Hey, did you know before the incredibly popular movies were made, Iron Man was a comic book character? It’s true! In fact, some of these comics were quite good! If the only Tony Stark you know has Robert Downey Jr.’s face, these are the seven Iron Man stories you need to read.
1) Extremis
Warren Ellis’ didn’t exactly reboot Iron Man with his “Extremis” storyline, but he certainly relaunched him. After a scientist releases a nanotech serum called Extremis and commits suicide, an insane militiaman named Mallen gets ahold of it, and mortally wounds Iron Man while on a deadly rampage. Stark is forced to inject himself with Extremis as well, which not only heals him, but allows him to control his armour mentally — just in time to stop Mallen from destroying Washington, DC. “Extremis” is the perfect starting point for new Iron Man readers, as it inspired all three Iron Man movies: his updated origin was used in IM1, the Extremis technology forms the basis of IM3, and if nothing else gave IM2 the idea for the suitcase suit.
Another inspiration for the first movie, Denny O’Neil’s lengthy run on Iron Man not only pits Tony Stark against his fellow armoured industrialist Obadiah Stane, but arguably puts Stark at his lowest moment. Stane begins a corporate takeover of Stark Industrial, and Stark’s inability to stop it causes him to lapse back into alcohol abuse; he even gives the Iron Man armour to his fried James Rhodes so he can become a bum. After Rhodey prevents Stane from acquiring the Iron Man armour, Stane finds some of Tony’s old research notes and plans, and creates the Iron Monger armour, and then soundly defeats Rhodey as Iron Man. Tony has to pull himself out of the gutter — kind of literally — to create the new Silver Centurion armour, defeat Stane, and take his company and his life back. It’s the quintessential Iron Man tale.
3) The Iron Age
Looking for Iron Man: Year One? Then you have to pick up Kurt Busiek’s look back at the early days of Iron Man, which reexamines the original origin Stan Lee penned back in 1963, but with far greater detail. We get to see the death of Tony’s parents, meet many of his friends and later foes, and the development of some of his demons (which may or may not come in bottles). What’s coolest about “The Iron Age” is how Busiek incorporates so many things from the early Iron Man comics and even Tales of Suspense, where Iron Man first debuted, but in a modern, more story-oriented way. Basically, if you want the best-written comic that features Iron Man in his original gold armour, this is it.
And speaking of demons, no Iron Man fan can go without having this, Iron Man’s most famous storyline, in their collection, which was roundbreaking for both its unflinching portrayal of alcohol addiction and withdrawal. Although packed with supervillains, the real villain is of course the booze, which Tony turns to (well, turns to more) after his armour begins malfunctioning, even accidentally killing an ambassador. This flaw helped solidify the rich, brilliant inventor and industrialist into one of Marvel’s most accessible characters. Fascinatingly, writers David Michelinie and Bob Layton weren’t trying to write some afterschool special; this was simply the next Iron Man story arc to them. Which may be the #1 reason that “Demon in a Bottle” is Iron Man at its best.
5) Armor Wars
Writers David Michelinie and Bob Layton teamed up again for the 7-issue “Armor Wars” story arc, which might be Iron Man at its most fun. After the Spymaster steals Stark’s technology, he sells it to every Marvel villain he can. The result? Countless bad guys wearing their own armour as powerful as Iron Man’s, and Tony Stark’s technology again used to kill. Tony takes this very personally, and sets out to destroy them all, one by one. “Armor Wars” doesn’t have the pathos of a story like “Demon in a Bottle,” but what it lacks in drama it more than makes up for in pure power-armor-on-power-armor action.
6) Doomquest
“Doomquest” can be a hard story arc to explain: While trying to stop a sale of Stark tech to Latveria, Iron Man and Dr. Doom are sent back in time to medieval England, where Iron Man joins King Arthur while Doctor Doom teams up with the sorceress Morgan Le Fay, who create an army of undead knights to attack Camelot. It sounds goofy, and it kind of is, but watching the two armoured titans of the Marvel universe, good and evil, square off is a delight in any setting; besides, Doctor Doom makes a better Iron Man foe than he does for the Fantastic Four. The hardcover collection also includes a follow-up, in which Iron Man and Doom are sent into the future by Merlin to defend the reborn King Arthur from Tony’s evil descendant and Doom’s cyborgized future self. Totally crazy, but totally fun.
Tony Stark has fought supervillains, aliens, sorcerers, and even booze. In Joe Quesada’s “The Man in the Iron Mask,” he faces his most dangerous foe… his own armour. The A.I. in the Iron Man armour becomes sentient, and sets about ruining Tony’s life in every manner possible. Besides just being a great read, “The Mask in the Iron Man” is a Frankenstein story that explores what the suit really means to Tony, both as a way stop his foes, and as a more metaphorical way of keeping others out.
Comments
7 responses to “The 7 Most Essential Iron Man Comics”
Just to get things straight, a collapsible armour which could fit inside a briefcase was a design element of the Mark 2 armour invented by Tony during the original run. Tony refers to the suitcase armour during Extremis.
“Extremis” is the perfect starting point for new Iron Man readers, as it inspired all three Iron Man movies: his updated origin was used in IM1, the Extremis technology forms the basis of IM3, and if nothing else gave IM2 the idea for the suitcase suit.
A fair bit of incorrectness there.
IM1: The movie had the same origin as the book. Kidnapped by terrorists, forced to make arms for them, with a man he had previously met at a science convention who had also been kidnapped. They make a super rough suit from junk and scraps and Tony escapes while the other guy gets killed.
The only thing similar is that Iron Man gets severely injured because his suit’s too slow. He modifies the Extremis tech, in a US lab, with all available technology and even the other scientist who created Extemis. (No “In a cave! With a box of scraaaaps!”)
IM2’s Suitcase suit had been used in comics for decades, even in the Demon in a Bottle story that you raved about (and rightly so) Just makes me wonder if you’ve actually read the comics you’re recommending.
May not be Iron Man only, but The Ultimate’s deserves a shout out!
Technically the only good one here is Extremis.
The others I guess are important if you want to know what happened, but a quick trip to Wikipedia can sort you out. 🙂
Surely it’s standard these days to mention the Writer and Penciller of a book?
I guess the Marvel Civil War doesn’t get a mention? Because people would realize Tony Stark is a MONSTER.
I was thinking where the hell is civil war? the greatest and most telling story of tonystark/ironman.
extremis was good but not the best, iron man vs iron monger was a better story IMO.
But personally i liked Demon in a bottle better than the rest listed.
Civil War was awesomesauce, one of the best story arcs ever.
i really need to read civil war. been reading so much other stuff lately i keep forgetting to get it. there’s just so many cool stories and characters to follow. i now know why i put off getting comics for so long haha