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STEEL TERROR: IRON MAN SUPER THRILLER
Tony Stark faces the ultimate challenge when he and the Avengers confront Ultron, an indestructible super robot who has created a doomsday weapon capable of destroying all life on earth. Original.
160 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 1996
2 people are currently reading
38 people want to read
About the author
Dean Wesley Smith
822 books177 followersPen Names
Edward Taft
Dee W. Schofield
Sandy Schofield
Kathryn Wesley
Dean Wesley Smith is the bestselling author of over ninety novels under many names and well over 100 published short stories. He has over eight million copies of his books in print and has books published in nine different countries. He has written many original novels in science fiction, fantasy, mystery, thriller, and romance as well as books for television, movies, games, and comics. He is also known for writing quality work very quickly and has written a large number of novels as a ghost writer or under house names.
With Kristine Kathryn Rusch, he is the coauthor of The Tenth Planet trilogy and The 10th Kingdom. The following is a list of novels under the Dean Wesley Smith name, plus a number of pen names that are open knowledge. Many ghost and pen name books are not on this list because he is under contractual obligations not to disclose that he wrote them. Many of Dean’s original novels are also under hidden pen names for marketing reasons.
Dean has also written books and comics for all three major comic book companies, Marvel, DC, and Dark Horse, and has done scripts for Hollywood. One movie was actually made.
Over his career he has also been an editor and publisher, first at Pulphouse Publishing, then for VB Tech Journal, then for Pocket Books.
Currently, he is writing thrillers and mystery novels under another name.
Edward Taft
Dee W. Schofield
Sandy Schofield
Kathryn Wesley
Dean Wesley Smith is the bestselling author of over ninety novels under many names and well over 100 published short stories. He has over eight million copies of his books in print and has books published in nine different countries. He has written many original novels in science fiction, fantasy, mystery, thriller, and romance as well as books for television, movies, games, and comics. He is also known for writing quality work very quickly and has written a large number of novels as a ghost writer or under house names.
With Kristine Kathryn Rusch, he is the coauthor of The Tenth Planet trilogy and The 10th Kingdom. The following is a list of novels under the Dean Wesley Smith name, plus a number of pen names that are open knowledge. Many ghost and pen name books are not on this list because he is under contractual obligations not to disclose that he wrote them. Many of Dean’s original novels are also under hidden pen names for marketing reasons.
Dean has also written books and comics for all three major comic book companies, Marvel, DC, and Dark Horse, and has done scripts for Hollywood. One movie was actually made.
Over his career he has also been an editor and publisher, first at Pulphouse Publishing, then for VB Tech Journal, then for Pocket Books.
Currently, he is writing thrillers and mystery novels under another name.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
November 12, 2020
This is a nice Avengers prose novel intended for younger readers. It appeared in 1996, before the MCU craze made the team ubiquitous. It features Iron Man along with Hank Pym as Giant Man. Black Widow is the team leader, and other players on site are Quicksilver, his wife Crystal, the Vision, and, of course, Jarvis. They have to defeat Ultron, who has a device which will wipe out all human life on Earth, in time for Christmas dinner. Very short on character but a nice story, which was the goal of Marvel and Smith with this nicely-illustrated stocking-stuffer volume. Turkey, gravy, dressing.... Avengers assemble!
March 10, 2017
Sometimes, you just want some old-fashioned stories. I was in the mood for that recently and so I pulled out a short diddy called Steel Terror: Iron Man Super Thriller. Now, frankly, when I purchased the book I had no idea what a “super-thriller” was. Apparently, Marvel has put out more than one of these, a couple of those starring your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. It didn't become apparent what it was until I started reading it.
A super-thriller is all about the action. No character development, no involved plot, just a knock down, drag 'em action. O.K. There's nothing wrong with that if it's done right and…well…this wasn't.
For starters, this should have been an Avengers super-thriller because that's who is in it. Yes, the focus is somewhat on Iron Man but the Avengers are integral to the story. I didn't mind that really because I like the Avengers and especially since it was a different team of Avengers. It starred a cast that was not well known unless you are a real Avengers fan that has been collecting the comic for quite some time and know the team (of which I am, thank you very much). Johnny-come-latelys will not recognize the team of Black Widow, Quicksilver, Crystal, Hercules, Vision, and Iron Man.
The story is that Ultron is planning to destroy all of mankind (go figure) with neutron bombs and it's up to the Avengers to stop him. That's it in a nutshell.
