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RIP AND TEAR!

"I do need a gun. I need a big gun. I need a really big gun..."
Doomguy

Doom is a 1996 single-issue comic book based on the Doom videogame franchise, first released in 1996 as a convention giveaway and reprinted later that year as a bonus collectible for The id Anthology, a bundle pack of id Software's games.

The hero, a berserker packin' man-and-a-half with a 12.0 on a 10.0 scale of badness, is attempting to RIP AND TEAR a huge cyberdemon's huge guts with his Night Train, when his berserker pack runs out, leaving the demon bonking unharmed.

His Unstoppable Rage over, he spends the rest of the comic communicating his desire to have guns (via a chainsaw) looking for a gun big enough to blow the demon away. But even if he personally stops this alien invasion, what kind of planet will we be leaving to our children? And our children's children? How will they live with all the undisposed toxic waste that we left to them to deal with and... oh, the humanity, his big gun is out of bullets!

Farcical almost to the point of being nonsensical, it quickly became a Cult Classic thanks to its sheer over-the-top absurdity, and its memetic dialogue has been referenced heavily in modern Doom games.

You can read it for yourself here or with appropriate voiceover here or here. Linkara reviewed it in his best attempt at the Ultimate Warrior voice here.

Not not be confused with the villain Doctor Doom.


This comic provides examples of:

