CaptainCanada
04-17-2008, 08:17 AM
For years, Iron Man fans looked back with fondness on the two Michelinie/Layton runs on Iron Man. Then, suddenly, unexpectedly, and without warning, Marvel commissioned a new four-part miniseries, the sequel to a 20-year-old two-parter that was itself the sequel to a 30-year-old two-parter: Thus Iron Man: Legacy of Doom came to be.
This month, in the Marvel Universe:
We open in a Stark International lab on Coney Island, the "day after tomorrow." Tony is melting down one of his old armours, saying that with his new Extremis suit he doesn't really need a huge wardrobe of them anymore, and keeping them around leaves him vulnerable to theft (not that this will stop people from doing more "Character X vs. Every Armour Ever" fight scenes). He begins transferring the armour's black boxes into the computer, but notices a time-stamp that says he was using the armour during a time when Tony remembers being on vacation. He cues up the footage, and the camera shows him in space, when Doctor Doom suddenly appears.
Tony doesn't understand how he could forget an encounter with Doom, and we get some exposition about the events of Iron Man v.1 #149-150, with Tony and Victor's excellent adventure to Camelot, where they took sides in the war between King Arthur and his evil sister Morgan, before working together to return to the present. Tony wonders why Doom never followed through on his threat of revenge. Suddenly, his memories come back. Main story time!
Iron Man is in space trying to figure out what's wrong with an SI satellite (wearing a cumbersome rocket-pack, since this armour couldn't go into space unaided; ah, how times have changed). Suddenly, Doom appears; Iron Man blasts him, but it's just a hologram. Doom tells him to come to Latveria, because millions of lives hang in the balance, and ends communication. Iron Man grumbles at being ordered around like a flunky, but can't take the risk that Doom isn't lying.
Upon arrival in Latveria, he finds Doom's castle under siege by the Latverian army, trying to make sure he doesn't regain power (my 80s Doom continuity is poor, but I imagine this is a good indicator of when the story is set). Iron Man goes inside, and finds Doom preparing a dastardly device to kill the besiegers; Iron Man objects, and Doom gives him ten minutes to clear all the soldiers away before he kills them.
Iron Man flies out, spooks the soldiers, and they all run away, before returning to find Doom, who tells him that Mephisto is plotting to hasten the end of days, which Doom finds "presumptive", so they're going to stop him. Iron Man says that the last time they went to Mephisto's realm, they had trouble getting back; Doom says they'll each have a transmitter for automatic recall. Iron Man takes both of them, shuffles them so Doom can't see which is which, and then agrees. Iron Man asks why Doom sent for him; Doom says he's proven adequate against mystical menaces in past, and he may need a lackey.
Upon arrival in Hell, the two fight some Jell-O monsters for a bit and then make their way to Mephisto's office (marked "Manager"). Doom remarks the decor is different from the last time; Iron Man starts to speak at this, but Mephisto says he redecorated in honour of his new guest, and, telling Doom he is impressed, gives him a sliver of metal. Iron Man: "I didn't know what was going on, but it was easy to guess who was about to be screwed." He activates his transmitter, but apparently there's some component missing that is included in Doom's armour only; Doom beams out crowing "And thus, at least...vengeance is mine!"
Mephisto says that he traded Doom the sliver of metal in exchange for help in ridding the world of a major force for good: Iron Man gets to stay in Hell forever!
------------------
The Iron Man movie has led to a flood of Iron Man projects, new trades, etc. (among them a collection of the first two parts of this now-trilogy, Doomquest, which I ordered from Amazon a few days ago). Here we get the reuniting of what is often thought of as the great Iron Man writing team.
Style-wise, both the writing and Ron Lim's art have a sort of vintage feel, but it generally feels pretty current; they've adapted better to modern times than Chris Claremont has, for example.
Looks to be an enjoyable miniseries (although the whole "melting down the armour" seems both unnecessary and a setup for a continuity error at some later date).
This month, in the Marvel Universe:
We open in a Stark International lab on Coney Island, the "day after tomorrow." Tony is melting down one of his old armours, saying that with his new Extremis suit he doesn't really need a huge wardrobe of them anymore, and keeping them around leaves him vulnerable to theft (not that this will stop people from doing more "Character X vs. Every Armour Ever" fight scenes). He begins transferring the armour's black boxes into the computer, but notices a time-stamp that says he was using the armour during a time when Tony remembers being on vacation. He cues up the footage, and the camera shows him in space, when Doctor Doom suddenly appears.
Tony doesn't understand how he could forget an encounter with Doom, and we get some exposition about the events of Iron Man v.1 #149-150, with Tony and Victor's excellent adventure to Camelot, where they took sides in the war between King Arthur and his evil sister Morgan, before working together to return to the present. Tony wonders why Doom never followed through on his threat of revenge. Suddenly, his memories come back. Main story time!
Iron Man is in space trying to figure out what's wrong with an SI satellite (wearing a cumbersome rocket-pack, since this armour couldn't go into space unaided; ah, how times have changed). Suddenly, Doom appears; Iron Man blasts him, but it's just a hologram. Doom tells him to come to Latveria, because millions of lives hang in the balance, and ends communication. Iron Man grumbles at being ordered around like a flunky, but can't take the risk that Doom isn't lying.
Upon arrival in Latveria, he finds Doom's castle under siege by the Latverian army, trying to make sure he doesn't regain power (my 80s Doom continuity is poor, but I imagine this is a good indicator of when the story is set). Iron Man goes inside, and finds Doom preparing a dastardly device to kill the besiegers; Iron Man objects, and Doom gives him ten minutes to clear all the soldiers away before he kills them.
Iron Man flies out, spooks the soldiers, and they all run away, before returning to find Doom, who tells him that Mephisto is plotting to hasten the end of days, which Doom finds "presumptive", so they're going to stop him. Iron Man says that the last time they went to Mephisto's realm, they had trouble getting back; Doom says they'll each have a transmitter for automatic recall. Iron Man takes both of them, shuffles them so Doom can't see which is which, and then agrees. Iron Man asks why Doom sent for him; Doom says he's proven adequate against mystical menaces in past, and he may need a lackey.
Upon arrival in Hell, the two fight some Jell-O monsters for a bit and then make their way to Mephisto's office (marked "Manager"). Doom remarks the decor is different from the last time; Iron Man starts to speak at this, but Mephisto says he redecorated in honour of his new guest, and, telling Doom he is impressed, gives him a sliver of metal. Iron Man: "I didn't know what was going on, but it was easy to guess who was about to be screwed." He activates his transmitter, but apparently there's some component missing that is included in Doom's armour only; Doom beams out crowing "And thus, at least...vengeance is mine!"
Mephisto says that he traded Doom the sliver of metal in exchange for help in ridding the world of a major force for good: Iron Man gets to stay in Hell forever!
------------------
The Iron Man movie has led to a flood of Iron Man projects, new trades, etc. (among them a collection of the first two parts of this now-trilogy, Doomquest, which I ordered from Amazon a few days ago). Here we get the reuniting of what is often thought of as the great Iron Man writing team.
Style-wise, both the writing and Ron Lim's art have a sort of vintage feel, but it generally feels pretty current; they've adapted better to modern times than Chris Claremont has, for example.
Looks to be an enjoyable miniseries (although the whole "melting down the armour" seems both unnecessary and a setup for a continuity error at some later date).