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IRON MAN #104 / Nov'77
http://www.comics.org/issue/31647/cover/4/

Somebody at the GCd said this was Dave Cockrum & Frank Giacoia, but those looks like Cockrum inks to me. VERY cool cover!


IRON MAN #105 / Dec'77
http://www.comics.org/issue/31736/cover/4/

Cockrum & Terry Austin, who did quite a few X-MEN covers together-- another cool cover.


IRON MAN #106 / Jan'78
http://www.comics.org/issue/31872/cover/4/

Ditto.


IRON MAN #107 / Feb'78
http://www.comics.org/issue/31964/cover/4/

Keith Pollard & Joe Rubinstein. Pollard made his debut on the interiors so it make ssnes he also did the cover. Rubinstein had made his Marvel debut just a few months earlier on Jim Starlin's 2-part Thanos ANNUAL crossover, immediately proved himself a force to be reckoned with, and has continually blown my mind for not turning one a single bad job in 33 YEARS in the business!!! For an inker, this is ASTONISHING.


Part of me does kinda wish if George Tuska was going to finally leave the book for good, it would have been with THIS issue, the finale of a 5-part storyline that had been built up to for a couple years. (Shades of Dave Cockrum-- heh.) It also would have nice if Tuska's final IM issues had had better inks... like what the COVERS were getting around here. Ah well.

My overall impression of Bill Mantlo's run on the book up to this point was, he started out slow, worked steady, added new details and depths never seen before, and was really starting to pick up steam here. In my eyes, it took a long, slow time, but overall by this point, I was beginning to be VERY impressed with him.

And now, with such a major change in the art, the book seemed perched on the beginning of a great new era. The next storyline did NOT disappoint! But what followed that, to this day, still rubs me the wrong way.


Oh, by the way, I thought I'd mention (and I had to look this up)... Fred Kida had begun doing the odd inking job here and there around this time (I'd earlier seen him in SUPER-VILLAIN TEAM-UP). He had a nice, smooth, if not flashy style. I think I did get the impression he'd been around a bit, as it turns out, he was another GOLDEN AGER, having been mostly known for AIRBOY and VALKYRIE, both from Hillman, in the 40s's! It might have been nice to see him teamed with George Tuska. Crazy as it seems, I never realized until recently that Tuska was a "Golden Age" artist, he'd been around a LOT longer than I ever imagined back in the 70's.

Here's some more info...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Kida

Gee, until JUST NOW, I had no idea he drew the SPIDER-MAN newspaper strip in the early 80's!

^Very interesting about Fred Kida! Until now, I've really known nothing about him! He comes back to ink Infantino's issues and does a really good job on them.

Iron Man #108 – Following the big Midas story there are a few issues where things slow down, but writer Bill Mantlo is very smart in making sure these are not ‘fill-in’ issues, as they directly address plot points left hanging and move the story forward. For whatever reason Keith Pollard is still not ready to take over art duties (even though it was announced like 7 months earlier) so comics great Carmine Infantino comes on. This was after Infantino left DC after decades, recently being more of an editorial presence there as well as a penciler.

Infantino’s artwork here is nothing short of gorgeous in my opinion. It looks really, really good, and he definitely still has the same style he had for his late Silver Age stories, with his poses reminding me a bit of the Flash. I’d forgotten how much Infantino’s artwork had changed and evolved over the decades—I definitely like his late 60’s / 70’s look.

The story itself brings back the Growing Man for his 3rd appearance, who is one of those Marvel characters who I like but isn’t one of my favorites. The Growing Man is partially besides the point as the real story is reviving Iron Man’s supporting cast from being gold statues. Mantlo has Jack of Hearts continue to play a big role, while also having Yellowjacket guest-star (he was currently in Avengers at this time).

Mantlo uses Yellowjacket very well here! Hank Pym & Tony Stark have been long time allies and friends and I enjoy seeing the two used together—when its done right (not in recent years by shitty writing like in Dan Slott’s Mighty Avengers). I like how in here Hank dresses Tony down for feeling sorry for himself and gives him some tough love. YK does a great job here and I also like how Tony acquiesces to Hank’s superior biological background. It’s well played and makes me realize Hank should be a guest-star more often, like Thor should be.

Iron Man #109 – The second Infantino issue with Mantlo is equally as beautiful and I’m again stunned at how nice it’s come out. I’m also wondering if right around this time was when the paper quality began to change? That might not be the case but instead perhaps it was the coloring system or inking or something that was changing because the comics of this era seem to have a different look in more than just art styles. When someone is heavily shadowed there are miniscule ‘boxes’ in the inks which create a cool effect. Also, for some time more effort was made to show Iron Man’s armor as shiny, which I like. Layton would really take this to a new level soon.

There is quite a lot happening in this issue: Mantlo is wrapping up the loose ends from the Midas plot and beginning a new arc, all the while giving us some plots to bridge the two stories. For the wrap-up, it happened just a bit too fast for my tastes but I appreciate Mantlo moving things forward full steam ahead. Most of the cast heads back out on their own, though I’m very curious is (A) Jasper Sitwell is going to remain in the series or will disappear again and (B) what is going to happen to Michael O’Brien? Even though Michael’s story is somewhat complete, I feel like there is still a bit to follow-up on, and if he’s going to keep the Guardsman armor? (Maybe this is eventually followed up on in another comic?).

Jack of Hearts remains front and center in the cast and officially takes on the role of Iron Man’s temporary apprentice, probably staying on for a number of issues. I don’t mind because Mantlo writes him well but I hope he doesn’t take too much screen time away from Tony and others because then he might get annoying.

Madame Masque is also front and center. While I enjoy the character quite a bit, I realize that I’m not actually sold 100% on the romance between her and Tony. Some fans were writing in to the Letter’s page proclaiming it to be one of the most realistic romances in comics, but for whatever reason, I’m not buying it. It seems forced to me. We’ll see how it goes.

Before Tony can even get any downtime, he immediately heads off to his next mission. This is something that has always thrown me for a loop and all writers seem to make the same mistake. He’s been going hard for several days strait now! He needs a shower. A good night’s sleep. Something else else to eat! Jeepers! There should have been a rest sequence but for in the 70’s, that still was not the case.

The story then moves forward to the Moon, kicking off a much larger storyline involving Iron Man and Jack going into another universe. The first stop is a confrontation with the Russian superheroes on the moon which was really well done a great highlight of the issue. The Byrne / Austen cover also depicts them very well. Darkstar is done well, fresh off the end of the Champions and Vanguard is introduced (did he ever appear earlier). I’m not totally familiar with either character so I appreciated their appearance.

A real surprise was the presence of the Crimson Dynamo—and more, Tony’s reaction to it! He erupts in a fury proclaiming the Dynamo killed Janice Cord (even though it was the Titanium Man). Despite getting it wrong, I’m glad to see Tony reacting to Janice’s death like this, sometimes he can be a bit cold. What’s interesting is its revealed its not Nevsky, the third Dynamo and so Tony had no reason to flip out; even more, its actually the 5th Dynamo! The 4th appeared sometime in the Champions series and quickly was replaced; apparently Nevsky went MIA at some point as well. That means by 1978 there were already 5 Crimson Dynamo’s—ayayayayayai! How many have their been by 2011? 12?

I wonder if this Dynamo is the one who we continually see again and again, usually making his way back to being the Dynamo. He is very pro-Russia, pro-communism but seems to be a pretty good guy. I’m even more curious if we’ll ever see Alex Nevsky again! His story is far from over and he has an incredibly interesting back story and grudge against Tony over Janice. It’s too good of a dangling plotline to let fade away, so I’m sure somewhere along the lines it’s brought back. Also, what the heck happened to the 4th Dynamo? Lots of Dynamo’s floating around at this point…

IRON MAN #108 / Mar'78
http://www.comics.org/issue/32053/cover/4/

Terrific Pollard-Sinnot cover!


