#tales of suspense vol 1 91

[luciddreamslikeelectricity]

What are some good older iron man comics. I would love to read them. I am not too fond of heavy abuse depictions so I prefer the lighter stuff. I read the civil war comics but I didn’t like it so much. As for Maria, I read few comics with her and she was a good mother to Tony. I wish we see more of her. Maybe after the I AM IRONMAN, other writers start to include her.

I didn't like Civil War (the main event) either. I thought the tie-ins and Iron Man's solo series are fairer to the character, but it was a terrible event for him overall.

Iron Man reading list:

⎊ Tales of Suspense (1959) #39 - Iron Man's origin story

You can read tales of suspense #40 - #99 if you can tolerate the sexism, racism etc. of that era. This series is the one that introduced Pepper Potts and Happy Hogan, and they're honestly a lot of fun sometimes, despite not always having the best quality of writing.

⎊ Iron Man vol 1:

This volume has 324 issues and it can get intimidating (I avoided reading it for years) so I'll try to list the best runs.

Gerry Conway (35–43, 91–97) He has a great voice for Tony and I love the characterization.

Bill Mantlo (78, 86–87, 95–115, Annual #4) - this is a very good run - a must read, in my opinion, and extremely underrated. Issue #78 tells us the story of why Tony stopped making weapons. Mantlo put in a lot of work to humanize Tony & his relationship with Whitney Frost (Madame Masque) is amazing.

David Michelinie (116–157) - he introduced Rhodey (issue #144 tells us the story of how he met Tony) and a bunch of great characters like Bethany Cabe, Mrs. Arbogast and Justin Hammer. He also established Tony's alcoholism in Demon in a Bottle and made him travel to the past & the future with Doctor Doom (#150 and #250). His run also has some light-hearted moments and you can start with this one - a lot of people do.

Dennis O'Neil (160–208) - he explored Tony's alcoholism in much more detail than Michelinie and his run gets very heavy at times (especially issue #182) (tw for suicidal ideation, depression and alcoholism) but Tony's recovery is depicted very well, too, and his portrayal of Tony, even at his worst, is very empathetic and respectful. Also, Rhodey becomes Iron Man in this run and O'Neil characterizes him very well. This is a very important Iron Man run.

David Michelinie (again) (215–250) - If you liked his writing, you can check this run out as well. It contains the Armor Wars storyline, which is a very important arc that contributed to Tony's character a lot (It's also the first time he clashed with Steve Rogers over differing ideals).

Len Kaminski (278–318) - This is the run in which Rhodey became War Machine (he even got a solo series by the same writer, which is very good). This is also the run which established Tony as a (verbal and emotional) childhood abuse survivor and the issues that depict it are issues #285 - #288 (Tony relives his childhood memories, which include memories of his father's abuse and I'm not sure how heavy it can be classified as, but it can be triggering to some people, certainly) and #313 (This one is more disturbing as it features Tony telling the story of how Howard made him drink alcohol as a very young child at an AA meeting - it's also immensely satisfying and it's a great issue, overall).

⎊ Tony is a major part of Avengers vol 1 and West Coast Avengers (1985) as well.

⎊ Marvel Graphic Novel - Emperor Doom

⎊ Marvel Super-Heroes (1990) - issues 2, 8 (Squirrel Girl's first appearance!), 9, 12-15 (issue #13 is especially good)

⎊ Marvel Fanfare #4

⎊ Iron Man vol 3 (1998)

Kurt Busiek (1-25, Annual 1999) - This is one of the best Iron Man runs ever. You could totally start with this one if you want to- Tony's characterization is amazing in this run, Happy and Pepper are part of the main cast again and they got some great development in it, Carol Danvers is featured heavily in it and this run has some of the best writing she's got and this run has some very good Black Widow moments as well. If you've heard of Rumiko Fujikawa, this is the run that introduced her.

Frank Tieri (31–35, 37–49, Annual 2001) - Tiberius Stone is a very fun character and this is the run in which he was introduced. It's very good.

Mike Grell (50-66) - This run shows us more of Tony's philanthropist side and I think it's essential reading for Iron Man fans. This is also the run in which he reveals his secret identity in order to save a dog.

