Now For More Mediocrity! "C’mon Rick. It’s time to go work on your blog." "Don’t wanna." "But everyone’s waiting to hear your thoughts on Iron Man #57." "Don’t wanna do that one." "Why not? It has the Mandarin in it. That’s Iron Man’s number one villain." "Big deal. He’s stupid. I hate him. I wanted Controller, Moondragon and Thanos with Jim Starlin’s art." "Rick, we don’t always get what we want in life. You have a responsibility to those three people who have signed

Iron Man's "Lamest" Villain & Some Guy Named Jim Starlin “Good morning, Marvel. I’m the agent for the Black Lama and here to say that I think you really need to put him into one of your comic books. And let’s face it, you owe me after what you did to my client, Cyborg Sinister. That guy had potential and you know it.” “Alright, so what’s this Black Lama’s schtick? “He’s the leader of a mystic cult with followers around the world, trained to channel their emotions to gene

The Best Iron Man Villain...We Never Saw Again! With a laughable Rogues Gallery, it only makes sense that when Iron Man faces a villain with potential, we never see them again. Such as the sorry story of Cyborg Sinister. Okay, so the name’s kinda dorky, but hey, one of Marvel’s top two villains is called Dr. Doom. Our hero’s had multiple bouts with losers like The Melter and The Unicorn (try saying that name twice without snickering!). But a villain with a truly eerie visu

A New Low! For his 50th Anniversary Issue, Iron Man Fights a ...Snake! We’re all friends here, right? If so, it’s okay to say that Princess Python is hot. I don’t mean to go overboard with objectifying someone, but those scaly green leggings and that wavey brunette hair combined with that whole “wrap yourself in reptilian coils” thing is sexy. Why in the world am I bringing this up? Because I’m guessing that either writer Mike Friedrich or penciller George Tuska also thoug

An Avenger, an Adaptoid and a Hot Blonde Walk into a Bar and... Can we all agree that Tony Stark doesn’t have the best of luck when it comes to romance? At least up to this point? Check it out. He falls for his staff assistant, Pepper Potts. Whether out of worry because of his bum ticker or wanting to avoid a harassment suit, Tony devotes most of his sixty plus issues in Tales of Suspense to hooking Pepper up with his chauffeur, Happy Hogan. Then there’s Janice Cord - a lo

Onward & Upward to...Mediocrity? Does anyone remember that scene from “Dirty Dancing” where the dorky grandson of the resort owner tells Patrick Swayze that he wants to change things for the big dance during the final evening? Remember how Patrick Swayze’s character is bursting forth with a multitude of ideas only to have this schmuck swat them all down, instead wanting only the most insignificant of revisions to their musical number? I bring that up because in my mind, I en

Since the Book's Not Called "The Invincible Guardsman", We Can Guess Who Bought the Farm At the offices of Marvel Comics in late 1971, a conversation between incoming Editor-In-Chief Roy Thomas and writer Gary Friedrich… “Hey Gary, I need to talk with you about your script for Iron Man #46.” ”Sure Roy, what’s up?” ”It’s that Kevin O’Brien/Guardsman character. You end this issue by having Tony Stark promise to cure him of the insanity brought on by that armor. And you show t

My First Issue of Iron Man Has Tony Stark Popping the Question! They say that every issue is a first issue for someone. For me, it was tumbling into a rather complicated mess of a story where new writer Gary Friedrich, attempts to remove the wreckage left from the previous one. It's a task that will require one more issue to complete. In the meantime, the drama is amped up with protesting students, board room shenanigans, best buddy betrayals and ... Tony Stark proposing

Please Tell Me That We've Hit Rock Bottom! Are you happy now, Marvel? After several years of treating this series as an afterthought, assigning inexperienced writers with little editorial oversight, Iron Man has been reduced to bi-monthly status with rumors of impending cancellation rampant. As it is, our hero's story is a scant thirteen pages - an abbreviated length due to the previous plan to pair his adventures with Daredevil. The remainder of the book consists of a sill

Twenty-Five Cents for Iron Man to Fight David Bowie’s Little Brother? Welcome to August 1971! A month where Marvel upped the price of their comics from 15 to 25 cents! That's an entire dime! But this extra cost came with additional pages of story and art! Uh, except for two titles. Daredevil and - you guessed it - Iron Man. Y'see Timmy, both books were struggling in the sales department, leading Marvel to consider combining into a single title. Fortunately, that didn't

Just How Bad? No sense beating around the bush. Iron Man #39 is bad. I’m not just talking about a comic book that’s not very good. No. I’m talking about one so hideous that in an alternate universe, Reed Richards used it instead of the Ultimate Nullifier to scare away Galactus. We’re talking about a story that makes less than zero sense visualized by perhaps the worst art job ever printed in an Iron Man comic. While I’m not a fan of Herb Trimpe, this is without a doubt

“When Calls Jonah..!” Marvel Comics Editor-in-Chief Stan Lee talking with a group of creators in 1971… “No! No! No! You’ve got it all wrong! This is not a character of science fiction! This is a someone born of the streets! Someone to brave the dangers of the night! Someone willing to tackle hoodlums of the Hood! Someone who’s true calling is to battle gangsters, mobsters and other organized baddies! “And I am envisioning such a wicked recidivist now! A master crimin

"Revenge!" Introduction “Alex, I’ll take ‘Atrocious 1970’s Comic Book Crossovers’ for $500.” “This comic book has both Daredevil and Nick Fury as guest stars as they’re attacked by four lame supervillains for the control of some silly apparatus called the Zodiac Key.” “What is Iron Man #35?” Bad Jeopardy parodies aside, there’s so much going on with this issue that it’s hard to know quite where to start. We've got another eye-catching Sal Buscema cover. I’m not always a fan

“Crisis .. and the Calamity” Introduction Dah-dah, dah-DAH-DAH, dah-dah, dah-DAH-DAH, Bah-bah-bah-BAH, bah-bah-bah-BAH, Duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh... Yes. That’s the "Mission Impossible" theme. An earworm that's nearly impossible to remove. But I can't help it. Researching this issue for this review inevitably plants that theme smack into the center of my brain. And you know what? It's really the best part of having to dive back into the Spymaster's first tussle

Cover Art: Marie Severin & Mike Esposito Introduction Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the star-shaped starship. Its one-issue mission: to find new financial partners; to negotiate stellar trade agreements; to secure as much money as possible, to boldly go where no profit margin has gone before! My first inclination was to do a take off from David Bowie’s “Starman,” but since that song doesn’t come up for another year, you’re stuck with my mauling William

“The Menace of the Monster Master” Writer: Allyn Brodsky Pencils: Don Heck Inks: Chic Stone Letterer: Jean Izzo Editor: Stan Lee Cover Art: Marie Severin & Bill Everett Introduction “Are you out of your mind, starting a new blog by reviewing a 55 year old comic book that no one either remembers or likes?” I’m reviewing Iron Man #30 because that is where my collection of his comics started. “But you hated that issue. You told everyone at the time - and I quote - that the

Starting November 14, I will publish weekly reviews of Iron Man, commencing with #30 from way back in 1970. While I acknowledge these are not exactly classics, it's my intent to have some fun with each review. What I mean by that is demonstrated with this post where I'll share excerpts from upcoming reviews. The intent is to offer a preview that also serves as an invitation for you to sign up to receive my reviews . Enjoy ! Introduction (from the upcoming review of Iron M