Iron Man Epic Collection, Vol. 17: War Machine

Iron Man Epic Collection

by Roy Thomas, Len Kaminski, Danny Fingeroth

The gunmetal gray Avenger! Tony Stark's health takes a turn for the worse thanks to the intergalactic Operation: Galactic Storm! Back home, the Masters of Silence are waiting - and to defeat them, Tony needs to build a new armor unlike any other! But with Justin Hammer gunning for him, will he live long enough to get used to it? Or will the suit be a better fit for James Rhodes? When Tony's health finally gives out for good, Rhodey must face his destiny - as a War Machine! But which is worse: fi lling Iron Man's boots or running Stark Enterprises? Guest-starring Darkhawk, the West Coast Avengers - and a lineup of classic villains from Blizzard to Blacklash! COLLECTING: VOL. 17: IRON MAN (1968) 278-289, IRON MAN ANNUAL (1970) 12-13, MATERIAL FROM DARKHAWK ANNUAL (1992) 1, AVENGERS WEST COAST ANNUAL (1989) 7, MARVEL HOLIDAY SPECIAL (1991) 2

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Collections

488 pages, Paperback

First published April 8, 2021

About the author

Roy Thomas was the FIRST Editor-in-Chief at Marvel--After Stan Lee stepped down from the position. Roy is a longtime comic book writer and editor. Thomas has written comics for Archie, Charlton, DC, Heroic Publishing, Marvel, and Topps over the years. Thomas currently edits the fanzine Alter Ego for Twomorrow's Publishing. He was Editor for Marvel comics from 1972-1974. He wrote for several titles at Marvel, such as Avengers, Thor, Invaders, Fantastic Four, X-Men, and notably Conan the Barbarian. Thomas is also known for his championing of Golden Age comic-book heroes — particularly the 1940s superhero team the Justice Society of America — and for lengthy writing stints on Marvel's X-Men and Avengers, and DC Comics' All-Star Squadron, among other titles.

Also a legendary creator. Creations include Wolverine, Carol Danvers, Ghost Rider, Vision, Iron Fist, Luke Cage, Valkyrie, Morbius, Doc Samson, and Ultron. Roy has also worked for Archie, Charlton, and DC among others over the years.

Reviews

[Sophia]

You know, I was a little disappointed that War Machine wasn’t actually called that.
But I get it, the branding is all ‘Iron Man’!

I wished they leaned into showing the suit’s screens a little more.
I felt like they did a really good job in the Operation Galactus Storm crossover issues but then fell off it.

I also felt like we barely scratched the surface of Rhodey being Stark Enterprises CEO.

I would’ve loved to have seen a day of him being at the office. It could have a brief fight interlude but it was mostly about getting through paperwork or something.
A story to show us the stress and pressure of ‘replacing’ Tony Stark!

Then again, Tony did make sure that Rhodes wouldn’t really have all that much to do, besides be the moral compass of the company.

It’s a little wild what Tony’s already been through. And this isn’t even the biggest thing that’ll happen to him in the 90’s!

I’m excited to learn if this is the time where Rhodey breaks out on his own and truly becomes 'War Machine’!
(Future Sophia note: It takes about a year after this for Rhodey to get his own series.)

[Attention! Captain Beeswax has arrived]

When Len Kaminski and Kevin Hopgood came onboard, Iron Man became more cinematic; the artwork more shadowy and edgy, the stories akin to high concept action movies. In these stories you can see the influence of contemporary blockbusters like Terminator 2, Aliens and RoboCop, and it's great to see Iron Man move into that domain. In addition, the armoured Avenger himself gets an upgrade and becomes an utter badass, including the creation of the heavily-armed War Machine armour which made it to the big screen more-or-less intact.

There's also a strong sci-fi storyline running through these issues; Stark has always represented the self-made man, but here he goes through a technological rebirth here that takes that concept further than ever before.

Great, exciting comics.

[Anthony Wendel]

Seeing these issues from the Epic collection helps to understand the ever changing overarching plot of the Iron Man series. In these issues we see Tony's condition fade even more, build War Machine, and have Jim Rhodes take up the title of Iron Man again. It's a great collection for one's looking to see how Rhodey got his start as War Machine.

[Jordan Baker]

There’s a really cool story here if you can get past the disjointed detour halfway through the book for an Avengers annual edition.