title- Doom Bug
issue- 44
writer/art- Ken Steacy
Summary:
While testing a new telepresence unit controlled mandroid, Iron Man encounters a missile which infects him with a hallucinogenic gas. Ant-Man and Jim Rhodes come to his rescue. Due to appear in a technology fair being held in Latveria, Ant-Man agrees to tag along in case Iron Man's armor fails once more. As the fair demonstrations begin, technology all over begins to fail. Iron Man immediately suspects Doom and flies to his castle for answers. His fears are confirmed when Doom admits that it is a virus that has been released upon all the devices that have come to the fair. But Doom informs him that it is he who is spreading it. When he inhaled the gas from the missile, the virus nestled itself in his lungs. Doom attacks him with impunity, thinking he is immune, however he discovers too late that the virus has mutated. Instantly Doom's armor malfunctions and he disables himself by crashing into a wall. Scientist rush to Doom's side and discover that with the power to his armor shut off, the micro reactor will overheat and explode. Iron Man bargains with the Latverians to get the cure in exchange for saving Doom and Latveria. Ant-Man then shrinks Iron Man so that he can enter Doom's armor and inject the cure into his armor and thus activate it. Inside the armor, Iron Man is attacked and knocked out my the armor's defenses. Rhodes then uses the telepresence unit to take control of Iron Man's armor. Ultimately Doom recovers in time and disaster is averted.
Comments:
Marvel Fanfare is I think a largely underrated title. It harkens to the old MARVEL days as an outlet for those tangent stories that just don't fit anywhere else. Most stories that show up here would probably be back-up stories in an annual. Here we have a rare pairing of Doom and Iron Man. That is certainly a plus, however here it is not handled so well. Perhaps I am spoiled by the classic encounters written by David Micheline. I should say at this point this issue is certainly not a classic. It is rather a light, simple, and enjoyable story geared more toward Iron Man fans rather than Doom fans. But, how many stories are ever written for Doom fans? Marvel Fanfare doesn't pretend to take place in continuity. This issue has Doom ruling Latveria and yet it was published clearly during the Kristoff / Doom war. As such it is somewhat incongruous. Doom's characterization in the story is extremely bland. When asked why he did it he quotes Orwell, chaos for chaos' sake. Am all too simple story would not bother so however the art really drives this issue over the edge. Ken Steacy's style doesn't really capture neither Iron Man nor Doom. The only other noteworthy mention is that there is a Dalek from Doctor Who visible in one of the backgrounds. Nice. Bottom Line: Skip It!