IRON MAN #109 / Apr'78
http://www.comics.org/issue/32149/cover/4/

Not bad Byrne-Austin cover, but to my eyes, I'm reminded of how back then I initially thought there was something "strange" or "off" about Byrne's art. He definitely has a "different" style. I can remember for a few years wondering how his stuff would look if Joe Sinnott inked it (heh). Finally got a chance to see in MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #50 (if memory serves), which I think was also the 1st issue he got to write all by himself.


Carmine did a TON of work for Warren's horror books as well as Marvel in the years after he was booted out of the Publisher's job at DC. The bulk of his Marvel work was a long run on STAR WARS, inked by the likes of Terry Austin, Bob Wiacek & Gene Day. He also did a lot of fill-ins, here on IRON MAN, on AVENGERS, on DAREDEVIL, on DEFENDERS. And he did 2 STAR-LORD stories in MARVEL PREVIEW (coming after the Byrne-Austin story that gave the character such a recharge). I don't recall him having any regular series of his own except for STAR WARS, though. His work on that seems to have been veyr popular with fans, but apparently, George Lucas was not crazy about it, preferring someone like Al Williamson, or the overall look Tom Palmer's inks gave a variety of pencillers he worked with.

At some point, Carmine went back to DC, once more as penciller, and did a LONG stretch on THE FLASH, running all the way to the very end of the book's run (just before Barry Allen got killd off in CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS). I know Carmined did a DANGER TRAIL mini-series (covers by Paul Gulacy!), but I got the feeling he may have retired after that.


I'd forgotten Keith Pollard was announced long before he "took over" IRON MAN. In the long run, he wound up doing only 4-1/2 issues (the other "1/2" being by Herb Trimpe). I wonder what happened there?

To be honest, THIS part of the run was my FAVORITE after the initial Wein-Trimpe issues. I was so disappointed when that "new era" got derailed almost before it started, and it seemed to me the book was running on air and fill-ins ever since, at least, until Mantlo & Tuska finally brought stability to it. But it was never my favorite Tuska art (the inks just weren't doing it), and when Pollard, and yes, Infantino, got on, it seemed to me that Bill Mantlo was finally "picking up steam".

All these new guys on the inks helped as well-- Kida, Wiacek, Patterson (back when he was good), and even Alcala (where did HE come from?) and Rubinstein (WOW).


From your description (mind, I haven't read these since they came out!), it sounds like Bill Mantlo handled Hank Pym MUCH better than most writers have since. Considerting all the CRAP writers & editors (and EDITORS-IN-CHIEF) have dumped on him since, it's amazing to have him telling TONY not to feel sorry for himself... especially when I realize what TONY had dumped on him, only about a year after this (and then again about 3 years after that... and God only knows how many times AFTER THAT).


I'd have to check the time-line, but I recall this story being my introduction to Darkstar. I missed most of the CHAMPIONS issues, which I think is where she debuted.


Way back when, Marie Severin sent me some pencil zeroxes to try my hand at inking. Among them were a pair of Carmine Infantino pages! I wish I'd have done thiese a lot sooner than I did (things do get in the way), but here's the results...


http://www.webspawner.com/users/zodiaccomics/imageGallery/IM%20109%20p02a_website.JPG

http://www.webspawner.com/users/zodiaccomics/imageGallery/IM%20109%20p02b_website.JPG


http://www.webspawner.com/users/zodiaccomics/imageGallery/SW%20001%20p02a_website.JPG

http://www.webspawner.com/users/zodiaccomics/imageGallery/SW%20001%20p02b_website.JPG


OH, THAT'S RIGHT... Carmine's other regular book was SPIDER-WOMAN!!

I always thought Tony DeZuniga was wasting his time and talent inking other artists, most of the time I couldn't stand the result. But Infantino-DeZuniga was a real SUSPRISE. They meshed better than I ever could have dreamed, and the book actually looked "smoother" than 90% of Tony's inks were. Even Marv Wolfman's writing was better than usual. What a great team, that book was so much better than it seemed it deserved, seeing as the character was created just to keep someone else from doing a "Spider-Woman". (sheesh)

Later, Mark Gruenwald & Al Gordon replaced Wolfman & DeZuniga, but the book stayed good, and Carmine continued. (Until the NEXT creative shake-up, when everyone was replaced, and the book WENT TO HELL!!! I hate when that happens.)


To me, the 5-part "Moonrise" / "Moon Wars" story was THE highlight of Bill Mantlo's entire run on IRON MAN. Even now, all these years later, I wish this run had continued a LOT longer than it did.

Iron Man #109 – 111 – The “Moon Wars” Saga by Bill Mantlo & Keith Pollard, in which every issue has a different inker on Pollard (as Prof lists above) is definitely a continuation of all the good trends in Iron Man over the last two dozen issues and has at this point, become a major high point for the series—probably since even Gene Colan left. I thought it was executed perfectly with an engrossing, adventure story that was filled with tension, action, some humor and had Iron Man and Jack of Hearts being very purposeful in their decisions. What a great story!

The story itself feels like Mantlo had recently been reading Kirby’s Thor run and was inspired to play with a whole series of classic Kirby characters with Iron Man: the Colonizers, which is one of my favorite alien races in the MU, and the Knights of Wundagore, who have one of the best visuals in comics. Mantlo does a fantastic job using the very complex continuity of both by that time, making it all work and make sense, as both sets of characters had appeared every few years from the mid-60’s to the late 70’s. Mantlo & Pollard also bring in Galactus’s Punisher, another character I’ve always liked.

What I really liked is that Mantlo took the idea of the Colonizers, which on paper is a very brutal, awful group, but in execution ended up being a very lovable sort of alien race, and really brought them to full potential in terms of being a real threat. He smartly kept continuity as it was but created an off-shoot of the Colonizers under the control of a rogue military leader known as Artoricus (I may have spelled that wrong, I don’t have it in front of me); the Colonizers are now very much like the Ancient Romans or Ancient Persians in their brutality—and at one point, even on par with the Nazi’s (when the motivation of the rogue military leader is revealed).

This positions Iron Man (and Jack) to be very direct in their own motivations, with Shellhead quickly siding against them. The story could have easily been a “I can’t get in the middle, which side is right?” type story but instead Tony quickly takes a side and stands by his decision, and it feels like the right decision. This is a great example of how well Mantlo writes Iron Man. There are numerous other great scenes that showcase this.

Towards the end, the story ties back into the Russian heroes which also was a nice touch, making it really a four-part story from #108-111. The story did end rather abruptly, however, which took me by surprise. The Recorder appears at the end (another character I love) and that was a nice touch, though I do wonder if the casual fan was left wondering what the heck was happening.

Meanwhile, the series continues to have some great subplots: Jasper is still around working at Stark Industries; Madame Masque is eagerly awaiting Tony’s return but has grown mad at being left behind, something which will likely become an issue later; there is a Tech at SI who is actually working against Tony in an espionage-related plot (Spymaster at last?); and we even got a quick look at Happy & Pepper which was out of left field but welcome.

Great story!

Bullpen Bulletins
During this story it was announced that John Verpooten, Production Manager, passed away at the early age of 37. I never knew he died during this era and it’s a bit sad to read after I’ve been reading strait through from the Silver Age to the present. Verpooten had become an important Marvel mainstay for quite a long time.

Also during this time, the last great editorial change happens: Jim Shooter takes over as Editor-in-Chief from Archie Goodwin. Though it wasn’t obvious at the time, this would mark a turning point where Marvel would achieve some stability and even more, professionalism. A minor example happens right away: Roger Stern becomes editor of Iron Man. The era of writer-editors was coming to an end, thankfully. Shooter did many bad things during his tenure, but there’s no denying he improved Marvel as an organization immensely.

Also during this time the Hulk TV show launched and was a resounding success. This was a big win for Marvel (and Spider-Man had his own TV show too). Spider-Man and the Hulk in the late 70’s became as well-known and profitable as Superman and Batman.

