Iron Man Armoured Adventures Volume 1   Starring (voice): Adrian Petriw, Daniel Bacon, Vincent Tong, Anna Cummer and Mackenzie Gray ITV DVD RRP: £12.99 3711530953 Certificate: PG Available 07 September 2009

Tony Stark is a teenager who spends his time studying for exams, testing his latest inventions, being adventurous and... saving the world. Using his gift for science he manages to create his own suit of mechanised armour which allows him to tap into abilities the rest of us can only dream about - abilities that he hopes to use for the good of all. Unfortunately, everything goes horribly wrong when a mysterious accident kills his father and changes everything. Tony uses the hi-tech armour of the Iron Man suit to disguise himself as he tries to solve this mystery, whilst having to take on villains and fight epic battles. However at the same time he’s got to deal with both being a normal teenager and being Iron Man...

Volume one of Iron Man: Armoured Adventures contains the first 13 episodes of the first season (which was made up of 26 episodes).

The show's animation is of the CGI variety - something that not everyone will warm to. The animation on the first bunch of episodes looks incredibly rudimentary in places. In fact there were quite a few scenes where the lack of background detail made it look like it was half complete. However, over the course of the show the animation improves somewhat - although it still look a little basic on occasion.

But, to be honest, the quality of the animation isn't that much of an issue once you get into the story. The scripts are well above the usual kid's cartoon quality, and it's this which makes the show an interesting watch.

While firmly aimed at a young audience, there are enough appearances by some of the other characters from the comic books (Obadiah Stane (aka Iron Monger), Howard Stark, Pepper Potts, Mandarin, Killer Shrike, Unicorn, Blizzard and Whiplash to name just a few) that older fans of the Marvel series will also find much of interest.

Extras include a number of photo galleries (The Different Designs of Iron Man; The Heroes and Villains; and The Principle Characters); and a story board comparison for episode 10: Masquerade (3 min, 04 sec).

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Nick Smithson