  • Adaptation Distillation: There are demons and an escalating armory of guns. The comic boils this down to near perfection.
  • Adaptation Expansion: Averted. The comic is more-or-less a direct adaptation of Doom's gameplay.
  • Adaptation Personality Change: In the game, Doomguy is a Heroic Mime; the comic book version is a Talkative Loon.
  • Ascended Meme: The comic's berserker-packin' zaniness has lent itself to many of these:
    • In the Xbox Live Arcade release of Doom II, most of the Achievements are named after several lines from this very comic, such as "Important Looking Door" being obtained by finding a secret, and "You Have Huge Guts" for killing a Cyberdemon with your fists.
    • Brutal Doom, a Doom mod that takes some inspiration from this comic book, gives player the ability to RIP AND TEAR enemies with your bare hands upon grabbing a Berserk pack or Demon Strength Rune. Obtaining the latter even displays the "Rip and Tear" message onscreen!
    • Doom (2016) has nods to both the comic and Brutal Doom, as it features the ability to perform over-the-top fatalities similar to the ones found in both media, albeit in a much more grotesque manner. It also uses the infamous "rip and tear" line in a far more sinister manner.
    • Doom Eternal, the 2020 sequel to the 2016 game, doubles down and implies that Doomguy lived the events of the comic before he was found by the Sentinels - the first thing out of his mouth is a partial quote from the comic.
  • Ax-Crazy: Doom Guy when he's under the influence of a Berserk Pack, where he's dismembering demons with his hands and yelling incoherently even at nothing in particular. And when he's not, to a marginally lesser extent.
    Doom Guy: I'M COOKIN' WITH GAS! I've gotta handful of vertebrae and a headful of mad! Yeah, that's your spinal cord, baby! Dig it! Who's the man? I'm the man! I'm a bad man! How bad? REAL BAD! I'M A 12.0 ON THE 10.0 SCALE OF BADNESS! Don't need a gun... GUNS ARE FOR WUSSES!
  • The Berserker: Doom Guy starts the comic under the effects of a Berserk Pack. When it wears off, he becomes a little more coherent.
  • BFG: The Trope Namer is the final gun Doom Guy finds, and it's the Big Gun he needed to defeat the Cyberdemon.
    "Mine eyes can but weep as they bear witness to the majesty... The BFG 9000!"
  • Big Bad: The closest thing the comic has to an overarching antagonist is the Cyberdemon. It doesn't do much.
  • Boisterous Bruiser: It's hard to tell if the Marine is just batshit insane or if he's enjoying himself a little too much, but he can kick ass like no one's business.
  • Broke the Rating Scale: The Doom Guy is a self-described "12.0 on the 10.0 scale of badness."
  • Buffy Speak: "Sweet Christmas! Big-mouthed floating thingies! It's always something!"
  • Captain Obvious:
    • "You are huge! THAT MEANS YOU HAVE HUGE GUTS!!" How almost Rabelaisian...
    • "Now I'm radioactive! That can't be good!"
    • "Now I'm in a completely different place!"
  • Chainsaw Good: The first weapon Doom Guy finds. It's only used to kill some zombies so he can take their (insufficiently big) guns.
    "Aaaah! Chainsaw! The great communicator!"
  • Chewing the Scenery: You may not think this would be possible in a text based format. The Doomguy finds a way.
  • Cloud Cuckoolander: The Doom Guy at his most lucid, spewing threats and pseudo-philosophical ramblings about radioactive waste and its effects on the environment. Give him a berserker pack and he abandons all pretense of sanity and...
    Doomguy: RIP AND TEAR YOUR GUTS! YOU ARE HUUUUUGE! THAT MEANS YOU HAVE HUGE GUTS!
  • Clueless Aesop: Done on purpose (as far as we can tell, at least), where after being knocked into a random pit of radioactive waste, the Doomguy starts on a spiel about safe disposal of radioactive waste, but interrupts himself halfway through as he notices a much worse problem: his big gun ran out of bullets.
  • Companion Cube: "At this particular moment in time, I don't think I have a healthier or more deeply-felt respect for any other object in the universe than this here Shotgun." Immediately subverted when he finds a better gun and immediately loses all respect for the shotgun.
  • Content Warning: A banner warning about scenes of graphic violence is stretched over the cover... which proudly displays the Doomguy blowing out a Zombie's brains amidst a field of corpses. It's the thought that counts!
  • The Dark Age of Comic Books: In many ways, this is really a parody of the kind of overly violent, overly angsty comics that were in vogue during the 1990s.
  • Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Subverted, more like "did you just try to punch out Cthulhu?"
  • Doesn't Like Guns: Doomguy, of all people, claimed that he didn't need a gun and that "guns are for wusses". As the Gun Porn entry notes, he drops this attitude very quickly when a Cyberdemon No-Sells his punches after his Berserk pack expired and he realizes that they're actually something of a necessity, and even begins to fetishize some of the weapons he recovers. Then again, he promptly discarded the Shotgun he professed his heartfelt respect for (and retracted that respect) when he finds the Chaingun.
  • Dynamic Akimbo: Combined with Punch! Punch! Punch! Uh Oh... when the Doomguy tries to kill the Cyberdemon with his bare hands. It just looks on and laughs in this pose.
  • Establishing Character Moment: The first panel is a full-frontal shot of Doomguy dismembering an Imp, with his bare hands, while ranting about how much of a man-and-a-half he is.
  • Excuse Plot: The plot basically goes down to the Doomguy looking for the BFG because he couldn't rip and tear a cyberdemon's HUGE GUTS!
  • Exploding Barrels: Wouldn't be Doom without 'em! He detonates a room full of them to get rid of an invisible Pinkie.
  • Firearms Are Cowardly: The story opens up with Doomguy tearing through demons with his fists and cries out he doesn't need guns because guns are for wussies. The trope is subverted when he gets to a Cyberdemon and his punches suddenly do nothing because his Berserker Pack wore off. He runs away with second thoughts, thinking maybe he does need a big gun after all, leading to the page quote.
  • Felony Misdemeanor: The crime for which the Doomguy seeks to obliterate the Cyberdemon? Standing there and letting the Marine punch him.
  • Foe-Tossing Charge: At the story's climax, with a horde of monsters between the hero and the BFG.
  • Green Aesop: Doom Guy gives a speech about the improper disposal of radioactive waste at one point, although he gets sidetracked by his gun's lack of bullets. Although he does raise a good point. Why the hell is there a giant vat of radioactive sludge lying out in the open?
  • Gorn: The entire "plot" of the comic is nothing but Doom Guy killing monsters with increasingly big guns.
  • Gun Porn: Sort of. After claiming "Guns are for wusses!" and promptly needing one, "Doomguy" effectively fetishizes the guns he finds; so much that at one point, much in the manner of a classical pick-up artist, he claims he's "All about that plasma rifle" (and baby, it's all about him!)
  • Heroic Mime: Considering the actual games, an aversion of epic proportions.
  • Heroic Comedic Sociopath: Let's see. He's got a "positive goal,"note  he performs over-the-top grisly deeds,note  he loves what he's doing,note  and it's all Played for Laughs.note  The Doom Marine in this story most likely qualifies.
  • Immediate Self-Contradiction: "At this particular moment in time, I don't think I have a healthier or more deeply-felt respect for any other object in the universe than this here Shotgun." Next panel: "Hey, Chaingun! The hell with respect!"
  • Incoming Ham: The very first panel depicts Doomguy "fixing" an Imp with his bare hands, screaming "DYNAMITE!" This occurs while he's in the midst of an internal monologue about how he is, in fact, a "berserker-packin' man-and-a-half." It sets the tone for the rest of the comic.
  • Lame Comeback: "Stupid, stupid Imp! You're stupid! And you're gonna be stupid and dead!"
  • Large Ham: The Doomguy. Whenever he isn't ripping and tearing, he's taking healthy bites out of the scenery.
    "Yeah, that's your spinal cord, baby! DIG IT!"
    "DYNAMITE!"
  • The Legions of Hell: Doomguy kills scores of demons practically per panel.
  • Lineage Ladder: After an unfortunate run-in with radioactive waste, Doomguy laments that even if he personally stops this alien invasion, what kind of planet will they be leaving to their children, and their children's children? And Oh, the Humanity! His big gun is out of bullets!
  • Made of Plasticine: Pretty much everything except Doomguy and that Cyberdemon.
  • Manly Tears: The Doomguy can't help but be teary-eyed as he acquires the BFG 9000.
  • Muzzle Flashlight: "Might makes light! *blamm* And I feel mighty!"
  • '90s Anti-Hero: He's a bit more exuberant and hammy than usual for the trope, but Doomguy probably counts as one of these.
  • No Ending: Alongside And the Adventure Continues. Doomguy shoots the Cyberdemon dead and them continues his journey, looking for more stupid demons to kill. Not really surprising given that the comic was already a case of lacking a real plot and was mostly a excuse for Doomguy to find big guns to shoot bigger demons with them.
  • No Fourth Wall: The berserker packin' MAN AND A HALF is generally conversant with the non-spoken internal monologue boxes. Either he's crazy or there's no fourth wall. Or both.
  • No Indoor Voice: Despite this being a comic book, you can only imagine Doomguy speaks this way due to all the exclamation points.
  • No OSHA Compliance: Lampshaded when Doomguy finds himself in a random vat of radioactive waste.
  • No Plot? No Problem!: Well, the game had an Excuse Plot, after all...
  • No-Sell: The Marine's berserker pack runs out just as he punches the Cyberdemon. Said Cyberdemon merely grins at the now suddenly-not-Axe-Crazy Marine.
  • Offscreen Teleportation: Shortly after acquiring the Plasma Rifle and obliterating some "big-mouthed floating thingies," Doomguy inexplicably finds himself in another room with no indicator of how he got there. Naturally, he proceeds to lampshade it.
    Doomguy: "Wow! Now I'm in a completely different place!"
  • Oh, Crap!: The Marine's reaction to his punch failing to harm the Cyberdemon. Can't really blame the guy.
    Marine: "CHOO CHOO CHA BOOGIE! CHOO CHOO CHA... CHOO CH... CHOO CHA... oh my."
  • Oh, the Humanity!: Doomguy is in the midst of contemplating what sort of world we're leaving to our children when we're disposing of radioactive waste in a place where it's easy for people to randomly fall into it, then interrupts himself by quoting this trope by name when he realizes the much bigger issue that his chaingun is out of bullets.
  • "Open!" Says Me: "Knock knock, who's there? ME!"
  • Orcus on His Throne: The Cyberdemon who Doomguy attempts to RIP AND TEAR. Rather than blast the puny human who just ineffectually punched it in the gut, it prefers to laugh at him. It then spends the rest of the comic waiting in one spot for the Doomguy to finally get his hands on the BFG 9000.
  • Punch! Punch! Punch! Uh Oh...: Doomguy tries to punch out a Cyberdemon while under the influence of a Berserker Pack, but it wears off just as he throws the punch.
  • Rouge Angles of Satin: He praises the power of the plasma rifle by referring to the "sugar-sweet kiss of heavy ordinance"; it should be "ordnance".
  • Shout-Out:
  • Sorting Algorithm of Weapon Effectiveness: Pretty much the plot - Doomguy kills stuff, and gets a weapon better then his last one. Lampshaded when he soliloquizes about his vast respect for his shotgun, then instantly discards it in the next panel to pick up a chaingun.
  • Stealth Parody: It's kind of subtle, but...
  • Talkative Loon: Doomguy's as crazy as they get, and won't stop yelling about it.
  • Tears of Joy: Doomguy's reaction to acquiring the BFG 9000.
  • Testosterone Poisoning: "WHO'S A MAN AND A HALF? I'M A MAN AND A HALF! A BERSERKER PACKIN' MAN AND A HALF!"
  • Thought Caption: All captions reflect Doomguy's thoughts. The odd one out is "Scant seconds later...", which either isn't a thought, or a sign that Doomguy is even crazier than previously thought.
  • Through the Eyes of Madness: Doomguy is the protagonist/narrator, and it's very clear that he's a few bullets short of a full magazine. This is also one possible explanation for why the comic is so Off-Model, and why it appears to take place in some kind of horrifying negative space realm where the basic laws of architecture do not apply. To wit, Doomguy comes upon a Plasma Rifle sitting in plain view; the very next panel shows it suddenly sitting on top of a ledge, complete with walls on either side that definitely were not there before.
  • Title Drop: The subtitle anyway:
    "As I stride knee deep through the dead, all is clear. I know what must be done..."
  • Understatement: "Now I'm radioactive! That can't be good."
  • Unsound Effect: Happens when Doomguy's berserk pack wears off just before he can hit the Cyberdemon.
  • Unstoppable Rage: "Doomguy" while he has the berserker pack, in particular:


Amen to that.

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