Stan’s Soapbox
Something else else interesting is mentioned in Stan’s soapbox during this story (Spring 1978). Stan mentions how a college kid called him out at a lecture saying in his soapbox he’s always trying to market new projects and give the reader the hard-sell when in the old days he used to philosophize and level with the fans about serious issues. Stan promises to get back to that. What is interesting is the kid is totally right, even though Stan was always working an angle to sell more products in the old days. But along the way, the outright never-ending marketing parade seemed to overtake the sense of Marvel comics being this fun-loving community which interacted with Stan & co. through the Bullpen Bulletin’s page. The process was gradual and almost unnoticeable but it certainly occurred throughout the 70’s. Marvel Zombies still existed and the loyalty between fans and Marvel Comics was still quite strong, but that connection in the Silver Age to the creators had somehow fallen by the wayside.



Iron Man #112 – After only 4 issues, Keith Pollard checks out, when twice as many issues prior proclaimed him in the letter’s page as the new ongoing penciler. It’s just outrageous really! At least Mantlo is still around and Pollard hadn’t really left any sort of major mark on the series to make him incredibly missed. Herb Trimpe steps in for the majority of the issue and does a great job, mainly because inker Joe Rubenstein knocks it out of the park.

The story itself has a definite “the new era starts here” feel to it, which is very nice. It feels like Mantlo has at last positioned the series exactly where he’s wanted it, dealing with all the old subplots that were left dangling. Prof mentioned that earlier in the thread but I see now its even more apparent than Prof implied. It’s as if “we can at last get moving” is the feel. Here, Jasper Sitwell at last officially exits Iron Man the series on a good note, as a friend of both Iron Man and Tony. Jack of Hearts also exists after a good 2/3rds of a year, off to have a Marvel Premiere showcase in hopes he’d get his own series (which never happened). Meanwhile, Tony unveils the new, modern Stark Industries and it feels very 1980’s, two years before that decade hit.

Within, the main story involves the Unicorn returning, and readers of this thread will know the Unicorn has developed into a surprisingly favorite villain of mine. He’s a great character with a great history despite the corny name and I’m pleased he was able to return, since when we last saw him he looked to be brain dead and blown up. How he survived isn’t really explained, only that he’s still dying but is now working for an “Other” who has somehow kept him alive. The “Other” is obviously the Titanium Man. What I didn’t like is in the issue, the Unicorn is basically treated like a b-list villain, and is once again under someone’s control, so if it wasn’t the case before, this issue makes sure the Unicorn is put down a notch to the B-list side (which at Marvel meant by the late 80’s he’d be C-list).

I am looking forward to the long-simmering confrontation with the Titanium Man, however, since Iron Man has never truly gotten revenge on him for killing Janice Cord! They did have a confrontation in Viet Nam but it didn’t really amount to much. This is long overdue. Unlike his peers, the Titanium Man has only had very good stories thus far (three classics and one quick one where he killed a major character), besides his “terrible three” appearances which were more cameos than anything. So he still maintains that immense A-list vibe.

Meanwhile, the spy subplot has me wanting more (and hoping for Spymaster).

Ads
I couldn’t help but notice a beautiful full page ad for Starlord by Carmine Infantino and Terry Austen. One of the best ads since the Silver Age! Very welcome and I didn’t realize these ads returned in the late 70’s…I hope there are more to come.

Also on the back page I noticed the Spalding Dr. J basketball ad which fans of this era would immediately recognize. I remember seeing it thousands of times when I would read late 70’s comics as a kid, and it always makes me think of this era of Marvel.

Iron Man #113 – Keith Giffen steps in as guest-artist in #113 for what feels more like an Avengers story and all I can say is: while it only partially feels like an Iron Man story, it’s pretty damn beautiful to look at! Giffen is by this point totally drawing in his Legion style, and he would very shortly be joining Paul Levitz on the Legion comic. So its really fascinating to see the Legion-era Giffen draw the Avengers. In addition to Iron Man, the issue features Wonder Man, the Beast, the Vision, Yellowjacket, Captain America and the Scarlet Witch and they all get a chance to shine. It’s really quite striking! Iron Man is certainly the lead here, but just barely.

The story is a bit of a filler but it’s well done. The enemy is “Arsenal” which I think is a plot followed up in Avengers, so it doesn’t do much for me. The smaller plot of the Unicorn breaking free is more intriguing but he’s quickly put back in his cell.

Tony brings the Unicorn to Hank to utilize his skills once again, which is a nice callback to Hank helping the victims of Midas a few issues earlier.

All I can say about this issue is if you’re in it for a good Iron Man story, this isn’t anything noteworthy. But if you’re in it for a beautiful Legion-era Keith Giffen story featuring the Avengers of the Shooter/Perez era, then you really need to check this one out.

At this point, I think it’s worthwhile to discuss the big shift in this title, which also mirrors a larger shift in the comic book industry. The next issue would be Bill Mantlo’s last issue, and the issue after that would be Bob Layton’s first (with David Michelinie joining him right after that).

The Layton / Michelinie run on Iron Man is celebrated as one of the single best runs of not only Iron Man, but in comics in general for all time. And I personally can’t wait to read it! I’ve read a few issues here and there, but have never read the whole run. It’s spoken so highly of that its often referred to the definitive run on the character throughout his history.

What is too bad is that apparently their entrance to the title was at the expense of Bill Mantlo, a writer who came in and took a dying series and returned to it to a standard of greatness that had been lacking for almost an entire decade. Mantlo deserves some sort of a medal for pulling off this miracle. He restored Iron Man the character to his proper self and also produced solid, well done stories. And in the process he tied up 10 years worth of dangling plotlines and non-sensical character histories. Mantlo hereafter may end up being one of my favorite writers! I certainly can’t wait to reread his Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man stories with fresh eyes.

I’m not sure exactly what happened here but Prof has mentioned it a few times so I’ll let him tell the story.

The Layton / Michelinie run occurs at the same time several other seminal runs were occurring on Marvel characters (some already underway, some about to be). The big two are the Claremont / Byrne / Austen run on X-Men and the Frank Miller run on Daredevil, both of which are celebrated to this day (as they should be IMO, as they are fantastic). George Perez’s Avengers run was still underway during this time and going full steam. Other lesser known runs occurred at the same time, like Marv Wolfman on Amazing Spider-Man, Mike Zeck on Captain America, Roy Thomas & John Buscema on Thor and the launch of Power Man & Iron Fist as a superhero partnership, etc. What is noteworthy is that almost all of Marvel’s stalwart maintstay titles were experiencing a new era, and most of them were an era of improved greatness.

This coincides with Jim Shooter’s taking over the company as EiC and adding a level of professionalism to the organization. That by no means implies that Shooter is responsible for all these great runs, but Shooter taking over allowed for the great runs at Marvel in the late 70’s / early 80’s to continue, which soon led to even more great runs at the company in the early-mid 80’s (Simonon’s Thor, Stern & Romita Jr on ASM, etc.). There seemed to be a renewed focus at Marvel in general and it was refreshing and exciting. Shooter's bringing some real professionalism and focus to Marvel certainly helped.

It also coincided with many of the trends of the 70’s having reached their conclusion or being abandoned. Horror, sword & sorcery, romance, westerns, reprint comics, team-up books, kung-fu, etc. were all either a thing of the past or on the decline. It was the very best of these comics that remained and they became much closer to the traditional superhero genre as that genre became dominant once again. Even black & white magazines would soon reach their end.

Meanwhile, at DC Comics, the company was on the cusp of the legendary DC Implosion which almost brought the entire company down. Just like Marvel in the 70’s, DC had all kinds of problems, but unlike Marvel, it was reflected very loudly in their sales. The longterm effect is that post-Implosion, DC started to get its act together. It would take a bit more time, but by the early 80’s DC would have their own mega hits and then the comic book industry really got rocking and rolling. Moore’s Swamp Thing, the New Teen Titans, Levitz & Giffen’s Legino and many others would occur as some of the great runs of Marvel were reaching their end or transitioning (like X-Men) and when another wave of great runs at Marvel were unleashed (the age of Roger Stern, for instance).

What an exciting time for comics! Here in 1978, it was all starting to come together in a few places at Marvel.

IRON MAN #110 / May'78
http://www.comics.org/issue/32243/cover/4/

Dave Cockrum & Terry Austin-- WOW! You know, Dave was so notoriously slow, something makes me think he either should not have been doing all these great covers... or, like Gil Kane, he should have been doing NOTHING BUT covers.


