Iron Man: A Friend You Trust, Not to Rust- Denny O'Neil's original saga of Tony Stark and James Rhodes
Denny O'Neil always said he needed to relate to the heroes he wrote, and Tony Stark was more-or-less antithetical to Denny's values as a social crusading Catholic and veteran of the Bay of Pigs conflict in 1962. But Stark shared a vulnerablity Denny understood intimately.
So, the mainstream superheroics are given human dramatic stakes by Tony's manipulation by O'Neil creation Obadiah Stane, back into sorrows of the bottle and self-loathing.
Now, Denny had two stories to tell, with down-to-Earth James Rhodes standing in as Iron Man. Now one of Marvel's best-known heroes- maybe the highest-profile character who could be tried this way- was a Black American, but most of all, a loyal friend, with a different approach and skillset to bring to the twenty year-old character.
Here's my podcast, with limited space remaining, quickly hitting the key insights I uncovered.
It really must've been torture to see Tony, and eventually Rhodey, in their personal downfalls amid fragmenting friendships over the course of three years of tales. I came to the franchise as the transition back to Stark began, captivated by the run up to issue #200.
I think it might've been my favorite Marvel Comic at that exact time. Perhaps the way I came to the epic, though I was young and only knew the classic Stark version of Iron Man, made the journey back to Super Hero less pained for me, and better able to enjoy the sometimes-grueling drop into the pit, where, nonetheless, a fresh new hero in James Rhodes was born.
I wonder if we've also discovered that Moomjie Indries was, in fact, designed by Mike Vosburg?
Here's my original transcript, which I spent a couple more hours pairing down. I re-write as I rehearse reading and timing it. I knew I only had 6.47 MB left on Podbean, which apparently equals 5 minutes, no second tracks for scores or themes.
As detailed in a 2014 panel, writer and tie-dyed-in the wool hippie Denny O’Neil- a retired Naval submarine sailor embroiled in the Bay of Pigs crisis in 1962- didn’t like Tony Stark as he was created: womanizer, imperious arms merchant, war profiteer. But when presented with a chance to write him a new, updated origin, he re-read the original, and decided to leave things be. Mike Friedrich and 1970s writers had attempted a more eco-friendly Stark International, but his recent popular run portrayed a sumptuous materialist. During a period of fill-ins, Denny takes over the Invincible Iron Man comics title in 1982, including an outing with fellow returned creative artist, Steve Ditko. That story opens with a page about Tony’s nightmare: losing control to drinking again, as rendered by talented caricaturist Marie Severin. (:45)
Issue #163 is nice fill-in by Mike Vosburg, creator of his Map Mummy comic, set in the exciting early days of Egyptian archeology. Introducing: Indries Moomjie, an exotic ingenue-sort, a visitor injured in a mysterious bombardment of Stark Enterprises. She seems Tony’s traditional type. Though he continues dating as he travels abroad to begin solving the plot, he remains smitten with her, with obsessive fervor based on little besides a playboy’s version of Love-At-First-Sight.
While Tony and his best friend, pilot James Rhodes, go on a British Isles adventure, he keeps Iron Man’s identity still secret. As he figures out how to beat an elaborate series of chess-inspired villains sporting cutting edge technology, Rhodey’s kidnapped and poisoned by spider bites. From offers of a drink everywhere Tony goes, to a revoked flying license that leads to Tony sitting soaked for six hours in a spilled Scotch on a commercial flight, there’s a suspenseful building of the toll on the nigh-tireless hero. No foregone conclusion, the time bomb in Tony’s psyche ticks on. O’Neil and new regular artist Luke McDonnell subtly highlight the freedom he feels while soaring as Iron Man, into dangerous, puzzle-like battles, while behind the scenes-driven pressure to remove Stark and his independent, nobler-facing company, mounts. Iron Man #166 ends with a Demon-in-a-Bottle cliffhanger, a callback to the original Micheleinie/ Layton/ Romita Jr. epic. I should mention here, too, Steve Mitchell comes aboard to ink most of McDonnell's run. Tony again denies the strategically-placed bottle.
And then, Indries, who has already hyped the allure of a drink she’s having in a pub, removes her support from the increasingly-desperate hero. With Bethany Cabe now gone to help her ravaged estranged spouse, and Rhodey first missing, then comatose. He pays for fortress-like existence, for in relying on Indries, he’s chosen poorly. Without a strong friend with whom he can be vulnerable, Tony begins a slide from which he feels he cannot be redeemed. He uncovers and confronts his strategic foe, would-be world dominating corporatist Obadiah Stane, an emotionally- empty, ruthless, intellectual, greedy man created by O’Neil/McDonnell with no redeeming qualities. O’Neil writes the Iron Man battles well. But victory here provides no surcease, as Stane intended: his criminality requires an investigative and legal takedown that Stark can’t manage. Where is the rest of Stark management, though?
It must have been painful to longtime fans, or even casual readers looking for basic Iron Man, to endure the lengthy human story behind Stark’s fall into alcoholic self-loathing. His embarrassing crash continues and without intervention in his socialite circles. He even appears drunk at Debbie Nelson’s party in Daredevil #207, also written by O’Neil, in as sad a guest appearance as ever was.
Stark reveals his identity to Rhodey, who apparently recovered well in the intermittence, after a fight with well-chosen guest Machine Man, who wanted to know: Is shellhead man, or all-iron- a fellow robot? Incapacitated, he gives up the armor to James Rhodes in the least flattering circumstances, as techno-maniac Magma attacks the grounds. Stane, anticipating his takeover, even intervenes via one of his Knights. The dauntless strength of Rhodey’s friendship, and his courage taking up the mantle, provide a counter-weight now. James Rhodes, a war veteran, was revealed in the last Micheleinie story to be a former mercenary, so he makes a lot of sense as the warrior, Iron Man. He senses, too, that he is a champion, who stands for something greater. Jim wanted to measure up to Tony. Did Tony feel depressed, underneath it, because he had been a weapons maker? It was Denny's personal experiences, but I don't think he'd have just chosen any character for his tale. No, David Micheleinie had established the precedent- a realistic dilemma for the playboy genius. br As Denny related to the character: why did he not feel so good about himself, if he was so great? Jim had seen him be a hero so many times. He didn’t judge. He stood in for his friend. And then it got complicated
Jim’s unprepossessing manner as he humbly, but gloriously, works out how to use the technological marvel put into his care, is a winner. He’s much more identifiable with O’Neil, who shares Jim’s love of kung fu movies. The salt-of-the-earth pilot and adventurer makes a very appealing Iron Man. Even with spare technological insight from supporting character Morley Irwin, there’s a fresh well-spring of uncertainties. Rhodey’s above average intelligence, but has a more realistic level of understanding science, that keeps him working hard for his victories against classic villains like Thunderball, Firebrand, and the Mandarin. It’s not like Tony cares enough to train him properly, a lapse I think also pains Stark fans. Jim hands Tony over to his Mom in South Philly to dry out- to no avail. Jim’s moral fiber, when offered a chance to sellout to Stane, lends us a tense confrontation, ending in a priceless punchline- or non-punch line. He fights to protect Stark’s legacy from Stane, SHIELD, even Attuma the Atlantean barbarian, at one go. Grown carefully from existing long-term conflicts, and illustrated with both flash and wild angles, as well as earthy quiet moment renderings by McDonnell, this run’s under-rated. I came to the franchise late in Stark, and Rhodey’s, struggle, the fascinating year run up to issue 200. Maybe that gives me a more gratifying basis for enjoying what comes before, which I later collected as zealously as resources allowed. In real time, you had to read three years of decline, depression, and gradual recovery amid fracturing friendships. I’d love to chat with anyone about the remaining two years-plus not covered here, but here are my fundamental insights in limited space.
Issue #163 is nice fill-in by Mike Vosburg, creator of his Map Mummy comic, set in the exciting early days of Egyptian archeology. Introducing: Indries Moomjie, an exotic ingenue-sort, a visitor injured in a mysterious bombardment of Stark Enterprises. She seems Tony’s traditional type. Though he continues dating as he travels abroad to begin solving the plot, he remains smitten with her, with obsessive fervor based on little besides a playboy’s version of Love-At-First-Sight.
While Tony and his best friend, pilot James Rhodes, go on a British Isles adventure, he keeps Iron Man’s identity still secret. As he figures out how to beat an elaborate series of chess-inspired villains sporting cutting edge technology, Rhodey’s kidnapped and poisoned by spider bites. From offers of a drink everywhere Tony goes, to a revoked flying license that leads to Tony sitting soaked for six hours in a spilled Scotch on a commercial flight, there’s a suspenseful building of the toll on the nigh-tireless hero. No foregone conclusion, the time bomb in Tony’s psyche ticks on. O’Neil and new regular artist Luke McDonnell subtly highlight the freedom he feels while soaring as Iron Man, into dangerous, puzzle-like battles, while behind the scenes-driven pressure to remove Stark and his independent, nobler-facing company, mounts. Iron Man #166 ends with a Demon-in-a-Bottle cliffhanger, a callback to the original Micheleinie/ Layton/ Romita Jr. epic. I should mention here, too, Steve Mitchell comes aboard to ink most of McDonnell's run. Tony again denies the strategically-placed bottle.
And then, Indries, who has already hyped the allure of a drink she’s having in a pub, removes her support from the increasingly-desperate hero. With Bethany Cabe now gone to help her ravaged estranged spouse, and Rhodey first missing, then comatose. He pays for fortress-like existence, for in relying on Indries, he’s chosen poorly. Without a strong friend with whom he can be vulnerable, Tony begins a slide from which he feels he cannot be redeemed. He uncovers and confronts his strategic foe, would-be world dominating corporatist Obadiah Stane, an emotionally- empty, ruthless, intellectual, greedy man created by O’Neil/McDonnell with no redeeming qualities. O’Neil writes the Iron Man battles well. But victory here provides no surcease, as Stane intended: his criminality requires an investigative and legal takedown that Stark can’t manage. Where is the rest of Stark management, though?
It must have been painful to longtime fans, or even casual readers looking for basic Iron Man, to endure the lengthy human story behind Stark’s fall into alcoholic self-loathing. His embarrassing crash continues and without intervention in his socialite circles. He even appears drunk at Debbie Nelson’s party in Daredevil #207, also written by O’Neil, in as sad a guest appearance as ever was.
Stark reveals his identity to Rhodey, who apparently recovered well in the intermittence, after a fight with well-chosen guest Machine Man, who wanted to know: Is shellhead man, or all-iron- a fellow robot? Incapacitated, he gives up the armor to James Rhodes in the least flattering circumstances, as techno-maniac Magma attacks the grounds. Stane, anticipating his takeover, even intervenes via one of his Knights. The dauntless strength of Rhodey’s friendship, and his courage taking up the mantle, provide a counter-weight now. James Rhodes, a war veteran, was revealed in the last Micheleinie story to be a former mercenary, so he makes a lot of sense as the warrior, Iron Man. He senses, too, that he is a champion, who stands for something greater. Jim wanted to measure up to Tony. Did Tony feel depressed, underneath it, because he had been a weapons maker? It was Denny's personal experiences, but I don't think he'd have just chosen any character for his tale. No, David Micheleinie had established the precedent- a realistic dilemma for the playboy genius. br As Denny related to the character: why did he not feel so good about himself, if he was so great? Jim had seen him be a hero so many times. He didn’t judge. He stood in for his friend. And then it got complicated
Jim’s unprepossessing manner as he humbly, but gloriously, works out how to use the technological marvel put into his care, is a winner. He’s much more identifiable with O’Neil, who shares Jim’s love of kung fu movies. The salt-of-the-earth pilot and adventurer makes a very appealing Iron Man. Even with spare technological insight from supporting character Morley Irwin, there’s a fresh well-spring of uncertainties. Rhodey’s above average intelligence, but has a more realistic level of understanding science, that keeps him working hard for his victories against classic villains like Thunderball, Firebrand, and the Mandarin. It’s not like Tony cares enough to train him properly, a lapse I think also pains Stark fans. Jim hands Tony over to his Mom in South Philly to dry out- to no avail. Jim’s moral fiber, when offered a chance to sellout to Stane, lends us a tense confrontation, ending in a priceless punchline- or non-punch line. He fights to protect Stark’s legacy from Stane, SHIELD, even Attuma the Atlantean barbarian, at one go. Grown carefully from existing long-term conflicts, and illustrated with both flash and wild angles, as well as earthy quiet moment renderings by McDonnell, this run’s under-rated. I came to the franchise late in Stark, and Rhodey’s, struggle, the fascinating year run up to issue 200. Maybe that gives me a more gratifying basis for enjoying what comes before, which I later collected as zealously as resources allowed. In real time, you had to read three years of decline, depression, and gradual recovery amid fracturing friendships. I’d love to chat with anyone about the remaining two years-plus not covered here, but here are my fundamental insights in limited space.
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