Sorry for the long delay. As many of you know I was away in Oregon training for a new job and it was difficult to blog while I was gone. But now I’m back and it’s time to get back into the world of Iron Man!
This three issue arc shows the strength of Tony Stark, that it’s not just the armor but the man inside of it that makes Iron Man…
…and it also introduces the Madam Masque that we all know and love and the villain Midas (and possibly Tony’s cousin Morgan Stark, but I’m not sure that this is his first appearance).
Frankly, this story has quite a few twists going for it:
- The LMD (Life Model Decoy) that Stark used to trick the Mandarin a few issues ago gains sentience and takes over Tony’s life (a storyline that is re-used in the late 90’s, early 2000’s).
- Since everyone thinks the real Tony Stark is a fake he is kidnapped by Madam Masque to impersonate himself for Midas – confusing, I know, but hang in there.
- Tony plays along with Masque and Midas so that he can gain access to his company again and defeat the LMD.
- It works, Tony and Madam Masque fall in love, and Midas is defeated.
- Oh, and while we’re at it all of Tony’s friends turn on him, including the Avengers, and he dies, kinda’.
It’s memories like that that make it very difficult to seriously consider selling the collection. Even just revisiting these first couple dozen issues brings me back to all of the good memories that go along with the years I spent building the collection up. It wasn’t just me, it was my Mom and Dad and relatives. Something really simple that that made powerful emotional memories. I don’t want to put too fine a point on it or make it seem like it was an overwhelming experience – it was, and still is, a very simple pleasure. It’s just nice to feel sentimental about it.
Next Time:
