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Iron Man Epic Collection
Iron Man Epic Collection, Vol. 6: The War of the Super Villains
A feud of epic proportions has been growing among the world's super villains! The mysterious Black Lama is pitting villain against villain, and the prize is ultimate power. This feud sets the Mandarin against the Yellow Claw, M.O.D.O.K. against the Mad Thinker…and all of them against Iron Man! It's a saga like only Marvel makes the War of the Super Villains! This volume also boasts the towering threat of Ultimo and Iron Man's return to Vietnam to rescue a friend behind enemy lines. Meanwhile, NYPD Detective Michael O'Brien begins an investigation aiming to nail Tony Stark for the death of his brother, the Guardsman! Add to that the Blood Brothers, the Controller and a new incarnation of the Molecule Man, and Iron Man must defend himself from all comers - or he'll lose everything! Collecting IRON MAN (1968) #68-91 and ANNUAL #3.
480 pages, Paperback
Published November 28, 2023
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
July 3, 2024
Iron Man has yet to enter a particularly good era.
I was really looking forward to the titular War of the Supervillains, but it turned out to be a milquetoast affair with barely any villains, and its milquetoast motivations were clearly up for revision with every new issue. Whether Mike Friedrich had a plan for the Black Lama (ugh)'s machinations that got scuppered mid-voyage, or he was making it up as he went along, the final product is not a cohesive or enjoyable story.
Tony Stark's personal life ambles along similarly, with characters introduced without purpose, forgotten about for several issues at a time, checked in on with pointless "Meanwhile..." cutaways that go nowhere, etc. Pepper and Happy remain the most interesting and well-developed members of the supporting cast, as befits the longest-serving veterans in that role, but for whatever reason the narrative wants to keep sidelining them; maybe there was an editorial disfavor with their status as a married couple (too grown-up for comics?) or the fact that they know Iron Man's secret identity and are okay with it (too much nuance?), but sadly these are the two elements that make them most interesting to me. There's a lot of pathos in knowing that their lives will always be in a bit of an uproar if they stick by Tony, yet they choose to do so out of undeniable loyalty and friendship. Sadly the writers keep finding reasons to obviate that loyalty.
Firebrand continues to intrigue me as a rival for Tony. There's something very appealing and ripe for storytelling about our hero, who serves as an icon of American industrialism and all the baggage that comes with it, going up against an antagonist who represents distinctly left-wing values and causes. There are hints of sympathy and empathy from Tony's perspective towards Firebrand's, such that the writers clearly intend for readers to share those sentiments, but they're all too often eclipsed by Firebrand's thin characterization, over-the-top pronouncements, and overall unpleasant demeanor. And then when he gets drawn into the bizarre and fantastical climax to the War of the Supervillains, it all becomes rather pointless. A villain with a lot of squandered potential; I'm no expert in the Iron Man timeline, but I don't feel like he does much between this point and a minor revival in the Heroes Return era of the 90s, so I'm not getting my hopes up that some writer figures out how to use him well in the near-term.
Elsewhere we get the requisite Freak multi-parter, Jack Frost's very welcome transformation into Blizzard, and the return of the Controller in an interesting story where he's shown to be in a sort of codependent homophilic relationship with an unhoused man named Scrounger, which remains underdeveloped. (Spoiler, but how does scrawny Scrounger whisk Controller's inoperative exoskeleton bod away from the scene of his last battle with IM without anyone noticing?) Sunfire appears in his capacity of "not a bad guy but grating and set against our hero because reasons," and while the story comes around on him eventually, his "hotheaded nationalistic Japanese man" schtick is getting less and less supportable as we go along.
I was really looking forward to the titular War of the Supervillains, but it turned out to be a milquetoast affair with barely any villains, and its milquetoast motivations were clearly up for revision with every new issue. Whether Mike Friedrich had a plan for the Black Lama (ugh)'s machinations that got scuppered mid-voyage, or he was making it up as he went along, the final product is not a cohesive or enjoyable story.
