![]() ![]() In recent issues, Tony had found that several of his friends (Pepper Potts, Happy Hogan, Bambi Arbogast and others) had disappeared, and he now believes them to be in the hands of Stane. Cly believes that the identity of their attacker should be equally self-evident… It’s a nice moment, and well-handled, especially when first Rhodey then Clytemnstra arrive, leaving the identity of the decedent obvious. With Rhodey’s armor damaged beyond immediate repair, though, Tony moves into focus. It should be noted that for a couple of years previous to this issue, Iron Man was JAMES RHODES, and Tony just a supporting character in his adventures. Rather than immediately tell us which friend, we are taken inside Tony’s mind, to see the events of recent months firsthand. Some hours after the explosion that obliterated his new business, Tony Stark is told that his friend didn’t make it. ![]() But Stane is about to find out about the IRON in the MAN… It was then that Obadiah Stane struck again, blowing up Circuits Maximus and nearly killing Tony, Rhodey, and his partners, just to see Tony Stark again at his lowest point. For months he scraped and slaved, until eventually his business became a moderate success. ![]() It took the death of a fellow hobo and friend to draw him back into the world, where Tony Stark haltingly put together a new business with his partners, Morley and Clytemnstra Erwin. Tony himself dropped off the face of the planet, living in a skid-row hovel, surviving (if you can call it that) from bottle to bottle. Stark International became STANE International, and the Iron Man armor passed into the hands of James Rhodes, who continued in his boss’s footsteps. He overcame his alcohol issues once, but it wasn’t long before a man named Obadiah Stane began intentionally targeting Stark’s weak spots, using a systematic campaign of aggression to take away his livelihood, his friends, and eventually his business. Previously, on Iron Man: Tony Stark is a man with demons… Driven for years to be the best, the greatest, the poster boy for American know-how, Tony found his biggest weakness in the bottom of a bottle of bourbon. If you want to know how that obsession started, my friends, look no further than the jump… But for a time, Iron Man was my favorite hero, the one I doodled incessantly, the one whose adventures moved me like none other. I’ve never believed in Iron Man or identified with his adventures the way I did with this armor, and given that he now has a seemingly permanent monkey-face, I may never again. I am often the target of derision at the store (GATEKEEPER HOBBIES, Huntoon & Gage, Topeka! Ask us about Matt Wagner’s Demon mini!) for my assertion that the Mark VII Silver Centurion armor is what Iron Man should look like, and that all the other suits are just pretenders. Stephen is still burning about the cancellation of ‘Legend of the Dark Knight.’ Otter Disaster can’t stand the way Superman “swims” through the air, and used to say that when he learned to fly, he’d do it STANDING UP. My friend Dusty won’t read Avengers without Iron Man, Cap and Thor. Or – “How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love Red & Silver…”Įveryone has deeply held, inexplicable beliefs about the exploits of their comic heroes. ![]()
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