My favorite run of the comic book, THE INVINCIBLE IRON MAN, was written by David Micheleine, co-plotted with inker/finisher and sometime layout artists Bob Layton, and usually drawn or layed out by John Romita, Jr. Their run started together in summer 1978, about the time GREASE came to theaters, with #117. With a few guest artists like Carmine Infantino in #122's origin recap, Alan Weiss (#136) and Jerry Bingham (#s 131- 135), they chronicled the character long-time fans of Marvel know as ‘Shellhead,’ until summer of 1981, with issue #153. Best friend/ personal pilot James ‘Rhodey’ Rhodes is introduced with #118. Bethany Cabe is the other key supporting cast member, a devastatingly lovely redheaded woman who is full of surprises, beginning with her profession, bodyguard, and continuing from criticizing Stark’s absent and seemingly-incompetent bodyguard, to revelations in her last year in the strip that eventually led to her parting ways with Tony. This is also the home of...

1st Marvels: John Romita, Jr. INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #115 Mantlo’s run becomes history, and Layton/ Michelinie/ Romita makes history Paired with the inker who would notably join him on Uncanny X-Men- Marvel’s best direct market seller- the son of Silver Age Spider-Man artist John Romita followed his namesake over a decade after that future Art Director came to Marvel. I virtually forgot John Romita, Jr. got his first assignment drawing a back-up for Amazing Spider-Man Annual #11 in 1977. His full-book premiere comes in Invincible Iron Man #115, a 1978 issue which, with a few fill-ins, marks his regular tenure there. When new writer and new inker David Michelinie and Bob Layton begin directing Iron Man, next issue, a definitive Bronze Age team comes together, making a modern look and feel for the mechanized marvel that influenced Jon Favreau and his own team on the box-office smash Iron Man movies. But everyone’s got to start somewhere, and it so happens JR, Jr., as he’s often n...