Just as an aside, David Seidman did not write this book. Dean Wesley-Smith did.
The problems with this book are pretty numerous and it could have been a lot of fun. It has nothing to do with the fact that the book was written in the mid 90s. It has to do with the fact that writing is just oh so…oh.
First off, the dialogue is stilted and contrived. For example, Black Widow says in one part “Avengers, assemble. We've got a fight on our hands.” In another part, she gives the order “Now let's move it Avengers. Keep that ore safe and sound.” I'm so sorry but Black Widow simply did and does not talk like that. This is done with Quicksilver and Vision as well. If you're going to write multiple established characters, do your homework and know how they speak.
Second, you can tell that Smith doesn't know the genre well as he kept making detail mistakes. For example, there were multiple times where he kept talking about robots as if they were human. Ultron may be debatable since he's artificial intelligence (I don't think so personally) but not T.E.S.S. One, a pretty mindless 20-foot tall robot. Robots don't die. They are destroyed or deactivated.
In another place, he had Vision go back to the mansion to repair. However, Vision can self-repair because he has solar regeneration. Since he was already outside, he didn't need to go anywhere but up. Now, this wouldn't matter much except that these kinds of books appeal to fans of the comics and they will spot stuff like that. It smacks of lazy writing a lack of respect for the genre.
For a super-thriller, there wasn't much thrilling going on. There were some pretty nice illustrations which is actually the best aspect of the book. But all in all, this is something for a non-fan, like an 8 year-old learning some advanced reading.
A super-thriller is all about the action. No character development, no involved plot, just a knock down, drag 'em action. O.K. There's nothing wrong with that if it's done right and…well…this wasn't.
For starters, this should have been an Avengers super-thriller because that's who is in it. Yes, the focus is somewhat on Iron Man but the Avengers are integral to the story. I didn't mind that really because I like the Avengers and especially since it was a different team of Avengers. It starred a cast that was not well known unless you are a real Avengers fan that has been collecting the comic for quite some time and know the team (of which I am, thank you very much). Johnny-come-latelys will not recognize the team of Black Widow, Quicksilver, Crystal, Hercules, Vision, and Iron Man.
The story is that Ultron is planning to destroy all of mankind (go figure) with neutron bombs and it's up to the Avengers to stop him. That's it in a nutshell.
Just as an aside, David Seidman did not write this book. Dean Wesley-Smith did.
The problems with this book are pretty numerous and it could have been a lot of fun. It has nothing to do with the fact that the book was written in the mid 90s. It has to do with the fact that writing is just oh so…oh.
First off, the dialogue is stilted and contrived. For example, Black Widow says in one part “Avengers, assemble. We've got a fight on our hands.” In another part, she gives the order “Now let's move it Avengers. Keep that ore safe and sound.” I'm so sorry but Black Widow simply did and does not talk like that. This is done with Quicksilver and Vision as well. If you're going to write multiple established characters, do your homework and know how they speak.
Second, you can tell that Smith doesn't know the genre well as he kept making detail mistakes. For example, there were multiple times where he kept talking about robots as if they were human. Ultron may be debatable since he's artificial intelligence (I don't think so personally) but not T.E.S.S. One, a pretty mindless 20-foot tall robot. Robots don't die. They are destroyed or deactivated.
In another place, he had Vision go back to the mansion to repair. However, Vision can self-repair because he has solar regeneration. Since he was already outside, he didn't need to go anywhere but up. Now, this wouldn't matter much except that these kinds of books appeal to fans of the comics and they will spot stuff like that. It smacks of lazy writing a lack of respect for the genre.
For a super-thriller, there wasn't much thrilling going on. There were some pretty nice illustrations which is actually the best aspect of the book. But all in all, this is something for a non-fan, like an 8 year-old learning some advanced reading.
June 28, 2021
Basic Ultron trying to destroy mankind and the avengers must save the day. Nothing out of the ordinary here.
April 17, 2010
Read to get in the mood for the new Iron Man movie, but it did not work. An incompetently written book: repetitive plot (if it can be called a plot), characters that speak in cliches and that have no individual voices, moments of unearned sentimentality, motiveless evil, obviously bad science, and the book is uninteresting as an adaptation of characters created for one medium used for another. This book has nothing to recommend it.
July 23, 2011
I loved this book as a child and will continue loving it. This is the Iron Man I envisioned.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews