{"id":29077,"date":"2023-12-15T09:00:35","date_gmt":"2023-12-15T09:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=29077"},"modified":"2023-12-13T16:48:44","modified_gmt":"2023-12-13T16:48:44","slug":"invincible-iron-man-omnibus-volume-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2023\/12\/15\/invincible-iron-man-omnibus-volume-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Invincible Iron Man Omnibus volume 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\" \"\" \"\"
\nBy Stan Lee & Don Heck<\/strong>, Jack Kirby<\/strong>, Larry Lieber<\/strong>, Robert Bernstein<\/strong>, Don Rico<\/strong>, Al Hartley<\/strong>, Steve Ditko<\/strong>, Roy Thomas<\/strong>, Gene Colan <\/strong>& various (Marvel)
\nISBN: 978-1-3029-5358-4 (HB\/Digital edition)<\/p>\n

Win\u2019s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Cast Iron Comics Cheer\u2026 10\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of Marvel\u2019s biggest global successes thanks to the film franchise, <\/em>Iron Man<\/em><\/strong> officially celebrated his 60th<\/sup> anniversary in 2023, so let\u2019s again acknowledge that landmark one last time\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

Tony Stark<\/em> is a super-rich supergenius inventor who moonlights as a superhero: wearing a formidable, ever-evolving suit of armour stuffed with his own ingenious creations. The supreme technologist hates to lose and constantly upgrades his gear, making Iron Man<\/strong> one of the most powerful characters in the Marvel Universe. There are a number of ways to interpret Stark\u2019s creation and early years: glamorous playboy, super-rich industrialist, philanthropist, inventor – even when not operating in his armoured alter-ego.<\/p>\n

Created in the immediate aftermath of the Cuban Missile Crisis and at a time when \u201cRed-baiting\u201d and \u201cCommie-bashing\u201d were American national obsessions, the emergence of a brilliant new Thomas Edison employing Yankee ingenuity and invention to safeguard and better the World seemed inevitable. Combining that era\u2019s all-pervasive belief that technology could solve any problem with the universal imagery of noble knights battling tangible and easily recognisable Evil, the proposition almost becomes a certainty.<\/p>\n

Of course, it might simply be that we kids thought it both great fun and very, very cool\u2026<\/p>\n

This fabulous full-colour compendium of the Steel Shod Sentinel\u2019s early days reprints all his adventures, feature pages and pin-ups from Tales of Suspense<\/strong> #39 (cover-dated March 1963 on newsstand from December 10th<\/sup> 1962) through #83 (November 1966), revisiting the dawn of Marvel\u2019s rise to ascendancy.<\/p>\n

The collection also offers Introductions<\/em> by Lee and Tom Field from earlier collections (Marvel Masterworks<\/strong> volumes 1-3 & Son of Marvel Origins<\/strong>) and essays by Bob Layton (\u2018How Communism Changed My Life for the Better!\u2019<\/em>) and Nick Caputo (\u2018Just a Guy Named Don: An Appreciation of Don Heck\u2019s Super Hero Art\u2019<\/em>) plus assorted other extras.<\/p>\n

This period saw the much-diminished and almost-bankrupt former comics colossus begin challenging DC Comics\u2019 position of dominance, but not quite yet become the darlings of the student counter-culture. In these tales, Stark is still very much a gung-ho patriotic armaments manufacturer, and not the enlightened capitalist liberal dissenter he would become\u2026<\/p>\n

Scripted by Larry Lieber (over brother Stan Lee\u2019s plot) and illustrated by the criminally unappreciated Don Heck, Tales of Suspense <\/strong>#39 reveals how and why \u2018Iron Man is Born!\u2019<\/em>, with engineering and electronics genius Stark field-testing his latest inventions in Viet Nam before being wounded by a landmine.<\/p>\n

Captured by Viet Cong commander Wong-Chu<\/em>, Stark is told that if he creates weapons for the Reds he will be operated on to remove the metal shrapnel in his chest that will kill him within seven days. Knowing Commies can\u2019t be trusted, Stark and aged Professor Yinsen<\/em> – another captive scientist – build a mobile iron lung to keep his heart beating. They also equip this suit of armour with all the weapons their ingenuity can covertly construct whilst being observed by their captors. Naturally, they succeed and defeat the local tyrant, but not without a tragic sacrifice.<\/p>\n

From the next issue, Iron Man\u2019s superhero career is taken as a given, and he has already achieved fame for largely off-camera exploits. Lee continues to plot but Robert Bernstein replaces Lieber as scripter for issues #40-46 and Jack Kirby pencils for Heck. \u2018Iron Man versus Gargantus!\u2019 <\/em>follows young Marvel\u2019s pattern by pitting the hero against aliens – albeit via a robotic giant caveman intermediary – in an action-heavy, delightfully rollicking romp.<\/p>\n

\u2018The Stronghold of Doctor Strange!\u2019 <\/em>(Lee, Bernstein, Kirby & Dick Ayers) features a gloriously spectacular confrontation with a wizard of Science (not Lee & Steve Ditko\u2019s later Mystic Master), after which Heck returns to full art for the espionage and impostors’ thriller \u2018Trapped by the Red Barbarian\u2019<\/em> before Kirby & Heck team again for science-fantasy invasion romp \u2018Kala, Queen of the Netherworld!\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

Heck goes it alone when Iron Man travels to ancient Egypt to rescue fabled and fabulous Queen Cleopatra<\/em> from \u2018The Mad Pharaoh!\u2019<\/em> before<\/em> n<\/em>ew regular cast members – bodyguard \u201cHappy\u201d Hogan<\/em> and secretary Virginia \u201cPepper\u201d Potts<\/em> – and the first true supervillain arrive as the Steel Sentinel must withstand \u2018The Icy Fingers of Jack Frost!\u2019 <\/em>Stark then<\/em> faces (and converts to Democracy) his Soviet counterpart \u2018The Crimson Dynamo!\u2019 <\/em>after which<\/em> Tales of Suspense<\/strong> #47 presaged big changes. Lee wrote \u2018Iron Man Battles the Melter!\u2019<\/em>, and Heck inked the unique pencils of Steve Ditko in a grudge match between Stark and a disgraced corporate rival, with the big event coming in the next issue\u2019s \u2018The Mysterious Mr. Doll!\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

Here Lee, Ditko & Ayers scrapped the old, cool-but-clunky golden boiler-plate suit for a sleek, gleaming, form-fitting red-and-gold upgrade to aid the defeat of a sadistic mystic blackmailer using witchcraft to get ahead. The new suit would – with minor variations – become the symbol and trademark of the character for decades to come.<\/p>\n

Paul Reinman inked Ditko on Lee\u2019s crossover\/sales pitch for the new X-Men<\/strong> comic book when \u2018Iron Man Meets the Angel!\u2019<\/em>, before the series finally found its feet with Tales of Suspense <\/strong>#50.<\/p>\n

Heck became regular penciller and occasional inker as Lee delivered the Armoured Avenger\u2019s first major menace and perpetual nemesis in \u2018The Hands of the Mandarin!\u2019<\/em>: a modern-day Fu Manchu<\/strong> derivative who terrifies the Red Chinese so much that they manipulate him into attacking America, with the hope that one threat will fatally wound the other. The Mandarin would become Iron Man\u2019s greatest foe and remains so even in a more evolved era far removed from the now abhorrent attitudes that were part and parcel of patriotic Americanism back then.<\/p>\n

Our ferrous hero made short work of criminal contortionist \u2018The Sinister Scarecrow\u2019<\/em>, and also the Red spy who appropriated a leftover Russian armour-suit to declare \u2018The Crimson Dynamo Strikes Again!\u2019 <\/em>scripted – as was the next issue – by the enigmatic \u201cN. Kurok\u201d who was in truth Golden Age veteran Don Rico. That issue also premiered a far more dangerous threat in the slinky shape of Soviet Femme Fatale The Black Widow<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

With ToS <\/strong>#53 she became a headliner when \u2018The Black Widow Strikes Again!\u2019<\/em>: stealing Stark\u2019s new anti-gravity ray but ultimately thwarted in her sabotage mission, after which \u2018The Mandarin\u2019s Revenge!\u2019 <\/em>began a 2-part tale of kidnap and coercion, concluding by disproving in #55 that \u2018No One Escapes the Mandarin!\u2019 <\/em>It\u2019s followed by a \u201cSpecial Bonus Featurette\u201d <\/em>by Lee & Heck, revealing \u2018All About Iron Man\u2019<\/em>: detailing how the suit works and even \u2018More Info about Iron Man!\u2019<\/em> including a \u2018Pepper Potts Pin-Up Page\u2019\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018The Uncanny Unicorn!\u2019<\/em> promptly attacked in ToS<\/strong> #56, faring no better as his power-horn proved pointless in the end, but segueing neatly into another Soviet sortie as Black Widow resurfaced to beguile a budding superhero. \u2018Hawkeye, The Marksman!\u2019<\/em> was gulled into attacking the Golden Avenger in #57 during his debut moment: briefly making him the company\u2019s latest and most dashing misunderstood malefactor.<\/p>\n

Another landmark occurred next issue. Formerly, Iron Man had monopolised Tales of Suspense<\/strong> but \u2018In Mortal Combat with Captain America!\u2019 <\/em>(inked by Ayers) depicted an all-out battle between the Avengers<\/strong> allies resulting from a diabolical substitution by evil impersonator The Chameleon<\/em>. It was a tasty primer for the next issue when Cap would begin his own solo adventures, splitting the monthly comic into an anthology featuring Marvel\u2019s top two patriotic paladins.<\/p>\n

