This week: Reviews of Astonishing X-Men: Ghost Boxes #1, Invincible Iron Man #7, Iron Man: The End and Wolverine: Chop Shop.

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Bob Layton’s run on Iron Man is one of those era-defining ones that happened before my time. You hear this sort of thing mentioned all the time - Mark Gruenwald on Cap, Peter David on the Hulk, that sort of thing. In fact, these kind of runs are so era-defining that when you look back on them, they seem almost… outdated. Iron Man’s alcoholism is firmly ingrained in the character now, for instance, but once upon a time, someone had to actually write that story. It piques your curiosity as a fan - but no Iron Man story interested me enough to go back and read it, until Iron Man: Doomquest.

Clearly released as a companion to both the Iron Man film and Bendis’ recent homage to the story in Mighty Avengers, Doomquest collects four issues of Iron Man in which he travels through time with Doctor Doom. That’s more pages than it sounds, by the way, because two of the issues are double-sized.

The initial story, from Iron Man #149 and #150, sees the two sent back in time by one of Doom’s rebellious servants during a fight in castle Doom. Something about the idea of Doom and Iron Man in Camelot has intrigued me ever since I first found out about it. Certainly, the idea of Tony Stark, man of science, thrust into a world of magic is an appealing idea - as is pitting Doom against Stark, two sides of the same (armoured) coin. The result is something brilliant, even by today’s standards. Layton’s writing contains some great moments of humour, drama and adventure - I laughed every time Doom addressed Iron Man, who he believes to be Stark’s bodyguard, as “lackey”. The solution, where Doom and Iron Man team up is a brilliant moment that shows just how pragmatic Doom and Iron Man can be. Romita’s artwork is almost unrecognisable compared to his modern style, but nonetheless, the greatness is still there, if slightly less developed.

The second half of the collection contains the sequel to that story, originally from Iron Man #249 and #250, in which the two again travel in time, this time to the future, where they meet Merlin and a reborn King Arthur, and have to save the world from their own futures - the evil, armoured offpring of Stark’s bloodline, and the still-living, mostly cybernetic Doom. Again, it’s fantastic. A classic story that’s held up well by modern standards.

The issues are collected in Marvel’s excellent premiere hardback format. They have some classy-looking covers that make me want to buy them all, but I’ve managed to hold out until now. The collection could do with a little extra material - the Camelot issues end with Lady Morgana escaping, and no resolution to that plot, so if possible it would’ve been nice to see that thread followed up somehow.

As a comics fan you dream of witnessing character-defining stories like this as they happen, but in lieu of that, why not go and read the ones that already exist? Doomquest might be old, but it’s barely showing its age. It’s a fun story, and a genuinely deserved classic.