⎊ Iron Man: Bad Blood is a great mini-series by David Michelinie that also features Rhodey (he isn't a huge part of Iron Man vol 3, unfortunately) and Justin Hammer.

⎊ Iron Man: Legacy of Doom is another great mini-series by David Michelinie and is the final story in the Camelot trilogy (featuring Doctor Doom).

⎊ Avengers vol 3, Avengers/Squadron Supreme '98 and Avengers/Thunderbolts #1–6 (2004)

⎊ Iron Man/Captain America (1998 Annual)

#feel free to ask me for modern im comic recs as well! they're not all bad #hope you like these- happy reading! #anonymous #iron man reading list #reading guide

[juststeveandtonythings]

A rousing speech on what it means to be a hero from our favorite Cap, concluding a rather silly arc.  Apparently Red Skull spent most of the 24 hours he had with Cap convincing the world that Cap is a traitor, instead of actually making Steve actually do anything bad.  With seconds to go before the 24 hours end, he then forces Steve to tell him the location of a military submarine with a bunch of weapons on it, then goes after it and leaves Steve in a booby-trapped ship.  Steve naturally escapes and saves everyone, and the sub blows up with Red Skull still on it.  Of course, we all know this is not actually the last we’ve seen of him.

- Tales of Suspense Vol 1 #91 (1967)

#tales of suspense vol 1 #tales of suspense vol 1 91 #1967 #steve rogers #red skull #steve rogers characterization #steve rogers villains

[warenerd]

100 Days of Graphic Novels

Subtitle: “Working 70 Hour Weeks and Commuting Means Reading But Not Writing.”

I am trying for more accountability, but, when my idiotic work schedule gets even more idiotic, sometimes it’s just my judgmental calendar of doom that’s keeping me on track. Also my cat. He judges me - harshly.

Look on my missing leg, ye Mighty, and despair!

Ahem. Anyway. So many books:

Day 1: The Umbrella Academy vol 1: The Apocalypse Suite Day 2: CatStronauts: Mission Mars Day 3: Apannine War Diary Day 4: Alex + Ada vol 1 Day 5: Alex + Ada vol 2 Day 6: Visitations Day 7: Another Day of Life Day 8: Daredevil Visionaries: Frank Miller vol 1 Day 9: Punisher: Welcome Back, Frank Day 10: Scarlet Witch vol 1: Witches’ Road Day 11: Jessica Jones vol 1: Uncaged Day 12: Infidel Day 13: The Deep Blue Good-by Day 14: City of Illusions Day 15: Mockingbird vol 1: I Can Explain Day 16: Ms. Marvel vol 1: Best of the Best Day 17: X-Men Gold vol 1: Back to the Basics Day 18: Kaptara vol 1: Fear Not, Tiny Alien Day 19: Eclipse vol 1 Day 20: Defenders vol 1: Diamonds are Forever Day 21: Hellcat vol 1: Hooked on a Feline Day 22: Chosin Day 23: Elektra vol 1: Bloodlines Day 24: They’re Not Like Us Day 25: Multiple Man vol 1: It All Makes Sense in the End Day 26: Captain America: Sam Wilson: Not My Captain America Day 27: A Russian Journal Day 28: Iron Patriot vol 1: Unbreakable Day 29: Divinity Day 30: Jessica Jones: Alias vol 1 Day 31: Tales of Suspense: Hawkeye and the Winter Soldier Day 32: The Fuse vol 1: The Russian Shift Day 33: Jessica Jones: Alias vol 2 Day 34: Into the Tunnel Day 34: Jessica Jones: Alias vol 3 Day 35: A-Force vol 1 Day 36: Edge of the Spider-Verse Day 37: Descender vol 1 Day 38: Descender vol 2 Day 39: Black Panther: World of Wakanda Day 40: A Farewell to Arms Day 41: I’m Not Leaving Day 42: Green Arrow: Year One Day 43: Daniel’s Story Day 44: Aurora’s Motive Day 45: Jessica Jones vol 4 Day 46: Symmetry Day 47: Afar Day 48: Morning Glories vol 1

Day 49: One Way Ticket

           A math professor at a nearby university related her escape from WWII to England. Interesting not just for the political trials and hoops through which she had to jump to get herself and her family out of Europe, but also for the way that retelling, rather than primary recording, has influenced the main thrust of the story. Also: illustrated. Adorably.

