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Essential Iron Man #5
Essential Iron Man, Vol. 5
The Golden Avenger's solo exploits continue! Iron Man battles Dr. Spectrum, but what is the secret behind the villain's Power Prism? Then, as Happy Hogan and Pepper Potts' rocky relationship hits a turning point, the Mandarin returns - and takes on the Yellow Claw! What is the Golden Globe, why are
so many villains battling for it, and what does it have to do with the mysterious Black Lama? Plus: when the Red Ghost's Super-Apes kidnap Tony, Happy must fill in as Iron Man - but when he collapses, the extreme measures taken to cure him transform him into the monstrous Freak once again! And this
time, Happy may not survive! Plus: the threats of Whiplash, Crimson Dynamo, MODOK, Mad Thinker and Blizzard! And,
Iron Man attends Comic-Con!
COLLECTING: Iron Man (1968) 62-87, Iron Man Annual 3
so many villains battling for it, and what does it have to do with the mysterious Black Lama? Plus: when the Red Ghost's Super-Apes kidnap Tony, Happy must fill in as Iron Man - but when he collapses, the extreme measures taken to cure him transform him into the monstrous Freak once again! And this
time, Happy may not survive! Plus: the threats of Whiplash, Crimson Dynamo, MODOK, Mad Thinker and Blizzard! And,
Iron Man attends Comic-Con!
COLLECTING: Iron Man (1968) 62-87, Iron Man Annual 3
520 pages, Paperback
First published June 10, 1976
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60 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
June 22, 2020
In black and white on cheap paper, Essential Iron Man # 5 follows the usual pattern. It contains reprints of Iron Man # 62-75, # 77-87 and Iron-Man Annual # 3. Iron Man # 76 was probably a reprint and that’s why it’s not included. They have the cover which shows Iron Man fighting the Hulk. The issue may have been a victim of the ‘Dreaded Deadline Doom’ as they called it at Marvel in the 70s. I don’t think they ever suffered this under Stan Lee’s control but when the hippie generation of writers and editors took over it was a frequent occurrence.
Issues # 62-81, except # 78, are scripted by Mike Friedrich, formerly a writer at the Dastardly Competition. He does a pretty good job of mixing the combat with personal issues in the mighty Marvel manner. Iron Man has to fight Whiplash, Doctor Spectrum, the Melter, the Mandarin, Sunfire, the Unicorn and the Freak. Then in a grand epic called ‘The Super-Villain War’, he combats the Mandarin, Yellow Claw, Modok, the Mad Thinker and Firebrand. All this is engineered by the Black Lama, Dalai’s evil cousin. Finally, of course, the Black Lama’s secret is revealed, but I won’t spoil it for you. There was a fashion for long story arcs at this time, initiated by Jim Starlin, maybe with his Thanos thing, but it’s hard to avoid an anti-climax when you get to the end.
Friedrich’s scripts were usually enhanced by the attractive pencils of that old pro, George Tuska, who always turns in a competent set of pages and sometimes subtly beautiful ones. Much of ‘The Super-Villain War’ was pencilled by Arvell Jones, a new kid who came out of the Detroit fan scene, following in the footsteps of Rich Buckler. The small inset panels of that school don’t appeal to me but, given his beginner status, he does a reasonably good job.
Len Wein took over the scripting with issues # 82-85 and had a new art team of Herb Trimpe and Marie Severin. Trimpe is a sort of poor man’s Jack Kirby with a few tricks picked up from Steranko but I like his art and, with the right inker, it can be good. John Severin excellently inked some of his Hulk pencils and Marie Severin does similar work here when Iron Man battles the Red Ghost and the Freak. The final two issues are scripted by Bill Mantlo, drawn by George Tuska and feature a villain called Blizzard. He turns out to be someone from Tony Stark’s distant ‘Tales Of Suspense’ past. Many of the new generation of writers in the 70s went back to the old comics and dug out forgotten details to revive and I believe Bill Mantlo was particularly fond of this.
The book closes with a story from Iron Man Annual # 3 in which quirky Steve Gerber mixes up Molecule Man, Man-Thing and Iron Man in the Florida everglades. Quite caption heavy and Gerber strays into metafiction, drawing attention to the work’s status as an artefact when he tells us Molecule Man seems defeated that there are four pages to go so this can’t be the end. Marvel writers, starting with Stan Lee, have often spoken directly to the reader via the captions so it’s not really startling. The art is by our pals, Sal Buscema and Jack Abel, so it’s fine.
There’s no way to pretend this is the ‘Essential Iron Man’ but for fans who want a complete collection, it must be had. By this time, Iron Man was a second-rate title with able creators at the helm but nothing about it to arouse great enthusiasm. That said, it’s perfectly okay, a pleasant, undemanding read and George Tuska’s art is quite pleasing. For the money, it’s not a bad deal.
