Crusader Rabbit, who is alluded to in this comic, was first test marketed in '48, a year after Roger Rabbit is set, so I'll give the writer props for that. Still, presupposing that toons are real rather than drawings on cels, it doesn't make much sense that Maroon Cartoons would save money by having their actors perform in a more flat, stilted fashion. Even as a kid, I had a tough time following the logic of that.
Maybe I’m being overly harsh by looking at this through the eyes of a grown-up and placing my standards too high. Of course, I always knew that this graphic novel is not as good as the movie, but I guess it was good enough for me back when I was starved for more Roger Rabbit content.
Side note: It’s interesting how the fake movie version of Frankenstein that Roger and Jessica are watching at the beginning of the comic (a foreshadowing of Doom’s resurrection) is actually way more faithful to the source material than the classic Universal film. When I read this comic, I was a year or two away from reading the Mary Shelley novel and even more from seeing the movie, so this was something I wasn’t cognizant of at the time.
Unfortunately, The Resurrection of Doom is probably the closest thing we'll get to a Roger Rabbit 2 (aside from Who P-P-P-Plugged Roger Rabbit, the novel by Gary Wolf, which I haven't read). This is disappointing, both because I would have preferred seeing these characters back on the big screen, but also because the plot leaves something to be desired.
As a kid, I was excited to get any kind of continuation of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, even if it was in comic form, so devoured this graphic novel with much gusto. In hindsight, as a sequel, it's a bit of a letdown, starting with the supposed origins of Judge Doom outlined in the first few pages. While it's fun to speculate who Doom might have been beneath his mask, if The Resurrection of Doom is anything to go by, maybe his identity is better left up to the imagination.
Evidently, the creators of this graphic novel forgot that Doom's true appearance was never revealed in the movie and that most of what we saw of him was just a rubber mask over his real face. Why else would the artists draw his toon form to look indistinguishable from Christopher Lloyd at the end of the film unless this important detail slipped their minds? This also ignores the fact that whoever or whatever Doom was, his main color should apparently be yellow, as indicated by the paint he left behind, both at the scene of Marvin Acme's murder and after he'd been dipped, not to mention the extensions of his toon body that we saw when he was attacking Eddie. Speaking of, the way he was apparently able to transform parts of his anatomy into different objects, like his hand into a buzzsaw, is another thing that's completely forgotten about here. If I needed to argue against the canonicity of this comic, I could rest my case here.
Other disappointments: a couple characters from the movie are relegated to non-speaking roles, like Benny the Cab who loses his garrulousness and functions solely as Roger's personal automobile. He still fares better than Dolores, who only appears in a single panel (though I guess that's better than in the aforementioned Gary Wolf book, where she and Eddie break up so he can get together with Jessica's diminutive sister).
Since they were apart for much of the film, it was nice to see Roger and Jessica interacting more, at least. Also, this might be the only Roger Rabbit comic that involves Eddie Valiant. In the subsequent comic series, he was replaced with a new character, Rick Flint, so Disney wouldn't have to pay Bob Hoskins for his likeness. Eddie isn't quite the same guy as he was before, though, his rough edges having been sanded off and the drinking habit he shook in the movie being replaced with a more kid-friendly jellybean addiction.
If Who Framed Roger was made today, it would probably merit a PG-13 rather than the PG it got. Besides being wowed by the combination of animation and live action, child me was a little shocked by some of the mature elements in the film. That movie was written for a sophisticated adult audience but could also be enjoyed by kids, even if certain stuff went over their heads. The Resurrection of Doom, on the other hand, is mostly aimed at younger readers (apart from one slightly suggestive page in which Roger slips into bed with Jessica and turns out the lights so they can play patty cake), and I can't deny that I found it satisfying as a kid, both for the toony artwork and just for a chance to spend time with some of these characters again.
I recall being amused by Roger's failed attempts to emulate a more limited animation style, though it struck me as anachronistic, since as far as I knew, the golden age of animation was still flourishing in the forties and we weren't yet at the more budget conscious style of Hanna Barbera or late-stage Looney Tunes. However, a quick search reveals that Crusader Rabbit, who is alluded to in this comic, was first test marketed in '48, a year after Roger Rabbit is set, so I'll give the writer props for that. Still, presupposing that toons are real rather than drawings on cels, it doesn't make much sense that Maroon Cartoons would save money by having their actors perform in a more flat, stilted fashion. Even as a kid, I had a tough time following the logic of that.
Maybe I’m being overly harsh by looking at this through the eyes of a grown-up and placing my standards too high. Of course, I always knew that this graphic novel is not as good as the movie, but I guess it was good enough for me back when I was starved for more Roger Rabbit content.
Side note: It’s interesting how the fake movie version of Frankenstein that Roger and Jessica are watching at the beginning of the comic (a foreshadowing of Doom’s resurrection) is actually way more faithful to the source material than the classic Universal film. When I read this comic, I was a year or two away from reading the Mary Shelley novel and even more from seeing the movie, so this was something I wasn’t cognizant of at the time.
January 3, 2019
Eh. It's okay. Gives a very good origin of Judge Doom, though.
February 10, 2022
Kind of a novelty. Cute, though Looney Tunes-style scenes never worked too well for me in comics.
January 30, 2009
Such a fun graphic novel!
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews