Iron Man (comic)

Iron Man
Reprint of	Various
Original run	1985-1987
First TFUK appearance	Issue 31 (guest) Issue 43 (regular)
Final TFUK appearance	Issue 152

When millionaire industrialist and inventor extraordinaire, Anthony Stark, dons a circuitised suit of red and white armour he becomes Iron Man, defender of the innocent and champion of justice.

History

Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist. Iron Man  is a creation of Stan Lee,  Larry Lieber,  Don Heck,  and Jack "King" Kirby.  First appearing in Tales of Suspense issue 39,  Anthony "Tony" Stark was an arms developer forced to create a metal life support suit after becoming injured during a weapons demonstration in Vietnam. On his return to New York City, he began to fight injustice in his double identity as the invincible Iron Man. He soon became the headliner for Tales of Suspense, joined the Avengers  as a founding member, and eventually got his own title  in 1968.

Much like Spider-Man, Iron Man's integration into The Transformers UK was rather unconventional. The first in-strip appearance of the armoured avenger was in the Machine Man story "If This Be Sanctuary?!", which introduced the all-new Iron Man of 2020 – the corrupt industrialist and mercenary Arno Stark, who had purchased the rights to the Iron Man name and armour after Tony Stark's demise. Created by Tom DeFalco and Herb Trimpe, Arno served as an antagonistic force to Machine Man and the Midnight Wreckers, proving a contrast to his heroic uncle (though over the years, the exact familial relationship between the two of them has varied).

After the end of the Machine Man serial, Iron Man took over the back-up strip slot in issue 43, with that issue's Transformation page making clear that this was an adventure for Tony Stark, rather than Arno – or indeed Jim Rhodes, who was wearing the armour concurrently over in Secret Wars.  This reprinted the well-received duology by Roger McKenzie and Ken Steacy first published in Marvel Fanfare,  showcased due to that mag's limited distribution in the UK, as explained in Soundwaves in issue 49. Iron Man's inclusion also demonstrated that TFUK's focus on science fiction and robots also extended to those in metal suits, showing an increasing flexibility in back-up strip choices.

After an absence of over a year, the return of an Iron Man strip was proudly proclaimed in Transformation in issue 119, where the editor told readers that "such a good character [as Iron Man 2020] shouldn't be consigned to oblivion". So began the seven-part "Man of the Year", a reprint of The Amazing Spider-Man Annual no. 20  rebranded to focus on its more prominent guest star. "Man of the Year!" showed a significant part of Arno's backstory, and how he came to be the villain seen in Machine Man – though the original printing's prequelly date of 2015 was edited to 2020 for TFUK, suggesting the character had one really rotten year.

Unfortunately, after Arno's tragic exit in issue 125, Iron Man became something of a sorry stopgap. After a promised Inhumanoids follow-up failed to materialise in issue 126 – a result of the U.S. book's  cancellation – TFUK ran an unmomentous story from Iron Man's solo U.S. title  to fill the same amount of page space. With the final part of this story, issue 129's Transformation solicited readers to write in if they thought Iron Man was the right co-star for the comic. The editorial was much more excited by the prospect of cover-to-cover Transformers action, as the back-up strip ran Headmasters  for sixteen issues. Once that story concluded, Iron Man was back in 1988, filling "a vacancy in our back-up spot" with "Stratosfire!", reprinted from Iron Man Annual no. 9.  The writing had to have been on the wall for The Transformers this point – or for its sister comic Action Force at least! After a hint of big news in issue 151, issue 152 announced that Action Force would be folding into The Transformers. Regardless of whatever reader opinion the comic received about Iron Man, shellhead was forced out of The Transformers by Action Force's declining sales.

This wasn't quite the end for Iron Man in TFUK, as the entire Machine Man 2020 story was reprinted in 1991, late in the comic's run. The futuristic backdrop of the tale proved a big influence on Marvel UK; after Death's Head's solo series saw him relocated to 2020 for an anti-hero team-up (read: fight) with Arno, the setting would recur alongside many similar cyberpunk futures as part of the expansive "Genesis '92" line-up, an attempt for Marvel UK to really break into the U.S. market. As for Iron Man himself... it'll never catch on!

Iron Man stories in TFUK

• Machine Man: "If This Be Sanctuary?!"
  • "Rime of the Ancient Wrecker!"
  • "Victory"
• Iron Man: "Night of the Octopus"
  • "From the Ashes"
• The Iron Man of 2020: "Man of the Year"
• The Invincible Iron Man: "Deep Trouble!"
• The Invincible Iron Man: "Stratosfire!"