Making Marvel Mine: Essential Iron Man Vol. 1 (Tales of Suspense #39- 72)

Iron Man, Iron Man
Does whatever an iron can
Shots lasers, and he flies
Commie spies, them he fries
To him, life is a big old bang up
With girls who have no hang ups
Life’s sweet for Iron Man!

So.... Iron Man. Okay, I knew going into this that Iron Man, at least in the early years, was NOTHING like the Iron Man we all know and love now. This wasn’t an awesome anti-war robot stompathon like the movies, this was the big anti-communism book Marvel had in the sixties. But... wow, even knowing that before hand, I was totally not prepared for how much anti-communism this book is packed with. It is just riddled with anti-communism. It was a different time... But it’s cool. I actually liked it, especially towards the end, when the book figures itself out.

The best thing I can say about the first issue is that the cover is cool. “He lives! He walks! He conquers!” is a great tagline, though I get the sneaky suspicion that when the cover was made, no one actually working on it had read the book. But whatever, it looks cool. So, Tony Stark is an awesome dude who manufactures the best weapons in the world for the good ole’ USA. One day, he was demonstrating some boss new equipment to the generals in Vietnam, when the group is attacked by “red guerrillas”.

Stark is injured and kidnapped by the commie bastards. Pretty much everything happens here like it does in the beginning of the Iron Man movie, just replace “Afghanistan” with “Vietnam”. Stark is kept alive by chest-piece designed by a Doctor Yinsen, another brilliant scientist captured by evil commie Vietnam rebels. Together, Yinsen and Stark build a set of armor around the chest piece, Yinsen gets killed, Iron Man is born and overthrows the evil Commies. Democracy reigns supreme. Because ‘Merica, that’s why.

Really, I cannot stress to you how many commies are smashed in this comic book. Here’s some of the villains: The Red Barbarian, a feared and deformed general for COMMUNIST Russia! Jack Frost, a disgruntled Stark Industries employee who decides to sell secrets to COMMUNISTS! The Crimson Dynamo, a COMMIE scientist in a suit of electricity powered armor! Titanium Man, another feared COMMIE general, only this time he wears a green super awesome powered armor! The Melter! He... melts stuff. But also, COMMUNIST! Scarecrow! (No, not THAT Scarecrow) A stage magician turned evil who stole plans to sell to COMMUNISTS! The Black Widow! (Yes, THAT Black Widow) Who at this point in her career is still a COMMIE spy! Hawkeye! (Yes, again, THAT Hawkeye) Not actually a Communist, but a disgruntled circus star (really!) who fell in love with the Black Widow, and helped her in her schemes to hurt Stark Industries, and I’m pretty sure that at least makes him COMMUNIST BY ASSOCIATION!

Oh, also there’s your traditional early silver age appearances of evil alien conquerors and time travel trips to bone Cleopatra, but really, at this point, doesn’t that go without saying?

And then we have our most interesting villain, the Mandarin. The Mandarin sometimes gets a bad rap as a Fu Manchu rip off, and while there’s a little bit of that, I think that the character is a lot more interesting than that. For example, despite living in China, it’s stated early on that the Chinese government openly fears him (which is saying something). Not only that, but the Mandarin explicitly states that he isn’t a Communist at all, he’s merely using the Chinese government for his own ends (that’s code for world domination, everyone). He’s a skilled martial artist who can literally beat up Iron Man with karate. And, most famously, he’s the wearer of ten rings, rings of extraterrestrial origin. Each ring has a different power, and they’re pretty much all awesome. Clearly, he’s the ultimate enemy here.

As for the supporting cast, there isn’t one at first, which is bothersome. At first, it’s just Tony, and his bodyguard Iron Man, who, of course, is really just Tony in disguise. This doesn’t make for interesting character dynamics. Luckily, about a third of the way in, we’re introduced to Happy Hogan, Tony Stark’s driver and body guard, and Pepper Potts, Tony’s secretary/Gal Friday. There’s some traditional love triangle nonsense here, but since I know how it ends (because I’ve seen the future... in comics, anyway), I won’t spoil any of that. By the end of the book Happy has figured out Tony is Iron Man, so that should make book 2 more interesting.

Like I said, much like Hulk and Thor, this is a slow burner at first, but by the end it’s much improved, and I was really enjoying it by the end. I look forward to the second volume, now that all the main characters are established.

Oh, and I forgot to mention the Unicorn in my list of bad-guys. But the Unicorn wears an orange and green costume, and he’s kind of lame. And yes, before you ask, he’s also a COMMUNIST.