What comic book fans of the 70s obsessed about

Way back in March of 1970 the comic book everyone was talking about was Iron Man #23. The reason all the Marvel aficionados were abuzz was due to the unusual printing format of the issue itself. Upon picking up the magazine of the spinner rack at the local 7-11 many Iron Fans were stunned that there was no real splash or title page to the issue. We all said What The..? Within days all the cool kids were talking about it and without a steady stream of info from the internet that exists today we had to resort to speculation, anger, threats and yes, even some tears as frustration set in.
What was odd about Iron Man #23 was that it appears the splash page, that first introductory full page panel that grabs your attention and sets the scene for thrills and excitement to follow, was used for the cover itself! In the two page spread above one can see that the story begins on the cover! It didn't seemed to have been originally planned that way as the credits seem rather perfunctory and placed more in mind for the little space available than giving full creator credits like most issues. Pretty unusual for the day indeed and what was even more odd that the cover is not artistically disconnected from the interior story! As all Marvel fans know each cover of their magazines that does not exactly match up to the story is not false or misleading advertising. No! It is actually a snapshot of an alternate and wholly separate Marvel reality!

When you think about it (and I do) Iron Man #23 is probably the only comic book published by Marvel where the cover is actually a part of the 616 multiverse! Minds were blown. Not right then, though. That happened years later, when the 616 universe began to be explored and fully realized. But comic book fans have the amazing ability to obsess upon and recall even the tiniest and most insignificant occurrence. So when the Marvel multiverse began to receive full saturation over the various titles many fans did indeed lose their crap when they remembered Iron Man #23.

One wonders what occurred that caused the planned cover for Iron Man #23 to have been replaced by the splash page. Lost in the mail? The Dreaded Deadline Doom? Screw up? We may never know. But Marvel made up for it later in that very same issue with this full pager by George Tuska, Mike Gaudioso (aka Esposito) and letterer Jean Izzo. The colorist is uncredited and that's a shame because it was a pretty good effort.

Pretty neat, huh? This page would have made a great Third Eye poster like those funky Doctor Strange ones!

Who, Iron Man and links

Movies: Went and watched the Iron Man 2 movie the other day and it was a fun time. The movie isn't as good in my opinion as the first but I still liked it. In fact, I liked it enough to take the time to ad the awesome Sam Rockwell to the poster. It's a crime he was left off it.

My main complaint, and one which applies to nearly every Marvel super-hero movie made in the last decade, is that the story once again was all about someone creating a mess and being hailed a hero for cleaning up after themselves. For some reason Hollywood seems almost incapable of making a comic book film that doesn't involve a threat from within and/or a relative of the antagonist.

The other problem I have is with armored fighters in particular who remove their protective head gear during battle. I'm sure this is done for the purpose of the story and sometimes due to contractual obligations for the actor to get so many minutes of screen time (Yes, I'm looking at you, Toby McGuire). But it still bugs me and has for some time. But then I guess if they didn't show the audience their faces from time to time then the film would be nothing but voice-over work with CGI and actors nodding their helmets as they pretended to speak like a super-ninja from Power Rangers.

I agree the Mandarin needs to make an appearance as the villain in the next film. I don't see that character as a racist sterotype as much as some do. It is probably a knee-jerk PC reaction to the name and the fact that the character has an origin during the Red-baiting days of Stan Lee being at the helm of the Marvel books. I think the company has redeemed the Mandarin as a viable character not only from the animated movie of a year or so ago but also in the classic Fin Fang Foom storyline from the comic book. No longer a Commie, just a megalomaniac who wants to use the trappings of the past to secure power in the present day.

I don't see the Ten Rings mentioned in the film being the magical or technological rings from the comic book series. That would be hard to accomplish and not look silly. More than likely the rings will turn out to be a family symbol of some kind or the crest of a branch of a guild. A film from years ago that featured a Thugee cult as the villains had the members being awarded a ring to place on the hilt of their murder-dagger every time they passed a stage in their training. Eventually the rings would complete the hilt and when held up to the light, the shadow cast by the rings on the handle would show a profile of the leader of the cult. Maybe the Ten Rings would turn out to be be something like that.