IRON MAN #111 / Jun'78
http://www.comics.org/issue/32334/cover/4/

Keith Pollard & Terry Austin-- cool! Not great, but not bad. (This actually reminds me of some of the covers by McDonnell & Mitchell years later... but nicer.)


I met John Verpoorten once at a convention in Philly. It was only a brief encounter in a hotel hallway, but right away he struck me as a real nice guy, despite his reputation for being a tough taskmaster when it came to production schedules. (Somebody had to be.) I think it was only a FEW months later I heard he'd passed away, so it was a bit of a shock. Decades later, my best friend passed away from a heart attack, at the age of 40 (only 3 years older than Verpoorten had been). I'm remnded of this because they were rather quite similar, physically. (Tall and heavy.)

In earlier years, Verpoorten had been one of the best of the young new inkers at Marvel, doing great work over the likes of Jack Kirby and Werner Roth.


This doesn't quite make sense to me... but there was some suggestion that THOR #271 (May'78) which guest-starred Nick Fury and The Avengers, took place right around here in I.M.'s continuity. Hmm.


IRON MAN #112 / Jul'78
http://www.comics.org/issue/32424/cover/4/

Keith Pollard & Bob Wiacek-- WOW! This was early in Wiacek's inking career, before he got sloppy (or just "dull"), and looking at these slightly-fuzzy images at the GCD, it seems he was a better fit with Pollard than Terry Austin (who's usually much more highly regarded).


IRON MAN #113 / Aug'78
http://www.comics.org/issue/32516/cover/4/

John Romita Jr. & Bob McLeod. McLeod is one of the BEST inkers I've ever seen in the biz, so the cover is "slick" to say the least. However, J.R.Jr., to my eyes, has NEVER been the best penciller in the biz. He's gone thru at least 2 drastically different styles-- the first with regular-looking figures, which isn't very flashy, and the other with crudely-drawn bulked-up figures which may be much more dynamic, but which always has a "brutal, ugly" look about it to me. If there's one thing he NEEDS more than most pencillers, it's a "FINISHER", and a damn good one. For a number of years, he got just that, and this cover is an early example.


This is the the issue where changes really began to kick in. Pollard leaves in mid-issue (WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED THERE??), Herb Trimpe comes back to pinch-hit on the other half, but doesn't stay. And J.R. does the cover.


"It feels like Mantlo has at last positioned the series exactly where he’s wanted it, dealing with all the old subplots that were left dangling. Prof mentioned that earlier in the thread but I see now its even more apparent than Prof implied. It’s as if “we can at last get moving” is the feel."

Oh, good. I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels that way! Especially when you consider, you JUST read these stories for the first time (right?) while I read them-- hmm-- 33 YEARS ago!!! (and not since)


"I am looking forward to the long-simmering confrontation with the Titanium Man, however, since Iron Man has never truly gotten revenge on him for killing Janice Cord!"

I think that's still at LEAST another year away.


IRON MAN #114 / Sep'78
http://www.comics.org/issue/32605/cover/4/

J.R.Jr. & Dan Green... OH GOD... the same 2 guys who made me STOP buying X-MEN years later, because they were BOTH doing so wretchedly bad on the art on that book. Green, like Wiacek, dropped in quality over time, but in Green's case, it was more like plumetting down a bottomless pit. I completely lost respect for him in the 80's, until he surprised me by switching to PENCILLING, which he turned out to be MUCH better at. This cover isn't "bad", it's just "average", bordering on "cartony" (as in, the Saturday morning variety).

It was a bit of a surprise to see Keith Giffen turn up here, as this was just about a YEAR after he got FIRED off THE DEFENDERS for blowing deadlines 2 or 3 months in a row. I recall thinking his art had changed quite a bit (over the years, he got into a HABIT of drastically changing his styles every so often), and I liked what I saw here.


"Giffen is by this point totally drawing in his Legion style, and he would very shortly be joining Paul Levitz on the Legion comic. So its really fascinating to see the Legion-era Giffen draw the Avengers"

I just had to double-check this... Keith debuted on LEGION in #285 / Mar'82-- 3-1/2 YEARS after this issue!! He tells a story of a time when he found himself selling vacuum cleaners door-to-door, and I have a feeling it may have been sometime AFTER this appearance. Keith returned to comics full-time with the DR. FATE back-up in THE FLASH (which I don't have handy just this moment), and soon began doing back-ups in LEGION, until Pat Broderick jumped ship and Giffen took over the lead stories.


The ARSENAL story, which I found intriguing, WAS followed up, in AVENGERS ANNUAL #9 / Nov'79 (just about a year later).


Although we're suddenly back to creative teams changing every issue (OH, NOT AGAIN!) so far it's been much better than the last time it happened, and Bill Mantlo has been an anchor the book did not have last time around.

Unfortunately, even BIGGER changes were right around the corner.

Interesting observation on the Thor Avengers-guest starring issue happening around the same time.

I wonder, was Perez's Avengers such a hit that the sales and popularity of the title took off again? And perhaps Iron Man and Thor utilized this by having the Avengers on the cover.

Perez's original run on Avengers is so amazing (in my opinion), I've just always assumed it was a massive hit. But I have absolutely nothing to back that up other than Perez fans from that era who have loved everything he's always done. It'd be interesting to know how well the series did. From what I understand, it was never Marvel's top-seller.

There were actually two Layton/Michelinie runs, the second one being during the late 1980s (#215-256.) I love both of them, but while I used to defend the second one as being very underrated, I have to admit now that the first one was much more consistent. I have my theories on why that is, but I'll save them for when we reach that point in the run.

What I will say right now about the first Layton/Michelinie run is that #117 introduces a character who I consider the greatest supporting character in Iron Man history. I look forward to reading your review of that issue and subsequent ones, Cobie.

Awesome, can't wait to hear your thoughts on these issues (and my own impressions of them), Fanfie!

I'm also curious as to which character you mean, as my knowledge of the timeline of IM's history is a bit shaky (hence, my reading project). If its Bethany Cabe or Rhodey, I can't wait! (Not sure if they came later though).

I actually think the Latyon / Michelinie issues I've read are all from their second run (which I think includes Armor Wars?). So most of these ones I'm about to read will be brand new to me.

I always remember the story George Perez told. He looked at GIANT-SIZE AVENGERS #4, and during the wedding scene, felt the characters looked like the "Mego dolls". He went into the editor's office, and in the full arrogance of youth, said, "I can do better than THIS!" So they gave him the chance. Unfortunately, Vince Colletta had started inking the book several months earlier, so George's 1st 2 issues were inked by Vince Colletta. I don't remember if I MISSED George's 2nd issue, or just decided not to buy it... but I did buy the 3rd one, which was inked by Sam Grainger, and thought it was a HUGE improvement.

I seem to recall there were several issues by Englehart & Perez I bought out of order, not getting them at my drugstore when they came out (or perhaps they never arrived-- honest, this was some kind of very disturbing recurring problem back then). Steve & George's long story got interrupted by 2 months of fill-ins right in the middle, but when it ended, I looked forward to seeing where they'd go next.

And then SUDDENLY, Steve was gone. And I never knew until at leats 20-25 years later that it was ALL Gerry Conway's fault! He drove Steve crazy with complaints and interference and all kinds of stuff, to the point where Steve not only QUIT Marvel, he decided to QUIT comics altogether (after he spent a year at DC first).

Conway's stories SUCKED. BIG-TIME. Jim Shooter's stuff wasn't really that good. It was just good COMPARED to Conway. I really believe that. Same goes for GHOST RIDER. His best work at the time may have been on DAREDEVIL, but that was so dark, nasty, viscious (and you know Gil Kane had to have a BIG hand in THAT!) I think it was just a case of 3 "nasty" temperaments all working in conjunction on a "nasty" storyline (Shooter, Kane, Janson).

George was still doing 3 or 4 books at any given moment, and missing 3-4 issues IN A ROW on any one of them. He later admitted it was only after he got FIRED and wound up at DC that he finally got his act together (something I used to regularly hope for and mentioned in a lot of fan letters I wrote at the time). At DC, George did JLA, then revived TITANS. He said he knew he had to choose one or the other-- he chose TITANS. After having a fill-in early-on (by Curt Swan, of all people!!), George did the next several YEARS of the book whtout missing a single issue. WOW. Just-- WOW.

Too bad his AVENGERS-- and FANTASTIC FOUR-- and INHUMANS-- and-- well, you get the idea-- weren't like that.

ALL THOSE FILL-INS!!!! AAAAUGH!!!!!

But I also remember, the "Ant-Man" issue (where Jim Shooter decided to have Hank Pym go crazy-- AGAIN-- bastard) was the 1st issue where I thought, "Hey-- NO DRAWING MISTAKES!" George was getting better as he went. His art always had a "cartoony" look about it, like he stepped right out of the fanzines. But he put in so much work, so much detail (he once said it was "necessary", but really, WHO ELSE except maybe Jim Starlin ever put in THAT much detail???) I often wished they'd print his stuff TREASURY EDITION size.

In a better universe, George would have done AVENGERS, and nothing else... and Steve Englehart would never have left the book when he did, either. (And maybe Sam Grainger would have stuck around a lot longer-- he was WAY better than Pablo Marcos.) THAT would have been something to see.

Somehow I missed this post yesterday.


I'm not sure what happened. Back then, I didn't even know what an "editor" did. (He's the one IN CHARGE!)

All I remember was, after a long build-up, Bill Mantlo was really picking up speed. Then, 3 episodes into a 4-parter, he was GONE! The end of the story (awaiting your review) may have gone the way it did anyway, but to me, it felt like these new guys came in and DERAILED the plot in favor of whatever new direction THEY wanted to take the book in.

I'd seen it happen on DR. STRANGE when Steve Englehart suddenly departed in the MIDDLE of a multi-part story (along with Gene Colan AND Tom Palmer) and the new writer-editor, Marv Wolfman, TOTALLY derailed whatever the hell Steve had in mind, RUINED the story, and, as far as I could tell, ARBITRARILY sterred the entire book in a completely new direction that was 100% counter to everything Steve Englehart had spent his entire run on the book doing!

And Marv's new storyline NEVER made any damn sense! Worse, they kept changing artists every issue, and there was a "Deadline Doom" reprint in the middle of it (and after Marv had made eliminating "Deadline Doom" reprints his chief PRIORITY when he had been editor in chief earlier!!).

I've seen too many good runs on books derailed by behind-the-scenes power-plays and the like. While IRON MAN did not apparently suffer the way other books had, the very fact that someone who'd put in that much time and efort was pushed aside (apparently) still rubbed me the wrong way. before very long, I was VERY imnpressed with Michelinie & Layton. The book WAS genuinely BETTER than when Mantlo had done it. But we'll never know what Mantlo might have done if he'd continued.


Had he run out of ideas? Did he feel it was time to move on? I don't know. the impression I ALWAYS got somehow was that Michelinie & Layton had become these two "hot shots" over at DC, they were making a lot of positive waves, and someone at Marvel (Shooter?) made them an offer, and they came over. And my IMPRESSION is, they told him which book THEY wanted to do... and they got it.


There is a story that following SECRET SIX at DC, Frank Springer met with Stan Lee, who asked him, "Which book would you like to do?" Springer answered, "NICK FURY". And so the infamous "Shield Origin Issue" happened. Due to a NON-EXISTENT blown deadline (or something), Stan published "AND NOW IT BEGINS" in NICK FURY #4, instead of the already-announced "WHATEVER HAPPENED TO SCORPIO?", which was bumped back to issue #5. And as a direct result of this-- Jim Steranko WALKED off the book. It might never have happened if Stan hadn't been playing "power games" with him, trying to prove he was in charge.


YES, I loved what Michelnie & Layton did on IRON MAN. But it seems to me they should have taken over SOME OTHER book.


the first time I met Bob Layton was at a store appearance. It was about a year into his run on the book. I was very enthusiastic about his work. But some things he said to me that day REALLY rubbed me the wrong way. Some guys-- like Dave Cockrum, or George Perez-- were genuinely really nice people. Friendly, enthusiastic, and clearly happy to be doing what they lvoed for a living. With Bob Layton, I sensed something else-- and out-of-control EGO. Even the store-ownewr sensed it. He later told me, "I don't know what happened to Bob. he USED to be a NICE guy!" Some "promotions" go to people's heads.

Many years later, I connected this with the way Layton pretty much became Jim Shooter's right-hand man at Valiant. And REPLACED Shooter when Shooter got FIRED form the company he helped start. Sheesh.

Iron Man #115 – Bill Mantlo’s last issue is Johnny Romita Jr.’s first, which is broadly announced on the first page of the issue. And I’ll start by saying I’ve always been and remain, a huge Johnny Romita Jr. fan! I realize he has his naysayers, particularly on Legion World (Fanfie and Prof being two of them, and I know they’re reading this thread), but I personally love his art. It’s changed quite a bit over the years and I’ve loved it every step of the way. Loved his run on ASM with Stern, loved his X-Men stuff, loved his DD with Nocenti, loved his style as it changed in the 90’s and he did Spidey again, DD again, X-Men again, the Punisher, Thor and so many others. I really just love JR Jr.

He’s got a totally unique and distinct style that is (to me) exciting and dynamic, almost smashing out of the page and not caring one iota if its not the reader’s cup of tea. And now I get to read his Iron Man stuff! Anyway, here is still brand new and totally different than what it would become. I even sense a bit of a Ditko influence in places (which I find amusing).

The story itself is actually very good as Madame Masque and Tony’s relationship is at last dealt with and in a totally unexpected way! Whitney outright betrays Tony for her father, Count Nefaria (recently depowered in Avengers) and there is little ambiguous about it. That is a shock. I guess we’ll never know what Mantlo intended though, as Michelinie and Layton pick up the story next issue and put their own take on it (I wonder if they did what Mantlo intended?).

Count Nefaria is a favorite of mine, as I mentioned much earlier in this thread when he battled Tony in his second appearance in Suspense. His being in Iron Man is appropriate too based on that appearance (which largely seems to get passed over by comic book fans).

The Ani-Men battle Tony and I’ve always found them a bit corny for my tastes, even going back to their first appearance by Wally Wood in Daredevil. In a way they remind me a bit of the Fox, the Shark and Vulture, who fought Batman, but not as innately cool.

Letter’s Page / Bullpen Bulletins
Much fanfare is made out of Michelinie and Layton coming on next issue with JR Jr. on both the letter’s page and the Bullpen Bulletin’s page. Quite a build-up! Evidently, they eventually exceeded expectations too.

On the letter’s page we find out Bill was going to bring back Jack of Hearts into Iron Man’s pages but would not get the chance. I wonder if his IM run being derailed ultimately derailed his Jack of Hearts plans too? In a way, I’m glad Jack didn’t come back, as I’ve had my fill of Jack appearances in IM for now.

In Stan’s Soapbox he explains how at a lecture a fan asked why he never wrote the “What is a Bigot” column he said he would waaaaay back in 1968; thus, he now does it. Wow, I remember that announcement since I just read it a few months ago and its amazing to see it get written and published 10 years later. As always, when it comes to philosophical or moral values, Stan’s words are actually very good. Stan was always at his best when he was trying to change the world bit by bit.



Iron Man #116 – the change finally happens and a new era begins as David Michelinie comes on as writer (co-plotter / scripter) joining JR Jr. (penciler), and they are also joined by Bob Layton as co-plotter and inker. Right from the get-go Layton gets co-plotter credits.

The art, right from the beginning, is fantastic. I expected it to be good, but not this good. Layton really just knocks it out of the park inking Romita Jr., making a very young JR Jr. look way better than he probably deserved to be then. It’s almost mesmerizing and I can see how fans at the time must have gone nuts, the same as they likely did for Perez and Byrne.

The story itself is delightfully complex with several things happening: Whitney’s betrayal, while not wanting to really hurt Tony, is a genuine betrayal; Nefaria naturally wants to kill Tony and the Ani-Men are really close to doing it; Tony reveals he is Iron Men to them to save his life; and then the spy subplot finally is revealed right in the middle of this battle and its none other than…Spymaster! And then Spymaster blows the Ani-Men to pieces! (Wow, what an entrance!). But Madame Masque and Nefaria has already left (so the Count doesn’t know IM = Tony) and Iron Man tracks them down. Now Iron Man truly battles Madame Masque and though both are pulling punches at first, soon the battle has gone too far. Not only does Iron Man beat her, he accidently kills her father in the process.

The break-up of Whitney and Tony is very complex but what is nice is there is not pulling any punches. These too have broken up. Whitney admits that she loves Tony but you can already see she might start getting a little unhinged or want revenge on Tony. All of a sudden, to me, she has gotten really interesting again! Like her first run of appearances, she is so much more interesting when her motivations are very complex.

The revelation of Spymaster was fantastic! I’ve been guessing for months it was him and am glad it was. Spymaster is just about the last dangling plotline in Iron Man and the fans had been asking for years for his return.

By issue’s end, with just one issue under their belts, you can tell this was a whole new era of greatness for Iron Man. And unlike other false starts, I’m thrilled this creative team is in for the long haul.

Bullpen Bulletins
On the Bulletins page, Marvel offers its condolences to the family and friends of legend Mort Weisenger who had recently passed (late 1978). Considering Mort never did any work with Marvel, I thought this was an appropriately classy move on Marvel’s part.



Iron Man #117 – two issues in, and the new creative team of Mich / JR Jr. / Layton are firing on all cylinders as they present an awesome battle between Iron Man and Spymaster in which each one of them is presented as competent, clever, powerful and tough, and you really feel like the battle could go either way. One of the best fighting sequences I’ve read in awhile at the end, and really the entire issue is paced incredibly well.

The ‘in media res’ opening is done very well, one of the better times I’ve seen it in comics, highlighted by the beautiful splash page of Tony (the LMD) getting shot through the head. From there we get great Iron Man / Spymaster action, a flashback to seeing Tony in a tuxedo at a party (stunning art) and then a really fantastic action sequence at the end. Well done.

Spymaster is beaten in the end which surprised me but I feel that even though Tony over powered him (not a surprise) he emerges from this story as an A-list Iron Man foe. The surprise at the end with Nick Fury is interesting. It could be great or it could be ‘meh’, but the creative team is so good so far, I’m ready to see what they’ve got.

I also hope it’s the end of the Tony LMD. That plot device feels a bit like a cop out.

This issue also introduces a terrific Iron Man supporting character, Bethany Cabe, though we only see her briefly. In the issue, she is stunningly beautiful, funny, and you can already tell she’s competent and fierce. And that’s all in about two pages. I like Bethany a lot, but I only really know her from her final string of appearances in the late 90’s, when I started reading Iron Man regularly and then some back issues here and there. So I’m looking forward to ‘getting to know her’. Iron Man as a series really can benefit from an intelligent, brave and sexy female supporting character who can also be a love interest for Tony.

Another solid issue!

Ads
I saw an ad for the Fantastic Four cartoon with Herbie. Eeew. I thought that was much earlier than this but apparently it’s the late 70’s.

IRON MAN #115 / Oct'78
http://www.comics.org/issue/32694/cover/4/

J.R.Jr. really comes across as having a "CARTOONY!" style. To think, people complained about George Tuska for this reason (when he took over from Gene Colan), and here, J.R. is making Keith Pollard and the like seem like lush realistic ilustrators by comparison.


IRON MAN #116 / Nov'78
http://www.comics.org/issue/32771/cover/4/

My biggest question was probably also, is this how Bill Mantlo intended to finish the story? Often, when there's an abrupt switch, you find the previous writer listed for "plot" while the new writer is listed for "dialogue" (or "script"), but here there appears to have been a COMPLETE break between issues, just as there had been when DR. STRANGE went from Englehart-Colan to Wolfman & etcetera.

One might think J.R.Jr. was the connecting thread, since he began in the previous issue, EXCEPT... unlike the vast majority of pencillers at Marvel who contributed heavily to the plots, J.R.Jr. was NEVER (to my reccolection) credited with plots or co-plots... BOB LAYTON-- the INKER-- was. And there's no missing that David Michelinie AND Bob Layton (who'd worked together at DC) BOTH debuted in the SAME issue.

John Romita Jr. & Bob Layton always had an interesting co-dependent relationship to me. BOTH guys were talented, but BOTH guys were extremely lacking in different areas. And what made them such a PERFECT team was, EACH excelled in what the other lacked. Bob Layton, in my opinion, made J.,R.'s work look BETTER than it ever looked, before or since. Meanwhile, EVERY time Bob Layton would do his own layouts, the books suffered. It's possible Layton's work is EVEN MORE cartoony than RomitaJr.... but he makes up for it with that high level of metallic GLOSS. Together, they're AMAZING!!! Separate... disappponting.

I found out many years later that one of Bob Layton's early jobs was inking Wally Wood's CANNON (or SALLY FORTH, or both). I have the original collections that Wood published himself, oversized and B&W, and the art is STUNNING. Most of the time, you'd never suspect it was ever anyone but Wood himself doing the full art, though some of the "effects" used later turned up in a LOT of Layton's work. Layton isn't half the inker Wood was (or penciller for that matter), but he did manage to bring a sharpness, a clarity, a GLEAM to just about everything he did, and on a book like IRON MAN he was a PERFECT match.

Ah... IF ONLY Layton had been teamed up with GEORGE TUSKA... or DON HECK. I really think it was criminal that nobody ever thought to get those 2 guys together. Closest I think we ever got was on a 2-part JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA story where Heck was inked by Brett Breeding, whose style is very similar to Layton's (but maybe not quite as developed).

I recently visited Bob Layton's website, which contains TONS of commission work he's done for fans. Among them are many recreations of covers, and the odd thing is, MANY of the recreations are of OTHER artists' covers. Some were Jack Kirby's, some George Tuska, but in one instance, Don Heck! However, I don't think it's what an actualk Heck-Layton teaming would have looked like, as it appeared to me that Layton took the design, but redrew it from scratch in his own style.

When I remember how damn good Heck looked when inked by Wally Wood (3 AVENGERS stories and 1 IRON MAN), it makes me think they really missed a bet not finding a way to have them work together, at least once. (Then again, Layton's "attitude" may have prevented it from happening. The day I met him, he seemed EXCESSIVELY uninterested in ANYTHING anyone had done on IRON MAN before HE got there.)


Funny, I never connected... Layton's 1st IRON MAN issue features Wally Wood's villains the Ani-Men, and Layton got his start working with Wood.

IRON MAN #117 / Dec'78
http://www.comics.org/issue/32859/cover/4/

Whatta ya know? You've been going on about Spymaster for quite some time, and here he is! This must have been MY 1st exposure to the character, one more element of the Archie Goodwin era brought back. I wonder if his being here was something Bill Mantlo intended?


"Layton really just knocks it out of the park inking Romita Jr., making a very young JR Jr. look way better than he probably deserved to be then. It’s almost mesmerizing and I can see how fans at the time must have gone nuts, the same as they likely did for Perez and Byrne."

Yeah, I think about says it!

Madame Masque was a slow boil for me, probably because I never read any of her earlier stories (I never read her "origin" until about 10 years ago, it had never been reprinted and I got in the original printing). So just at the point where I was maybe starting to like her, WHAM! All gone-- and FOR GOOD. She spent years trying to get "revenge" againstr Tony for something that was NOT Tony's fault, because she somehow never wanted to admit it was just HER FATHER causing his own downfall-- and hers. Sad, sick relationship.


#117 was the 1st part of a 3-parter which not only cemented Michelinie & Layton as "THE" Iron Man team (doing their damndeast to try and make fans forget ANYONE ever did the book before they got there), but also served to blacken the name of one of my favorite Jack Kirby characters... NICK FURY. It's a trend that continued for another decade, leading to Bob Harris' monstrously ill-conceived "Nick Fury Vs. SHIELD" storyline, which I always had the impression was so poorly received by fans that Harris had to spend 6 whole issues of a sequel "fixing" what he "broke". I know Kirby had long since departed the series he created by then, but I can't hekp but feel it was the sort of thing he would NEVER have done. As someone put it, "SHIELD is not the CIA-- they're not supposed to be "real"-- they're supposed to be "GOOD GUYS". Period."


