Iron Man: Doomquest

Reprints Iron Man #149-150, 249-250
Written by David Michelinie and Bob Layton.
Penciled by John Romita Jr. and Bob Layton.
Inked by Bob Layton.

The Armored Avenger and the Monarch of Latveria battle each other across time!

Variant cover.

Tony Stark (AKA the Invincible Iron Man) discovers that his company, Stark International, has been selling "specialized electronics components" to the nation of Latveria, even though Stark has forbidden any sales to Latveria because it's the native country of Doctor Doom. Though Doom has been recently overthrown, Stark fears that anything sent to Latveria could fall into Doom's hands. He fires the employee responsible for the sales and cancels the shipment.

Stark fires Zurrow for selling components to Latveria. 
Is it me or does Zurrow resemble Rodney Dangerfield?

But Doom doesn't take this lightly. He needs the components to boost the power of his time machine.  He's been traveling through time, meeting with various sorcerers. Doom wants to learn their spells so he can resurrect his mother, who was a sorcerer herself. His scientist, Dr. Gert Hauptmann, assists him with improving the time machine. Hauptmann hates Doom for killing his brother and secretly plots revenge. 

Doom travels back in time to learn sorcery from Cagliostro.

When Doom learns that the shipments were cancelled, he sends his agents to retrieve them. Iron Man fails to stop this and Doom's flunkies escape, taking the components back to Latveria.

Stark encounters Latverian soldiers at the airport.

Stark decides to handle this matter personally. He takes off for Latveria and comes face to face with Doom. The Latverian tells Stark that the components are his since he paid for them. Iron Man disagrees and the battle begins.

Doom's "molecule expander" allows him to shoot boulders out of his finger tips. Very cool!

Iron Man and Doom don't realize they've stepped onto a time machine. When Hauptmann turns on the machine, it sends them both back in time. For good measure, Hauptmann destroys the time machine, forever trapping Doom and Iron Man in the past.

Hauptmann sends Doom & Iron Man back in time.

Doom and Iron Man keep fighting, until they realize they've been sent back in time...to Camelot!  Within no time, they find themselves mixed up in a battle between King Arthur and his evil sister, Morgan le Fay.

Doctor Doom meets Morgan le Fay.

Will Iron Man and Doctor Doom survive the battle? If they do, how can they get back to the present day with no time machine?

Review:
I remember picking up this story at 7-11 back in the Summer of 1981. I was fascinated with King Arthur at the time and I've always been a sucker for time travel stories, so I was in Comic Book Heaven. I loved it then and it's still great, probably my favorite Iron Man story, and one of my favorite Doom stories as well.

Gorgeous & frightening depiction of time travel from Layton & Romita.

Story:
David Michelinie and Bob Layton are rightly considered the best Iron Man plotters of all time. They mix in just enough corporate politics with the superheroics.   

They also write Doom with the right mix of villainy, intelligence and nobility. I especially liked the thought balloons where Doom and Stark praise each others' technological genius—it showed a mutual respect between the two.

And sending them back in time was a nice touch—it forces them to conserve their powers, since they can't plug in and recharge in Camelot.

Doom & Iron Man slug it out.

We don't see much of Iron Man's supporting cast, but fans of the Iron Man movies will be glad to see a cameo from James "Rhodey" Rhodes.

Art:
It's great. John Romita Jr. and Layton compliment each other nicely here. In a previous review of an Iron Man tpb, I mentioned that in their early collaborations, Layton's work was more visible than Romita's. Here, we see Romita beginning to find his style and Layton embellishing rather than overpowering the pencils.

They also give us several two-page spreads that are very nice.  I don't have access to a scanner that can do them justice, but this will give you an idea:

How does it look?: 
Marvel did a great job here, it looks like it should, no weird coloring job. This page is a great example of how it looks:

Iron Man levitates King Arthur's throne with his "sorcery".

Extras:
This tpb contains a sequel to "Doomquest" (by Michelinie and Layton, without Romita) that was published 100 issues and 8 years later. I don't review the non-Bronze Age stuff, but I will say that I enjoyed it more than I expected, even if it's not as good as the earlier story.   
We also get an unused cover and a nice introductory essay from Michelinie.

Iron Man: Doomquest is an excellent story and a high point for Iron Man during the Bronze Age.  Strongly recommended.

J.A. Morris' rating:

 

4 Sals!

Fantastic Four: Reunited They Stand

Reprints Fantastic Four #201-203, Fantastic Four Annual #12-14
Written by Marv Wolfman, Bill Mantlo,George Perez and Peter B. Gillis.
Penciled by Keith Pollard, John Buscema, Bob Hall, Sal Buscema and George Perez.
Inked by Joe Sinnott, Bob Wiacek and Pablo Marcos.

The Fantastic Four have recently reunited and defeated their greatest foe, Doctor Doom. They help Doom's successor Zorba celebrate his coronation, then they return home to New York and resettle in their old home, the Baxter Building.

Just as they're getting used to being a team again, the Fantastic Four are attacked....by the Baxter Building itself! Someone or something has turned the computers and security system against them.

Later, they're contacted by their old friends the Inhumans, whose hidden refuge of Attilan is under attack from a madman called Thraxon the Schemer. He gives the FF a good fight, but suddenly his powers disappear. We learn that the source of his power—and the real threat—is the Sphinx!

Thraxon blasts the Torch with his ion cannon.

Next up, people and statues are disappearing. It turns out this is the work of the FF's oldest foe, the Mole Man! He's capturing people who are shunned by society and taking them to his subterranean kingdom. He wants them to be part of a new society. The Fantastic Four go underground to rescue them, but they are attacked by the very people they are trying to save.

