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Marvel Masterworks: The Invincible Iron Man
Marvel Masterworks: The Invincible Iron Man, Vol. 4
Collects Tales of Suspense #84-99, Iron Man & Sub-Mariner #1, The Invincible Iron Man #1
256 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1968
About the author
Stan Lee
7,342 books2,187 followersStan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber) was an American writer, editor, creator of comic book superheroes, and the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics.
With several artist co-creators, most notably Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, he co-created Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, Thor as a superhero, the X-Men, Iron Man, the Hulk, Daredevil, the Silver Surfer, Dr. Strange, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Scarlet Witch, The Inhumans, and many other characters, introducing complex, naturalistic characters and a thoroughly shared universe into superhero comic books. He subsequently led the expansion of Marvel Comics from a small division of a publishing house to a large multimedia corporation.
With several artist co-creators, most notably Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, he co-created Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, Thor as a superhero, the X-Men, Iron Man, the Hulk, Daredevil, the Silver Surfer, Dr. Strange, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Scarlet Witch, The Inhumans, and many other characters, introducing complex, naturalistic characters and a thoroughly shared universe into superhero comic books. He subsequently led the expansion of Marvel Comics from a small division of a publishing house to a large multimedia corporation.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
March 30, 2015
A definite improvement on the previous volumes. The stories are mostly two-parters as if they're full-length comic books, but the obligatory comic book fight scene aspect makes them still feel too much like a serial and too dependent on hokey plot turns. Colan's artwork is amazing as usual. It seems two of Iron Man's supporting cast are leaving as quickly as they came, only to be replaced by Jasper Sitwell, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., which Lee is quickly incorporating references to in nearly every title, as it would be in the 1970s and '80s when espionage stuff was out of fashion. This is also the end of Stan Lee working on the title. Archie Goodwin takes over for the final story in this volume and will continue with the title for 27 more issues (presumably up through volume 7 in these editions).
Half-Face is an interesting character, but since he's only an enemy by war and not by villainous inclination, he won't become a major Iron Man foe. Bart Lidofsky on the Howard the Duck Yahoo! group said that Marvel was pretty counter-cultural from 1967-1975, swinging mainstream after that point and far to the right with the Civil War crossover. You wouldn't know it from the staunch anti-communist propaganda of this issue, which goes from 1966-1968. Although identified only as El Presidente, Fidel Castro is presented as a cold-blooded killer, and good and capitalism are equated. particularly in the story with Half-Face an the Titanium Man in Vietnam, where, of course, the story of Iron Man, which is retold in a three-page backup at the end of issue #1, began.
Issue #1 is the end of a five-parter (although that five parter continues immediately from the Grey Gargoyle two-parter that precedes it). It's interesting to note that, as established in volume 6 of The Amazing Spider-Man, Dr. Octopus is attacking Stark Industries at the same time that Grey Gargoyle is, although there is no trace of him here. It is explained in a footnote in the other volume that Iron Man doesn't defend the factory (which was actually recently rebuilt in a much more modernist style after being captured by the Mole Man early in this volume) from Dr. Octopus because of a blow dealt to him by the Grey Gargoyle, so this volume was a bit of catching up. The five parter starts with the return of the Maggia, a crime cartel that is presumably just an alteration to "mafia," for the same reason the word is never uttered in The Godfather, as well as A.I.M., which had just suffered defeat by Captain America in issues of the same series that readers at the time would almost certainly have read (I'm still waiting for that volume from the library). The Melter returns in this volume. His new costume is hideous, but his old costume was a bit too cute--almost Bat-Mite esque in its appearance, and Lee and Colan might have felt it needed to be changed, although the "cuteness" of Green Goblin's costume was intentionally cited for costrast on the cover of The Amazing Spider-Man, #14, the Goblin's first appearance.
Finally, the issue looks strangely modern since Whitney Frost's pants cut off like yoga pants, although they are presumably capris. If you can't slog through the weak beginning of the series, vols. 3 or 4 might be a better starting point for you. The cliffhanger over the two volumes is a bit of a let-down, although certainly not for Tony. The reporters open with a recap that establishes who Happy Hogan and Pepper Potts are with an amusingly self-deprecating footnote in which Lee recognizes awkward story conventions as unrealistic that appear throughout the volume. Too bad he hadn't learned to do that when Iron Man was battling silly foes like Jack Frost in volume 1.
Half-Face is an interesting character, but since he's only an enemy by war and not by villainous inclination, he won't become a major Iron Man foe. Bart Lidofsky on the Howard the Duck Yahoo! group said that Marvel was pretty counter-cultural from 1967-1975, swinging mainstream after that point and far to the right with the Civil War crossover. You wouldn't know it from the staunch anti-communist propaganda of this issue, which goes from 1966-1968. Although identified only as El Presidente, Fidel Castro is presented as a cold-blooded killer, and good and capitalism are equated. particularly in the story with Half-Face an the Titanium Man in Vietnam, where, of course, the story of Iron Man, which is retold in a three-page backup at the end of issue #1, began.
Issue #1 is the end of a five-parter (although that five parter continues immediately from the Grey Gargoyle two-parter that precedes it). It's interesting to note that, as established in volume 6 of The Amazing Spider-Man, Dr. Octopus is attacking Stark Industries at the same time that Grey Gargoyle is, although there is no trace of him here. It is explained in a footnote in the other volume that Iron Man doesn't defend the factory (which was actually recently rebuilt in a much more modernist style after being captured by the Mole Man early in this volume) from Dr. Octopus because of a blow dealt to him by the Grey Gargoyle, so this volume was a bit of catching up. The five parter starts with the return of the Maggia, a crime cartel that is presumably just an alteration to "mafia," for the same reason the word is never uttered in The Godfather, as well as A.I.M., which had just suffered defeat by Captain America in issues of the same series that readers at the time would almost certainly have read (I'm still waiting for that volume from the library). The Melter returns in this volume. His new costume is hideous, but his old costume was a bit too cute--almost Bat-Mite esque in its appearance, and Lee and Colan might have felt it needed to be changed, although the "cuteness" of Green Goblin's costume was intentionally cited for costrast on the cover of The Amazing Spider-Man, #14, the Goblin's first appearance.
Finally, the issue looks strangely modern since Whitney Frost's pants cut off like yoga pants, although they are presumably capris. If you can't slog through the weak beginning of the series, vols. 3 or 4 might be a better starting point for you. The cliffhanger over the two volumes is a bit of a let-down, although certainly not for Tony. The reporters open with a recap that establishes who Happy Hogan and Pepper Potts are with an amusingly self-deprecating footnote in which Lee recognizes awkward story conventions as unrealistic that appear throughout the volume. Too bad he hadn't learned to do that when Iron Man was battling silly foes like Jack Frost in volume 1.
September 5, 2019
The IRON MAN Masterworks Vol. 4 collection is the final one that collects his TALES OF SUSPENSE issues (#84-99) and issue #1 from his new series simply titled IRON MAN as well as the first ever Marvel one-shot IRON MAN AND SUB MARINER #1. All of these comics were published between December 1966 and May 1968 and all were written by Stan Lee with the exception IRON MAN AND SUB MARINER #1 and IRON MAN #1, which were written by Archie Goodwin with Gene Colan doing the artwork throughout all the issues. Some of their sketches and original art are included as extras at the back of the collection.
The first trio of TALES OF SUSPENSE issues (#84-86) find Tony Stark getting ready to reveal before congress that he is Iron Man, but suffering a heart attack before he gets the chance. Soon press start to wonder why Tony's stay in the hospital coincides with the sudden disappearance of Iron Man from the public eye. Happy, Tony's doting assistant, agrees to put the suit on to throw everyone off and is promptly kidnapped by Mandarian. Now Tony must construct another suit to save his friend. What's most interesting to me about all these shorter comics (only half of each TALES OF SUSPENSE issue was dedicated to Iron Man, the other being reserved for Captain America) is that due to the lower page count, the stories seem to flow a lot more smoothly than the comics getting full issues at the time. In fact, I think that it would be quite some time before Marvel realized the full potential of the medium and started utilizing their page counts to their fullest extent without padding it out with pointless exposition and narration.
