Marvel Fanfare: Strange Tales

Reprints Marvel Fanfare #1-7
Written by Chris Claremont, Roger McKenzie, Bill Mantlo, Charlie Boatner, David Winn, David Michelinie, David Anthony Kraft, Mike W. Barr, Sandy Plunkett, Roger Stern, Steven Grant and Al Milgrom.
Penciled by Michael Golden, Dave Cockrum, Paul Smith, George Freeman, Joe Barney, Trevor Von Eeden, Marshall Rogers, Luke McDonnell, Sandy Plunkett, Charles Vess and Al Milgrom.
Inked by Michael Golden, Bob McLeod, Terry Austin, Armando Gil, Joe Rubinstein, Dan Green, Bob Downs, P. Craig Russell, Charles Vess and George Freeman.

Summary:
More than a dozen tales told by some of the Bronze Age's best writers and artists!

Karl Lykos was cursed with an affliction that forced him to absorb energy from others to survive. This caused him to turn into the pterodactyl man Sauron. As Sauron, Lykos battled the X-Men twice, giving the mutant heroes all they could handle.

Some years after Lykos' last encounter with the X-Men, the love of his life, Tanya Anderssen, has learned that Lykos is alive in the Savage Land. She seeks help from Warren Worthington III, better known to the world as Angel of the X-Men. Angel is reluctant to help, telling her Lykos probably doesn't want to be found, but Warren is moved by the love Tanya shows for Lykos and agrees to search for Karl in the Savage Land.

Daily Bugle publisher J. Jonah Jameson learns of their expedition and gets exclusive coverage for his paper. Jameson assigns photographer Peter Parker, AKA Spider-Man, to accompany Angel to the Savage Land on behalf of the Bugle.

As their helicopter arrives in the Savage Land, it's hit by a ptrerodactyl! They land safely and begin searching for Karl Lykos. They're attacked by the Savage Land Mutates, a team of swamp savages who were given super powers by Magneto. Parker has time to put on his Spider-Man costume and fight back, but he and Angel are overpowered and captured by the Mutates, while Tanya escapes.

The heroes are brought before the Mutates' leader, the super-intelligent Brainchild. He zaps Angel and Spider-Man with a genetic transformer ray. This devolves them, turning Spidey into a human-sized spider and Angel into a birdman.

Tanya is attacked by a dinosaur, but she's rescued by none other than Karl Lykos. He takes her to Ka-Zar and they plan to rescue the heroes. Before they can implement they're plan, they're attacked by Angel and Spider-Man in their new forms. Ka-Zar, Tanya and Karl are captured and taken to Brainchild, who mutates Tanya into a neanderthal.

Lykos knows that he can save Tanya by absorbing energy from her. He does the same for Angel and Spider-Man, returning them to their human form. However, this results in Karl being once again transformed into Sauron! As he flies off, Sauron tells Ka-Zar that he is declaring war on the Savage Land. Spider-Man and Angel are traumatized by their transformations and head back to the states.

Sometime later, Angel returns to the Savage Land. He summons the X-Men for help and they head out to find Sauron. They encounter the Mutates and make quick work of them. The X-Men get the mutates to lead them to Sauron's citadel.

However, when they arrive, Sauron attacks. An energy field around the citadel saps away their powers and they're captured. Angel flees, but he falls from the sky and is presumed dead. Sauron uses the genetic transformer on the X-Men so that he can use them to drain energy and increase his power.

Angel survives his fall and is found by Ka-Zar. They plan a counteroffensive to save their friends. If they can't stop Sauron, the X-Men and the Savage Land itself will be doomed!

Plus, several more stories, including:

When a street corner Santa is mugged, Daredevil helps track down the local crime boss behind the mugging!

Doctor Strange and Clea face the sorcerer known as Nicodemus!:

Spider-Man is attacked by Scarlet Witch and transported to a mystical realm. The webhead learns that Wanda has been possessed by the sorcerer Xandu! It's up to Spidey to free Scarlet Witch from Xandu's control and defeat the evil sorcerer.

Captain America is captured by the son of one of his wartime foes and must battle without his costume and shield.

A young man named Ian McNamee visits the Sanctum Santorum of Doctor Strange. McNamee claims to be the Socerer Supreme, a title held by Doc Strange. McNamee challenges Strange to a duel of magic!

Seeking food, the Hulk visits a carnival. He encounters his old enemy, the mutant called the Blob and a battle ensues. When the Hulk appears to have the fight won, he's attacked by Blob's friend Unus the Untouchable! 

Review:
There are too many stories in this book to thoroughly summarize, so I'll try to cover more details in this section.  I should also mention that the Savage Land portion is the only multi-part tale, which is why it takes up about 9/10 of the summary. On the whole, Marvel Fanfare: Strange Tales is a mixed bag, but the good parts are very good.

Story:
For those who don't remember, or who weren't alive back in 1981, Marvel Fanfare was conceived as a higher quality prestige comic printed on glossy paper that would present new stories by superstar creators. Every issue included a shorter backup tale that followed the main feature. 

The first story delivers on the promise, with Chris Claremont teamed with Michael Golden. Claremont gives us a good story set in the Savage Land. Sauron has long been one of my favorite villains and he's put to good use here as a very frightful villain who is willing to torture the X-Men in just to increase his power.

It's followed by a nice Daredevil story by Roger McKenzie that takes place at Christmas. It's not an essential tale, just a "Daredevil vs. small-time drug dealer" yarn, but it's okay and as I've said here in earlier reviews, I've long been a fan of comic book stories that take place during the holiday season. So it's something I read every year and it always holds up.

The Doctor Strange/Clea adventure, also written by Claremont, is solid as well. Mike W. Barr's Spider-Man's team-up with Scarlet Witch is enjoyable. I've long been a fan of stories that place Spider-Man in unusual settings like the mystical surroundings of Xandu. McKenzie's Captain America's battle with the modern day Nazi is solid. Hulk's encounter with Blob and Unus is very good. It's sort of told through the eyes of the mutant villains.

We get a sense that Unus and Blob are the best of friends who would do anything for one another. That's not a depiction of bad guys that we've often seen in comics and makes them multi-dimensional, not just generic super-villains.

The rest of the stories aren't that great.

The Dethlok and Iron Man stories both feature stories that are basically dreams of the main characters. They aren't bad, but they're placed consecutively in the tpb (just as they were in Marvel Fanfare #4), which makes them less enjoyable.

The seven issues reprinted here also feature three tales that focus on Doctor Strange or other sorcerers. Two such stories, the Spider-Man/Xandu battle and Strange's duel with MacNamee. They're okay adventures, but two even run back-to-back.

Mantlo penned the Daredevil tale that closes Marvel Fanfare: Strange Tales. A little boy with blindness loses his seeing-eye dog. I guess Mantlo is trying to make a statement about there are some problems even superheroes can't solve. But it's depressing and just feels "depressing for the sake of being depressing."

Even the Savage Land story has one big problem.  When Sauron's power turns Spider-Man back into his normal self, we see Peter Parker lose consciousness. Did Angel and Ka-Zar somehow not see this? Do they know that Parker and Spider-Man are one and the same? Did Ka-Zar and Angel not think it was a bit odd that Spider-Man was in the Savage Land? This has bugged me since I read this story for the first time back in 1982.

On the whole, the stories are more good than bad.

During its publication, every issue of Marvel Fanfare featured one-page humor strips titled 'Editori-Al', written and drawn by editor Al Milgrom.

They're reprinted here and the provide a nice diversion from the very serious and dramatic stories in this tpb.

Art:
This is where Marvel Fanfare: Strange Tales truly shines. Michael Golden penciled the first two parts of the Savage Land story and also the short Deathlok and Iron Man backups. He's at the top of his game here, lots of cool images of Sauron, dinosaurs, Spider-Man devolved into a giant spider, etc.

Dave Cockrum and Paul Smith took over and penciled the next two chapters, respectively. Those two are a slight step down from Golden's work, but I enjoyed their art as well.

Smith also provided art in the Daredevil Christmas story, his first work at Marvel. Marshall Rogers and P. Craig Russell give us great looking work in Clea and Doctor Strange's fight with Nicodemus. Sandy Plunkett does a good job penciling the Spider-Man/Scarlet Witch portion.

Charles Vess penciled the second Doctor Strange story and Vess does a great job depicting Strange's mystical world.

How Does It Look?:
Here's a scan taken from my old copy of Marvel Fanfare #3:

And here are the same pages scanned from Marvel Fanfare: Strange Tales:

Rating:
Marvel Fanfare: Strange Tales features some great stories penciled by some of my favorite artists and is especially recommended for fans of Golden, Smith and Milgrom's humor strips. But the sometimes mediocre backup stories prevent me from giving it a higher rating.

J.A. Morris' rating:

3 Sals.

Hulk: Heart Of The Atom

Reprints Incredible Hulk #140, 148, 156, 202-203, 205-207, 246-248 and What If #23
Written by Harlan Ellison, Roy Thomas, Archie Goodwin, Len Wein, Bill Mantlo and Peter Gillis.
Penciled by Herb Trimpe and Sal Buscema.
Inked by John Severin, Joe Staton, Mike Esposito, Sal Trapani, Sam Grainger.

Variant cover.

Note from J.A. Morris:
I was in the process of reading Hulk: Heart Of The Atom when I learned of the death of longtime Marvel artist Herb Trimpe earlier this month. His artwork has meant a lot to me since I discovered it in Godzilla # 12. Shortly thereafter, I began buying back issues of Incredible Hulk, the series that most comic fans think of when they hear Trimpe's name. The book that's reviewed here today features some of Trimpe's finest work. This post is dedicated to the life and work of Herb Trimpe. I send my condolences to his family and friends.  

The Hulk has been shrunk down to a microscopic height by the villain Psyklop! He finds himself in a subatomic world called K'ai.

Hulk stumbles on a city that's is being attacked by giant pig-dogs called warthos and intervenes and saves the city. The people are grateful to Hulk and praise his heroics. Hulk is fascinated to see that this world is populated by people who are "green like hulk."

Warthos attack Hulk and pay the price!

A woman named Jarella is monarch of this realm and is immediately attracted to Hulk when she meets him. Jarella's sorcerers cast a spell on the Hulk that allows him retain Bruce Banner's intellect. Hulk and Jarella quickly fall in love. For the first time in quite a while, Bruce and the Hulk are happy.

Hulk smiles when he realizes the crowd is cheering for him and is made up of greenskinned people. 

Jarella's kingdom is threatened by a member of the royal family named Visis. He and his followers attempt a coup, but the Hulk foils their plans. Visis is put on trial for his actions. The Hulk spares his life but Visis is forced into permanent exile. After the trial, Hulk announces that he and Jarella will marry the next day.  

But this bliss is short-lived when Psyklop arrives, turns Hulk back to his normal size and captures him back into our world. Hulk battles Psyklop and is enraged that he was ripped away from Jarella. Hulk easily beats Psyklop and the villain is punished by the dark gods he works for. Hulk quickly forgets about his adventures in K'ai.

Psyklop frisks Hulk away from K'ai.

Some time after that, Physicist Dr. Peter Corbeau, an old friend of Bruce Banner, invents a device called the Starcore. It orbits the sun and Corbeau believes it can cure Banner of the Hulk through solar energy. The military captures Hulk and Corbeau successfully cures him with Starcore.

At the same time, Jarella is having trouble in K'ai. Visis has returned and is once again seeking to overthrow Jarella. She wishes Bruce Banner was there to protect her kingdom. So Jarella asks her sorcerers to send her to Earth so that she may contact Hulk. Visis is aware of this and sends an assassin named Fialan after Jarella. Fialan kills Jarella, which prompts Hulk to summarily execute Fialan.

Thankfully, Fialan killed a Life Model Decoy of Jarella, not the real one. But Jarella's entry into our world has caused solar flares which threaten to destroy Earth. Jarella selflessly returns to K'ai, knowing that it is the only way to save the planet.

Hulk later returns to Jarella's world and is shocked at what he discovers. Jarella has been overthrown and imprisoned by Visis, who tells Jarella he will spare the lives of her people if she agrees to marry him. Jarella reluctantly caves to his demands.

The Hulk arrives just in time to break up the ceremony. But Visis has a secret weapon. His chief assassin Krylar has a device that makes anyone's greatest fear materialize in front of them. Krylar turns this device on the Hulk and Ol' Greenskin is forced to confront his greatest fear...himself!

Hulk realizes that it's a hoax and defeats Krylar and Visis. Jarella regains her throne, but once again, Hulk grows back to his proper height and leaves K'ai.

The next time Hulk visits K'ai, he finds Jarella and her kingdom attacked by a new foe. K'ai has been hit by a series of earthquakes, caused by "the god of the mountain." Jarella's people are sacrificing her to the god in hopes that he will cease the earthquakes. Hulk saves her and decides to confront the god of the mountain.

Jarella & Hulk meet the "god of the mountain."

