Product Description: When armors collide! Trapped in the time-lost land of King Arthur, Iron Man battles Doctor Doom in a classic clash of titans! And in the far-flung future of 2093 A.D., the Armored Avenger and Doom must team up... to save Camelot! Collecting Iron Man #149-150 and #249-250, with extras!
Tony and Victor's Excellent Adventures Tony Stark, aka Iron Man is a member of a select club of superheroes that includes Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Spider-Man: heroes who have been consistently published in their own book since their creation. In Tony's case, this is his 46th year of continuous publication through four different volumes. Not bad, really; the character has usually occupied a middle-to-low position on the sales charts, but consistency outstrips flashes in the pan. However, some have commented that, for all his history, there aren't a great many 'essential' Iron Man stories. Several of those stories that are generally agreed upon, however, come from the two periods when David Michelinie and Bob Layton were handling his comic, the first run in the late 70s/early 80s, and the second in the late 80s. This collection, released to coincide with the "Iron Man" feature film, has stories from both eras, which form the first two parts of what would eventually become a trilogy of stories pitting Iron Man against Doctor Doom (the third leg, "Legacy of Doom", is being released as we speak as a four-part miniseries, nearly 30 years after the original).
Doctor Doom is frequently held up as being Marvel's greatest villain (I myself favour Magneto, but perhaps Doom is a superior pure villain), and these stories pit him against Iron Man in a battle of the men wearing suits of powered armour. The first story, a two-parter featured in issues 149-150, see Iron Man and Doctor Doom sent back in time to the days of Camelot by one of Doom's opportunistic minions. There they form alliances with King Arthur and his evil sister Morgan le Fay, respectively; Doom planned the trip in order to enlist Morgan's aide in freeing his mother's soul from Hell. The end result is Doom leading an army of undead warriors against the Knights of the Table Round, all illustrated by John Romita Jr. before his style descended into the scratchy, boxy mess that it is today. Along the way, Tony gets his groove on with a court-supplied courtesan. This first story is just pure fun comics, maybe my all-time favourite Iron Man story.
The second story, from Michelinie and Layton's second run, with Layton on art, sees Iron Man and Doom taken into the far future to defend the reborn King Arthur, at Merlin's behest. The central plot of this one is a lot less inherently interesting, pitting Iron Man against an evil future descendant and Doom against a cyborg future version of himself, but the devil is in the details: Iron Man equipping himself for battle with tech acquired at a futuristic version of Radio Shack; both armoured men trying to wield the legendary Excalibur; Merlin's general demeanour, and the explanation for why the reborn Arthur himself is unable to fight he menace; and, in the premiere dramatic moment, Doom's summary handling of a future version of himself that he finds to be extremely substandard.
I strongly recommend this collection to anyone who is looking to try out some of the best material involving a long-time but low-profile Marvel hero.
Iron Man versus Doom, *Ding-ding*! Doomquest chronicles the time traveling battles between armored Avenger Tony "Iron Man" Stark and Fantastic Four foe Doctor Doom, as both duke it out from the present day, to King Arthur's mythical Camelot, to the future, and back again. Written by the long running team of David Michelline and Bob Layton (a tandem whose run many consider to be the definitive run in Iron Man's history), Doomquest is a fun, often thrilling throwback to what made superhero stories so worthwhile in the first place. Though Doomquest hasn't particularly aged very well in terms of the dialogue and some story ideas, it still holds an undeniable charm to it, and it remains one of the definitive arcs in the entire Iron Man mythos. All in all, Iron Man VS Doctor Doom: Doomquest is a worthwhile read for Iron Man fans new and old alike, and with the eagerly anticipated Iron Man film on the horizon, now has never been a better time to get re-acquainted with good 'ol shellhead.
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