Eamonn Murphy
This review first appeared at https://www.sfcrowsnest.info/
Issues # 62-81, except # 78, are scripted by Mike Friedrich, formerly a writer at the Dastardly Competition. He does a pretty good job of mixing the combat with personal issues in the mighty Marvel manner. Iron Man has to fight Whiplash, Doctor Spectrum, the Melter, the Mandarin, Sunfire, the Unicorn and the Freak. Then in a grand epic called ‘The Super-Villain War’, he combats the Mandarin, Yellow Claw, Modok, the Mad Thinker and Firebrand. All this is engineered by the Black Lama, Dalai’s evil cousin. Finally, of course, the Black Lama’s secret is revealed, but I won’t spoil it for you. There was a fashion for long story arcs at this time, initiated by Jim Starlin, maybe with his Thanos thing, but it’s hard to avoid an anti-climax when you get to the end.
Friedrich’s scripts were usually enhanced by the attractive pencils of that old pro, George Tuska, who always turns in a competent set of pages and sometimes subtly beautiful ones. Much of ‘The Super-Villain War’ was pencilled by Arvell Jones, a new kid who came out of the Detroit fan scene, following in the footsteps of Rich Buckler. The small inset panels of that school don’t appeal to me but, given his beginner status, he does a reasonably good job.
Len Wein took over the scripting with issues # 82-85 and had a new art team of Herb Trimpe and Marie Severin. Trimpe is a sort of poor man’s Jack Kirby with a few tricks picked up from Steranko but I like his art and, with the right inker, it can be good. John Severin excellently inked some of his Hulk pencils and Marie Severin does similar work here when Iron Man battles the Red Ghost and the Freak. The final two issues are scripted by Bill Mantlo, drawn by George Tuska and feature a villain called Blizzard. He turns out to be someone from Tony Stark’s distant ‘Tales Of Suspense’ past. Many of the new generation of writers in the 70s went back to the old comics and dug out forgotten details to revive and I believe Bill Mantlo was particularly fond of this.
The book closes with a story from Iron Man Annual # 3 in which quirky Steve Gerber mixes up Molecule Man, Man-Thing and Iron Man in the Florida everglades. Quite caption heavy and Gerber strays into metafiction, drawing attention to the work’s status as an artefact when he tells us Molecule Man seems defeated that there are four pages to go so this can’t be the end. Marvel writers, starting with Stan Lee, have often spoken directly to the reader via the captions so it’s not really startling. The art is by our pals, Sal Buscema and Jack Abel, so it’s fine.
There’s no way to pretend this is the ‘Essential Iron Man’ but for fans who want a complete collection, it must be had. By this time, Iron Man was a second-rate title with able creators at the helm but nothing about it to arouse great enthusiasm. That said, it’s perfectly okay, a pleasant, undemanding read and George Tuska’s art is quite pleasing. For the money, it’s not a bad deal.
Eamonn Murphy
This review first appeared at https://www.sfcrowsnest.info/
November 25, 2014
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.
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.
October 28, 2017
These comics are so forgettable, beset by endless deadline issues. I can not believe this series wasn't cancelled before it got a chance to improve.
December 18, 2019
Mostly average with a few bright spots and not too many absolute stinkers.
August 12, 2014
Mike Friedrich carries over from Vol. 4 and writes a lot of this volume. So while there is still a lot of the "Beat em up with a lot of rambling dialogue" stuff, the action actually gets a lot better. For some reason (maybe better superhero mags competing at this stage of the mid-70s) the battles are more urgent, with more speed between panels.
Once Friedrich left Iron Man, it got a lot more entertaining. They were able to take this hero that is mostly designed to be really powerful, and actually challenge him with bad guys (and some weird dimensional travel).
This is mostly generic superhero stuff, but a definite advantage over the last volume of superhero stuff.
5/5
Once Friedrich left Iron Man, it got a lot more entertaining. They were able to take this hero that is mostly designed to be really powerful, and actually challenge him with bad guys (and some weird dimensional travel).
This is mostly generic superhero stuff, but a definite advantage over the last volume of superhero stuff.
5/5
May 8, 2021
Not a high point, but historically interesting. This is a bunch of young writers and artists learning their craft: too many ideas fighting for a story; hanging subplots; weak endings to "epic" story arcs; and a few instances of "deadline doom." In short, trying too hard. Which doesn't mean you can't sit back and enjoy the ride, even with all the rough edges.
October 7, 2014
A lot happens to Iron Man in this volume. The Black Lama sparks a super villain fight and Iron Man gets involved. The Freak, Firebrand, the Blizzard return and Iron Man has an adventure in Vietnam. Some good character and action story lines. Stark really thinks about putting his friends in danger, and considers the impact Iron Man can have on people. A good read.
May 26, 2013
By my count there's one more volume before Marvel reprints the REALLY GOOD Iron Man stories in this format. Be patient or buy the Omnibus hardcover.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews