Iron Man is Born!
Featuring: Iron Man
Release: December 10, 1962
Cover: March 1963
12 cents
Plot: Stan Lee
Script: Larry Lieber
Art: Don Heck
13 pages
I read this story in Invincible Iron Man Omnibus vol. 1.
Don Heck is the artist on this issue, but the cover is by Jack Kirby. The cover was drawn first, and Jack Kirby is thus responsible for designing this version of the Iron Man armor. Heck claims credit for the look of Anthony Stark and generally the interiors. I’ve read conflicting reports on how much input Kirby had to the interior art and storytelling.
Recall that Kirby had been drawing every ongoing Marvel superhero series prior to this month. One week earlier, Don Heck took over as artist on the Ant-Man feature, and now Heck will also be the artist on the Iron Man stories. And a new Marvel superhero title premieres this same day which will be drawn by Steve Ditko, so the load is getting shared now.
That’s right! It’s Iron Man! The character nobody had heard of in 2007 who was everybody’s favorite superhero by 2009.
As we discussed, December 10, 1962 is a day with four big milestones in Marvel superhero history. This is the second.
- Milestone #1 of December 10, 1962:
Fantastic Four meet the Hulk! - Milestone #2:
Iron Man
Anthony Stark is a rich, handsome, glamorous playboy, a bachelor and socialite. Also a brilliant scientist helping out the US military. He’s invented a tiny transistor that increases the force of any device, which he’s helping the military deploy in South Vietnam.
Wong-Chu is described as a “Red Guerilla” conquering villages is South Vietnam. I assume the implication is he is with the Việt Cộng, but that is not explicit.
The depictions of Asian people remain awful, with Wong-Chu as racist a caricature as General Fang.
Continue reading “Tales of Suspense #39”