IRON MAN #249 (1989)
by David Michelinie & Bob Layton
The first team-up between Iron Man and Doctor Doom from issue 150 was pretty popular, so it’s little wonder it got a sequel.
Even if he’s still in exile, Doom enjoys some relaxing classical music.
The musicians threatened with disintegration if they don’t play to his liking… not so much.
Before he can give his judgment, a weird device appears in his room.
Nobody gives passive aggressive responses like Doom.
A similar device appears next to Iron Man as he’s giving a presentation about some Stark products, so he has to improvise.
I’m generally in favor of having his secret identity public knowledge, but I do miss moments like this.
This story takes place immediately after Star got the use of his legs again (he was wheelchair-bound for a while), so he can be forgiven for being more dickish than usual.
Michelinie is obviously going for a parallel between Stark and Doom, but there is one major difference: only one of them absolutely refuses to sit down like a normal person.
I do appreciate the effort of being scientifically sound… but carbon dating works up to 50,000 years.
A long time, sure, but “old beyond imagining”? Really?
It doesn’t take much for Doom to hear about the artifact that reached Iron Man.
This means that Doom is going to talk with Stark about this… showing up at his front door.
Don’t say he’s not a gentleman! Seriously, don’t say it, it’s a capital offense in Latveria.
One of my favorite moments of the issue is Doom commenting on Stark’s art collection.
That’s just fantastic. At first glance you might think it contradicts Fantastic Four #87, where he killed his own henchman and gave up a chance to kill the FF to preserve his own art collection… but that was HIS collection: art that he liked.
If a painting “displeases” Doom, why should it be allowed to exist?
Stark has no idea whatsoever about what the device actually is, except if Doom wants it he shouldn’t have it… no matter how much he’s willing to pay.
And Doom just leaves. This time he doesn’t send an army of drones to get what he wants.
Stark takes a considerable amount of pages to set up a bunch of defenses against Doom.
None of which do anything, because Doom.
I said Doom doesn’t send drones this time. He sends robots.
I love the fact that Doom takes the elevator to get to his destination. But come on, Stark didn’t have a spare armor to give to Rhodey!?
Not that it would’ve changed anything, because the device just goes straight to Doom.
Doom returns to his base… wherever THAT is… and combines the two parts of the device.
Iron Man tracks him down, which was apparently all part of the plan… not Doom’s, though.
And we end on a cliffhanger, with both armored characters being transported… somewhere.
We’ll see where they ended up next issue, but spoiler alert: the person who sent the artifact could’ve EASILY just transported them without all the fuss.
Doom significance: 0/10
Everyone is eventually going to forget the events of this storyline. Hate it when that happens!
Silver Age-ness: 6/10
On the Marvel scale, but Doom is quite stereotypical. Not as much as the 70s, but still noticeable for the late 80s.
Does it stand the test of time? 7/10
It’s an enjoyable romp, but a bit flat. Doom and Iron Man don’t interact much, and the entire premise is going to be completely ignored in the first few pages of the second part.
It was a Doombot all along
Still part of the era which will be heavily implied to only feature Doombots, though it makes somewhat less sense here since Doom uses magic next issue.
Crazy tech
Nothing stands out, really. Iron Man wasn’t even doing anything that impressive to stop Doom.