WAITING FOR THE TRADE: Doomquest & Legacy of Doom

DOOMQUEST & IRON MAN: LEGACY OF DOOM

WRITERS: David Michilini, Bob Layton
ARTISTS: Bob Layton, John Romite, Jr. (Doomquest), Ron Lim (Iron Man: Legacy of Doom)
PUBLISHER: Marvel

I’d heard of the Doomquest issues of the Iron Man series a while ago, and I was interested in reading them, but never really looked for them. They were issues 149 and 150 and 249 and 250 of the Iron Man comic series.

What got my interest was seeing a paperback copy of the collected edition of “Iron Man: Legacy of Doom” mini-series on the new comics shelf at my local shop. I peeked at the back and saw that it was a sequel, of sorts, to those two Doomquest mini-story arcs. And that those two Doomquet story arcs were about King Arthur and time travel and . . . well, I was hooked.

A quick glance at the old comics shelf revealed a collected edition of Doomquest and the hardcover edition of Legacy of Doom. Cool. I just hoped it was worth it.

Long story short, they were. The first Doomquest story (issues 149 and 150, from 1981) has Iron Man and Dr. Doom thrust back in time, to the time of King Arthur and all his knights. Iron Man allies himself with Arthur, Doom with Morganna, and conflict ensues. It’s exciting seeing Iron Man and Dr. Doom’s technological armor amidst the knights of the round table and the crazy creatures of evil, and the story resolves itself nicely.

The second Doomquest story (issues 249 and 250, from 1988) pushes Iron Man and Doom into the future, where they must once more team up with Merlin to save the Camelot of the future, and the future king of Camelot -- Arthur. There’s some funny twists with Arthur and his legacy and upbringing. Now, Iron Man and Doom are outclassed when it comes to technology, and ultimately this is a fun comic book trip to the future and a nice counterpoint to the first Doomquest story.

Iron Man: Legacy of Doom, a four issue mini-series from 2008, reunites the creative team from those two Doomquest stories and takes up the themes (technology vs. magic) and tropes (time travel, although not as far flung into the future; along with the whole Arthurian thing) and wraps the story up neatly. (And like all good time travel stories, it wraps the story around as an element from the past that shows up in the future is preserved because of decisions in the present. Just read it, you’ll appreciate it.)

I liked these two volumes because it’s a good Iron Man story and a good Dr. Doom story, using these character archetypes in a way that you don’t need to know the convoluted backstories of the characters. If you’ve heard of the characters, you’ll get into the story. I also like the time travel themes that get used, and the technology vs. magic argument is explored in ways that aren’t just conflict, but philosophical concepts.

When the Iron Man movie came out, one problem I had was that there were no comic stories that were as good as the movie. These come close.

Check it out at your local comic shop (they should be able to order for you, and if you're not sure where your closest comic shop is, you can find out here: The Comic Shop Locator), OR you can buy Iron Man Doomquest here and Legacy of Doom here!

Visit the Waiting for the Trade bookstore here, where you can buy many of the comics I'm reviewing!

~ Ben

Disney Admits Mistake in Prince Caspian Release

Really? You think?

Disney is admitting that maybe releasing Prince Caspian the week after Iron Man and the week before Indiana Jones might not have been a good idea.

I think Iron Man surprised everyone, I guess. Indy, with name recognition and the hype machine, was going to do as well as it did, though. And releasing Caspian less than a week before Indy was NOT a good idea.

~ Ben

Nano Film Review #11 -- Prince Caspian

I'm just going to cut to the chase:

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian was amazing.

It was more intense than the first film, and younger children may be disturbed by that. Violence has series consequences in this movie. So do mistakes. And our four heroes make some serious mistakes.

But the movie itself is beautiful. And the themes and messages in the movie, well, they're there if you're looking for them.

I was a little worried about this movie, though. The first one was, to me, really well done. All the things I like about the first movie were in this one, only better. (I am hoping for an extended edition, though.)

So, Speed Racer is going to be kicked to the curb by Narnia. Too bad, I liked Speed Racer. It'll be interesting to see how Iron Man holds up this weekend. People are predicting Narnia to knock it out of the top slot. Next weekend sees the new Indiana Jones movie. How will the Narnians fare against the man with the whip?

~ Ben

Nano Film Review #9 and 10 -- Iron Man and Speed Racer

Summer's off to a great start. I saw Iron Man on tis opening day and caught Speed Racer last night. Here' my thoughts:

Iron Man -- Everything that was promised in the trailer was given and then some. Robert Downey, Jr.'s Tony Stark was a likable jerk, a flawed man who has everything he wants except a reason for being. His character changes over the course of the film, but never becomes perfect. It's a fast moving film that follows a natural course. It's got flare and attitude and spectacle and awesome performances all around. The effects were seamless and the CGI blended nicely with real life. There were only a few times that the effects were slightly off, and the only reason I noticed was because the rest of the time it was flawless. Awesome movie.

Speed Racer -- The Speed Racer movie is actually a trilogy. Take the time to analyze it -- you'll see three separate storylines, three separate calls to action, three separate rising actions, three separate resolutions. Three separate and complete story arcs and character arcs for Speed. It's like they decided to do the trilogy in one movie . . . just in case they didn't get a chance to do the trilogy. This movie is the opposite of Iron Man -- the effects are very noticeable -- purposely so. But it's fun, full of energy, and has a message. Unlike the complicated and heavy Matrix movies (from the same directors), Speed Racer is a simple movie with a simple message . . . but it lays it out simply, in the simple plot, making it much more effective. Awesome movie. I loved it. And I've only seen one Speed Racer episode in my whole life . . . on Sunday, so I could at least have some background.

It's looking to be a great summer. Next up: Prince Caspian. Indiana Jones and Hulk and Clone Wars and Hellboy and . . . whoa.

~ Ben