The Mole Man attempts to steal statues from Alicia Masters' apartment.

Subsequently,the Fantastic Four are attacked by Iron Man. What could make the Armored Avenger turn bad? After a brief skirmish, Iron Man pulls a lever that makes the upper-portion of the Baxter Building take off like a rocket! They seek out Iron Man's "boss", Tony Stark, and ask what happened. Stark knows nothing and insists his "bodyguard" was with him all day. When the FF and Iron Man locate the missing portion of the building, they learn the enemy behind the attack is Quasimodo, the living computer.

Back in New York, Reed is attempting to help a very sick young boy named Willie Evans, Jr. He is in coma caused by cosmic rays. Unbeknownst to anyone, Willie has the mutant ability to bend reality to suit his wishes. His subconscious creates an evil, monstrous version of the Fantastic Four. Can the FF defeat themselves?

After that battle, the FF are invited by Agatha Harkness to accompany her to New Salem, Colorado for a vacation. But shortly after they arrive, they're attacked by their old foes Salem's Seven.

The Fantastic Four are knocked unconscious and taken prisoners. It's up to Agatha and Franklin Richards to stop Salem's Seven and save the FF.

Plus, a gallery of some the Fantastic Four's most dangerous enemies!

Review:

This book is a mixed bag. It works best as a supplement to the Overthrow of Doctor Doom book (recently reviewed here). But these are far from the best FF stories of the Bronze Age.

Iron Man fights with an empty suit of his own armor, while Ben tangles with Quasimodo.

Story:
This tpb mostly consists of single stories, with the exception of the two-parter from FF 201-202. These tales come right after the six-issue long Doom saga and it feels like Marv Wolfman & Co. were still treading water and catching their breath. That's allowed, but it doesn't make these stories "essential" reading 30+ years later. This arc also features the top of the Baxter Building taking off like a rocket.  That's sort of silly even for a Bronze Age comic story, but it's still fun, as long as you can suspend your disbelief more than usual.

The top of the Baxter Building takes off!

The story from Fantastic Four Annual #12, featuring the Inhumans, Sphinx, and Thraxon, written by Wolfman is okay.  But it's described on the splash page as, "Possibly the most powerful story you'll read in this, the Marvel Renaissance of comics!".  It doesn't live up to its hype. Sphinx was created by Wolfman in his Nova series and makes a decent villain for the FF. Thraxon first appeared in the short-lived Inhumans series and he's not a very interesting villain, just a generic madman. Thraxon brings down the first half of the story, which is likely why he was never used again.

There's a funny scene where the Thing stumbles on to the set of 'The Gong Show'. It's certainly a dated pop culture reference, but it will bring a smile to children of the 70s (like me!). Easily the high point of FF Annual # 12

Ben Grimm accidentally winds up on 'The Gong Show', but he doesn't win.

The Mole Man isn't the most interesting villain and the story that featured him wasn't exciting. But it did have a very sweet ending, as the FF (with Alicia's help) managed to warm the heart of the Mole Man and depart on friendly terms. Bill Mantlo writes a nice story here. I wonder if this was noted in Mole Man's next appearance, or if he just went back to being a subterranean tyrant?

The Mole Man abducts a blind man & his seeing-eye dog runs away.
I hope he was eventually found or adopted!

The Salem's Seven story has always bugged me. The FF spend most of the story unconscious, which makes Agatha Harkness and Franklin the defacto leads. They're not really interesting enough to carry an annual-length story. It also features a very short battle with the Sandman. We join the fight already in progress, but Sandman was an A-list villain for the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man. He shouldn't be so easily beaten in only three pages. At least this issue gave us a nice splash page (below):

The Thing decks Sandman.

I'll confess to a sentimental attachment to the story from FF #203 featuring the evil Fantastic Four. I first read this story in an old reprint book called The Fantastic Four: The Secret Story of Marvel's Cosmic Quartet. I've always been a fan of "evil versions of heroes", like the Mimic or Super Adaptoid.  FF's bad guy counterparts are great opponents for the heroes. This is the best portion of the tpb.

Reed & Ben battle their malevolent counterparts.

Art:
Unlike the stories, the art here is mostly top-notch.  

George Perez and Pablo Marcos do some great work in the Salem's Seven story. Look at this image of Harkness:

Agatha Harkness casts a spell.

And we also got an issue each from classic 70s pencilers Keith Pollard, John Buscema and his brother Sal. They're all teamed with Joe Sinnott on inks and Sinnott is great as ever. Pollard and Sinnott give us a nice diagram of the Baxter Building, too:

The art in the Sphinx/Thraxon story is a bit odd. The first 22 pages are penciled by Bob Hall, the last 23 by Pollard. Bob Wiacek provides the inks for both, and the Pollard-drawn portion is a bit stronger.

The FF confronts Tony Stark, after Stark's "bodyguard" Iron Man has attacked them.

Lastly, we get a gallery of FF foes. Pollard and Marcos give us some nice drawings of Dragon Man, Attuma and the Frightful Four, among others. This was originally published in the back of FF Annual #14 and it was nice of Marvel to include it here. 

Extras:
We get two pages of original art, one from FF Annual #12, the other from Annual #14 (wrongly credited as being from Annual #15, FWIW).

As I said earlier, Fantastic Four: Reunited They Stand works best as a companion to Overthrow. If you haven't read that, save your money and get that first. If you enjoy Overthrow, pick up Reunited. It's also recommended for fans of Perez, Pollard, Sinnott and the Buscema Brothers. But the stories here aren't that great by themselves.

J.A. Morris' rating:

.5 Sals.