Iron Man\u2019s initial half-length outing in #59 was against technological terror \u2018The Black Knight!\u2019<\/em>, and as a result of the blistering clash, Stark was rendered unable to remove his own armour without triggering a heart attack: a situation that hadn\u2019t occurred since the initial injury. Up until this time he had led a relatively normal life by simply wearing the heartbeat regulating breast-plate under his clothes. The introduction of such soap-opera subplots were a necessity of the shorter page counts, as were continued stories, but this seeming disadvantage worked to improve both the writing and the sales. The issue was also notable for the debut of letter column Mails of Suspense<\/em> which is included here with subsequent features appearing hereafter following each new instalment of IM\u2019s shortened exploits.<\/p>\n

With Stark\u2019s \u201cdisappearance\u201d, Iron Man was \u2018Suspected of Murder!\u2019<\/em>, a tale boasting the return of Hawkeye & Black Widow, leading directly into an attack from China and \u2018The Death of Tony Stark!\u2019 <\/em>(complete with a bonus pin-up of \u2018The Golden Avenger Iron Man\u2019). <\/em>The sinister ambusher then provided \u2018The Origin of the Mandarin!\u2019 <\/em>before being beaten by Stark\u2019s ingenuity once again.<\/p>\n

After that extended epic, a change of pace came as short complete yarns returned. The first was #63\u2019s industrial sabotage thriller \u2018Somewhere Lurks the Phantom!\u2019 <\/em>(by Lee Heck & Ayers)<\/em>, followed by the somewhat self-explanatory \u2018Hawkeye and the New Black Widow Strike Again!\u2019 <\/em>(inked by Chic Stone and with the Soviet agent abruptly transformed from slinky fur-clad seductress into gadget-laden costumed villain), after which \u2018When Titans Clash!\u2019 <\/em>(inked by Mike Esposito as \u201cMickey DeMeo\u201d) sees a burglar steal the red & gold armour, forcing Stark to defeat his greatest invention with his old suit.<\/p>\n

Mike stuck around to see subsea tyrant Attuma<\/em> as the threat du jour in \u2018If I Fail, a World is Lost!\u2019 <\/em>and crime-lord Count Nefaria<\/em> use dreams as a weapon in \u2018Where Walk the Villains!\u2019<\/em> The Maggia\u2019s master resurfaced in the next issue to attack Stark with hallucinations in \u2018If a Man be Mad!\u2019<\/em>: a rather weak tale introducing Stark\u2019s ne\u2019er-do-well cousin Morgan<\/em>. It was written by Al Hartley with Heck & Esposito in top form as always.<\/p>\n

Issues #69-71 form another continued saga: a one of the best of this early period. Inked by Vince Colletta, \u2018If I Must Die, Let It Be with Honor!\u2019 <\/em>sees Iron Man forced to duel a new Russian opponent called Titanium Man<\/em> in a globally-televised contest national super-powers see as a vital propaganda coup. Both governments are naturally quite oblivious of the cost to the participants and their friends\u2026<\/p>\n

DeMeo inks \u2018Fight On! For a World is Watching!\u2019<\/em> amplifying intrigue and tension as the Soviets, caught cheating, pile on pressure to kill America\u2019s champion if they can\u2019t score a publicity win, and final chapter \u2018What Price Victory?\u2019 <\/em>affords a rousing, emotional triumph and tragedy made magnificent by the inking of troubled artistic genius Wally Wood.<\/p>\n

Tales of Suspense<\/strong> #72\u2019s \u2018Hoorah for the Conquering Hero!\u2019<\/em>– by Lee, Heck & Demeo – deals with the aftermath of victory. Whilst the fickle public f\u00eate Iron Man, his best friend lies dying, and a spiteful ex-lover hires diabolical super-genius the<\/em> Mad Thinker<\/em> to destroy Stark and his company forever before #73 picks up, soap opera fashion, on Iron Man, rushing to the bedside of his best friend Happy Hogan<\/em>, who was gravely wounded in the battle against the Titanium Man, and is now missing from his hospital bed.<\/p>\n

\u2018My Life for Yours!\u2019<\/em> – by a veritable phalanx of creators including Stan Lee, Roy Thomas, Gene Colan & Jack Abel (in Marvel modes as \u201cAdam Austin & Gary Michaels\u201d), Sol Brodsky, Flo Steinberg and Marie Severin – pits the Armoured Avenger in final combat against the Black Knight to rescue Hogan. After this, the creative team stabilised as Lee, Colan & Abel, for \u2018If this Guilt be Mine..!\u2019<\/em>, wherein Stark\u2019s inventive intervention saves his friend\u2019s life but transforms the patient into a terrifying monster.<\/p>\n

Whilst in pitched battle against \u2018The Fury of<\/em>\u2026 <\/em>The Freak!\u2019<\/em> (who scared the stuffings out of me as a comic-crazed 7-year-old), Iron Man is helpless when T<\/em>he Mandarin attacks again in #76\u2019s \u2018Here Lies Hidden<\/em>,,,\u2026Unspeakable Ultimo!\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

The epic expands in \u2018Ultimo Lives!\u2019<\/em> and closes as the gigantic android goes bombastically berserk in \u2018Crescendo!\u2019<\/em>: dooming itself and allowing our ferrous hero to escape home, only to face a Congressional Inquiry and a battle crazed Sub-Mariner<\/strong> in \u2018Disaster!\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

The Prince of Atlantis had been hunting his enemy Warlord Krang<\/em> in his own series, and the path led straight to Stark\u2019s factory, so when confronted with another old foe, the amphibian over-reacts in his customary manner. \u2018When Fall the Mighty!\u2019<\/em> in #80 is one colossal punch-up, which carries over into Tales to Astonish<\/strong> #82, where Thomas & Colan begin the final chapter before the penciller contracted flu after only two pages. The inimitable Jack Kirby, inked by Dick Ayers, stepped in to produce some of the finest action-art of their entire Marvel career, fully displaying \u2018The Power of Iron Man!\u2019<\/em> as the battles rages on to a brutal if inconclusive conclusion.<\/p>\n

Tales of Suspense<\/strong> #81 trumpeted \u2018The Return of the Titanium Man!\u2019<\/em> – and Colan – as the Communist Colossus attacks the Golden Avenger on his way to testify before Congress, threatening all of Washington DC in the Frank Giacoia inked \u2018By Force of Arms!\u2019<\/em> until ultimately succumbing to superior (Yankee) fire power in \u2018Victory!\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

With the comics wonderment completed, those aforementioned essays lead to bonus features including a house ad promoting two new titles out the same month – Tales of Suspense<\/strong> #39 and Amazing Spider-Man<\/strong> #1 – and another plugging all the heroes extant as of May 1963. That one also announced the company rebrand as \u201cMarvel Comics Group\u201d.<\/p>\n

With covers throughout by Kirby, Heck, Ayers, Wood, Colletta & Colan, Abel, we close with a selection of pre-correction original art covers and pages: 17 wondrous treats by Kirby, Heck, Wood, Colletta & Ayers, and a 1965 T-Shirt design by Kirby and Chic Stone. Also on show are the covers of Marvel Collectors\u2019 Items Classics<\/strong> #1, 3-28,and Marvel Super-Heroes<\/strong> #28, 29 (and its unused Marie Severin alternate Cover art), 30 & 37: reprint titles that kept Iron Man\u2019s history alive and accessible to new readers, concluding with a gallery of previous collection covers from Bruce Timm, and classic Kirby covers modified by painters Dean White and Richard Isanove, plus variants by Adi Granov, Ryan Meinerding and Gerald Parel.<\/p>\n

Iron Man<\/strong> developed amidst the growing political awareness and consequent social unrest of the Vietnam Generation who were the comic\u2019s maturing readership. Wedded as it was to the American Industrial-Military Complex, with a hero – originally the government\u2019s wide-eyed golden boy – gradually becoming attuned to his country\u2019s growing divisions, it was, as much as Spider-Man<\/strong>, a bellwether of the times. That it remains such a thrilling romp of classic superhero fun is a lasting tribute to the talents of all those superb creators that worked it. The sheer quality of this compendium is undeniable. From broad comedy and simple action to dark cynicism and relentless battle, Marvel Comics grew up with this deeply contemporary series and so could you.
\n\u00a9 2023 MARVEL.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Stan Lee & Don Heck, Jack Kirby, Larry Lieber, Robert Bernstein, Don Rico, Al Hartley, Steve Ditko, Roy Thomas, Gene Colan & various (Marvel) ISBN: 978-1-3029-5358-4 (HB\/Digital edition) Win\u2019s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Cast Iron Comics Cheer\u2026 10\/10 One of Marvel\u2019s biggest global successes thanks to the film franchise, Iron Man officially celebrated his 60th … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Invincible Iron Man Omnibus volume 1”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[94,237,74,247,98,120,79,39,155,70],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-avengers","category-black-widow","category-captain-america","category-hawkeye","category-hulk","category-iron-man","category-marvel-superheroes","category-spider-man","category-sub-mariner","category-x-men"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-7yZ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29077"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29077\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29081,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29077\/revisions\/29081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}