Simply the Best: Let's Go to the Split Screen

Why do I love thee, Invincible Iron-Man #144 (1981)? 
Let me count the ways (from top to bottom)...

1. The upper-left corner shot of Iron-Man. Remarkably effective back in the "squeaky wire rack" days of marketing comic books (when other comics could block out most of the cover).

2. The classic Iron-Man 3D-relief logo, complete with rivets.

3. Iron-Man's eye-catching, iconic superhero pose.  Nobody in real life ever stands with their legs spread far apart with arms bent at 90º angles and clenched fists....but that's why I love old-school comics so much.  When superheroes felt strong emotions, they didn't sit around talking about it...their body language said it all!

4. The strong mirror-image symmetry of the pose earns extra Feng Shui points.

5.  The twin appeal of something new and something old, an ingenious approach when appealing to comic book fanboys.  We love the shiny new stuff (literally, in this case) as much as we love nostalgia, so this split-screen cover was a double-scoop delight.

6.  Although Tony Stark's new "deep space armor" was a major selling point, it was the sight of his original gray armor that closed the deal.  For whatever reason, I'm just crazy about that clunky old suit and every time it would show up on an issue's cover, I'd buy it.  Whether it was an origin flashback (which was the case here) or Tony Stark's "armor of last resort", I didn't care...if the original model makes the cover, I'm buying it.  Simple as that.

7.  The near-hysterical cover copy.  Even though this was the early 80's, the melodramatic style of Stan Lee's 1960's Marvel Comics was still firmly in place, with plenty of exclamation marks to go around.  From a design standpoint, I like how the crashing space station nicely leads the eye from the dramatic blurb in the upper left section down to the dramatic blurb in the lower right.

8.  As much as I love origin stories (see yesterday's blog entry), the prospect of learning "never before revealed" origin details involuntarily sends me reaching for my wallet.

9.  Outer space, machine guns, explosions and a helicopter.  Like flame to a moth for a teenage boy (when I bought it straight off the aforementioned squeaky rack).

10.  The Bob Layton artwork, so much a part of the classic (and unsurpassed) late 70's, early 80's years of Iron-Man.

Comments

[Matthew Byrd]

Have you seen the Iron Man movie trailer? The gray Armor never looked so good!

[Wes C]

Great post Mark!

Iron Man was probably the first hero I got into when I started collecting comics. Something about that armor just spoke of POWER to me.

His red and gold "classic" armor is one of the best costumes a hero ever had. VERY iconic. I was fortunate to pick up back issues of the Layton run early on in my collecting phase. You're right I.M. never looked better than when drawn by Layton, all shiny and sparkly. Though I think he overdid the polish on the original gray suit.

Of course I started reading the comic right as he was transitioning from the awesome Red/Gold to the Red/Silver? err white? "Go-Bot" armor that he wore for awhile in the 80's. Just my luck.

BTW: Iron Man #127 has one of my all time favorite covers - I.M. busting the skull of a dozen grade c villains.

[cinephile]

I'm pretty much on record as saying IM is my second-favorite hero (after Spider-Man), so this post is most welcome. The story inside does a good job of bringing the past and the present together, too, just as the cover does (they are both tales of loyalty, sacrifice and friendship under stress, plus the backstory of Rhodey is quite welcome). Great post, mark!

[Mark Engblom]

"Have you seen the Iron Man movie trailer? The gray Armor never looked so good!"

I not only saw it in the trailer, I was also able to see a display of the gray armor when I was at the San Diego Con last summer. It wonderfully retained the bulkiness and improvised quality of the comic book version, yet was streamlined enough not to be a complete laughing stock on screen.

[Mark Engblom]

"His red and gold "classic" armor is one of the best costumes a hero ever had. VERY iconic. I was fortunate to pick up back issues of the Layton run early on in my collecting phase. You're right I.M. never looked better than when drawn by Layton, all shiny and sparkly..."

Definitely a favorite of mine, Wes. However, since I got on the Iron-Man bus several years earlier, I have to say that no artist's interpretation says "Iron-Man" to me quite like the work of George Tuska, who worked on the title for much of the 1970's. Very sleek and powerful stuff.

"BTW: Iron Man #127 has one of my all time favorite covers - I.M. busting the skull of a dozen grade c villains."

Ah, yes...."Alone Against the Super Army". I'm always up for a "hero vs. his rogue's gallery" free-for-all.

[Mark Engblom]

"The story inside does a good job of bringing the past and the present together, too, just as the cover does (they are both tales of loyalty, sacrifice and friendship under stress, plus the backstory of Rhodey is quite welcome)."

Thanks for the added insight, cinephile! I'd forgotten that this was where Rhodey's story was retro-fitted into Tony's history. Man...I'll have to actually check the story out tonight!

Glad you liked the post, guys!

[Hube]

George Tuska? You're an Iron Man fan after my own heart, Mark! George is my fave IM penciler of all time as well. I love grabbing an armful of his IM issues and journeying back in time!!

[Mark Engblom]

Hey, nobody draws a hand with splayed-out fingers like my man George! That was his signature move!

[Brian Disco Snell]

What the hell ever happened to Bob Layton? Sometimes I think he was grown in a lab, genetically engineered to be the perfect Iron Man artist, but rarely allowed to do anything else...

[Mark Engblom]

"What the hell ever happened to Bob Layton? Sometimes I think he was grown in a lab, genetically engineered to be the perfect Iron Man artist, but rarely allowed to do anything else..."

LOL! Brian, you're one of our country's most valuable natural resources!

Hmm...come to think of it, he kinda did disappear, didn't he? I vaguely remember him being associated with one of those hopeless small comic book publishers...I think it was the one where a bunch of 80's superstars banded together to fight the forces of Young Punks invading the business...or something. I think Dick Giordano was involved, too.

The only other thing I can recall Layton being involved with (other than Iron-Man) was a couple of Hercules minis for Marvel.

[cinephile]

Well, he has a website that's pretty cool, where he's very friendly and where he answers almost everyone's questions if they write in, which is a nice touch:

www.boblayton.com

He helped start two comics companies, Valiant and Future Comics (the latter, um, valiantly trying to fight the pernicious diamond distribution monopoly by offering comics directly to shops at discount), and did a webcomic for awhile (which you can read free, linked at his site). My impression is that he got fed up with a lot of the BS of the industry, and mostly does comissions work now.

But the best news is that he and Michelinie are working on two new Iron Man projects for Marvel-- one, the final part of their Dr. Doom/IM trilogy, the other called Iron Man: The End, both of which are supposed to be released to coincide with the movie.

Oh, and he helped co-create X-Factor. But I don't think we should hold that against him. (:

[byrneward]

Lots of superheroes stood like that, didn't they? Especially when drawn by Gene Colan. I'm thinking this was the real inspiration for Kevin Smith's dastardly Cockknocker.

[Mark Engblom]

Cinephile-Thanks for the additional info on Bob Layton. It looks like a my vague recollections were fairly accurate.

Byrneward- Yeah, the drama pose was pretty common with the superfolk and their artists.

[Ben]

I am VERY happy to know I'm not the only one with a soft spot for the old MK1 armor. For some reason I've always loved it.. from the movies to the comic book.

I mean it's awesome.. for MADE FROM SCRAPS IN A CAVE.