Day 50: The life of Captain Marvel

            I’m not saying I hated this book – I’m just saying that I’m opposed to it on a cellular level.

Day 51: Captain Marvel vol 1: In Pursuit of Flight

            Did I need a mind-bleach of what I’d read the day before? Yes. Yes, I did.

Day 52: The Boy Who Reversed Himself             True story: William Sleator was my favorite author for about a year in middle school. I read every one of his books that our libraries had, and then I read them all again. Six or seven times each (to the shock of absolutely no one who knows me). This book has forever changed the way I consider catsup. And it wasn’t nearly as racist as I’d expected, flipping back through. Hooray?

Day 53: To Fight Alongside Friends

            My best friend roped me into doing an online werewolf game based in WWI. I role-played as Charlie May, the author of this diary, and refused to respond with anything but direct quotes from his book. If nothing else, I entertain myself.

Day 54: Operation: Broken Wings

Day 55: My War Diary

            This one is by Dov Yermiya and is about Lebanon from June 5 – July 1, 1982. I have about six books within easy reach called “My War Diary.” This could prove problematic later. (Also, despite writing about Waltz With Bashir in grad school and for my dissertation, I still don’t know enough about this conflict)

Day 56: Descender vol 3 Day 57: Morning Glories vol 2 Day 58: The Drowned and the Saved Day 59: Jessica Jones: Pulse

Day 60: Zlata’s Diary

            I read this when sitting in the jail on a Friday night. There’s nothing quite so jarring as reading a firsthand account of the absolute disruption of life (and childhood, in a lot of ways), while listening to drunk sorority girls sob on their phones to their mothers and then scream about their Uber.

Day 61: Captain Marvel vol 2: Down Day 62: Avengers: The Enemy Within Day 63: Captain Marvel: Higher, Further, Faster, More Day 64: Captain Marvel: Stay Fly Day 65: Captain Marvel: Alis Volat Propiis Day 66: Carol Danvers vol 1: The Ms Marvel Years

Day 67: One Week in the Library

            Please give me more weeks, Image Comics. Please.

Day 68: The Troop

            Noel Clarke, I love you, but this feels like well-trod ground at this point.

Day 69: Bitch Planet

            I legitimately squealed, out loud, when Kelly Sue DeConnick was on screen during Captain Marvel. High pitched. And then, because I have no game, I whacked my BFF on the arm and whispered (er, “whispered”?) “THAT WAS KELLY SUE!!” No one else was impressed by my mad comic knowledge, but, eh.

Day 70: Jessica Jones vol 3: Return of the Purple Man

           Guess which superstar never read volume 2? That’s right - THIS superstar.

Day 71: Mr. & Mrs. X

            Basically, I love Gambit. I’m okay with Rogue, but I’ve lived in the Deep South for too long to be completely okay with the extremes of character. And I also don’t really like Deadpool. At all. Despite all of that, I still enjoyed this.

Day 72: Secret Avengers vol 1: Reverie

            Unlike this, which did NOT get better with age. Ooooof.

Day 73: Avengers AI vol 1: Human After All

Did I buy this simply for this picture of Vision holding a kitten? Yes. Do I regret that? No.

Day 74: Tet Day 75: Iron Fist: Rage Day 76: Zero vol 1: An Emergency Day 77: Faster than Light

Day 78: Descender vol 4: Orbital Mechanics

            I sent my BFF a copy of Descender because it’s gorgeous. Because she has even worse impulse control than me, she bought all of the other volumes and has already finished the series. I can’t even be mad.

Day 79: Lost Dossiers: Super Spy

            AKA: This would have made way more sense had I realized that this was a supplement to another work… which I don’t yet own. Womp womp womp. Maybe tomorrow I’ll read the From Hell companion, just for kicks.

Day 80: Carnet de Voyage Day 81: Hype Day 82: Dancer Day 83-85: Day 86: Wonderful World of Oz

Day 87: Port of Earth

            Know what I love about Zack Kaplan? He creates immersive worlds that aren’t just one thing – there’s not just one neat storyline wrapped up by the end of the trade, and there isn’t just one type of story at work.

Day 88: Material Day 89: Captain America: the 1940s Newspaper Strip Day 90: Peter Panzerfaust vol 1: The Great Escape Day 91: Cowl vol 1

Day 92: Ministry of Space

            That ending, though.

Day 93: X-Men Gold vol 2 Day 94: The Winter Soldier vol 1: The Longest Winter Day 95: The Winter Soldier vol 2: Broken Arrow

Day 96: Graphic Classics vol 22: African American Classics

            I yelped when I saw that Afua Richardson, Personal Hero, had worked on this. I have a panel from her illustration of Langston Hughes’ “Rivers” (done for NPR), and it is one of my very favorite things.

Day 97: New York: The Big City

Day 98: A Wexford Childhood

            You would think that a memoir covering 1915-1930 might touch on some rumbling of war. You’d be wrong. But, it was an interesting view of the changing world, nonetheless.

Day 99: Winter Soldier vol 3: Black Widow Hunt

            Brubaker, why must you hurt me so?

Day 100: X-Men Rarities

            There are few things that bring me such joy as the stiff pages of a 90s era Marvel trade – and, when those trades include comics with Chamber? I am so in. Now, someone explain to me how they always smell like cigarettes and wet dog, regardless of origin, and I’ll be all set.

#365graphicnovels

[thezachrogers]

TOP 50 OF 2017

(revised 1/15/2018)

Well everyone, as 2017 comes to a close, and as the holidays are just a head of us full of the best and most anticipated films of the year...it is time to recap some of the best and worst movies I have seen so far this year...50 of them to be exact!

WORST TEN:

10. Life (now available on Digital, Blu-Ray, DVD)

Sony was very vague about if this was a prequel to the upcoming Tom Hardy Venom spinoff. Even if it was or wasn’t, it would not make this film any better. So if and only if it is in fact a Marvel film, SPOILER ALERT, the symbiote makes it back to Earth, darkens (goes from white to black when hitting Earth’s atmosphere) and can kill or keep its hosts alive. The end.

IMDB - 6.6/10 Rotten Tomatoes 67% My score - 2/5 Stars

9. Transformers: The Last Knight (now available on Digital, Blu-Ray, DVD)

This is arguably the worst installment of the explosive franchise. I keep scratching my head as to why these films keep getting made. And then I remember, “oh yea, toy sales.” Even though Michael Bay and Mark Wahlberg are calling it quits, a sixth installment is in motion set as a prequel in the 80s that will be loyal to the original transformers animated series will drop sometime in 2019. Don’t waste your time on this piece of garbage. 

IMDB - 5.2/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 16% My score - 1.5/5 Stars

8. Death Note (available for stream on NETFLIX now)

I laughed repeatedly at how ridiculous this movie was. Based off the anime, Willem Dafoe stars as Anti-hero/Villain Akira who is a demon that comes along with a book titled “death note” that allows you to kill anyone you want by writing their name down in a book. Production is quality for Netflix, and I can say that I did enjoy this movie even though I knew it was bad. Definitely one for the tweens.

IMDB - 4.6/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 40% My score - 1.5/5 Stars

7. GOLD (now available for stream on Netflix, Digital, Blu-Ray, DVD)

Why does Matthew McConaughey now think he has to completely change his appearance and body weight in order for us to assume he is a good actor? It worked with Dallas Buyers Club because he didn’t just change his body, but it was also the token gay film of the year to take home all of the awards. Gold however has no gay undertones, neither does it have humor, nor a good story. Just a fat, balding, snaggle-toothed version of himself with an excessively hot out of his league version of Bryce Dallas Howard. Another true story that is crap and should have been made into a movie, this film should have been a straight to Redbox or Netflix feature. 

IMDB - 6.7/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 43% My Score - 1.5/5 Stars

6. The Heart of Man (one night only documentary for Fathom Events at AMC)

I don’t even know y’all. Why do Christians feel the need to put crap like this in theaters? I can’t even call this a documentary - there was this weird analogy/metaphorical scene throughout the film with this “God” like character (old and bearded hipster) playing a violin and this other dude, let’s call him gaptooth, running away chasing his definition of hot girls (guess they couldn’t find any to be in the movie) and he didn’t want to play violin anymore. Then the girl he is making out with turns into a crack head dude (so I guess she’s a tranny?) and he/she locks gaptooth in a cave. Whaaaaaaaaaaa? Throughout the “artpiece” there were people spilling out their guts in interview format on committing adultery. Yea it was weird. I walked out with my community group thinking “so do all of our wives think we are cheating on them? 

Yea this was just a giant turd. Don’t bother seeing it.

IMDB - 8.6/10 (probably from christian bloggers) Rotten Tomatoes - no score (surprised?) my score - 1/5 Stars

5. Baywatch (now available on Digital, Blu-Ray, DVD)

Wow, this was so bad. I don’t know when Dwayne Johnson will ever make a good film. How is this dude the highest paid actor in Hollywood when he ONLY makes trash movies? I know he’s a great person and all but...we need a good movie from you man. With the exception of the eye candy as seen above there is nothing watchable about this movie. 

IMDB - 5.6/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 19% My score - 1 star

4. Power Rangers (now available on Digital, Blu-Ray, DVD)

You are probably not surprised, but the worst five films I have seen this year were all my wife’s doing. This one is on the list as well. I grew up a Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers fan and knew this one was going to be terrible as well. Another movie made simply to sell toys. Such a garbage movie with too many good actors like Bryan Cranston, Elizabeth Banks, and Stranger Things 2′s Dacre Montgomery. Please don’t waste your time with this movie unless you have kids that want to watch as they will probably love it and want to go to the store after and buy toys.

IMDB - 6.1/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 43% My score - 1 star

3. A Dog’s Purpose (now available on Digital, Blu-ray, DVD)

AND THE WORST MOVIE THAT I SAW IN 2017 GOES TO...

AND THE WORST REBOOT OF ALL TIME GOES TO...

AND THE WORST START OF A UNIVERSE/FRANCHISE GOES TO...

AND THE WORST MOVIE OF RUSSEL CROWE’S CAREER GOES TO...

AND THE WORST MOVIE OF TOM CRUISE’S CAREER GOES TO...

2. The Mummy (2017) (now available to not watch on Digital, Blu-Ray, DVD)

1. Flatliners (review coming soon)

IMDB - 5.5/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 16% My score .25/5 Stars

TOP 56 (revised 1/15/18)

56. The Lost City of Z (Now on Amazon Prime, Digital, Blu-Ray, DVD)The cast is superb. This a true story as far as script goes, not really much you can change..it’s just not a great story. No great character development, even though the acting is great; halfway through the movie, junior has a time jump and grows to be Tom Holland, who we now know and love as Peter Parker/Spider-Man. The movie is just weak.IMDB - 6.6/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 87% My score - 2.5/5 Stars

55. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (now available on Digital, Blu-Ray, DVD)

54. The Case for Christ (2017) (now available on Digital, Blu-Ray, DVD)

Not bad Pure Flix Studios, not bad at all.

IMDB - 5.9/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 55% Me- 3 Stars

53. Despicable Me 3

52. Bright (Review Coming Soon)

51. Better Watch Out (now on Digital)

Fun, suspenseful, thrilling movie that brings a twist on the Holiday genre. Another one for Dacre Montgomery in 2017...this is a satirical horror, and is nothing like Home Alone as what you may have thought from the trailers.

IMDB - 6.6/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 90% My score - 3/5 Stars

50. The Fate of the Furious (now available on Digital, Blu-Ray, DVD)

49. Kong: Skull Island (now available on Digital, Blu-Ray, DVD)

Do we need another King Kong reboot? No. Was the movie cool? Yes. This film also sets up to be a follow-up of 2014′s Godzilla and opens up to a monster universe franchise. 

IMDB - 6.7/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 76% My Score - 3.25/5 Stars

48. Murder On the Orient Express (2017) (now in theaters)

Probably the most A-List Ensemble cast of 2017 and directed and starred by Kenneth Branagh, this movie was lots of fun! I would recommend waiting for rental early in 2018 rather than seeing in theaters but without seeing the original film, this story will keep you guessing till the end on who did it!

IMDB - 6.8/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 60% My Score 3.5 Stars

47. Kingsman: The Golden Circle (coming soon to Digital, Blu-Ray, and DVD)

Just as fun as the first movie, excited for the third!

IMDB - 7.2/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 51% My Score - 3.5/5 Stars

46. Hush (now available for stream on NETFLIX)

IMDB - 6.6/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 94% My Score - 3.75/5 Stars

45. Lady Bird (Review coming soon)

44. Gaga: Five Foot Two (now available for stream on NETFLIX)

A peak into the life of the last two years of Gaga’s life recording and realasing her latest album “Joanne” leading up to her superbowl halftime performance. 

IMDB - 7.2/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 75% My Score - 3.75/5 Stars

43. Silence (now available on Digital and DVD)

42. Super Dark Times (now on Digital)

This has been the year of suspense/horror! This film is super dark (pun intended) and definitely a period piece that captures life for teens in the late 90s during the times of the Columbine shootings. Video Games do affect the brain y’all!

IMDB - 6.6/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 91% My Score - 4/5 Stars

41. Logan Lucky (now on Digital, Blu-Ray, and DVD)

The Redneck Ocean’s Eleven from the same director with dry humor. I enjoyed, definitely a must rent.

IMDB - 7.2/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 93% - My Score - 4/5 Stars

40. Ingrid Goes West (now on Digital, Blu-Ray, and DVD)

Brilliant film about people obsessed with instagram likes and revolving their whole world around social media. Reminds me of ABC’s The Bachelor/The Bachelorette pretty people. 

IMDB - 6.7/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 85% My Score - 4/5 Stars

39. The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) (now available for stream on NETFLIX)

The fourth and final film of Adam Sandler’s four film Netflix contact, he FINALLY delivers. Meyerowitz has already won sever film festival awards and critics’ awards. I see Oscar nods for the future of this movie. Dustin Hoffman, Emma Thompson, Adam Sandler, and Ben Stiller all deliver in this melancholy dry-wit drama, definitely has a taste of Woody Allen in it.

IMDB - 7.1/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 93% - My Score - 4/5 Stars

38. Justice League (in theaters now)

37. Happy Death Day (review coming soon)

36. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (now available on Digital, Blu-Ray, DVD)

35. The Founder (now available to stream on NETFLIX, Digital, Blu-Ray, DVD)

34. The Lego Batman Movie (now available on Digital, Blu-Ray, DVD)

33. Beauty and the Beast (2017) (now available to stream on NETFLIX, Digital, Blu-Ray, and DVD)

32. John Wick: Chapter 2 (now available to stream on HBO GO/NOW, Digital, Blu-Ray, and DVD)

31. American Made (now in theaters)

Based on the events of the life of pilot Barry Seal. Seal (Cruise) was an airline pilot recruited by the CIA to pilot for Pablo Escobar and the Medellin and Cali Cartel and monitor activity for the CIA. Ironic how one of Cruise’s best and one of his worst films can come out with in three months of each other. 

IMDB - 7.2/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 87% My Score - 4/5 Stars

30. Our Souls at Night (now available for stream on NETFLIX)

When three Hollywood legends like Jane Fonda, Robert Redford, and Bruce Dern are on screen together; it’s movie magic. Hands down, Netflix’s best original film to date. I’m throwing Oscar nods it’s way.

IMDB - 7/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 91% My Score - 4/5 Stars

29. Goodbye Christopher Robin (review coming soon)

28. War for the Planet of the Apes

The final installment into the Caesar’s prequel trilogy, this is hands down the best Apes film of them all. Woody Harrelson plays the best antagonist in the Apes saga and this movie ends with you wanting more.

IMDB - 7.6/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 93% My Score - 4/5 Stars

27. Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri (review coming soon)

26. The Greatest Showman (now in theaters)

25. IT (2017) (now in theaters)

The reboot of the infamous clown that terrorized my childhood. Blows the original 1990 miniseries out of the water. I am so jacked up for the second installment as this film has made so much money that tells me that the all grown up versions of the characters will get an A List cast!

IMDB - 7.7/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 85% My Score - 4/5 Stars

24. Split (now on Digital, Blu-Ray, and DVD)

23. Wind River (now in Theaters, on Digital, Blu-Ray, DVD)

No, this is not a Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olson), and Punisher (Jon Bernthal) spinoff...however it is one of the best thriller/suspense/murder mysteries to release in the last decade! The whole cast brings it on a story about a murder on a Native American reserve where the law can barely touch. 

