Via Newsarama, Marvel is publishing a new Michelinie/Laton Iron Man/Dr. Doom miniseries. It will be set just after the last Michelinie/Laton Iron Man/Dr. Doom story (#249-#250), and so will feature the Tony Stark of that era in the armor of that era with thesupporting cast of that era (whatever happened to Mrs. Arbogast, anyway?)
Here's hoping it leads to more Iron man from Messrs. Michelinie and Layton, and more reprints of their classic runs on the book.
Posted by Jason Fliegel at August 19, 2007 1:38 PM
Did you like their Bad Blood mini from a few years back? I didn't really think it worked out all that well. I did pick up the recent Armor Wars collection and enjoyed that.
I agree that Bad Blood was disappointing.
I recently read the Knaufs' Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. trade. There are some things that really don't work in it: why is Tony's hippie pal Sal so happy to work for The Man? Why is Stark smashing protocol in this book when he has been doing "the law is the law" in other books (then again, his one big flauting of the rules ends in disaster)? Why in the name of fuck is he sleeping with a woman who caused the deaths of hundreds of people in the name of "progress"? Granted, the story does show reasons why he'd keep Hansen out of jail. But it's kind of sickening to see her given another chance while the series is saying that "normals" are better heroes than super-heroes because... well, just BECAUSE, okay? If life is that precious, then Maya Hansen doesn't deserve to live it to the fullest.
The ending, however, resolves this problem a bit.
I am enjoying Marvel Adventures Iron Man, simply because it hearkens back to a time without Civil War and Tony is merely a over-confident git again. Simple but fun self-contained stories.
Mrs. Arbogast appeared in the previous Heroes for Hire series (the one with Oracle Inc. as backers), IIRC. Not sure where she's been since that book got cancelled.
Let's face it, Tony Stark just hasn't been the same since the Crossing. Yes that story was ultimately retconned by Heroes Reborn and Avengers Forever but it still seems to have left a taint on the character to this day such that writers feel they can use him as a de facto villain for all intents and purposes.
Perhaps a story set back in the day when he was just the world's greatest engineer might be just the thing to clear the palette and somehow return him to a better status.
If that doesn't work, then hopefully the movie will somehow force Marvel to portray him as a true hero once again.