Marvel Masterworks: The Invincible Iron Man, Vol. 8

Marvel Masterworks: The Invincible Iron Man

by Gerry Conway, Mike Friedrich, Robert Kanigher

The adventures of inventor and Avenger Tony Stark take a turn for the extraordinary as his ESP-empowered fiancée, Marianne Rodgers, is tormented by visions of Iron Man's death. Joined by the Guardsman, Iron Man faces a host of enemies as each hero's abilities are pushed to their limits - with tragic consequences. COLLECTING: Iron Man (1968) 39-53

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Comic Book, Superheroes, Science Fiction, Adventure

308 pages, Hardcover

First published May 14, 2013

About the author

Gerard Francis Conway (Gerard F. Conway) was an American writer of comic books and television shows. He was known for co-creating the Marvel Comics' vigilante the Punisher and scripting the death of the character Gwen Stacy during his long run on The Amazing Spider-Man. At DC Comics, he was known for co-creating the superhero Firestorm and others, and for writing the Justice League of America for eight years. Conway wrote the first major, modern-day intercompany crossover, Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man.

On April 27, 2026, Marvel Comics announced on its website and social media accounts that Conway had died at the age of 73.

News of Conway's death from Wikipedia

Reviews

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel like there was a lot of housecleaning here for the end of Gerry Conway's run into Mike Friedrich's. Kevin O'Brian, a very interesting supporting character, is killed off in Gary Friedrich's two-part one. We also lose the Super-Adaptoid (though I think they just made a new one eventually) and even Precious, Princess Python's snake, gets thrown into a vat of acid. Stan Lee and Roy Thomas seemed to love using the Circus of Crime in all the different titles, but the new writers seemed to want to eliminate them. The book is compelling enough, but to a certain extent, it feels interstitial, possibly a by-product of selling well enough to continue but not selling that well, so they could have new writers working on it every few months. Daredevil was also one of these, and the footnotes make clear than Conway's Mr. Kline villian is killed off in Daredevil #84, which is in the next volume I am going to read. The book has two introductions, one by Conway and one by Friedrich, and Conway admits that he didn't find Mr. Kline a very effective villain. Friedrich said that he tried to move Iron Man away from conservatism, but his judgment of Raga as "filth" isn't exactly leftie. I did find Madeleine Rodgers's ESP and the supernatural feel of issues 42 and 43 compelling. I noticed a trend in the late 1980s and early 1990s when I was a kid of Marvel characters seemed to sleep in the nude and had to be shown in shadow until they put clothes on. This seems to begin here with Madeleine, who is described as Tony's fiancée several times. She seems to be pushed out with the return of Pepper Potts Hogan, but she still appears in #53, the last issue of the volume. I don't remember her in the Steve Gerber issues (#56-58), but it's been a long time since I read them, and she may not have registered with me as a very important character at that time. The famous cover of issue 47, which is this volume's cover, is for a Roy Thomas retelling of the origin story by Stan Lee and Larry Lieber (credited in the issue's credits but not on the typeset credits page) as Tony Stark questions the good of being Iron Man in the wake of Kevin's death. Still, this volume felt worth reading, as it does take Tony to unexpected emotional places long before his drinking problem came to a head.

[John Peel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This series of comics is focused on Tony Stark/Iron Man's relationship with the psychic Marianne Rogers in a confusing sequence of tales that don't really lead anywhere. George Tuska's artwork is adequate (though he's never been a favorite of mine). Possibly the problem is that Gerry Conway was young and not too experienced when he wrote these tales, and he was reaching for more than he could deliver. They're adequate fillers, but not much more.

[Steven · Rating 1 out of 5]

Between the often hideous art and the generally terrible scripting, this ended up as an attempt to make a silk purse of a rotting sow’s ear. Highlights include abandoning a story arc mid-issue, and Tony Stark being mean to his fiancée because she’s trying to keep him alive. Also, tech genius Stark can’t seem to keep more than ten minutes of charge in his batteries.

[Jdetrick · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugh. Its clear that there was no real plan for the book....writers come and go, and these stories are full of one off villains and an interminable subplot with Marianne Rodgers as Stark's love interest.

[James · Rating 1 out of 5]

I felt like the stories here were a forgettable mess...

[Brett · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s interesting reading these early Iron Man stories. They’re OK but nothing out of the ordinary.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not a huge fan of Iron Man solo material. And this series so far has been pretty weak. This volume really drew me into it's web of fine story tell by Friedrich, easily the best of Marvel's second generation of writers. The art is mostly Tuska inked by Colleta (basically as bad as Bronze Age art gets) doesn't help. The writing however is easily strong enough to make you forget the spare cardboard figures. Also included is a retelling of the origin story drawn almost stylelessly by Barry Smith.