10 Must-Read Stories Before You Watch ‘Iron Man’ in Theaters

Alan Kistler

Alan Kistler is a freelance writer who has contributed to MonitorDuty.com and PopCultureShock.com. He is a freelance video editor who occasionally acts in independent film projects. His blog is located at alantkistler.squarespace.com.

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13 Responses

  1. Karl Cramer says:

    As a kid, sick of comics that always ended with a "To Be Continued…", I went to my local convenience store determined to pick up any comics on the spinner rack that had several issues in a row available. Lucky for me, the lazy clerks left the beginning of "Demon In The Bottle" there and I was treated to a great story that blew my mind about real comic characters could be.

  2. Martha Thomases says:

    Denny O'Neil's run is my personal favorite. Also, I think that's where they established his alcoholism.

    • Alan Kistler says:

      Actually, as I explained above, Michelinie and Layton established the alcoholism years before in "Demon in a Bottle." And the Denny O'Neil run is definitely up there as he's the guy who wrote the entire Obadiah Stane story-arc.

  3. M.Christian says:

    PISH! Where's Adam Warren's high-tech thrill-ride: Hypervelocity?

  4. Anonymous says:

    Where is Hypervelocity? It is probably the wittiest and funniest of all of the Iron Man stories.

  5. Anonymous says:

    Martha, pretty sure O'Neil's run followed 'Demon in a Bottle.' He brought the alcoholism back though, and had it take Stark to new lows.- Rich

  6. Chris Ullrich says:

    i'm happy to say i've read all of these. nice work kistler.

  7. Phil says:

    A multi-issue story line I'd like to see republished is one regarding Justin Hammer's attempts to take remote control of Iron Man's armor, including the murder of a foreign diplomat via "malfunctioning" repulsors. In the mix is Scott Lang, recently having assumed the mantle of Ant-Man, Tony Stark, having sworn off the armor until he can solve the mystery of who's behind all this, and a climactic battle against French terrorists on board an ocean liner. This must have made quite an impression on me for me to remember it in pretty good detail for twenty years or more…

    • Karl Cramer says:

      Phil, that was also "Demon In the Bottle." The whole storyline is in The Power of Iron Man trade.

  8. Jamie Coville says:

    Just so you know, Demon in a Bottle was also collected as "The Power of Iron Man." I *just* realized I own that story twice, in both formats. D'oh!

  9. gene phillips says:

    Only ONE Archie Goodwin?BLASPHEMY!!!

  10. Anonymous says:

    Did you watch iron man armored adventures?http://www.watchironman.net/

  11. Shaun says:

    Ten Rings to Rule the World really isn't very good. I'd save your money and time on these ones. It mostly consists of Iron Man staggering around with a bad heart and a completely anti-climactic no-surprise on the "mystery" villain. Bill Mantlo is a sloppy writer in general, and this is another good example of why.