IMDB - 7.8/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 88% My Score - 4.5/5 Stars

22. Hidden Figures (now on Digital, Blu-Ray, DVD)

21. Blade Runner 2049 (now in theaters)

Not my 11th favorite movie of the year, but it deserves to be this high up on the list of “best films” to appreciate what the first Blade Runner did for film and the sci-fi genre as a whole. If you’re wanting a lot of Harrison Ford, this is not your movie, he doesn't show up until 1 hour and 55 minutes into the movie. Gosling is definitely the protagonist. They left it open for there to be third movie but I also think they left it open for us to imagine what comes next as if there will not be a third. All in all it was visually stunning and was a great script for the long awaited sequel 35 years in the making.

IMDB - 8.4/10 Rotten Tomatoes 87% My score - 4/5 Stars

20. Dunkirk (Digital, Blu-Ray, and DVD)

My all time favorite director made another masterpiece. I can say that this was an attempt at story, not character which was a little shocking to say the least coming from Christopher Nolan! Harry Styles definitely stole the show with this one! Tom Hardy's character arc was my favorite story line out of the three narratives in the film. Definitely a Blu-Ray to buy for Christmas!

IMDB - 8.3/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 92% My score - 4.5/5 Stars

19. Spider-Man: Homecoming (now available on Digital, Blu-Ray, DVD)

read review in previous post here

18. The Big Sick (now available for stream on Amazon Prime, Digital, Blu-ray, DVD)

Hilarious and heart felt, this is the true biographical story of Kumail Nanjiani as portrayed by Kumail Nanjiani.

IMDB - 7.7/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 98% My Score - 4.5/Stars

17. Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (now in theaters)

16. Patriots Day (now on Digital, Blu-Ray, DVD)

15. Stronger (review coming soon)

14. Get Out  (now on digital, Blu-Ray, DVD)

review posted here 

13. Darkest Hour (review coming soon)

12. The Disaster Artist (now in theaters)

11. Wonder Woman (now on digital, Blu-Ray, DVD)

review posted here 

10. Baby Driver (now on Digital, Blu-Ray, and DVD)

Filmed in Atlanta, takes place in Atlanta, shows off some hot spots in Atlanta I have been to on several occasions, I can say I have some bias on why this movie is so far up there. Unfortunately, this will probably be the last film of Kevin Spacey’s long career. I do enjoy his work, hate to hear who he is as a person though. Spacey did play a very minor role in this film. Arguably the best role of Jamie Foxx’s career, Ansel Elgort’s breakout performance and definitely throws 2015′s Live Action Cinderella’s Lily James as an A-List actor from here on out. Great film to watch in 4K as it is action packed, check this movie out now!

IMDB - 7.8/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 93% My score - 5 Stars

9. Brawl In Cell Block 99 (now on Digital)

Hands down, the best film of Vince Vaughn’s career. He should be nominated for the Academy Award. 180 from Wedding Crashers y’all, believe me. This film is exploding with hand to hand combat violence and acting like I’ve never seen from a comedic actor in my life. Probably the darkest action film this year next to LOGAN. I cannot say much more as I do not want to give the plot away, I think it’ll be the worth the watch if you don’t know much before watching the movie.

IMDB - 7.2/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 92% My score - 5 Stars

8. I, Tonya (Review Coming soon)

7. Coco (now in theaters today!)

Pixar never disappoints as this is one of their best films yet! Heart-warming, fun, and full of laughter, I would say this is Pixar’s best film since 2015′s Inside Out! This Pixar instant classic will remind adults and show kids the importance of family (especially this time of year)!

IMDB - 9.1/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 95% My Score - 5 Stars

6. Thor: Ragnarok (now in theaters)

Now in my top three favorite MCU films EVER!! (next to Avengers and Iron Man) Ragnarok will make you pee your pants laugh as it is funnier than Guardians 2 from earlier this year and as it was directed by co-creator of HBO’s Flight of the Conchords Taika Waititi! Learning the movie was 80% improv by the actors made it this movie that much better. The entire cast from Hemsworth to Ruffalo to Blanchett, Thor finally gets the movie this superhero deserves.

