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 In fact, these kind of runs are so era-defining that when you look back on them, they seem almost… outdated.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.

As the X-Men line retools itself following Messiah Complex, we finally get to to the book formerly known as Adjectiveless. Essentially created to be a Jim Lee vehicle in 1991 off the back of Todd MacFarlane’s successful “Spider-Man” title, the book was slightly scuppered when Lee left to help form Image under a year into its lifespan. Nevertheless, with a five-cover launch at the height of the speculator boom, it’s easily one of the biggest comics ever published and remained a staple of the line.

I find it somewhat odd, then, to see it reworked (reduced?) into essentially a Professor X solo title, which sounds like a bad idea to anyone. Carey, though, is a fantastic writer who brought the continuity back to comics by being the first person in years to openly acknowledge and reference the X-Men’s rich history. It’s a trend he’s continuing with the rework, and Legacy’s gimmick is that it’s going to feature around 8 pages of backup story each issue, set at certain points in X-history. For a long-time X-Fan like me, it’s a very attractive prospect.

It’s made even more attractive because John Romita Jr. is drawing the Lost-style flashbacks featuring Xavier forming the original X-Men. Some people don’t understand his style, but like his father, he’s nothing less than a true industry great and seeing him draw the X-Men makes me wonder why they ever let him go - he last drew an X-Men title (Uncanny) in 1994. Scott Eaton capably provides the modern-day sequences as the massively powerful acolyte Exodus heals Xavier’s brain and tries to reassemble Xavier’s memories and put them back in his head.

As expected, this fills in the gap between Messiah Complex and the recent Uncanny issue, explaining where Xavier’s body went - the Acolytes have it. That means it’s already continuity plug, starting as it means to go on. Magneto shows up at the end, which makes things very interesting, but also has worrying shades of Claremont’s aborted Excalibur series. Still, let’s not judge it on that so far. At the moment, it’s hard to see where this is going.

The main theme of the book appears to be asking just what Xavier’s motivations really are, presumably to repair around a lot of character damage that’s gone on. The flashback sequences feature him and Moira discussing the formation of the X-Men, and for all Xavier’s claims that he’s building a school, Moira can’t help notice there are only 5 students and he’s training them into a private army. He justifies it to himself, of course, but we’re certainly being asked to consider which of the two characters is correct here.

An odd start for X-Men: Legacy, though an excellent read nonetheless. I suspect that the title is in for an interesting ride over the next few years…

Kick-Ass is one of those comics that paints itself as a realistic depiction of superheroes. It’s a trend that many will argue began, and should’ve ended, with Watchmen. Still, even Watchmen’s premise was fairly forgiving - it was a realistic take on a superhero universe as much as superhero characters. Kick-Ass goes one step further, asking what happens when someone in OUR universe - the real world - tries to be a superhero.

As you can imagine, the answers are fairly simple, and they involve some poorly thought-out violence, a lot of swearing, and a teenager with too much time on his hands. It’s gloriously, painfully bleak stuff. The main character cuts a familiar figure - a comic-obsessed teenager who spends his time jacking off to internet porn and praising Joss Whedon to his friends. I feel lampooned already.

Issue #1 is, naturally, an origin story: David Lizewski is a nobody. After his mother dies of a brain aneurysm, he lives alone with his father, playing video games and reading comics. There’s nothing special about him, no unreasonable trauma in his upbringing, he just can’t understand (and if you ask me, quite reasonably so) why people want to be Paris Hilton and not Spider-Man. The thing that separates him from all of us is that he’s got exactly the right combination of time, boredom and stupidity to take it to the next level. Putting on a wetsuit with a facemask, he goes out looking for crime. For a while, he’s enjoying it, even if he finds nothing. When he eventually tackles a gang of grafitti artists, things go south pretty as fast as you’d expect - he’s beaten up, shivved and left for dead.

And let me tell you this: it’s all hilarious. Seeing Romita really go to town on the violence levels is, in itself, worth the price of entry. He’s been drawing castrated super-hero books for so long that you can practically feel the glee dripping off the page like the blood he’s drawing when David smacks a gang member in the face with his bat. Millar has his flaws as a writer, but he’s definitely managed to rein in his wilder tendencies - in David, he’s created a character who, far more than someone like Peter Parker, represents the everyman. I’m sympathetic with his directionless, entertainment-obsessed plight. The script, though, is where Millar really shines, and the last line of the book is what sells me on the next issue. I hesitate to spoil, but if you’re undecided it sums up the tone of the book perfectly: ”Two broken legs, my spine crushed, and dressed like a fucking pervert. My dad was going to kill me.”