Tony Stark's personal life ambles along similarly, with characters introduced without purpose, forgotten about for several issues at a time, checked in on with pointless "Meanwhile..." cutaways that go nowhere, etc. Pepper and Happy remain the most interesting and well-developed members of the supporting cast, as befits the longest-serving veterans in that role, but for whatever reason the narrative wants to keep sidelining them; maybe there was an editorial disfavor with their status as a married couple (too grown-up for comics?) or the fact that they know Iron Man's secret identity and are okay with it (too much nuance?), but sadly these are the two elements that make them most interesting to me. There's a lot of pathos in knowing that their lives will always be in a bit of an uproar if they stick by Tony, yet they choose to do so out of undeniable loyalty and friendship. Sadly the writers keep finding reasons to obviate that loyalty.
Firebrand continues to intrigue me as a rival for Tony. There's something very appealing and ripe for storytelling about our hero, who serves as an icon of American industrialism and all the baggage that comes with it, going up against an antagonist who represents distinctly left-wing values and causes. There are hints of sympathy and empathy from Tony's perspective towards Firebrand's, such that the writers clearly intend for readers to share those sentiments, but they're all too often eclipsed by Firebrand's thin characterization, over-the-top pronouncements, and overall unpleasant demeanor. And then when he gets drawn into the bizarre and fantastical climax to the War of the Supervillains, it all becomes rather pointless. A villain with a lot of squandered potential; I'm no expert in the Iron Man timeline, but I don't feel like he does much between this point and a minor revival in the Heroes Return era of the 90s, so I'm not getting my hopes up that some writer figures out how to use him well in the near-term.
Elsewhere we get the requisite Freak multi-parter, Jack Frost's very welcome transformation into Blizzard, and the return of the Controller in an interesting story where he's shown to be in a sort of codependent homophilic relationship with an unhoused man named Scrounger, which remains underdeveloped. (Spoiler, but how does scrawny Scrounger whisk Controller's inoperative exoskeleton bod away from the scene of his last battle with IM without anyone noticing?) Sunfire appears in his capacity of "not a bad guy but grating and set against our hero because reasons," and while the story comes around on him eventually, his "hotheaded nationalistic Japanese man" schtick is getting less and less supportable as we go along.
February 21, 2024
This installment of the Iron Man Epic Colleciton seems to feature one of the first multiple issue storylines in the history of the series. PRevioulsy stories seem to run from one story to another with maybe a need to read a second issue to conclude the story. Here, the Black Llama is shown to be manipulating a grand battle with many villains trying to take down Iron Man for a powerful prize. The character's motiviation leave someting to be desired when they are fully revealed but its still an entertaining collection of issues.
April 17, 2024
The one time in the 1970’s when Tony
Stark was especially proud of his roller skates. When he inexplicably felt the need to add a nose to his face mask and abandoned it unceremoniously. The best art is a single issue inked by Marie Severin. The worst, Tuska inked Colletta (double trouble). Other highlights are a Steve Gerber scripted Man-Thing guest appearance and MODOK in a full body bipedal exoskeleton.
Stark was especially proud of his roller skates. When he inexplicably felt the need to add a nose to his face mask and abandoned it unceremoniously. The best art is a single issue inked by Marie Severin. The worst, Tuska inked Colletta (double trouble). Other highlights are a Steve Gerber scripted Man-Thing guest appearance and MODOK in a full body bipedal exoskeleton.
December 29, 2023
This book includes the run of issues in which Iron Man's mask had a nose! All this was a misunderstanding from a question by Stan Lee, but fortunately the nose didn't stay there for long... See https://screenrant.com/iron-man-helme... for more details on this, recounted by Kurt Busiek.
February 19, 2024
Nostalgic fun. The Black Lama story gets a little ridiculous but the Controller story is a classic Iron Man tale.
February 3, 2025
Enjoyable 70s iron man. Pretty ludicrous storytelling and some legacy racist characters.
April 1, 2024
I found myself wishing the ongoing war of super-villains would have continued for much longer than it did. Marvel more fully realized the potential of that concept by actually giving that theme its own title called Super-Villain Team-Up soon after. Mike Friedrich did some interesting stuff in the '70s (see JLA and Star*Reach) but I felt his Iron Man run was spotty. This volume is well known for the ridiculous nose on the faceplate of the title character, which I guess was based on a misunderstanding of something Stan Lee wanted. Thankfully, it did not continue past this volume.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews