Iron Man: Armor Wars MCU & Comics Breakdown

Everything else comic-related that's not VALIANT-related.

Moderators: Daniel Jackson, greg

Post Reply
User avatar
IMJ
I have a Quasar collection. And I love it. So there.
I have a Quasar collection. And I love it. So there.
Posts: 4752
Joined: Thu Mar 17, 2005 12:05:45 am
Valiant fan since: VH1 X-O Manowar #1
Favorite character: VH1 Sting | VH2 Rai
Favorite title: VH2 Rai
Favorite writer: Kurt Busiek
Favorite artist: Sean Chen
Location: Chicago, IL
Iron Man: Armor Wars MCU & Comics Breakdown

Post by IMJ »

I'm definitely looking forward to this show. Thought I'd give a solid breakdown on everything "Armor Wars" for anyone interested in the story or for speculators looking for the books that matter. It's a deep dive because the "Armor Wars" branding has been used quite often by Marvel, but the original story is still the best. Wave One Collectibles' Armor Wars Breakdown

Image

User avatar
BugsySig
I could be talking poo-doo.
I could be talking poo-doo.
Posts: 9535
Joined: Tue Mar 13, 2012 7:47:04 pm
Valiant fan since: 1992
Favorite character: Ivar, Timewalker
Favorite title: Harbinger/Timewalker
Favorite writer: Joshua Dysart/FVL
Favorite artist: Joe Quesada
Location: Central CT
Re: Iron Man: Armor Wars MCU & Comics Breakdown

Post by BugsySig »

I have the entire set of the original Iron Man issues. Was one of the first runs I completed as a young collector along with Portacio’s Uncanny X-Men.
Kurt Busiek wrote:Bull$#!t
Image

User avatar
IMJ
I have a Quasar collection. And I love it. So there.
I have a Quasar collection. And I love it. So there.
Posts: 4752
Joined: Thu Mar 17, 2005 12:05:45 am
Valiant fan since: VH1 X-O Manowar #1
Favorite character: VH1 Sting | VH2 Rai
Favorite title: VH2 Rai
Favorite writer: Kurt Busiek
Favorite artist: Sean Chen
Location: Chicago, IL
Re: Iron Man: Armor Wars MCU & Comics Breakdown

Post by IMJ »

BugsySig wrote: Mon Sep 26, 2022 9:28:14 pm I have the entire set of the original Iron Man issues. Was one of the first runs I completed as a young collector along with Portacio’s Uncanny X-Men.
Big :thumb: on that era of X-Men - some really amazing runs on that title between 200 and 300.
As for Armor Wars - it's still infinitely readable. The most standout anachronism in it is that Tony is drawn with that 80's poofy mullet haircut thingy. :lol: But the story is so solid that you stop seeing it. Actually, re-reading it is nice because it brings you back to those days of bright, colorful comics (and Mark Bright's swirling repulsor rays").

I have been such a huge fan of Mark's work since I was a kid. The biggest gap in my original art collection is that I don't own anything from him. I wish I did....

User avatar
Ryan
Clinkin' bottles with Aram
Clinkin' bottles with Aram
Posts: 2634
Joined: Sun Feb 08, 2004 9:51:18 pm
Re: Iron Man: Armor Wars MCU & Comics Breakdown

Post by Ryan »

IMJ wrote: Tue Sep 27, 2022 11:16:23 am
BugsySig wrote: Mon Sep 26, 2022 9:28:14 pm I have the entire set of the original Iron Man issues. Was one of the first runs I completed as a young collector along with Portacio’s Uncanny X-Men.
Big :thumb: on that era of X-Men - some really amazing runs on that title between 200 and 300.
As for Armor Wars - it's still infinitely readable. The most standout anachronism in it is that Tony is drawn with that 80's poofy mullet haircut thingy. :lol: But the story is so solid that you stop seeing it. Actually, re-reading it is nice because it brings you back to those days of bright, colorful comics (and Mark Bright's swirling repulsor rays").

I have been such a huge fan of Mark's work since I was a kid. The biggest gap in my original art collection is that I don't own anything from him. I wish I did....
I got the Stark Wars epic collection of this a few years ago and loved it, it's on my re-read pile. The prelude issues in the collection (215-224) are great too. An omnibus would be cool though.

There's something about the style of those comics that I just love, they definitely have a very proto-pre-Unity VALIANT feel. Realistic and 'modern' without all the grim and gritty cynicism of DKR and Watchmen.

User avatar
grendeljd
innerSPACE does whatever I tell them
innerSPACE does whatever I tell them
Posts: 8132
Joined: Mon Jun 18, 2012 6:51:43 am
Valiant fan since: 1991
Favorite character: Aric
Favorite title: Harbinger
Location: On the 7.5th floor of LesterCorp, headed through the back door to John Malkovich's brain.
Re: Iron Man: Armor Wars MCU & Comics Breakdown

Post by grendeljd »

Love that original Armor Wars run on the title. I’ve recently heard that they’re going to just make one movie out of the concept now instead of a mini-tv series. Kind of disappointed by that, but hopefully it’s still good.

I was only 13 or so when these were new on the stands, and still very new to the hobby of ‘collecting’ comics. I had rather erratic collecting habits at that time - for example, my very first issue of Iron Man as a kid was #212, but because I was only buying comics with limited weekly allowance money, and only what I could find at local grocery/convenience store stands, I was never really able to buy a string of issues of any given title until I finally discovered a comic shop in town, sometime in 1987. Up until that point, while I was already a big fan of the character, I only had #212, #214, and #221.

The very first Iron Man comic I found in that comic shop was #229 - and I was absolutely riveted by that cover and the battles in the issue. I bought 229-232 off the shelf in that store before my meager budget and still-forming attention span diverted away from further new Iron Man comics for a year or two.

Also as an indication of just how young and naive I was - - after reading #230, I was *absolutely* convinced that they had killed Tony at the end of that issue and that it was actually the final issue of the series. Suffice to say it was a pleasant surprise when the book kept going after :lol:

All four of those covers have remained among my most favourite of the entire series - and everything about #232 absolutely blew my mind back then. The imagery from it still lives large in my imagination from reading it at such an impressionable age. Oddly, because of my meager allowance budget and lack of knowledge on collecting back issues, I did not go back and try to get the early parts of the Armor Wars series until a few years later (probably once I had some sort of regular part-time job in high school).

I also used to practice my burgeoning drawing skills back then by copying the cover to #231 repetitively - I think I still have one partially completed copy of it kicking around somewhere.
I like to draw stuff... http://grendeljd.deviantart.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

My wife likes to draw stuff too, and she is better than me! [I'm very proud of her]... https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sara-Dec ... ref=stream" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

User avatar
IMJ
I have a Quasar collection. And I love it. So there.
I have a Quasar collection. And I love it. So there.
Posts: 4752
Joined: Thu Mar 17, 2005 12:05:45 am
Valiant fan since: VH1 X-O Manowar #1
Favorite character: VH1 Sting | VH2 Rai
Favorite title: VH2 Rai
Favorite writer: Kurt Busiek
Favorite artist: Sean Chen
Location: Chicago, IL
Re: Iron Man: Armor Wars MCU & Comics Breakdown

Post by IMJ »

Ryan wrote: Wed Sep 28, 2022 1:09:15 pm There's something about the style of those comics that I just love, they definitely have a very proto-pre-Unity VALIANT feel. Realistic and 'modern' without all the grim and gritty cynicism of DKR and Watchmen.
This was quotable.
grendeljd wrote: Wed Oct 19, 2022 7:07:40 pm Love that original Armor Wars run on the title. I’ve recently heard that they’re going to just make one movie out of the concept now instead of a mini-tv series. Kind of disappointed by that, but hopefully it’s still good.

I was only 13 or so when these were new on the stands, and still very new to the hobby of ‘collecting’ comics. I had rather erratic collecting habits at that time - for example, my very first issue of Iron Man as a kid was #212, but because I was only buying comics with limited weekly allowance money, and only what I could find at local grocery/convenience store stands, I was never really able to buy a string of issues of any given title until I finally discovered a comic shop in town, sometime in 1987. Up until that point, while I was already a big fan of the character, I only had #212, #214, and #221.

The very first Iron Man comic I found in that comic shop was #229 - and I was absolutely riveted by that cover and the battles in the issue. I bought 229-232 off the shelf in that store before my meager budget and still-forming attention span diverted away from further new Iron Man comics for a year or two.

Also as an indication of just how young and naive I was - - after reading #230, I was *absolutely* convinced that they had killed Tony at the end of that issue and that it was actually the final issue of the series. Suffice to say it was a pleasant surprise when the book kept going after :lol:

All four of those covers have remained among my most favourite of the entire series - and everything about #232 absolutely blew my mind back then. The imagery from it still lives large in my imagination from reading it at such an impressionable age. Oddly, because of my meager allowance budget and lack of knowledge on collecting back issues, I did not go back and try to get the early parts of the Armor Wars series until a few years later (probably once I had some sort of regular part-time job in high school).

I also used to practice my burgeoning drawing skills back then by copying the cover to #231 repetitively - I think I still have one partially completed copy of it kicking around somewhere.
This was an awesome "collector story".....

And yeah, as a younger reader I had similar feelings when they would do that as well. When they "killed" Quasar in Cosmos In Collision I was convinced they did it to end the series because sales were allegedly low on it at the time.


Post Reply