Essential Iron Man, Vol. 5 by Mike Friedrich

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book goes back to Marvel's Bronze Age by collecting Iron Man (Vol.1) Issues 62-75, 77-87, Annual #3 and covers for reprint Issues of Iron Man #76, Iron Man Special #1 #2 and Giant Sized Iron Man #1.

Mike Friedrich's had been on since Iron Man #48 and I hadn't thought too much of his early run, but it really does come together in this book as Friedrich tells some great Iron Man stories, and these are probably the best issues of Iron Man since Archie Goodwin worked on the book years before. Friedrich's writing brought the book back from being every month to being an actual monthly.

Some of the highlights of Friedrich's run include Iron Man v. Dr. Spectrum (Issue 63-66), the War of the Supervillains (Issues 67-71, 73-75, 77, 80, and 81). The stories have great action and the War of the Supervillains is particularly an underrated arch. While the War didn't have Marvel's heaviest hitters such as Doctor Doom, the Red Skull, and Doctor Octopus, that actually works in the story's favor as if any one of those villains had been in the storyline they'd be expected to triumph. Instead, we get a wonderfully evenly matched still formidable group including the Mad Thinker, MODOK, the Mandarin, and the Yellow Claw.

Friedrich was concerned about many cause of the big causes of the day but managed not to be as pushy and preachy about his personal beliefs as were other authors of the time. So when Tony returned to Vietnam to search for a lost POW, it didn't have the political punch of what other Marvel authors would have done. Tony Stark had shifted away from weapons manufacturing, but for the most part Friedrich kept the political on the downlow which is quite welcome. Friedrich did also make use of Happy and Pepper Hogan. Early on, their relationship with each other as well as Tony seemed strained as Happyas growing jealous of his wife travelling all over the country with Tony while he stayed in New York and even served divorce papers but Friendrich back off on the melodrama later on in the book.

While Friedrich was pretty serious, he could also have fun and this book features Iron Man #72 which is one of the most fun Marvel books of the 1970s I've seen. Iron Man decides to go to San Diego Comic Con and hilarity ensues. He even tries to buy the latest issue of Iron Man with his Avengers credit card.

Len Wein wrote issues #82-85 as Friedrich's short run successor and doesn't acquit himself well. He re-established in New York after Tony have wandered for several years. He also introduces Michael O'Brien, the brother of the Kevin O'Brien, a brilliant scientist who was Tony's friend but went insane as a result of wearing the Guardsman uniform. Michael is a cop and he blames Tony for Kevin's death. The concept was never that great and the character would spend a year skulking around Iron Man comics. There was a decent story involving the Red Host in Issues 82 and 83. Then (for the third time), Happy Hogan is critically injured and Tony Stark tries the same process on Happy that's twice before turned him into the Freak. Friedrich had Stark try the process on another old friend back in Issue #67 with the same result. Trying it again was just silly, particularly so soon after it failed. Still, it wasn't horrible, just not great.

Bill Manlo filled in for Friedrich on Issue #78 and the result was a classic. In the comics, Stark had shifted gradually into new areas of research until it was announced that Stark was no longer making weapons. It was a jarring shift from the original concept that was never explained...until Issue 78 in which in this "untold Tale of Iron Man," Manlo tells how Stark came to stop seling weapons after a visit to Vietnam and an encounter with the harsh reality of war and the failure of his weapons. Its propoganda but it's brilliant and it gives a great explanation of who the character is in a tale that packs a punch. While I prefer Stan Lee's original vision as it created true diversity of thought within the Marvel universe rather than left wing hegemony, this issue was a masterpiece of writing and the most important issue in the book. Manlo also took over for Wein as a stopgap before Archie Goodwin resumed writing Iron Man and wrote Issues #86 and #87 which, after thirteen years, retooled the throwaway Tales of Suspense villain Jack Frost into the powerful Iron Man villain Blizzard.

Annual #3 was written by Steve Gerber and was a team up with Man-thing. Gerber's work on Man-thing was well-known and if there's one flaw to this story, it's that it feels like a Man-thing in which Iron Man's guest starring rather than vice versa with a very strong horror element. It also features Gerber's trademark flourid overwriting. Though to be fair, it works better on Man Thing since we're dealing with the actions of an unthinking beast. The Annual is okay for it is, but not all that great.

The art in the book ranges from satisfactory to very good. George Tuska was one of Iron Man's great early artists and he has the character down flat and the Issues he drew were a joy (#63-72, #78, 79, 86, and 87). Aside from Sal Busceama (Annual #3), the rest of the art is just about average.

Overall, while not a golden age for the Golden Avenger, these stories are definitely a step up from those collected in the prior Essential volume. While some issues are better than others, there's not a bad issue in this book and there are actually some great and underrated stories in here. This is definitely worth a read.



View all my reviews