Perhaps the strongest indication that during Michelinie & Layton's run, the penciller was just a "hired hand" was the way-- of all people-- JOHN BYRNE-- filled in doing one issue IN THE MIDDLE of a 3-part story!

Bethany Cabe is my favorite Iron Man supporting character of all time. Tough without wallowing in machisma, and smart without being smug. Along with Mrs. Arbogast and other female supporting characters from Layton/Michelinie's two runs, it made for a wonderful reading experience. What leaves me scratching my head, though, is HOW Michelinie could write ordinary, non-superpowered women so well when, at the same time, he wrote Carol, Janet, and Wanda so BADLY in Avengers.

Also regarding Bethany, I've never understood why, after her brief return towards the end of the Denny O'Neil run, she disappeared again even though O'Neil's replacements were Layton and Michelinie. Len Kaminski's early 90s IM run is very controversial, but I personally think the first year was pure gold and the rest of it was above-average most of the time AND he brought back Bethany! It wasn't until after Kaminski left that IM went to hell, with The Crossing and Teen Tony.

I actually don't hate EVERYTHING Junior has done. I, too, loved his chemistry with Ann Nocenti on DD, his Spidey stuff with Stern was mostly fine, his first X-Men run was adequate (boosted in my mind because it's one of my favorite X-Men eras, with Selene and Rachel et cetera), and while I'm not crazy about his Thor, his Punisher, or his second Spidey run, I can appreciate that he was at least appropriate for those books. Where I think he's failed MISERABLY for the past 20 years is in drawing superhero team books -- his second X-Men run was atrocious (and not helped by Scott Lobdell's rapid spiral in quality), and his current Avengers work looks like he couldn't care less! That's my two cents, anyway.

It's possible AVENGERS was "written by committee". If I recall rightly, John Byrne and George Perez were the 2 main artists, and both of them love to/prefer to contribute boatloads to any plots, perhaps sometimes to the point where the credited "writer" is just along for the ride and doing dialogue. There was even that "Wundagore" 3-parter where Mark Gruenwald, Steven Grant & Roger Stern were all credited with the plot (but not Byrne, oddly enough, and I'd bet he had a big hand in it somewhere). and then of coursde you have the INFAMOUS issue #200 which credited Jim Shooter, Perez, Layton & Michelinie with the plot (which Chris Claremont spent an entire AVENGERS ANNUAL "responding" to, it was such a nasty slap at the other writers, one almost wonders how Shooter let it go thru).


Anybody ever notice, for such a nice guy he seems to be, that an AWFUL lot of horrible crap, story-wise, went thru on Jim Salicrup's watch? (That Annual, on the other hand, seems to have been edited by Claremont himself, with David Kraft.)


It bugged me a lot that Bethany disappeared the way she did when Michelinie & Layton decided to jump ship. I hate every fibre of Denny O'Neil's run. When Bethany finally came back, there almost seemed to be a "too little too late" feel about it, like, "Oh, well, we could have been great together, but we've both moved on now... SEE you!" (in a cold-blooded, detached, uncaring sort of way). Maybe it's an 80's-90's thing... I saw that sort of cold-hearted cynical detachment in a lot of TV writing at the time, too. "Yuppies"-- out for the buck, to the total excusion of human considerations, caring, any real emotional attachments. And the cynical thing, too, where you have writers who are MISERABLE B******s, and they get their jollies making characters they write (and the audiences who watch) miserable as well. "My life sucks, now YOU can know what that feels like, too!"

Good point. Michelinie has admitted that, at the time he moved from DC to Marvel, he wasn't familiar with the Marvel Universe other than Spider-Man, which he wouldn't write until the late 80s. Perhaps this is the very reason why he was assigned the Avengers, because maybe Shooter wanted a writer who didn't know the Avengers well, so that he could continue to direct the book by proxy; later, as we all know, Shooter took over the book completely and did an absolutely miserable second run. It seemed like Shooter wouldn't completely let go of the Avengers until Roger Stern and Mark Gruenwald took over as writer and editor, which, by no coincidence, is when the book started to get good again.

I did get that impression. AVENGERS seemed to be Shooter's "big" series-- he held onto it even after dropping off DARDEVIL and GHOST RIDER (in the middle of storylines he started). Apparently the EIC job started taking up so much time, he didn't even have time to do AVENGERS, which is when Michelinie (and a small army of co-plotters) came aboard.


I'm not sure what Bill Mantlo ran into on AVENGERS, but I do know that was when Gene Colan was put thru HELL! --finaly driving him into the arms of DC.


I also recall, apart from the horribly character-destructive stories, that what Shooter recently said online about Hank Pym being "screwed up for a long time" was a really sorry "justification", and COMPLETELY UNTRUE. If Pym was "screwed up", it was only because writers like Shooter kept SCREWING HIM OVER. And note how there was no steady art team on the book during Shooter's 2nd run. Who the hell was that book's editor at the time? (Of course, Jim Salicrup-- who either QUIT or was FIRED off X-MEN right after the Jean Grey incident.)


AVENGERS improved big-time with the coming of Gruenwald & Stern, down to having a STEADY art team for the first time in ages. Which makes it so ironic that his POWER went so much to his head that evenbtually Gruenwald FIRED Stern off the book (what an A**H***!!!).

I've always had the impression that what Stern did to Hank & Jan's marriage (claiming they were "always wrong for each other") was just his following Shooter's orders-- and who was gonna say NO to him?

Well, here is another case of posting a review of comics I read over a week ago, so their not quite as fresh in my mind. I did have some notes I scribbled in my brief case…

Iron Man #118-119 – By this story, featuring some problems with SHIELD, the Michel/Layton team is already kicking things into high gear and even if the story itself isn’t mind-blowingly epic, the way its presented (beautiful art, great pacing, great characterization) is just totally top-notch and I can see how Iron Man by this point was achieving perhaps its highest level of quality ever, and certainly one of the better comics on the stands.

#118 has a classic Iron Man cover that remains as beautiful now as it did then. This is a Layton only cover and its gorgeous; the next, #119, a Romita Jr / Layton combo is also great.

The art is very tight with no sloppiness at all. For the first time in years it feels like everyone is on point.

This two-parter has a pretty good SHIELD plot with some extremists at SHIELD angered by Stark’s increasing move towards liberalism and want to take over Stark International and force it to start building munitions again. This type of plot had to happen sooner or later. What’s interesting is that as it is happening, the SHIELD helicarrier drifts into the USSR, just as in real time (1978-1979) the Cold War was “refreezing” and becoming a major political issue again. The Russians were invading Afghanistan and Regan was about to make the Commies public enemy #1 (or perhaps #2 after the war on drugs?).

What is more important than the story is that this two-parter is really a series of firsts for Iron Man, and each one more awesome than the last! Ms. Abrogast is introduced and right away she is perfect! She is just totally right for the series and feels like she should have been around forever. She’s exactly the type of secretary a man like Stark would need.

Next, is this is the first time we see Iron Man with a huge armory of various armors. These panels will be copied so many times in the next 30 years its ridiculous. What is most telling is that some of the armors are ones we’ve never seen before, meaning they are prototypes, unused armor or adventures we don’t know about. Exactly the kind of thing that would intrigue fans, especially younger ones. That’s a very bold move, away from the ridiculous ‘slave to continuity’ mentality that began during Roy’s reign as EiC.

But the best first is the addition of Rhodey for the first time in the cast. Awesome! I was so happy to see him show up and I can’t wait to see his early development from here. He’s only shown very quickly as Tony’s helicopter pilot. His name tag reads “Rhodes” and we hear him called “Rhodey” which makes him instantly likable. A black character in the supporting cast was old news by the late 70’s but Rhodey will take that much farther over the coming years.

We also get more Bethany is she is simply stunning. So beautiful in fact, that she outdoes Mary Jane and the Black Widow, two other gorgeous redheads.

I think its also noteworthy that by the late 70’s, Tony’s moustache has come back into style for the 3rd time.

Lastly, one of the things I instantly picked up on is Tony is drinking alcohol more and more. And not just subtly, but noticeably. Even this early, Michel/Layton were leading him to “Demon in a Bottle” it looks like. As an executive it certainly fits for the era, as executives in all industries in the 70’s and early 80’s were notorious alcoholics.

House Ad
A great house ad is within featuring Nova, Captain Marvel, the Hulk, Daredevil and Shang Chi. These characters are ones you usually don’t see together and I really like the Ad.

Should have mentioned it earlier
Something else else I should have mentioned a few issues ago was Marvel published an awesome letter from none other than…Fred Hembeck. What made it so awesome? He actually drew the letter! It’s an entire page and his review on recent events in Iron Man and its simply brilliant. I have no idea but it makes it seem like until this point, Hembeck was just a fan and not a professional. Is this true? Did this letter get him discovered? I feel like it must have! If so, that’s a really awesome story.



Iron Man #120-121 – the Sub-Mariner returns for a two-parter continuing the long tradition of Iron Man and Namor facing off. I really never realized how strong that tradition was in Iron Man’s series, more so than any other team-up he has (with Daredevil coming in 2nd). That should really be reinstated. The two mutually respect each other but when they go at it, they go at it. The story itself is a anti-pollution story, which aren’t exactly my favorite (I grow wary of a heavy hand) but its still ton very well in terms of story-telling. And the art is simply stunning, one of the best Sub-Mariners in a long while.

It’s clear from this story that Tony is drinking too much; he goes into battle after four martinis. Operating that armor with four martinis would be a big no-no no matter how much of a heavy hitter you were.

While the Iron Man / Subby sequences are good, once again the real highlight of the story is the supporting cast, who now that they’ve been introduced, get a chance to really shine. Bethany Cabe and Rhodey do much more than be cool, as they take action to help Tony and stop Roxxon / Brand Corporation (the worst of the worst of big businesses in Marvel). Ms. Abrogast is also seen again as well. Here, Bethany really shines and shows she is no victim, cementing my crush on her forever. Meanwhile, Rhodey reveals he’s been with Tony “since ‘Nam” meaning he’s been around in the background and off-panel all of these years, which is something I like. Iron Man is a series where there would be tons of characters like that, and it makes sense we haven’t met them all yet.

Justin Hammer is also introduced at the close of this story and Michel / Layton appear to be taking their time in introducing him so they can really make him a big enemy. As a non-superpowered businessman, he’s a natural type of enemy for Tony Stark that interestingly hasn’t really been introduced yet in the series. It’s an instant fit. He also appears to be behind a building subplot of Tony’s armor acting funky without his commands (controlled by Hammer).

As I put down #121 it occurred to me what was making this run so special already. It is so damn refreshing! New characters, new enemies, new supporting cast—it really feels like things are moving forward. Add in beautiful art and incredible story-telling and you’ve got a winner. And on top of that all, they have a great handle on Tony—he’s incredibly heroic but obviously a man with some major faults.

Elsewhere in the MU
In Marvel Premiere, Michelinie & Layton, with John Byrne, were introducing the second Ant-Man, Scott Lang, as during this era Hank Pym had been Yellowjacket for several years now and actually looked like that’d be his steady role (with Bill Foster as Giant-Man / Goliath). Scott Lang is a character I always liked and I know he plays a solid role in the Iron Man series at various times, so I look forward to seeing him.

Also right at this time is basically the last issue of Howard the Duck (there would be two more in the mid-80's). You couldn't find a Marvel comic these days without seeing Howard mentioned somewhere in ads, bulletins, letter's pages, etc--Marvel was basically ramming him down the readers throats. So I have to conclude the series was cancelled because of Destroyer Duck, by Gerber, Kirby and others as at this time, creators began pushing back. As I'm wholly on the side of the creators, I say, good! Meanwhile, Howard the Duck ending is another clear sign of a changing Marvel (as is no more comics at Marvel by Kirby or Gerber almost ever again).

Bullpen Bulletins
As Marvel continued to change and mature at the dawn of the 1980’s, many of the “old Marvel” characteristics were fading away. In the Bulletins page we see one of them—as Irving Forbush, the ongoing in-joke that had been running for 15 years is finally explained to readers by Stan Lee in his Soapbox. Stan explains the origins of the joke, and like any good joke, once you explain it, it dies. Hereafter, mentions of Irving Forbush would gradually fade out; ironically, “Forbush Man” would make a bit of a comeback in the 80’s in Marvel Age, the comic/magazine that gave the lowdown on what was new with Marvel. I think the exit of Irving Forbush from the monthly issue’s letters pages & bulletins page is a good metaphor for the end of the old Marvel transitioning to the 80’s Marvel.

IRON MAN #118 / Jan'79
http://www.comics.org/issue/33027/cover/4/

IRON MAN #119 / Feb'79
http://www.comics.org/issue/33137/cover/4/

"Iron Man by this point was achieving perhaps its highest level of quality ever, and certainly one of the better comics on the stands. The art is very tight with no sloppiness at all. For the first time in years it feels like everyone is on point."

Considering how much you've raved about the Goodwin-Tuska run, and later, about Bill Mantlo's run, isn't this astonishing?

The day I met Bob Layton, I'm sure I also mentioned about how he was making Iron Man's armor look like metal with all the gleaming... and he sort of dismissed it, indicating he had no interest whatsoever in what the book was like BEFORE he got on it.


"this two-parter is really a series of firsts for Iron Man"

I dunno, my own index has this as a 3-parter (these issues being parts 2 & 3).


"Next, is this is the first time we see Iron Man with a huge armory of various armors. These panels will be copied so many times in the next 30 years its ridiculous. What is most telling is that some of the armors are ones we’ve never seen before, meaning they are prototypes, unused armor or adventures we don’t know about."

For some reason, lokoing back decades later, your description makes me think of the 1950's BATMAN, with multiple Bat-costumes on display in the Batcave (including, probably, one for deep-sea diving, and one painted all the colors of the rainbow-- for no reason I can even imagine).


"I think its also noteworthy that by the late 70’s, Tony’s moustache has come back into style for the 3rd time."

Tony Stark-- "porn star"??


IRON MAN #120 / Mar'79
http://www.comics.org/issue/33217/cover/4/

No doubt... Layton does a better Subby than Don Heck.

IRON MAN #121 / Apr'79
http://www.comics.org/issue/33289/cover/4/

"Rhodey reveals he’s been with Tony “since ‘Nam” meaning he’s been around in the background and off-panel all of these years, which is something I like. Iron Man is a series where there would be tons of characters like that, and it makes sense we haven’t met them all yet."

They call that "retroactive continuity". I think it works better here than later when Frank Miller "revealed" that Matt Murdock's first girl friend was Elektra.


"It is so damn refreshing! New characters, new enemies, new supporting cast—it really feels like things are moving forward."

In retrospect, gee, isn't it lucky for these guys that Bill Mantlo spent so much time cleaning up other people's long-hanging plot-threads?

A bit of trivia: Layton & Michelinie "cast" Peter Cushing as Justin Hammer.

^Once you said it, I realize he's a DEAD WRINGER for Cushing! Wow, really cool!

As a fan of Hammer Horror movies, I'm a Cushing fan.

I suppose a lot of people only know him "just in Hammer" movies. (heeheehee)

Thought I'd share this comment I made from another board...


Al Hartley, on the other hand, I KNOW has a great sense of humor, and I've never
even read any of those "humor" books. HOW DO I KNOW? Simple. He filled in for Stan on one episode of IRON MAN in TALES OF SUSPENSE. And you know what? IT WAS FUNNY!


It's come under a lot of fire from "fans" (SO-CALLED), but I found myself wishing he'd done a lot more. Picture if, post-Titanium man (the 1st one), we'd had 5 years of Don Heck, Wally Wood, and Al Hartley on IRON MAN. I could have gone for that!