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Moriarty’s One Thing I Love Today! IRON MAN: BENEATH THE ARMOR!
Hey, everyone. “Moriarty” here.
Yep, that’s right. It’s another attempt at a daily column by your favorite procrastinator.
Or at least, I’m my own favorite procrastinator. That’s gotta count for something.
I recently realized that I need to get myself into the habit of being able to produce at least one piece per day, and not writing a novel every single time.
What better way to motivate myself than to focus on the things I love. For geeks, love can be a fleeting thing. I’m sent so many things to read and watch and review that it’s possible for me to fall in love anew each and every day.
Amidst my regular reviews of films coming out or my set visits or interviews, things where it's a little more labor-intensive, it seems like the easiest way to do a daily piece is to pick one thing out of the snowdrifts of DVDs and books and manuscripts and games and toys that have piled up in my office. And each day, I’ll discuss one thing I love that particular day.
Easy enough, right?
So where do we start?
How about here? I don’t have the final full-color paperback version of this. Mine is a black-and-white galley right now, velo-bound. It doesn’t have that kick-ass cover. The final book will be out on April 15th, and I'll make sure I get the finished version then.
In the meantime, it’s a great read, and it surprised me by being far more than just a cursory excuse to publish some familiar greatest-hits panels and stills from this summer’s movie. It’s no simple tie-in. Instead, Andy Mangels has written a comprehensive appreciation of the character Iron Man as well as a clear-eyed look at who is really responsible for shaping this Marvel icon.
Mangels is a research nerd. That’s evident in the way he lays out the chronology of Iron Man’s development, tracing him through early characters in SMASH COMICS issues for Quality Comics and then outlining the work that Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, Don Heck and Art Simek did in midwifing Tony Stark into existence. He lays out each creative era as a separate story, showing how he evolved, and it’s funny... I read a fair amount of IRON MAN when I was a kid in the ‘70s, but I didn’t love it. He seemed harder to identify with than the rest of the Marvel universe. Spider-Man or the X-Men or the Fantastic Four or the Hulk were all metaphors I could invest in, but Tony Stark was a billionaire, a playboy with awesome toys. It was a cool book, but not my favorite by any means. Now, as I read through the evolution of the character and his storyline, I think this is one of my favorite overall Marvel creations. Especially considering all they’ve done to sully him during Civil War and the last few years. Iron Man has changed a lot, with supporting characters and character traits developing over time. It seems to me looking at the IRON MAN trailer that Jon Favreau’s team has taken some of the best characters and ideas from several different creative periods of the book and combined them all into one streamlined continuity in the film. And reading this, and knowing how all that continuity is being handled, that’s actually making me enjoy the trailers and my anticipation for the film even more.
I love the comparison of Justin Hammer to Peter Cushing. Subtle last name, eh? I love the entire chapter about the Denny O’Neil era on the book and the creation of Obidiah Stane. It seems to me that Michelinie and Layton may have saved IRON MAN’s life. More than once, even. I’m crazy about all the little odds and ends they have pictures of, like the View-Master covers or the Mego figures. The story behind Iron Man’s nose appearing and disappearing is finally told. There’s a comprehensive bio section for the major supporting players in Iron Man’s world, including one for Ultimate Iron Man, and an armor gallery by Ian Fullwood.
I see a lot of books like this, published to cash in on an upcoming movie, but it’s not often that they’re this well-written and appealing to even a casual fan of the character. If you’re even remotely interested and excited in the countdown to May’s IRON MAN release, check this one out for yourself.
Drew McWeeny, Los Angeles
Drew McWeeny, Los Angeles
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and not just another meaningless tie-in; let's hope the movie looks and sounds like a real film as well and not another dumbed down Marvel property.
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who needs accuracy?
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... but that happens a lot. Stan Lee sets the record straight in his blog:
http://tinyurl.com/2rfdsq
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I'll remind myself to read it later. Did I just cause a paradox in the time-space procrastinum?
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...Joe Quesada is a complete disgrace. He has taken every Marvel character and storyline and turned into a grist mill for his various liberal angst.
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Anybody? Mory and consistancey? I don't think so x
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Captain America FTW!
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Iron Man is pussy! Even C3-PO could kick his ass.
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hit the perfect hero note in the trailer when he declares "I want to protect the people that I put in harm's way!" Kinda like when Bale said "Gotham isn't beyond saving."
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WTF? are you new? If there is a column tomorrow I owe you a coke.
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No one would think of you as a procrastinator if you didn't feel compelled to constantly announce your intentions. Quit telling us what you plan to write, or when you plan on posting it and people will quit giving you a hard time when you fail to deliver on schedule, or to deliver at all. Now that I've got the obligatory talkback scolding out of the way, nice review. And I wish you luck on your daily column.
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...you do have a really bad habit of telling folks in advance what your intentions are, which is a bad habit only because your intentions never pan out. You'd probably still be writing Rumblings from the Lab (as opposed to using the term for occasional hodge-podge posts) if you hadn't placed that burden on yourself.
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Cos those two books are better than your life.
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The whole XMEN thing is over and done, they managed to kill it for me. They're totally not the heroes I loved as a kid during the Claremont 80s. That being said, several MARVEL books are still rather good, to whit: Iron Man, Iron Fist, Daredevil, Captain America, Thor, Thunderbolts, Annihilation: Conquest, and the latest arc of Fantastic Four are all really good.
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...back when the black and white independent comics were storming the comic shops during the 80's...
He trashed my book...I think he liked being a dick...or maybe he just liked dick... -
Today, the Iron Man book; tomorrow, McSpaced or something like that. Or you could tackle "Funny Games." You kind of slapped it briefly but I'd be curious to read an extended take on the original/remake from you.
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The whole "Captain America was created by experimenting on African-Americans" crap back in 2001/2002 was the first sign that something was seriously wrong in Marvelville. And I say that as an owner of "Avengers #4".
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Probably just his usual prick self though, unfortunately
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He might come off as a "prick" in the same way that all genius characters usually do (see Dr. House for an extreme example), but making him a skrull would be stupid. He was no less a hero than anybody else in Civil War, and, moreso than Cap at least, can say that every decision he made was ethicially justifiable. Besides, I'm still convinced that he and Cap were working together to get ready to combat the upcoming "Secret Invasion."
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I'm talking about Brubaker's critcally acclaimed Captain America you dumb shit. Stop talking shit if you don't even know what's going on at the moment. you're saying marvel is shit by thngs that happened in 2001/2002. comepletely disregarding insanely godlike stuff like Immortal Iron Fist? And Brubaker's Captain America or his Daredevil? How about Ennis' Punisher, probably book of the decade. And Ultimate Spider-man has been another great book.
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Just wait.
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Hey big guy, i really do hope you last the 2 weeks, as much as i enjoy your posts, ain't nobody here got the consistency of the legend that is Capone... if you could step up to the mark for just a few days... well that would be progress my friend.
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Holy shit, Messi, I haven't been fanboy flamed in a long time. Brings me back. I brought up the Captain America storyline because you brought the character up and it was the first example that came to mind. If you want to cherry-pick some accomplishments, yeah, of course there are some there. My criticism was targeted at Quesada, and for all the titles you bring up, there is stuff like "Civil War" (great concept, terribly executed) or "One More Day". He runs the brand, hasn't done right by it in some pretty major instances, therefore I don't trust the brand. There may be some good stuff, and if there is, knock yourself out. Enjoy it.
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...appearing and disappearing nose...
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...lame villains. Hell they had to rip off Lex Luthor to give him a halfway decent villain and that was like 25 years into his run. I always thought he worked better as a member of the Avengers than as a solo hero.
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