"Doom Bug" - June 1989
Writer and illustrator: Ken Steacy
Story:A decent résumé for this one would simply be "Steacy is back and he's having the time of his life pitting Iron Man against Doc Doom." But I'll try to be a bit more elaborate without saying too much (quite a challenge, really).
While he's testing a new telepresence system in the desert with Jim Rhodes (talk about something that fits perfectly well in IM continuity), Stark's armor becomes infested with a virus that plays haywire with his armor. After a nightmarish night in the desert during which he almost dies of suffocation, IM is finally rescued by Rhodey and a well-appreciated supporting character in the series over the years; Ant-Man (Scott Lang). The trio travel to Latveria a few hours later to attend the first international symposium on robotics. Needless to say that when Doom is involved, things are hardly what they seem! This is no exception. Turns out that many participants in the symposium experience similar problems with their armor systems, and Iron Man takes off and flies toward Castle Doom to investigate. I can't really say more without selling the punch… but before the day is through, IM will have to save the life of his hated enemy.
What's cool:
Iron Man versus Doctor Doom… how can you go wrong with these two? Add Ken Steacy to the mix and you've got one heck of a good comic. This is four years after Marvel Fanfare #22, so Steacy's art is better than ever. The cover just by itself is worth whatever you'll pay for that book. And once more, the story is perfectly true to character, Steacy knows his Iron Man well!
What's baaad:Well, I wouldn't say it's bad… but the story in this one is not quite as good. The actual face-off between IM and Doom is a bit disappointing… there's lots of talking, but not much doing, y'know? And the end of the story is a bit déjà vu… IM using Pym particles to penetrate Doom's armor exactly the way Lang did once to rescue IM from his own armor (and also the way Pym did before him to save the Vision)… been there, done that. But these minor details do not ruin the comic, far from it.
Quote:
What's cool:
Iron Man versus Doctor Doom… how can you go wrong with these two? Add Ken Steacy to the mix and you've got one heck of a good comic. This is four years after Marvel Fanfare #22, so Steacy's art is better than ever. The cover just by itself is worth whatever you'll pay for that book. And once more, the story is perfectly true to character, Steacy knows his Iron Man well!
What's baaad:Well, I wouldn't say it's bad… but the story in this one is not quite as good. The actual face-off between IM and Doom is a bit disappointing… there's lots of talking, but not much doing, y'know? And the end of the story is a bit déjà vu… IM using Pym particles to penetrate Doom's armor exactly the way Lang did once to rescue IM from his own armor (and also the way Pym did before him to save the Vision)… been there, done that. But these minor details do not ruin the comic, far from it.
Quote:
At the symposium, Stark looks at all the surrounding technology from all over the world and thinks: "It still galls me to think that some of the sub-systems at this show were pirated from me during the armor wars…" Yes, apparently Steacy knows the character better than certain IM writers ever did… (sorry for the cheap shot, I'm still trying to get over Stark burying his armor on a desert island!)
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