DVD: Re-watched Real Genius. Such a great and funny 80s movie. Liked Val Kilmer (how the mighty have fallen!) irked by the kid. Still inappropriately attracted to the weird girl.

Re-watched Night Shift. In my opinion Henry Winkler did his best job ever in front of the camera for this comedy though a pre-Cheers Shelly Long and then new-comer Michael Keaton stole the film. Fav quotes: "That Barney Rubble. What an actor!" and not to forget "Hello, this is Chuck to remind Bill to SHUT UP!"

Comic Books: Slight yet geeky Iron Man movie spoiler! The stunt of "crossing the streams"? Iron Man first did that way back in Avengers Annual #6 (1976).


Television: The up-coming television series Terra Nova is getting a lot of internet press lately. Many are comparing it to The Land of the Lost because of the time-travel element in which a family is thrown back to the dinosaur age. From what I'm reading it sounds more like Jurassic Park but without all the messy licensing and contractual issues. I'm looking forwards to watching it. Even if it is terrible some SF is better than no SF. I'm tired of the long periods in which the best science fiction on TV is contained in car commercials.

Doctor Who: Been watching episodes of the Jon Pertwee interpretation of the Doctor recently. His version is full of humor and honest horror. Not a lot of running but a heck of a lot of shouting and yelling.

The new Doctor played by Matt Smith is fresh, the fans are negative goofs and so far the show is keen to watch. Vampires of Venice was notable for one trait of the Doctor that a lot of people miss because they always accept him as some sort of super-hero. The Doc, as much as he meddles, would stand by and watch (albeit with sadness) if the entirety of humanity were killed and eaten by aliens if that were the natural order of things. He gets involved usually only when the characters are evil, monstrous and get a thrill when applying their rapacious ways.

Lost: Enjoying this show. Can't wait for the climax. Dread the inevitable very special Lost Christmas Reunion Special in 2020.

Fringe: This is the show I'm most excited about right now. Waiting a week for each new episode is painful. But if I had the power to cancel the show with extreme prejudice I would have done so after that storyteller/noir episode a few weeks back. That was nearly unwatchable. Happily the next episode redeemed it. I'm a sucker for alternate universe stories and the appearance of Walternate totally nailed.

Toys: 30 years ago I would have killed for an Iron Man toy. Fortunately nowadays I can avoid the moral implications of murder and jail time by a visit to the mall and about 6 bucks. Yesterday I picked up the classic comic series toy for my desk. It is cool. This Iron Man game I may get just because it is silly.

Immigrant 1/American Citizen 0: It bears repeating that they man who called in the failed Times Square car bomb planted by an American citizen of Muslim faith was an immigrant from Senegal who is also of the Muslim faith. The media however is continuing to demonize the naturalized citizen and has made little or no mention that the hero of this tale has the same basic religious philosophy as the bad guy. The more I read about Shahzad the more he comes off as an bitter loser and there are no shortage of people ready to take advantage and use someone like that. A second well-deserved tip of the hat to Samurai Frog.

Art: The news that Frank Frazetta died sure sheds some light on the fight going on between his son and the rest of the family. It will probably be some time before fans find out if the various members of his family was fighting to protect his legacy or being greedy poopy-heads. Conan vs. the Man-Ape is one of my favorite illustrations from one of my favorite Howard stories.

Iron Man vs Titanium Man: Then and Then

Nothing in comics says America and Capitalism like the character of Tony Stark, aka the Invincible Iron Man. While Businessman Lex Luthor might be the more realistic representative of the corporate wheeler-dealer he is the rapacious kind of (to paraphrase Steve Gerber) "grab it all, own it all, drain it all" entrepreneur that we all hope doesn't exist but probably does.

Tony Stark the inventor, the industrialist, the super hero is the kind of guy the Average Joe wants to actually head up a multi-national corporation. A bona-fide hero, he doesn't raid the pension plan or take a billion dollar salary as a reward for laying off thousands of employees. He's environmentally friendly. Tony Stark is no fool though, and is a shrewd businessman who has proved, at least in the Marvel Universe of Finance, that you can be a nice guy and still make billions of dollars.

In the comics Tony Stark has always been the reflection in the mirror held up to American business. During the Cold War and Vietnam he was a genius weapons-maker. In the 70's he built homes for the poor and alienated the government when he determined he would no longer manufacture munitions. During the great Michelinie/Layton/Et Al run in the 80's he fought against personal failures and fought off hostile takeovers from the competition and the Government. The 90's...hurts to talk about. Basically Tony went insane and sucked. In recent years I was really enjoying Tony Stark as the Secretary of Defense until a cross-over screwed up the direction of the book.

It was a new direction and not everyone liked it. After years of status quo in the character where Tony was just the rich industrialist playboy it was nice to see the character do something other than defend his corporate interests. Also, after decades of having various meaty-bits replaced with technology, Tony was being gradually "re-humanized" so the sudden return to Cyborg-Stark is a little annoying. Been there, done that. I guess if you haven't seen it one hundred times before like I have then it's new to you.

So as Tony Stark has usually been written in terms of prevailing American ideology it can be a bit amusing to see the changes to the character over the years. Particularly when you have a writer that has knowledge of continuity and is aware of what has been published previously.

In Tales of Suspense #71 (November 1965), Stan Lee, never one to pass up an opportunity for a little Cold War civics lesson, explains to the kiddies and hep college cats of the mid-60's in the basic differences between Americans and Commies. Stan Lee uses propaganda like a blunt force instrument.





On a trip behind the Iron Curtain, Tony Stark thoroughly beats up and humiliates that symbol of the Soviet military machine the Titanium Man, easily proving American superiority in all things.
After the fight Tony Stark tears off pieces of the armor for a trophy and (who you kidding?) a little reverse engineering. Also in the tradition of all 60's comic book heroes, Iron Man has to rub in the defeat with a lecture.

Don't worry...Lucky for you I'm not a red! I can't continue to attack a helpless enemy!

Notice it wasn't "won't attack", which would display some willful practice of superior methodology and ethics. Instead, Stan uses "can't attack", as if there is something genetic about Americans that make them physically unable to kick a hurt puppy or something.

Stan Lee then tells us the now helpless Titanium Man's greatest fear is that Iron Man will leave him to the mercy of his masters, the evil Commies.

Good old red-baiting Stan.

Cue Iron Man #135 (June 1980). A little over 15 years later the world has changed and so, apparently, have American sensibilities.

Bob Layton and David Michelinie had a great run on Iron Man in this comic era. John Byrne also scripted some good stuff during this time (#'s 258-277), but people have seemingly forgotten about them. They kicked butt, though. In this issue it is the eternal communist Boris Bullski, the Titanium Man who invades America and Tony Stark opens up a industrial-sized can of whup on him.

In a revealing contrast to the events of years before where Iron Man flexed the superiority of his ethical American muscles, Tony Stark pounds the bolts out of the Titanium Man long after he was unable to fight back.

In a parallel to the panels in Lee's Tales of Suspense story, Layton and Michelinie have Iron Man once again forcibly remove chunks of armor from Boris. Iron Man then totally frakows him into next week and really, really enjoys it.

Note the flag.

Not to get on a side rant here but this is a good example of continuity. This is the real thing that allows a writer to expand on a character and isn't the typical stereotype of fan nit-picking that people think makes the trembling geek enraged when an artist gets the number of framistats wrong on the secondary air-lock of the Negative Zone.

From comparing the two stories it's obvious that the Layton/Michelinie team had some familiarity of the IM/TM dynamic and this was America vs. Russia distilled for easy reading. Yes, it is still propaganda but it was that much more palatable due to the Jerry Bingham/Bob Layton art (and because I was also that much more clever than the hippies who read the book back in the 60's and I could never be fooled by such an obvious dramatic ploy).