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This trade (the ninth volume of the Marvel Premiere Hardcover Classics) collects what is a very important story in the Iron Man mythos, an epic 8-parted called Demon in a Bottle. The bottle refers of course to alcohol and Stark’s problems with drinking. This set is comprised of Iron Man #’s 120-128 with script by David Michelinie & Bob Layton and drawn by John Romita Jr. with Carmine Infantino. It is an appropriate time for this to come out, with the movie coming right down the pipe soon.
Spoilers Ahead
The story starts off innocently enough. Tony teams up with Sub-Mariner to battle Roxxon over an island full of resources. The plane Tony was on was hit by a tank (while he was drinking) and he crash landed near this island. He fought with Namor first but they realized they were fighting a common enemy and teamed up to stop them. Things went off without a hitch until Tony’s armor stopped working. What follows is a re-telling of Iron Man’s origin which was done really well. Tony flies off, his armor fails again, and then he heads off to Atlantic City for a night of fun when he encounters three villains, Melter, Blizzard and Whiplash. They fight, Tony gets subdued but they mention something about not killing him because of Hammer. Tony later gets the better of them and heads home to drink some more. He (Iron Man) gets a gig as the bodyguard to a sovereign delegate but things go from bad to worse when Iron Man kills him on national TV! It is all due to Justin Hammer, head of a rival company to Stark International. Tony quits as chairperson of the Avengers, gets training from Cap and heads off to learn more about Hammer with information Scott Lang (who Tony doesn’t know if Ant-Man). Tony ends up in France and gets captured by Hammer! Tony learns all that Hammer has been up to and escapes. He must go through a horde of villains (Stiletto, Discus, Beetle, Leap-Frog, Man-Killer, Constrictor, Whip-Lash, Blizzard, Spymaster and Melter. Tony defeats them all and sinks Hammer’s ship mansion (but Hammer escapes). Tony is vindicated and returns home where his life is plummeting out of control. His name is cleared but his reputation is tarnished. He gets lost in alcohol, gets places confused, snaps at Jarvis (causing him to retire) and is just a mess. The stress of everything (including the murder, SHIELD trying to take over SI, and the Hammer situation) has just gotten to him and the only place he can turn to is the bottle. He finally realizes he has a problem and seeks help from his friends. What an ending.
Wow, that was some story telling. The really glory to this is that it isn’t just out there that Tony likes a drink. It was built up very well over time showing Tony drinking casually, and it isn’t until a few issues in where people say he has a problem. The story-telling moves seamlessly between a Roxxon plot involving an island and a man living there. We get a good origin retelling, some very nice battle sequences and some damn fine art from Romita Jr. and Bob Layton. It is probably one of the best 8-issue runs of a title I have read in a very long time and is probably the best thing I have read so far this year. There are some really good extras included in here as well. There are two unused covers (to Iron Man #121 and 128). A very nice foreword by David Michelinie starts the collection, and there is the original resignation letter that appeared in the comic. Basically what happened was that David told Marvel that the letter was to be nonense but when he got the book he saw there was an actual letter, one that was actually given to Marvel bosses. He was shocked and none too pleased but he ran a note in Iron Man #130 explaining the circumstances and that it was a mistake. David still doesn’t know why it ran, was it to get back at Jim Shooter or was it a joke? Whatever it may be, it is awesome they included this.
-The Bottom Line- Bottom line is, you need this in your collection. This is THE definitive Iron Man story. After this one of Tony’s character traits was that he had a problem drinking, one that remained when he was made into Ultimate version. There are some great battle sequences here between a bunch of classic Iron Man villains, his origin is there for those who don’t know it, and you really don’t need to know any backstory to pick this up and for it to be enjoyable. It stands on its own and is just an example of top-notch story-telling. This comes highly recommended from me and it is a must in any comic book fan’s collection.
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