MARVEL FANFARE #44 (1989)
by Ken Steacy
This was published in 1989, but since Doom is shown to be ruling Latveria it has to be set in 1991. And it’s a rare example of a painted comic book; in fact the artwork is basically the only noteworthy thing of this issue.
The cover is quite good, although Iron Man has a very goofy expression…
…but it’s a wraparound, and the complete version is far superior.
The artwork on the inside, on the other hand… well it looks a bit goofy.
Iron Man is testing some new equipment in the desert, and ends up being attacked by missiles that shoot gas. Got to admit, nobody expects those things to do anything but explode!
The gas ends up shutting down the armor, so Iron Man is just left there alone all night.
And inside the armor, Tony Stark starts tripping. Are we SURE he’s quit drinking?
Yeah I’m starting to see why the artwork is so goofy.
Stark ends up being saved by his best friend Rhodey, as well by Scott “Ant-Man” Lang, who was for quite some time an infrequent supporting character on Iron Man.
Just as you’re probably why on Earth is this thing in the Doom retrospective, the good (citation needed) doctor finally shows up.
He’s involved because there’s a huge convention on cutting-edge technology being held in Latveria.
The convention itself looks visually uninteresting. Which is just bizarre since the background of Castle Doom SHOULD be a great way to juxtapose the new and the old, but the castle is just kept in the background so this look like any regular sci-fi scene.
Even Doom doesn’t seem particularly impressed.
When all the tech in the convention starts to go haywire, it’s not surprising Iron Man goes straight to Doom.
Iron Man demanding to speak to the manager is aptly hilarious. No idea what’s going on with the artwork, though.
Is it just me, or does it look like Doom is hitting on Iron Man? I know Stark is a ladies man, but you never know.
And Doom straight up admits he’s responsible for spreading a techno-virus! That’s… weird, but you have to appreciate Doom giving no f##ks whatsoever.
Seriously, Doctor Doom does not give a fraction of a f##k in this story.
Naturally Doom has severely underestimated how dangerous the virus is, and his armor is not immune as he thought.
So Doctor Doom is knocked out, which is quite a problem since his armor is going to EXPLODE LIKE A NUKE.
Stark is not exactly being a genius here. First he thinks that forcibly removing the armor is going to help, like Doom hasn’t installed like a billion safeguards…
…to the fact that the technical solution has to come from Doom’s scientists.
You would think having Ant-Man around would mean he gets to do something. But nope, Iron Man just borrows his shrinking technology and does the job himself!
Considering Doom will kill Scott Lang’s daughter years after this (before she got better), it’s interesting to see he might have saved Doom’s life once.
You would think having Tiny Iron Man fighting Doom’s armor from the inside would lead to some cool and creative scenes, but… nah, not really.
He succeeds, but as I’ve said before: Doom Does Not Give A F##k Today.
Doom significance: 0/10
Even the fact that he’s already interacted with Scott Lang is never brought up again.
Silver Age-ness: 8/10
That hallucination scene alone is quite something on the Marvel scale!
Does it stand the test of time? 4/10
Nobody ends this story with his dignity intact. It’s a neat concept… Doom creates a techno-virus and exploits Iron Man to diffuse it, but the virus infects him too… but the execution is just shoddy.
The plot is way too simplistic, and what to say about the artwork? Doom himself is fine, but it’s impossible to take Iron Man seriously here.
It was a Doombot all along
You can interpret the scene with the scientists as them figuring out the Doombot is malfunctioning. Doom would certainly like you to think that this is not him.
Number of superheroes who have fought Dr. Doom: 76
I am not adding Scott Lang at this moment since he never fights Doom.
Crazy tech
That virus sure is something! I wonder why Doom never perfected it.