It turns out the god is a green giant. But the giant is no match for Hulk, who pummels it and discovers the god is actually a robot. It was all part of a scheme of Psyklop who has returned to K'ai for revenge.  Psyklop hypnotizes Hulk and makes him his slave. All of K'ai is endangered when the hypnosis makes Hulk believe everyone around him is Psyklop and attacks them. Thankfully, Jarella's wizards intervene with a spell that combats this effect, which saves K'ai.

After Psyklop is defeated, Hulk reverts back to his normal size, but this time Jarella travels to Earth with him. The portal back to K'ai is broken and Jarella finds herself trapped in Hulk's world, but Banner and Jarella are happy to be together.

Subsequently, Banner and Jarella are spending a pleasant day walking around Santa Fe, New Mexico.  But their happiness is short-lived. A mysterious scientist reactivates the robot known as Crypto-Man, who previously battled Thor, and sends it to rob a bank. Crypto-Man sees Jarella and attacks her, prompting Banner to Hulk-up. When Crypto-Man hurls a car into a building, it sends rubble flying in the direction of a little boy. Jarella pushes the boy out of the way but is buried under rubble.

Hulk finishes off Crypto-Man but is overcome with grief when he finds Jarella. He takes her to the Gamma Base to get medical attention from Doc Samson, but Jarella dies.

A grieving Hulk believes that if anyone can save Jarella, it's his friend Doctor Strange. He sets out for New York City, only to be attacked by jet fighters. This sets Hulk raging like never before. Every step he makes towards New York, he is attacked by planes or police. Finally, Strange arrives with Hulk's Defenders teammates in tow. This leads to a direct confrontation between Hulk and the Defenders. 

Thankfully, the Defenders convince Hulk they want to help him and the Hulk calms down. But he is heartbroken when Doctor Strange says his mystic powers cannot restore Jarella's life.

After he accepts Jarella's death, Hulk takes her back to K'ai to give her a proper burial. But this brings him into conflict with two very powerful beings:

Mar-Vell, the Kree warrior better known as Captain Marvel!

And the god-like Gardener, one of the Elders of the Universe!

Plus, a tale from an alternate reality where Jarella survived and married Hulk!

Review:
Hulk: Heart of the Atom contains some of the most memorable Hulk stories of the Bronze Age penciled by the two greatest Hulk artists of all time.

Story:
The major problem I have with this book is that it begins with a reprint of Incredible Hulk #140. This issue was the second part of a two-parter that began in Avengers #88. Why was this Avengers story not included? But what's in the book is very good. 

Hulk's first journey to K'ai, plotted by Roy Thomas and scripted by Harlan Ellison is excellent. I don't know which writer deserves more credit, but it's a great story. I've read it many times now and I still hope for it to end happily for the Hulk.  

The follow-up is credited to Archie Goodwin and Chris Claremont. It's a solid sequel to the first Jarella story, with the Hulk and his love once again being separated at the end. I was surprised to see Hulk kill Fialan in this story. It's worth noting that this story (cover dated February 1972) is Claremont's first writing credit at Marvel. It introduces Dr. Peter Corbeau, a character Claremont would bring back while writing Uncanny X-Men.

Len Wein wrote the next part of the book and his stories are also good. He gives us several nice scenes that show how much Hulk and Jarella love each other. Jarella's death is sad and well-written by Wein. I think her death is more sad because she's killed by a by a Z-list villain like Crypto-Man. If she was killed by one of the Hulk's top foes like Abomination or the Leader out for revenge, it would not have been as tragically random. We never even learn the identity of the scientist who controls Crypto-Man behind the scenes. Jarella selflessly gives her life to protect a child from flying rubble.

Wein makes a point of showing that the Hulk just wants to be left alone, especially when he's seeking help from Doctor Strange. But the Hulk responds to the police and fighter planes that hound him with perhaps his greatest rampage of all time. 

Bill Mantlo takes over as writer for the stories that deal with the burial of Jarella. I enjoyed Hulk's duels with Captain Marvel and Gardener. It's fun to watch Hulk pit his savage strength against cosmically powered beings and come out on top.

   
The final story in the book from What If #23 was written by Peter Gillis. We get to see what would've happened if Hulk and Jarella married and settled down in K'ai. More often than not "What If" stories in the Bronze Age had sad endings, but this one ends the book on a happy note (even if it's just an "imaginary" story).

Art:
The art in Hulk: Heart Of The Atom is excellent from beginning to end.

Herb Trimpe pencils the first part and does a great job visualizing Jarella's world.  When I think of Trimpe, the first thing that comes to mind is how great he was at drawing military vehicles and weapons.  But Trimpe's depiction of K'ai shows he was just as good when it came to drawing "fantasy and sorcery" environs.

Trimpe's pencils are embellished by several different inkers. They're all good, but I thought Sam Grainger's complimented Trimpe's work a bit more than the others.

Trimpe also penciled the What If? story that closes out the book.  

Sal Buscema was synonymous with the Hulk from 1975 to '85 and this book shows why. This is some of his best work on the series, especially the portion that deals with Jarella's death and the Hulk's reaction to her passing. Joe Staton, a great penciler in his own right, serves as inker for Buscema and they make a great art team.  

This scene below is one of the saddest and most powerful moments you'll ever see in a comic book. 

The first four panels are absolutely heartbreaking. But Buscema and Staton are also great at depicting the Hulk during the one the greatest rages of his long history. This scene, where the Hulk tries to rest on top of the Statue of Liberty is a good example:

Hulk hurls the Liberty Torch at fighter planes!

Great work by Buscema and Staton.

Buscema and Trimpe also do a nice job drawing warthos and other monstrous creatures that inhabit K'ai.

An unfortunate dragon learns (the hard way) that "Hulk is the strongest one there is!"

Extras:
The book contains entries for Jarella and the Gardener from the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe.

Hulk: Heart Of The Atom is a very good collection of stories that features some great art from Trimpe and Buscema. But the exclusion of Avengers #88 prevents it from getting a higher rating.

J.A. Morris' rating:

.5

3.5 Sals.

Invincible Iron Man Omnibus

Reprints Iron Man #115-157
Written by David Michelinie, Bob Layton, Bill Mantlo, Jim Shooter, Roger Stern, Peter John Palmer and Alan Kupperberg.
Penciled by John Romita Jr., John Byrne, Carmine Infantino, Bob Layton. 
Inked by Bob Layton, Dan Green, Tom Palmer, 

Over 800 pages of Bronze Age Iron Man action!

Highlights include:

Tony Stark is ambushed by the Ani-Men before he has a chance to put on his Iron Man armor! He's even more shocked when he learns the brains behind the attack is his girlfriend Whitney Frost, AKA Madam Masque. She orders Stark to help restore the health of her dying father, Count Nefaria...or else!

Stark has to put on his armor in front of the Ani-Men!

Pressure mounts on Stark when he learns that SHIELD has been secretly buying up stock in his company, Stark International. This depresses Stark and he develops a drinking problem. At the same time, a crooked billionaire named Justin Hammer has a device that allows him to take control of Iron Man's armor. Hammer uses the this to make Iron Man kill a foreign diplomat.

Stark will have to stop Hammer and his army of super-villains if he wants to prove Iron Man's innocence.

  

But dealing with Hammer is only part of Stark's problem. He's hit rock bottom. His drinking gets completely out of control. His drunken, cruel behavior causes his longtime butler Edwin Jarvis to resign. But Stark's girlfriend Bethany "Beth" Cabe helps him kick booze. Beth's ex-husband had a drinking problem that cost him his life, she doesn't want to lose someone else to the bottle.

Tony Stark asks Beth to help him deal with his alcoholism.

The Hulk arrives in New York City. His alter ego, Bruce Banner seeks help from Stark, hoping he can cure Banner of the Hulk for good.

Hulk and a new friend play with Micronauts toys!

Unfortunately it doesn't work and Shellhead finds himself in a battle that nearly costs him his life. It's up to Scott Lang, better known as to the world as Ant-Man, to save Iron Man.

Iron Man's old foe Titanium Man attacks New York. He's fallen out of favor with his former bosses in the Soviet Union and believes trashing Iron Man will win back their good graces. Titanium Man and the Golden Avenger duel at the ice rink at Rockefeller Center.

Whiplash get's a power upgrade and takes the name Blacklash. He goes after Stark's chief of security.  In the process, Stark International is set on fire!


Stark learns that Doctor Doom is trying to acquire equipment from Stark International. Iron Man pays a visit to Doom in Latveria and a battle ensues. Iron Man and Doctor Doom wind up sent back in time to the kingdom of Camelot. They find themselves on opposite sides of a war between King Arthur and Morgan Le Fey.

Review:
It's difficult to review a book this long, but I'll do my best cover the high and low points. This review contains a few 30-year old spoilers.

Story:

Back in 2012, I reviewed a book called Iron Man: Demon In A Bottle. I wrote that "One problem with Iron Man is that I've always felt he's too damn powerful for most villains and that most of his top foes are just other guys in armor." That happens far too much in this book as well. In addition to that, we get quite a few gangs of generic gunmen and terrorists that Iron Man easily dispatches. 

Not only are many of the villains easy outs, they're not particularly compelling either. There are two stories that feature Dreadnoughts as the villain. Dreadnoughts are basically just generic killer robots and not very interesting.

An unmasked Stark faces off against Madame Masque and her Dreadnoughts.

There's also a moment that indicates (in my opinion) that Michelinie was tiring of a major plot thread. At the height of Stark's alcoholism, SHIELD secretly purchased stock in his company to gain a controlling interest. After Stark is rude to Jarvis, the butler sells his stock, allowing SHIELD to take over. This is a crushing blow to Stark.

But then he tells off Nick Fury and easily gains back control of Stark International in two pages! It sort of undermines major elements of the "Demon In A Bottle" storyline.  

We get not one, but two stories where Madame Masque is allowed to escape. She may be Stark's ex-girlfriend, but she's also a leader of the Maggia crime syndicate and a dangerous criminal. I'm thinking an Avenger would've at least tried to bring her to justice.

But there are some good, solid enjoyable stories here.

A three-part guest appearance by the Hulk features a great battle between Iron Man and Ol' Greenskin.  Michelinie also makes good use of Ant-Man in that story. Scott Lang saves Iron Man by shrinking to ant-size and fixing Stark's armor. This is sort of a homage to an earlier story where the original Ant-Man (Henry Pym) crawled inside the Vision, but it's still a cool sequence. 

James "Rhodey" Rhodes made his first appearance in stories that are reprinted in this book. Rhodey became a major character in comics, first as Stark's right-hand man, later wearing the Iron Man armor himself, finally becoming War Machine.

Rhodey's first appearance.

And of course Rhodey has shown up in the Iron Man animated series and movies, so Michelinie deserves credit for creating a supporting character with staying power.

Speaking of new characters, Bethany Cabe makes a great love interest for Stark. She runs her own security company and is proficient in hand-to-hand combat, more than capable when attacked by bad guys. But the storyline involving her husband is soap opera level silly. I won't spoil it beyond that.

Beth helps Iron Man tackle Hammer's hired villains.

 

The fight against Blacklash is pretty good, as the former Whiplash's new powers make him much more dangerous.

I've been a fan of the Titanium Man story since it was brand new back in 1980.    

The alcoholism storyline and the Doctor Doom time-travel tale have been reprinted in smaller books, but they'also high points of Iron Man Omnibus.

Romita and Layton also make Justin Hammer look like actor Peter Cushing, which is a nice touch.

Art:
The art in this book is fantastic.

The vast majority of Invincible Iron Man Omnibus is penciled by John Romita Jr. and inked by Layton.  These stories are some of Romita's earliest work and look nothing like the art he later produced as a fan favorite. That's due to Layton's heavy inking. But they make a great art team. In later stories (such as the Doctor Doom two-parter), we see Romita asserting himself a little more.

Doom shoots rubble out of his fingertips!

A few other pencilers and inkers take over for an issue's worth of pages, but Layton inks almost everything here, so the "look" of the art consistent throughout. John Byrne guest-penciled one issue reprinted here, he and Layton are a good combination.

Stark is thrown from the Heli-Carrier and changes to Iron Man in mid-air! 
Nice art from Byrne & Layton.

Carmine Infantino pencils the re-telling of Iron Man's origin.

Tony Stark flashes back to his creation of the Iron Man armor.

How does it look?:
This scan was taken from Iron Man #129:

And here's how the same pages look in this book:

Looks good to me.

Extras:
This book contains a boatload of bonus features.

We get the detailed back-story of Jarvis' resignation letter, early drafts of several covers drawn by Layton, two diagrams of Iron Mans armor that were originally published in The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe and thirteen pages of original art.

In the book's final story, Iron Man battles a giant space spore!

Invincible Iron Man Omnibus contains some good stories, and a bunch of stories that weren't very interesting. Unless you're a diehard fan of Iron Man and/or the creative team, the price tag will scare away many readers. I would recommend that the "casual" fan of Iron Man would be better served by picking up the Demon In A Bottle and Doomquest reprint books instead of this omnibus. But the artwork adds a half-Sal to its grade.

J.A. Morris' rating:

  

.5



2 and a half Sals.