Well, only up until the Skrulls invaded.

OK! He doesn?t, but there was a time in my life I followed Iron Man. I picked up issue #181 soon after I picked up New Mutants #15. I pretty much went back to the 7-11 and picked up anything with the Marvel emblem on it. I was able to back track to a single issue which was #175 on the 7-11 racks and I followed on to a little pass issue #200. After that I slowly pushed away Iron Man. I picked up a few issues here and there, but they didn?t seem to hold my attention. This was my first Marvel Series I collected, and then dropped. I scanned some covers seeing some I picked up and some I didn?t. I think I was just trying to see if I was still interested. I did love issue #228 though.

I can?t really say why I shied away from Tony Stark and to be honest with you it was Rhodes who was my first Iron Man. (Remember when he was hitting on Ms Marvel back on Battleworld.) Stark was just the guy who put the suit together. Then I enveloped myself a bit more when I picked up the ?Demon in a Bottle? trade paperback. The issues I collected I marveled at the battle between Stark and Stane which was worthy of Superman/Luthor status. And then there were the covers cultivating into issue #200 (one of my favorites, another one of my top ten)

I found a copy of issue #200 white pages and watched it slip away. There was an auction on a New Mutants #1 in a 9.9 that I couldn?t let slip away. I passed on so many books including two other 9.9?s but I had to stick with my plan. I want collections not bits and pieces and if I did start I would want a worthy collection not just a single issue (truth be told though if I could have only one it would be issue #200)

What I loved about Iron Man was the love Rhodes had for his friend, enough to put himself in harm?s way day after day while his best friend went straight to the bottle (and eventually the back alleyways. He didn?t want to be a superhero but he did it. Then there was the way Stark overcame his addiction to alcohol to defeat Stane (loved the cover where they were changing the letters from Stark to Stane with issue #173) I felt like I was transported month after month into a superhero world that could possibly happen if we were only smart enough and could break the laws of physics.

Thanks for reading

Tnerb