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I’ve told you all before that the reason I’m into comic books is my father, who fell in love with the Silver Age Marvels back in the early 60’s and has maintained this hobby ever since. Basically, I’ve been spoiled, and have grown up with the opportunity to read a series right from the very beginning, strait through. By the time I was born in ’81, we had every single Silver Age Marvel. In fact, we had doubles of a lot, as my Dad bought copies in better condition in the late 70’s at shows and kept his old copies (often in poor condition) as a memento. In later year, we’ve often sold these to our comic shop to make large trades for series we never collected. For instance, we had a copy of X-Men #1 (Uncanny that is) in poor condition, that still sold for over $100.
Well, my Dad doesn’t read as many anymore, with life being as busy as it is. He’s tries to get back into it when he can, but more often than not, he still loves those Silver Age Marvels and would rather reread them. His favorite characters were Spider-Man Giant Man and Iron Man.
Well my Dad has a friend at work who also loves comic books. He’s more a child of the 70’s, and likes those issues most of all. He’s a major Captain America fan, and was able to get most of the late Silver Age Cap stories and a bunch of Tales of Suspense issues. These of course feature Iron Man, and as fate would have it, his little son (who is now 10) fell in love with the Iron Man character. Soooo…my Dad’s friend began hunting down as many Iron Man issues as he could for him, including late Silver Age issues.
To make a long story short: my Dad did something incredibly nice the other day which blew me away. My Dad met his friends little son and the son seemed so enthusiastic about Iron Man that it must have triggered something in him. So he came home that day, went through our double pile, and pulled out Tales of Suspense #39, the first issue of Iron Man ever. It was our double and not in the best condition, but I’d say it was probably fair, not poor and still very valuable.
The next day, my Dad gave his friends 10 year old son the first ever appearance of Iron Man, in all his Silver Age gray armor glory. He left me a note this morning (he’s at work) and has told me to go downstairs to our display board and check out the note the little boy sent my Dad as a thank you. He says it’s overwhelming. I can’t wait to read it
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
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Awwwwwwwww ... So I guess Des comes by it honestly, huh?
-------------------- You can never quit believiing in your dreams ... or yourself. ----- You GOTTA listen to Levi Kreis.
From: Aggieland | Registered: Jul 2003
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When I graduated high school in 1977, I began going to a lot of comic-book conventions, and buying a PILE of back-issues. I wish I'd bought a lot more than I had, as a few years later I got sucked into buying too many new books. The price of old comics got insane over the last 15 years, but back in the late 70's, you could often get decent 60's Marvels for a few bucks apiece.
I managed to get most issues of TALES OF SUSPENSE with Iron Man, though I missed a few. Probably the last one I bought was #39, Iron Man's debut. It was NOT in great shape (to put it lightly), but it wound up being the MOST I ever paid for a single comic, to date: $70.00. Best $70 I ever spent.
Among the missing were #40 (Gargantus, which I later found for $200, but I gave it a pass), #42 (The Red Barbarian), #44 (The Mad Pharaoh), #48 (Mr. Doll), #49 (The Angel) and #52 (the 1st appearance of The Black Widow). When the MASTERWORKS book came out (1992), I gave up wanting to get those early issues I was missing, as I could now at least read the stories. As a result, the ONLY early IM story I never read was Black Widow's debut-- until a couple years ago.
I did an inking job for an artist friend "on spec" (that means no money up front). Some time later, I got a package in the mail from him-- a very good copy of TOS #52!!! Wow. Best Christmas present I'd gotten in ages.
Over the last year or so I've been re-reading ALL my 60's Marvels, a month at a time, in chronlogical order. It's an opoportunity to enjoy these stories and all this art all over again, but with all the series I have put in the context of each other, as they were when first published-- something I was never able to do before plugging so many holes in the collection.
I also discovered Nick Simon's SILVER AGE MARVEL website, and have been supplying him with covers he's missing, or better versions of ones he already has. It's given me a LOT of practice using Photoshop, and even in the last month or two I continue to improve, generating cover images that look as good, and sometimes BETTER, than the actual comics EVER did, while trying my best to be faithful to the colors. (Now I'm waiting for Nick to find the time to start posting more of the "improved" covers I've sent him.)
Because Marvel had such slipshod production for DECADES, with regard to stats & negatives, the vast majority of their reprints over the years have looked really shoddy, with blurred, thickened or vanished linework. One of the biggest casualties in this regard was Don Heck, who often used lines MUCH thinner than the infamous Vince Colletta. In the reprints, the lines are often obliterated. In the originals, I can see them all in amazing clarity. Of course, there's also deadlines... it's obvious some months Don was able to put more-- or less-- in. A few IM episodes he inked look AWFUL, and you can tell he was on a tight deadline. But some-- WOW. If you have it, check out TOS #57-- "Hawkeye The Marksman". PERFECTION. And I never even used to like Heck's inks.
Another thing lost in reprints is the colors. Now, putting aside the huge problem the original printers had with color plate registration (it's really bad when one color plate is around 1/8" off from where it should be), nobody over the years ever seemed to want to be faithful to the original coloring (most of which was done by Stan Goldberg-- the guy who actually DESIGNED most of the colors of the Marvel Universe!). A huge causalty was TOS #39. Anybody got the MASTERWORKS book? On the cover, IM is a solid light brown. On the original, Goldberg somehow managed to make him 4 different shades of gray. He REALLY looks like METAL!!! And this was decades before the control you could get with computer coloring.
I've also been increasingly fascinated by character "casting". Many characters over the years were based on real people, but later artists & fans often have no idea who, because so much time has gone by. While Jack Kirby often used then-current celebrities, others like Don Heck (or Steve Ditko) apparently preferred to go back a generation or so. As a result, you have...
Tony Stark -- Errol Flynn Dr. Strange -- Ronald Colman The Black Widow -- Sophia Loren
Don Heck always said he based Pepper Potts on Ann B. Davis. The earliest stories, I can believe it. But a few episodes in, she went to the beauty parlor... and I can't believe she EVER looked like her original model ever again. (In fact, if there's one person I've seen on TV who would have been perfect for Pepper-- if much more recently-- it'd be Amy Yasbeck on WINGS!) I'm STILL trying to figure out who Baron Mordo or Happy Hogan might have been based on. Happy's a problem, because just during Heck's run on the series, he drew Happy at least 3 completely different ways! He started out looking tough & mean, then plain & sad, then he became rather handsome... and that was before Gene Colan came along.
Despite how much I love Gene Colan's work and am continually blown away by it, in recent years I've come to feel that DON HECK's run was the "DEFINITIVE" Iron Man.
Registered: Aug 2003
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Cobie, your dad sounds awesome! He really gives us comic book geeks a good name. He didn't lose sight that first and foremost, it's about joy and imagination! I envy that little kid to have such a gift fall into his lap (I'm talking about the gift of someone sharing something precious - the actual issues are almost secondary).
Iron Man is probably my favorite Marvel character (it used to be Wolverine when I was an adolescent, but we all know how that character has been driven into the ground). The "Suspense" stuff was before my time, but the Michelinie/Layton stuff (and even before, though I don't remember the creatives) will always be precious in my mind.
From: New York, NY | Registered: Jul 2003
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The sad truth is, based on everything I've seen and read over the years, that once IRON MAN got his own book, he was almost never as good as he'd been during the Heck & Colan runs in SUSPENSE. Even at the time, many readers considered George Tuska too "cartoony" ("blunt" is a word I like to use), and what surprises me about the early issues I've read is, even Archie Goodwin did a very below-average job (for once, for him). Later on, Mike Freidrich admitted HE didn't know what he was doing at all (the fill-ins drawn by early Jim Starlin & Craig Russell were excellent, though). Len Wein-Herb Trimpe could have done something, but Len both left too quick, and Trimpe never got consistent or appropriate inking. IM fell victim to revolving creators & deadline dooms until perpetual fill-in writer Bill Mantlo finally got his chance to do a regular series. He teamed with Tuska on HIS final run on the book, which was neither his best or worst work. Some interesting fill-in art followed and Mantlo looked ready to really take off... and then was BOOTED off the book in a behind-the-scenes power-play by newcomers Michelinie & Layton!
Sure-- Michelinie, Layton & John Romita Jr. made probably the MOST impressive IM team since Lee & Colan-- but it bugged me the way they got the book. As it went on, Layton's success affected his ego, and I doubt he's ever come back down. (Somebody should REALLY tell him he's 10 TIMES better as an inker than he is a penciller-- which made him a perfect match for JR Jr., who desperately needs a finisher LIKE Layton to make his work take off.)
It still baffles me that after multiple inferior fill-ins, nobody ever announced the new regular writer was Denny O'Neil-- the guy who says he "can't relate to superheroes" and feels he has to drag all of them down to "human" level. Teamed with Luke McDonnell (who some say can't draw) and Steve Mitchell (who some say can't ink) he spent 3 WHOLE YEARS putting Tony Stark's life thru non-stop hell and degredation. So many thought Miller's "BORN AGAIN" was the greatest thing ever, and decided they wanted to do THEIR version. Yeah, right. By the time Stark's life began coming back from the bottom, Mitchell was replaced by Akin & Garvey, and McDonnell was replaced by Mark Bright. Then the classic red-and-yellow was replaced by a Japansese-robot-inspired red-and-silver armor, and things looked up again. Naturally, O'Neil didn't wanna stick around for that... so at least 6 months of more interminably awful fill-ins followed. Then--surprise! Michelinie & Layton came back for round 2, with Bright still along for the ride.
Things were fine for awhile... until someone apparently decided they hadn't put Stark through HELL for too many months. First he wrecked his rep with the "Stark Wars" story, then a nutso girlfriend left him crippled in a wheelchair-- and had the nerve to try sueing HIM for emotional distress!!! Michelinie & Layton departed just in time for Romita Jr. to return-- with John Byrne as writer ONLY (about the same time Mike Grell & Jim Starlin both also decided THEY were bored with drawing, too). It was bad. It was UNREADABLE. It was ugly to look at, too. Yet I put up with it for about a year-and-a-half... until I just got to bored to continue.
Good thing. From everything I heard, what followed was 10 TIMES WORSE!!! Lucky I mised all that...
When I returned, it was for the debut of Kurt Busiek & Sean Chen (and a growing army of inkers trying to keep up with his detail-intensive pencils). I was astonished. As Roy Thomas had done with DR. STRANGE on his 2nd run in the late 80's, Busiek & Chen presented Iron Man stories that seemed linked DIRECTLY with the mid-60's run. You really had a sense that this was the same character, the same series, in an unbroken run-- updated to "today" but not forgetting where it started for once. Wow. In fact, I enjoyed the Busiek-Chen IM so much, I thought they blew both runs by Michelinie & Layton right out of the water!!!
Things only went astray, for me, when Roger Stern had the nerve to have Tony, Pepper & Happy repeat a bad soap-opera moment from the Friedrich era (man sees his wife kissing his best friend!), and THEN, after 2 years of build-up, suddenly say that Tony & Pepper AREN'T really falling in love again-- nor ever will. (Does Stern have something about long-term relationships? He pulled the exact same stunt with Pete & MJ, and Doc Strange & Clea!!!)
The book began to fizzle when Joe Quesada began writing... then PLUMMETTED out of control as soon as he left. After the entertaining heights of those 2-1/2 years, I wasn't about to put up with buying bad comics out of loyalty to a character. I dropped IM-- again-- and happily, never looked back! Until I started re-reading the old issues... now THOSE are worth re-reading-- over and over and over.
Registered: Aug 2003
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Well, I saw the note, and it made me smile, and almost made me cry .
Dear Mr. Bohan,
Thank you for giving me a copy of Tales of Suspense #39. I never believed I would own the first comic book Iron Man apperd (sic) in. If you ever need any Iron Man comics that I have, you can have them.
Kevin
He also gave my Dad a little Crimson Dynamo figurine that he had for himself. My Dad told him to hold onto it, but the little guy was persistent so my Dad graciously accepted it.
(Prof- I'll read your comments and respond on Iron Man too, as I'm a longtime fan of Tony! )
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
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quote:Originally posted by profh0011: I enjoyed the Busiek-Chen IM so much, I thought they blew both runs by Michelinie & Layton right out of the water!!!
I agree. While Michelinie/Layton were part of my formative years, I thought Busiek presented the best Tony Stark ever. He seemed to really understand the man underneath the armor and while he didn't ignore his alcoholism and past mistakes, showed a man who had moved beyond those problems and was a hero in his own right with or without the armor. I thought the series went downhill fast when he left (no, I didn't care for Quesada).
The Iron Man title has been very hit or miss with me: I loved the Michelinie Layton stuff, dropped it for awhile, came back when Tony reclaimed the armor from Rhodey, then dropped it during his silver/red armor, picked it up again during JR jr's run (I actually really liked his art on "IM"), dropped it again at some point, then started up again when Busiek relaunched the title etc... I tried getting into the new title, but as I've stated in the "IM" thread, I'm dropping the title again. I'll check out the "House of M" Iron Man though, but since it's an "Elseworlds" I don't konw how much interest it'll hold for me.
From: New York, NY | Registered: Jul 2003
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What an awesome set of events. Your Dad is a real hero in my book...and what a sweet thank you note from a 10 year old.
Thanks for telling us this story Des. Really made my day.
[ May 23, 2005, 02:44 PM: Message edited by: Vee ]
-------------------- "Hey Jim! Get Mon out of the Zone!! And...when do we get Condo back?"
From: Paragon City on patrol | Registered: Jul 2003
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from a fellow comic fan. 
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That is so sweet. 