Issues #87-88 are finds Tony tells everyone to evacuate the Stark building to begin testing a new device that will bore directly into the Earth. There's an earthquake that is unrelated to the test and some random criminals decide this is the time to try to steal the technology (okay, that is padding...no other way to look at it). Luckily he was in his armor, so after beating them, Iron Man and the entire Stark Industries building sink deep into the Earth where the true culprit is...Mole Man! For some reason Pepper remained in the building during the evacuation and Tony must save her while beating Mole Man.
Issues #89-90 The Melter, one of Iron Man's original villains from his early first appearances in this series, escapes from prison and forces Tony Stark to make him a new melting ray gun. A very poorly thought out scheme by him that, of course, backfires on him and results in Tony donning the original Iron Man costume (a high point of these issues). This story is followed by #91 featuring a one off villain named Crusher whose Cuban backstory is so unnecessary because honestly he's a jacked up dude for Iron Man to pummel. The weird thing about this comic is that Castro is portrayed as the villain and the Cuban people as subservient to him, trying to gain his favor. Kind of odd for considering Marvel was pretty progressive in it's time for it's portrayal of other races.
Tony Stark returns to the land that made him Iron Man, Vietnam, in the three part storyline that follows (#92-94). He is there to stop a nefarious villain named Half-Face who has revived Titanium Man (another Iron Man villainous staple) and ordered him to destroy a small village as part of a propaganda campaign against the Americans. Once again I'm kind of taken aback by the blatantly racist portrayal of Vietnamese people and sort of the naivety shown here in regards to why the war in Vietnam was going on. I get that it's for children of that time, but honestly because of that it comes off a bit irresponsible on Stan Lee's part. Definitely a relic of it's era.
Grey Gargoyle, a B-tier villain who seemed to be in Marvel's 'we need someone to fight this month' box during this era, escapes from jail for a two-part serial (#95-96). He seems dead set on stealing Thor's hammer, but needs a piece of Tony Stark's tech to get it (that's absolutely not convoluted at all) so he storms Stark Industries building. Tony Stark is being hounded by a SHIELD agent to join the organization at the time and Iron Man ends up having to protect him while trying to beat the Gargoyle. I'm going to spoil what is probably one of the lamest plot points/dumbest moments I've ever read in a comic book. Gargoyle's main power is he can turns people into stone for an hour if he touches them (why they kept up with the whole hour business, I have no clue....it's literally him touching someone and then 3 panels later that person is back saying 'my hour is up'...I'm not joking). So he turns Iron Man into stone, of course, and throws him off the building to shatter him. The SHIELD agent sees this happen and notices a dump truck full of sand parked close to him. Why is that truck there? I don't know, he doesn't know...it's even acknowledged in a caption panel where Stan is like 'trust us, it was there check out the last issue' without any explanation as to why this open bed truck full of sand is there. This agent has enough time to not only get to it and start it, but drive it across the parking lot to cushion an Iron Man made of stone's fall so he doesn't shatter. Very poor, sloppy writing.
The rest of the comics, TALES OF SUSPENSE #97-99, the Iron Man half of IRON MAN AND SUB MARINER #1, and IRON MAN #1, form a big story arc (actually the two comics before these also tie in as well). After the Grey Gargoyle fight a very weak Iron Man is kidnapped by his cousin, Morgan Stark, and delivered to the criminal organization Maggia on their illegal casino cruise ship. They have in their employ the villain Whiplash (played by Mickey Rourke in the movie IRON MAN 2), whom they are going to use to kill Iron Man or whatever they are going to do to him. However, Agent Sitwell, the SHIELD agent from the Grey Gargoyle storyline, is also aware of what is going on and trying to save Iron Man. Then out of no where, another villainous organization named A.I.M. shows up to get Iron Man for their own purposes. In all, you could say this is a 4 full issue story arc (including the Grey Gargoyle stuff) and you'd think with everything I just told you there would be some deep storytelling to the entire thing. There really isn't though, it's all so convoluted and poorly put together. The fight stuff with Whiplash is the high point in the arc, but even that is wasted because it goes no where. I think it was all done to set up some sort of villainous rogue's gallery for Iron Man to face in his own series and it works on that level (until you realize how generic and bland all the villains, except Whiplash, are). If I were reading it and didn't know what the future of the series was, just based on it's own merits, I would dismiss it outright because it doesn't seem like there's an interesting story there, just a bunch of cannon fodder for a cool superhero. Also included at the end of IRON MAN #1 is a very, very brief 3 page retelling of Iron Man's origin.
This Masterworks collection is decent enough, but there are a lot better Iron Man comics out there. It's interesting to me that someone would think maybe they need to read this collection to help gain some background knowledge about the series because it include the very first issue of Iron Man's solo series, but that isn't the case at all. None of the storylines have any real lasting impact and I would dare say this collection is for completionists only.
The first trio of TALES OF SUSPENSE issues (#84-86) find Tony Stark getting ready to reveal before congress that he is Iron Man, but suffering a heart attack before he gets the chance. Soon press start to wonder why Tony's stay in the hospital coincides with the sudden disappearance of Iron Man from the public eye. Happy, Tony's doting assistant, agrees to put the suit on to throw everyone off and is promptly kidnapped by Mandarian. Now Tony must construct another suit to save his friend. What's most interesting to me about all these shorter comics (only half of each TALES OF SUSPENSE issue was dedicated to Iron Man, the other being reserved for Captain America) is that due to the lower page count, the stories seem to flow a lot more smoothly than the comics getting full issues at the time. In fact, I think that it would be quite some time before Marvel realized the full potential of the medium and started utilizing their page counts to their fullest extent without padding it out with pointless exposition and narration.
Issues #87-88 are finds Tony tells everyone to evacuate the Stark building to begin testing a new device that will bore directly into the Earth. There's an earthquake that is unrelated to the test and some random criminals decide this is the time to try to steal the technology (okay, that is padding...no other way to look at it). Luckily he was in his armor, so after beating them, Iron Man and the entire Stark Industries building sink deep into the Earth where the true culprit is...Mole Man! For some reason Pepper remained in the building during the evacuation and Tony must save her while beating Mole Man.
Issues #89-90 The Melter, one of Iron Man's original villains from his early first appearances in this series, escapes from prison and forces Tony Stark to make him a new melting ray gun. A very poorly thought out scheme by him that, of course, backfires on him and results in Tony donning the original Iron Man costume (a high point of these issues). This story is followed by #91 featuring a one off villain named Crusher whose Cuban backstory is so unnecessary because honestly he's a jacked up dude for Iron Man to pummel. The weird thing about this comic is that Castro is portrayed as the villain and the Cuban people as subservient to him, trying to gain his favor. Kind of odd for considering Marvel was pretty progressive in it's time for it's portrayal of other races.
Tony Stark returns to the land that made him Iron Man, Vietnam, in the three part storyline that follows (#92-94). He is there to stop a nefarious villain named Half-Face who has revived Titanium Man (another Iron Man villainous staple) and ordered him to destroy a small village as part of a propaganda campaign against the Americans. Once again I'm kind of taken aback by the blatantly racist portrayal of Vietnamese people and sort of the naivety shown here in regards to why the war in Vietnam was going on. I get that it's for children of that time, but honestly because of that it comes off a bit irresponsible on Stan Lee's part. Definitely a relic of it's era.
Grey Gargoyle, a B-tier villain who seemed to be in Marvel's 'we need someone to fight this month' box during this era, escapes from jail for a two-part serial (#95-96). He seems dead set on stealing Thor's hammer, but needs a piece of Tony Stark's tech to get it (that's absolutely not convoluted at all) so he storms Stark Industries building. Tony Stark is being hounded by a SHIELD agent to join the organization at the time and Iron Man ends up having to protect him while trying to beat the Gargoyle. I'm going to spoil what is probably one of the lamest plot points/dumbest moments I've ever read in a comic book. Gargoyle's main power is he can turns people into stone for an hour if he touches them (why they kept up with the whole hour business, I have no clue....it's literally him touching someone and then 3 panels later that person is back saying 'my hour is up'...I'm not joking). So he turns Iron Man into stone, of course, and throws him off the building to shatter him. The SHIELD agent sees this happen and notices a dump truck full of sand parked close to him. Why is that truck there? I don't know, he doesn't know...it's even acknowledged in a caption panel where Stan is like 'trust us, it was there check out the last issue' without any explanation as to why this open bed truck full of sand is there. This agent has enough time to not only get to it and start it, but drive it across the parking lot to cushion an Iron Man made of stone's fall so he doesn't shatter. Very poor, sloppy writing.
The rest of the comics, TALES OF SUSPENSE #97-99, the Iron Man half of IRON MAN AND SUB MARINER #1, and IRON MAN #1, form a big story arc (actually the two comics before these also tie in as well). After the Grey Gargoyle fight a very weak Iron Man is kidnapped by his cousin, Morgan Stark, and delivered to the criminal organization Maggia on their illegal casino cruise ship. They have in their employ the villain Whiplash (played by Mickey Rourke in the movie IRON MAN 2), whom they are going to use to kill Iron Man or whatever they are going to do to him. However, Agent Sitwell, the SHIELD agent from the Grey Gargoyle storyline, is also aware of what is going on and trying to save Iron Man. Then out of no where, another villainous organization named A.I.M. shows up to get Iron Man for their own purposes. In all, you could say this is a 4 full issue story arc (including the Grey Gargoyle stuff) and you'd think with everything I just told you there would be some deep storytelling to the entire thing. There really isn't though, it's all so convoluted and poorly put together. The fight stuff with Whiplash is the high point in the arc, but even that is wasted because it goes no where. I think it was all done to set up some sort of villainous rogue's gallery for Iron Man to face in his own series and it works on that level (until you realize how generic and bland all the villains, except Whiplash, are). If I were reading it and didn't know what the future of the series was, just based on it's own merits, I would dismiss it outright because it doesn't seem like there's an interesting story there, just a bunch of cannon fodder for a cool superhero. Also included at the end of IRON MAN #1 is a very, very brief 3 page retelling of Iron Man's origin.
This Masterworks collection is decent enough, but there are a lot better Iron Man comics out there. It's interesting to me that someone would think maybe they need to read this collection to help gain some background knowledge about the series because it include the very first issue of Iron Man's solo series, but that isn't the case at all. None of the storylines have any real lasting impact and I would dare say this collection is for completionists only.
November 22, 2021
Nothing spectacular and no real "key issues" but a fun read for old times sake. I love Gene Colon's art but I have to say his loose style works far better with the mystic Doctor Strange than the mechanical world of Iron Man. I still enjoyed his art but some of the liberties he takes in perspective and composition didn't work well with Iron Man.
the stories are so-so with the addition of Jasper from SHIELD being a fun infusion. Pepper and Happy are out of the picture so he really needs a revamp on his supporting cast. Something I think he suffers from through a lot of his stories. Having those side characters makes the stories more than just "Iron Man takes on bad guy". Notice how the MCU movies went back to Pepper and Happy for the characters - they were some of the best and should not have been written off.
So - I can't strongly recommend this but I enjoyed reading them just to get a taste of what Iron Man was like in the 70's
the stories are so-so with the addition of Jasper from SHIELD being a fun infusion. Pepper and Happy are out of the picture so he really needs a revamp on his supporting cast. Something I think he suffers from through a lot of his stories. Having those side characters makes the stories more than just "Iron Man takes on bad guy". Notice how the MCU movies went back to Pepper and Happy for the characters - they were some of the best and should not have been written off.
So - I can't strongly recommend this but I enjoyed reading them just to get a taste of what Iron Man was like in the 70's
January 7, 2024
By this time in the story Tony Stark's second bananas of Happy Hogan and Pepper Potts are written off (they elope!) and is given a new sidekick in Jasper Sitwell. The crew-cut kid may not look like much but he is an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. so he's got some tricks up his sleeve.
October 21, 2017
Things are getting a little better, as the plotting is improving with new writer Archie Goodwin and the soap opera aspect is beginning to be downplayed a little.
March 11, 2016
The Marvel Masterworks volumes are fantastic reprints of the early years of Marvel comics. A fantastic resource to allow these hard to find issues to be read by everyone. Very recommended to everyone and Highly recommended to any comic fan.
February 14, 2016
The Marvel Masterworks volumes are fantastic reprints of the early years of Marvel comics. A fantastic resource to allow these hard to find issues to be read by everyone. Very recommended to everyone and Highly recommended to any comic fan.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews