Review: Legacy of Doom Issues 1 and 2

*Note: I've posted two entries today and one yesterday, all reviews for the most recent issues. Please be sure to look at them all.

So the first two issues of Legacy of Doom have been released, and I have one word for them: wow. I love the writing, I love the art, I’m just loving everything about it.

Dave Michelinie and Bob Layton are showing once again why they are some of the best writers in Iron Man’s history, and what a team that is on the same page and who love the character can do. Every character is so spot on with their quirks, dialect and nuances that it’s almost scary.

Ron Lim’s art is again top notch and seeing a more classic style really gives a sense of nostalgia. The colors are vibrant and bring a lot of life to the story, a stark (no pun intended) contrast to the drab, dark and dull colors that seems to becoming more prevalent in today’s comics, including the Director of Shield series.

But enough of my gushing, on to the actual review.

The setup was again Doom playing on a heroes morals, luring Stark into his trap by saying they needed to work together to save many lives, and as a hero Stark couldn’t refuse. Doom got him into Mephisto’s realm where he traded Stark for a shard of Excalibur: King Arthur’s ancient sword. As Iron Man tries to activate the return signal to go back to the real world, Doom reveals the one he gave Stark didn’t have the right signal, trapping him there.

As Iron Man battled Mephisto’s minions, Mephisto grew tired of it an unleashed a robot made with Stark tech and Howard Stark’s personality. The construct started again telling Tony how weak he was and what a failure he was in his father’s eyes. Stark realized that it was a fake, and was able to destroy it. Knowing he needed to fix the transmitter Doom gave him, he used the Stark tech from the robot to create a force field around himself while he worked. He succeeded and as he came back to Doom’s castle, he found that Doom now possessed Excalibur, and that the sword could cut through his armor with no problem. Stark had planned to duke it out with Doom, but not while Doom had that kind of power at his disposal.

And so ended the second issue which, like a good comic, left us not wanting to wait for the next issue to come out. Two issues in and I’m finding myself I am actually upset this is only a limited series being done by this crew. No offense to the Knaufs or De LA Torre, but Michelinie, Layton and Lim have created a depiction and story that is truly the best Iron Man in many years.