By Kieth Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis, Kevin Maguire, Al Gordon & various (DC Comics)
ISBN13: 978-1-84576-886-7
The revised follow-up volume of the (then) All-New, All-Hilarious Justice League completes the year long story-arc that introduced businessman and 1980’s archetype Max Lord, who reshaped the World’s Greatest Super-team for his own mysterious purposes.
The stories themselves (issues #8-13 of the monthly comicbook and Justice League Annual #1, plus the corresponding issue #13 of Suicide Squad – another great series long overdue for a decent trade paperback series!) are taken from a period when the major comics publishers were first developing the marketing strategies of the “Braided Mega-Crossover Event.â€
This hard-on-the-pockets innovation basically crafts a really big story involving every publication in a company’s output, for a limited time period – so a compilation like this perforce includes adventures that seem confusing because there are “middles†with no beginnings or endings. In this case the problem is deftly solved by inserting (mercifully) brief text pages explaining what’s happened elsewhere. It also doesn’t hurt that being a comedy-adventure, plot isn’t as vital as character and dialogue in this instance.
The merriment begins with ‘A Moving Experience’, where the heroes take possession of their various new UN embassy buildings, a sly and cynical tale of institutionalized ineptitude which is possibly one of the funniest single stories in American comic book history. Most main episodes at the start were followed by a brief back-up vignette drawn by Keith Giffen. ‘Old News’ deals with the closure of previous UN super-hero resource the Dome – which was summarily axed when the League achieved its international charter status.
‘Seeing Red’ is the first of two episodes forming part of the Millennium crossover hinted at above. Broadly, the Guardians of the Universe were attempting to create the next stage of human evolution, and their robotic enemies the Manhunters wanted to stop them. The heroes of Earth were asked to protect the Chosen Ones, but the robots had sleeper agents hidden among the friends and acquaintances of every hero on the planet.
Millennium was DC’s first weekly mini-series, and the monthly schedule of the other titles meant that a huge amount happened in the four weeks between their own tied-in issues: for example…
The Rocket Red attached to the JLI is in fact a Manhunter, who first tries to co-opt then destroy the team with an oil refinery, but by the second part, ‘Soul of the Machine’, the team are jarringly in deep space attacking the Manhunter home planet as part of a Green Lantern strike force. Nevertheless, the story is surprising coherent, and the all-out action is still well-leavened with superbly banter and hilarity.
The back-ups follow the suddenly unemployed Dome hero Jack O’Lantern to the terrorist state Bialya in ‘Brief Encounter’ and show an unfortunate training exercise for Blue Beetle and Mister Miracle in ‘…Back at the Ranch…’
JLI #11 began resolving all the mysteries of the first year by exposing the secret mastermind behind the League’s reformation. With ‘Constructions!’ and ‘Who is Maxwell Lord?’ (in #12) the series came full circle, and the whacky humour proved to have been the veneer over a sharp and subtle conspiracy plot worthy of the classic team. The drama and action kicked into high gear and the characters were seen to have evolved from shallow, if competent buffoons into a tightly knit team of world-beating super-stars – but still pretty darned addicted to buffoonery.
These two full length yarns precluded back-up tales but Giffen illustrated all of #13, wherein the team ran afoul of America’s highly covert Suicide Squad (super-villains blackmailed by the government into becoming a tractable metahuman resource – and without the annoying morality of regular superheroes).
‘Collision Course’ found the US agent Nemesis imprisoned in a Soviet jail with the League forced into the uncomfortable position of having to – at least ostensibly – fight to keep him there. The concluding part ‘Battle Lines’ from Suicide Squad #13 (written by John Ostrander and illustrated by Luke McDonnell and Bob Lewis) is a grim and gritty essay in superpower Realpolitik and a still a powerful experience two decades later.
This volume ends with ‘Germ Warfare’ from the first JLI Annual, drawn by Bill Willingham and inked by Dennis Janke, P. Craig Russell, Bill Wray, R. Campanella, Bruce Patterson and Dick Giordano. It is an uncharacteristically grim horror tale involving inhuman sacrifice and sentient Germ-warfare.
This collection is a breath of fresh air in a time where too many comic-books are filled with over-long, convoluted epics that are strident and oppressively angst-ridden. Here is great art, superb action and the light touch which still mark this series as a lost classic. So read this book and eagerly wait for further compilations to be released.
The Incredible Hulk was Marvel’s second new superhero title, although technically Henry Pym debuted earlier in a one-off yarn in Tales to Astonish #27 (January 1962), but he didn’t become a costumed hero until the autumn, by which time Ol’ Greenskin was not-so-firmly established.
The Hulk crashed right into his own bi-monthly comic and after some classic romps by Young Marvel’s finest creators, crashed right out again. After six bi-monthly issues the series was cancelled and Lee retrenched, making the character a perennial guest-star in other Marvel titles (Fantastic Four #12, Amazing Spider-Man #14, The Mighty Avengers from #1 and so forth) until such time as they could restart the drama in their new “Split-Book†format in Tales To Astonish where Ant/Giant-Man was rapidly proving to be a character who had outlived his time.
Cover-dated May 1962 the Incredible Hulk #1 saw puny atomic scientist Bruce Banner, sequestered on a secret military base in the desert, perpetually bullied by the bombastic commander General “Thunderbolt†Ross as the clock counts down to the World’s first Gamma Bomb test. Besotted by Ross’s daughter Betty, Banner endures the General’s constant jibes as the clock ticks on and tension increases.
At the final moment Banner sees a teenager lollygagging at Ground Zero and frantically rushes to the site to drag the boy away. Unknown to him the assistant he’s entrusted to delay the countdown has an agenda of his own…
Rick Jones is a wayward but good-hearted kid. After initial resistance he lets himself be pushed into a safety trench, but just as Banner is about to join him The Bomb detonates…
Miraculously surviving the blast Banner and the boy are secured by soldiers, but that evening as the sun sets the scientist undergoes a monstrous transformation. He grows larger; his skin turns a stony grey…
In six simple pages that’s how it all starts, and no matter what any number of TV or movie reworkings or comicbook retcons and psycho-babble re-evaluations would have you believe that’s still the best and most primal take on the origin. A good man, an unobtainable girl, a foolish kid, an unknown enemy and the horrible power of destructive science unchecked…
Written by Stan Lee, drawn by Jack Kirby with inking by Paul Reinman, ‘The Coming of the Hulk’ barrels along as the man-monster and Jones are kidnapped by Banner’s Soviet counterpart the Gargoyle for a rousing round of espionage and Commie-busting. In the second issue the plot concerns invading aliens, and the Banner/Jones relationship settles into a traumatic nightly ordeal as the scientist transforms and is locked into an escape-proof cell whilst the boy stands watch helplessly. Neither ever considers telling the government of their predicament…
‘The Terror of the Toad Men’ is formulaic but viscerally and visually captivating as Steve Ditko inks Kirby, imparting a genuinely eerie sense of unease to the artwork. Incidentally, although you won’t see it in this black and white edition, this is the story where the Hulk inexplicably changed to his more accustomed Green persona.
Although back-written years later as a continuing mutation, the plain truth is that the grey tones used to cause all manner of problems for the production colourists so it was arbitrarily changed to the simple and more traditional colour of monsters.
The third issue presented a departure in format as the longer, chaptered epic gave way to complete short stories. Dick Ayers inked Kirby in the transitional ‘Banished to Outer Space’ which radically altered the relationship of Jones and the monster, the story thus far is reprised in the three page vignette ‘The Origin of the Hulk’ and that Marvel mainstay of villainy the Circus of Crime debuts in ‘The Ringmaster’. The Hulk goes on an urban rampage in #4’s first tale ‘The Monster and the Machine’ and aliens and Commies combine with the second adventure ‘The Gladiator from Outer Space!’
The Incredible Hulk #5 is a joyous classic of Kirby action, introducing the immortal Tyrannus and his underworld empire in ‘The Beauty and the Beast!’ whilst those pesky commies are in for another drubbing when our Jolly Green freedom-fighter prevents the invasion of Lhasa in ‘The Hordes of General Fang!’
Despite the sheer verve and bravura of these simplistic classics – some of the greatest, most rewarding comics nonsense ever produced – the series was not doing well, and Kirby moved on to more appreciated arenas. Steve Ditko handled all the art chores for #6, another full-length epic and an extremely engaging one. ‘The Incredible Hulk Vs the Metal Master’ has superb action, sly and subtle sub-plots and a thinking man’s resolution, but nonetheless the title died with this issue.
After shambling around the nascent Marvel universe for a year or so, usually as a misunderstood villain-cum-monster, the Emerald Behemoth got another shot. Following a reprinting of his origin in the giant collection Marvel Tales Annual #1 (the beginning of the company’s brilliant policy of keeping early tales in circulation and which did so much to make new fans out of latecomers) he was given a back-up strip in a failing title.
Giant-Man was the star feature of Tales to Astonish but by mid-1964 the strip was floundering. In issue #59 the Master of Many Sizes was tricked by an old foe into battling the man-monster in ‘Enter: The Hulk’ by Lee, Ayers and Reinman; a great big punch-up that set the scene for the next issue wherein his second series began.
‘The Incredible Hulk’ found Banner still working for General Ross, and still afflicted with uncontrollable transformations into a rampaging, if well-intentioned, engine of destruction. The ten page instalments were uncharacteristically set in the Arizona/New Mexico deserts, not New York and espionage and military themes were the narrative backdrop of these adventures.
Lee scripted, Ditko drew and comics veteran George Roussos – under the pseudonym George Bell – provided the ink art. The first tale concerned a spy who stole an unstoppable suit of armour, concluding in the next episode ‘Captured at Last’. The cliffhanger endings such as the Hulk’s imprisonment by Ross’s military units would be instrumental in keeping readers onboard and enthralled. The next tale (Tales to Astonish #62) ‘Enter… the Chameleon’ has plenty of action and suspense but the real stinger is the final panel that hints at the mastermind behind all the spying and skulduggery – the enigmatic Leader – who would become the Hulk’s ultimate and antithetical nemesis.
The Spider-Man villain worked well as a returning foe, his disguise abilities an obvious threat in a series based on a weapons scientist working for the US military during the Cold War. Even the Leader himself had dubious connections to the sinister Soviets – when he wasn’t trying to conquer the world for himself. ‘A Titan Rides the Train!’ provides an origin for the super-intellectual menace as well as setting up a plotline where new cast member Major Glen Talbot begins to suspect Banner of being a traitor. The action comes when the Leader tries to steal Banner’s new anti-H-bomb device from a moving train.
Number #64 ‘the Horde of Humanoids!’ features the return of Rick Jones who obtains a pardon for the incarcerated Banner by letting the President in on the secret of the Hulk! Ah, simpler times!
Free again, Banner joins Talbot on a remote Island to test his device only to be attacked by the Leader’s artificial warriors – providing a fine example of Ditko’s unique manner of staging a super-tussle. The battle continues into the next issue when Dick Ayers assumes the inks and Banner is taken prisoner by those darn commies. ‘On the Rampage against the Reds!’ sees the Hulk go wild behind the Iron Curtain, a satisfyingly gratuitous crusade that spans #66 (‘the Power of Doctor Banner’ inked by Vince Colletta) and #67 (‘Where Strides the Behemoth’ inked by Frank Giacoia) before reverting to human form and being captured by Mongolian bandits.
Jack Kirby returned, supplemented by Mike (“Mickey Demeoâ€) Esposito in Tales to Astonish #68. ‘Back from the Dead!’ returned the tragic scientist to America, military custody and his Atomic Absorbatron for one last test, once again interrupted by the Leader’s Humanoids. This time the villain succeeds and the Hulk is ‘Trapped in the Lair of the Leader!’ but only until the Army bursts in…
Issue #70 saw Giant-Man replaced by the Sub-Mariner, making Astonish a comicbook of brutal anti-heroes, and increasingly the Hulk stories reflected this shift. ‘To Live Again!’ had the furious Leader launch a giant Humanoid against the local US missile base, with the Jade Giant caught in the middle.
Kirby reduced his input to layouts with #71’s ‘Like a Beast at Bay’, a minor turning point as the Hulk actually joined forces with the Leader. The next episode ‘Within the Monster Dwells a Man!’ saw Major Talbot getting closer to uncovering Banner’s dark secret, whilst ‘Another World, Another Foe!’ (with the great Bob Powell pencilling over Kirby’s layouts) had the Hulk dispatched to the Watcher’s world to steal an ultimate weapon, just as an intergalactic rival arrives.
‘The Wisdom of the Watcher’ was all-out, brutal action with a shocking climax, followed by #75’s return to Earth and to basics as the rampaging Hulk falls victims to one of Banner’s most bizarre atomic devices. ‘Not all my Power Can Save Me!’ hurls the man-monster into a dystopian future, and in #76’s ‘I, Against a World!’ (featuring pencils by Gil Kane moonlighting as “Scott Edwardâ€) the devastation is compounded in a fierce duel with the Asgardian Executioner.
A true milestone occurred in Tales to Astonish #77 when the dread secret was revealed. Magnificently illustrated by John Romita (the elder, and still over Kirby roughs) ‘Bruce Banner is the Hulk!’ concluded the time-lost tale and exposed the tragic horror of the scientist’s condition. It didn’t make him any less hunted or haunted, but at least the military were in an emotional tizzy as they tried to destroy him.
Bill Everett began a short but lovely run as art-man (Kirby remained as layout artist throughout) with #78. The insane scientist Zaxon tried to tap the beast’s bio-energy in ‘The Hulk Must Die!’ and the follow-up ‘The Titan and the Torment!’ featured a bombastic battle with the man-god Hercules. Not-so-immortal Tyrannus returned in ‘They Dwell in the Depths!’, losing a desperate war with fellow subterranean despot the Mole Man and seeing the Hulk as a weapon of last resort, before new villains Boomerang and the insidious Secret Empire debuted in #81’s ‘The Stage is Set!’, a convoluted mini-epic that spread into a number of other Marvel series, especially Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Sub-Mariner.
‘The Battle Cry of the Boomerang’, ‘Less then Monster, More than Man!’, and ‘Rampage in the City!’ wove lots of sub-plots into a gripping whole which indicated to the evolving reader just how close-knit the Marvel Universe was, but obviously such tight coordination between series caused a few problems as art for the final episode is credited to “almost the whole blamed Bullpen†(which looks to my jaded eyes as mostly Kirby, Everett and Jerry Grandinetti). At the climax the Hulk is marauding through the streets of New York City in what I can’t help but feel is a padded, unplanned conclusion…
Everything’s back on track with #85 as John Buscema and John Tartaglione step in to illustrate ‘The Missile and the Monster!’ as yet another spy diverts an experimental rocket onto the city. The obvious discomfort the realism-heavy Buscema experienced with the Hulk’s appearance has mostly faded by the second part, ‘The Birth of the Hulk-Killer!’, and the return of veteran inker Mike Esposito to the strip also helps.
As General Ross releases a weapon designed by the Leader to capture the Grim Green Giant he has no inkling what his rash act will lead to, but by #87’s concluding part ‘The Humanoid and the Hero!’ he’s certainly regretting it… Gil Kane returns for #88 and ‘Boomerang and the Brute’ shows both his and the Hulk’s savage power.
Tales to Astonish #89 once more sees the Hulk become an unwilling weapon as a near-omnipotent alien sets him to purging humanity from the Earth. ‘…Then, There Shall Come a Stranger!’, ‘The Abomination!’ and ‘Whosoever Harms the Hulk…!’ is a taut and evocative thriller which also includes the origin of a malevolent Hulk counterpart who would play such a large part in later tales of the ill-fated Bruce Banner.
This first volume of Hulk adventures is rather hit-and-miss with visceral thrillers and plain dumb nonsense running together, but the enthusiasm and sheer quality of the artistic endeavour should go a long way to mitigating most of the downside. These tales, in raw and gritty black and white, are key to the later, more cohesive adventures, and even at their worst the work of Kirby, Ditko, Everett, Kane, Buscema and the rest in butt-kicking, “breaking-stuff†mode is a thrill to delight the destructive eight-year-old in everyone. Hulk Smash(ing)!
By Jeffrey Jones (Dragon’s Dream)
ISBN: 90-6332-681-5
Jeffrey Catherine Jones was born in 1944 in Atlanta, Georgia, and after studying Geology in college drifted into illustration and commercial art in the late 1960s. As well as painting book covers for Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser series, Andre Norton’s Postmarked the Stars and many others, he illustrated many tales in science fiction and fantasy magazines, and far too few strips for such comics icons as Creepy and Eerie.
The most notable comic strips were Idyl for National Lampoon (1972-1975) and I’m Age in Heavy Metal but other shorts appeared in many disparate places. Deeply intellectual and philosophical, Jones’ drawing style was classicist and fancifully Romantic, with echoes of N.C. Wyeth as well as Roy G. Krenkel and Frank Frazetta, who were his major competitors for book commissions at the time.
The artist was both stylistically and actually associated with other master stylists Barry Windsor-Smith, Bernie Wrightson, and Michael William Kaluta, who together formed the artist’s cooperative known as The Studio. Coming in at the start of the 1960s paperback fantasy boom, Jones was soon developing a unique personal style across a broad spectrum of genres as a painter of covers.
Even at the early stage this book was published Jones was continually searching for something more, something deeper from art, as both the interview and introduction here express, but personal journeys aren’t really the point here.
What is is the phenomenal beauty and power of the three complete strips ‘Luce’, ‘The Bridge’ and ‘Spirit of ’76’ and the 54 pages of drawings (both pencil and inks) and paintings that are the forerunner of the entire painted comics phenomenon of the 1980s.
How much of a direct influence Jones was on the likes of George Pratt, Jon Jay Muth and all the rest is open to debate of course, but it’s clear – to me at least – that this brief time with painted narrative did much to elevate comics to the status of an adult art form, and it’s far past time Jones was a household name in comics circles again. Reprint, Please!
By Martin Pasko, George Tuska & Vince Colletta (Tor)
ISBN: 0-523-49094-1
In my perpetual quest to highlight the rare and odd (or “show off†as my mum used to call it) I’ve unearthed this little gem from the early 1980s, when the Superman franchise was riding high due to the motion picture and its sequels. Although he’s got the biggest logo and the lion’s share of the action, inside this standard sized paperback is actually the collected first adventure of the Justice League of America newspaper strip, which launched on 9th April 1978, variously entitled The World’s Greatest Superheroes, …Presents Superman, and from 9th January 1983, The Superman Sunday Special, until it folded on 10th February 1985.
This initial story pits the Man of Steel, Wonder Woman, Flash and Aquaman against the immortal mass-murderer Vandal Savage, who plans to further extend his long life by absorbing the life energies of most of Earth’s population. Of course to do that he has to kill them all first…
Later creators included Paul Levitz, Gerry Conway, Paul Kupperberg, Bob Rozakis, Jose Delbo, Bob Smith, Frank McLaughlin, and Sal Trapani, but the opening credits go to Martin Pasko, George Tuska and Vince Colletta in this engaging, gloriously traditional costume drama. Never flashy or “with itâ€, this strip is a great read and deserves a definitive collection likes the Batman and Superman newspaper strips.
In the meantime there’s still the internet and local comic shops to haunt and hunt in…
Vampirella was the third title in Jim Warren’s burgeoning comic magazine empire. Issue one was released in September 1969 and starred a sexy alien vampire as well as a selection of short horror tales aimed at an older audience. The series ran until 1983, a soft-core, tongue-in-cheek horror romp, which ranged in quality from appalling to brilliant depending upon which of a simply vast pool of creators was working on the feature. After the collapse of Warren’s company the property languished until revived by Harris Comics and Dark Horse.
During the 1990s “Bad Girls†comics fad she was appeared in a veritable deluge of series and miniseries, and from that time comes this quirky collection of yarns culled from the pages of the Warren back catalogue. ‘Vampire of the Nile’ leads off, written by Flaxman Loew and brilliantly illustrated by the great Jose Ortiz, which reveals that the sexy bloodsucker is the reincarnation of the legendary Cleopatra.
A two part tale from #71 and 72 follows, both written by Bill Dubay, with art from Jose Gonzalez. ‘The Case of the Connected Clowns and the Collector’ and ‘The Beauty and the Behemoth’ find Vampirella among the modern glitterati of Hollywood, in a far more comedic tale of madmen and monsters. Right on their tail comes two shorts from #83.
Low and Gonzalez crafted both the gory ‘The God of Blood’ and its tragic sequel ‘The Betrothed of the Sun-God!’ before deferring to Rich Margopoulos and Rudy Nebres who produced the satanic thriller ‘Bracelets, Demons and Death’ in #92 and the robotic adversary known as ‘Death Machine’ in #94.
Vampi is a science-based vampire trapped on Earth, usually battling supernatural menaces, and in #95 and #96 she deals with two of the worst sorts in ‘A Plague of Vampires’ and ‘The Hound of Hell’, also by Margopoulos and Nebres. This slim tome concludes with a desperate hunt for a supernatural serial-killer in ‘A Feast of Fear’ by Margopoulos and Gonzalez.
Eccentric and never overly serious the original run of blood-drenched yarns won many devoted fans, more for the incredible European-styled black-and-white art than the scripting, and his scarce but worthwhile collection is a perfect example of just why. Perhaps without the excesses of a comics publishing frenzy to fuel hysteria, the time’s now right for a serious definitive collection, and as long as I’m wishing, a compendium of those marvelous painted covers that graced each issue as well…
By Bill Willingham, Matthew Sturges & various (DC Comics)
ISBN13: 978-1-84576-892-8
The third Shadowpact collection (reprinting issues #14-19 of the monthly comic-book series) advances the long-running Doctor Gotham plotline as the all-powerful sorcerer sets a trap and finally confronts the Supernatural Superteam in all-out combat. Written by Willingham, with art from Tom Derenick and Wayne Faucher, ‘The Redemption Contract’ is a truly epic, highly plausible and authentic confrontation. If wizards fought superheroes this is the way they would do it!
There’s even time to further examine the plight of Blue Devil, indentured to Hell but with Vatican exorcists and the slickest lawyer in America trying to get him out of his Infernal Contract. The deeply sardonic vein of humour is counterbalanced by blockbuster thrills and chills as Chicago is almost eradicated and the team’s roster is dramatically changed.
The sheer spectacle of this tale is followed by an impressive outing from writer Matthew Sturges who splits the team when a dimensional jaunt strands Nightmaster, Nightshade and Ragman in a dire otherworld populated by zombies and madmen (a tale to be concluded in the next volume) whilst remaining earthbound members Detective Chimp, Enchantress and Blue Devil’s replacement (ex-Justice Leaguer and actual Angel) Zauriel are left to face a slaughter-crazed magical construct who has complete control over women.
‘Darkness and Light’ is an atmospheric three-part tale magnificently illustrated by Doug Braithwaite, Derenick & Faucher and Phil Winslade, and the consistently high quality writing and art has made this series one of the very best new superhero sagas on the market.
Although the comic has gone now, hopefully these books (see also Infinite Crisis: Day of Vengeance – ISBN 1-84576-230-4, Shadowpact: the Pentacle Plot – ISBN: 1-84576-533-8 and Shadowpact: Cursed – ISBN13: 978-1-84576-738-9) will continue to find an appreciative audience and lead to a revival of this much-missed comic.
A few years ago the “World’s Mightiest Heroes†were shut down and rebooted in a company-wide event known as Avengers Disassembled. Of course it was only to replace them with both The New- and The Young Avengers. Affiliated comic-books such as the Fantastic Four and Spectacular Spider-Man ran parallel but not necessarily interconnected story-arcs to accompany the Big Show.
To many fans Iron Man is the quintessential Avenger. A founding member, he has served with practically every incarnation of the team and in his other identity of billionaire technocrat Tony Stark, funds and arms the team. In this collection (re-presenting Iron Man Volume 3, #84-89) Stark is the current U.S, Secretary of Defense and his duty to the Administration is beginning to conflict with his role as a U.N. sanctioned Avenger.
When Secret Service men brief him that a World War II super weapon built by his father lies dormant beneath Avengers Mansion and a potential embarrassment to the government, Stark agrees to spy on his fellow heroes and covertly remove the Arsenal Weapon. Naturally it all goes cataclysmically wrong with lasting repercussions…
This two-part tale is by John Jackson Miller and Jorge Lucas, and annoyingly for the unprepared leads directly into Avengers #500 (for which you’ll need to have a copy of the companion volume Avengers: Disassembled ISBN: 0-7851-1482-3 to hand) before we resume with ‘the Singularity’.
Written by Mark Ricketts, drawn by Tony Harris and Scott Kolins with inks by Tom Feister and Charles Wallace this tale sees the hero’s life fall tragically apart as a component of the Big Show, wherein a sinister plot and betrayal drags the armoured hero to the brink of ultimate personal and professional disaster…
Despite the poor planning and editing this is a compelling tale that perfectly illustrates why Iron Man has remained such a popular character, and has a lot to recommend it, but for perfect clarity you really should have that Avengers book too.
