Issue(s): Iron Man #149, Iron Man #150
Cover Date: Aug-Sep 81
Title: "Doomquest" / "Knightmare"
Credits:
David Michelinie & Bob Layton - Plot
David Michelinie - Script
John Romita Jr. - Penciler
Bob Layton - Inker

Review/plot:
Tony Stark has discovered that the VP of his Miami branch has been selling equipment to Latveria. True, Dr. Doom is not currently the ruler of Latveria, but the country is still on Stark's restricted list.

The executive is fired with a 'generous' severance package.

It turns out the equipment really was going to Doom. He's been using the parts to power his time machine. This arc shows him traveling back in time to learn mystical secrets from Cagliostro, who interestingly enough is a mage that we've seen before in a story involving him traveling through time.

Doom is not pleased that his shipment has been cut off.

Suspecting Doom will try to get his supplies, Iron Man stands guard at the dock where they are stored. But Doom sends a powerful undersea vessel to acquire the equipment and it is able to overwhelm Iron Man.

Tony heads to Latveria in his civilian identity and is met by King Zorba's soldiers, who provide him directions to Doom's castle in the hopes that Stark will deliver Doom a set-back.

Stark shows up in Latveria as Iron Man. I'm not sure how that makes any sense for his secret identity, but Doom will amusingly refer to Iron Man as "lackey" and "errand boy" the entire story...

...so obviously there's no problem there. Iron Man and Doom get into a fight and Doom generally has the upper hand the entire time...

...but Doom's scientist lackey has a grudge against Doom...

...so he activates the time machine when he has a chance, sending them both back into the past.

They find themselves in Camelot.

It's only a model!

Calling an unsteady truce, Iron Man and Doom meet up with King Arthur...

...and Stark continues to prove he's a ladies man in any century...

...but Doom soon sneaks off to ally himself with Morgan Le Fey.

Le Fey raises an undead army for Doom to lead in the attack against Arthur...

...in return for which she will teach Doom the magic he can use to free his mother. Iron Man is able to circumvent the army and chase Morgan away. Doom swears he will kill Iron Man in response to this... but not right away. Now he needs Iron Man's help to combine their electronics so they can return to their own time.

Fun story.

Quality Rating: B+

Historical Significance Rating: 3 - first Iron Man/Dr. Doom story. First meeting of Dr. Doom & Morgan Le Fey

Chronological Placement Considerations: The MCP places this before Avengers #210.

References:

• Stark Industries is still being rebuilt after the fire caused by Blacklash in Iron Man #146-147.
  
• Cagliostro previously appeared in Marvel Premiere #12-14.
  
• Dr. Doom is using a scientist named Hauptmann. Hauptmann secretly hates Doom because Doom killed his brother in Fantastic Four #85.
  
• Doom uses his awesome boulder gun in these issues. We've seen it before in Fantastic Four #40, Astonishing Tales #3, and Giant-Size Super-Villain Team-Up #1. I love the re-occurrence of this crazy weapon.
  

• Doom's interest in the mystical arts is driven by the fact that his mother is trapped in hell, as first shown in Astonishing Tales #8.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

The link to Cagliostro's previous appearance is broken. Also, shouldn't he be listed as a character? Or not, because this is happening in the past and he's not time-travelling in this story? But Morgan Le Fey is listed, and she's in the past too. I always get confused by how you handle that stuff.

Thanks, S. I've fixed the link.

Regarding Character Appearances in time travel stories, there's someone else who also gets confused. ;-)

My rule is supposed to be that i don't list the "locals". So i shouldn't have listed Morgan Le Fey, and i've removed her. Sometimes for prominent characters like Le Fey i get tempted to list them because they can be significant appearances, like this meeting between her and Doom. But this should take place before her appearances in Spider-Woman (for example) so i shouldn't list her here or her listing will appear out of order.

Weird to see JRjr pencils that look so much like Byrne's work. Personally, I like this much better than his overly muscular pencils in the early 90's.

I took "Cagliostro" to be Aged Genghis from "Dr Strange". Hence Doom's warning that immortality can be a curse.

I doubt the intention was to identify Genghis with the historical Cagliostro, as he was Italian, and Genghis is apparently Asian. Perhaps Cagliostro's name was substituted for Genghis's because he was too obscure.

Cagliostro, in this form, appeared in some old Dracula stories from the 1970s and was also seen (by proxy) in one fo Steve Engelhart's 1970s Dr. Strange stories. He's distinct from the Aged Genghis, who is both older and in much, much worse shape.

This is a classic story. It is totally unexpected and yet makes complete sense. It is also one of the few Doctor Doom stories outside the FF title that does the character justice. What is really good is that while the story presents Iron Man well, it doesn't portray Doom any less of a threat he should be. It does justice to both Doom and Iron Man.