IMDB - 8.2/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 92% My score - 5 Stars

5. Wonder (now in theaters)

Can’t...stop...crying. The feel good movie of the year. Ask my wife, I literally cried from the first five minutes to the last second of the movie. This film broke my heart in all the best ways. Wonder (based on the NY Times best selling fiction novel) is a very real story about boy with Treacher Collins’ Syndrome (facial deformities) starting public school in the 5th grade and everything that comes along with it for his family and friend’s as they walk through this journey with Auggie. One of the best takes on character I have ever seen in film. This picture will be nominated for several Academy Awards including best lead actor by none other than Auggie Pullman himself 2015′s Room’s Jacob Tremblay. I want to hug every kid in this movie, the entire ensemble cast was superb.

IMDB - 8.1 Rotten Tomatoes - 86% My score - 5 Stars

4. The Post (review coming soon)

3. Molly’s Game (review coming soon)

2. Star Wars: The Last Jedi

1. LOGAN (now on Digital, Blu-Ray, DVD)

see review in previous post here.

and there it is fam - my top 50 list of 2017! Feel free to share, comment, and like! As the holidays are coming upon us this list will get updates and I will be posting single movie reviews as well! 

- Z

#movie #2017 #coco #wonder #thor ragnarok #justice league #thanksgiving

[juststeveandtonythings]

Tony has some misadventures with a random villain from Cuba named the Crusher, but he prevails.  Happy and Pepper make an appearance after everything has been sorted out and announce that they’ve eloped and are now Mr. and Mrs. Happy Hogan!  The issue ends one panel later without any internal monologue from Tony, so the jury’s still out on how he feels about it, but externally he seems to be pretty happy for them.

Also, this is a rare panel where Tony is wearing neither a suit NOR a lab coat.  I’m assuming he’s in flame-retardant coveralls.  While we know he’ll be rocking tank tops later, I guess it’s too early for that just yet.

- Tales of Suspense Vol 1 #91 (1967)

#tales of suspense vol 1 #tales of suspense vol 1 91 #1967 #tony stark #pepper potts #happy hogan #tony stark relationships

[juststeveandtonythings]

Silver Age Steve Rogers: A Summary

I wrote one for Tony Stark so now Steve gets one too. This covers Tales of Suspense Vol 1 #59-#99 (the Captain America part of it - Iron Man is in the Tony Stark summary I just linked) and Captain America Vol 1 #100-#120. I chose Captain America #120 as a stopping point, as that takes us up to December 1969.

Issue-by-Issue Synopsis

Significant events are in bold. Note that a lot of the earlier issues were kind of just silly fluff, so there isn't much to say about them.

[ToS #59] Captain America gets his own story in Tales of Suspense (note that this means Tales of Suspense contains two stories, one Iron Man and one Captain America, not that Captain America appears in the Iron Man story or vice versa).  First appearance of Edwin Jarvis.

[ToS #60] Steve fights a bad guy.

[ToS #61] Steve fights a bad guy in Vietnam and saves a man whose brother saved him during WWII.

[ToS #62] Steve fights a bad guy who wants his shield.

[ToS #63] Recap of Steve's origin story.

[ToS #64] 1940s adventure of Steve fighting a bad guy.

[ToS #65] 1940s adventure of Steve fighting the Red Skull.

[ToS #66] 1940s adventure of Steve fighting the Red Skull.

[ToS #67] 1940s adventure of Steve fighting the Red Skull.

[ToS #68] 1940s adventure of Steve fighting a bad guy.

[ToS #69] 1940s adventure of Steve fighting a bad guy.

[ToS #70] 1940s adventure of Steve fighting a bad guy.

[ToS #71] 1940s adventure of Steve fighting a bad guy.

[ToS #72] Steve finds out that the Red Skull left behind three giant robots called Sleepers and goes after them.

[ToS #73] Steve fights the Sleepers.

[ToS #74] Steve fights the Sleepers.

[ToS #75] First appearance of Peggy Carter (in flashback), Sharon Carter, and Batroc the Leaper. Steve sees Sharon, is reminded of Peggy, and starts following her. He encounters Batroc along the way and fights him.

[ToS #76] Steve and Batroc work together to defeat a common enemy.

[ToS #77] Flashback issue about Steve and Peggy's relationship during WWII and how they parted. Peggy ends up getting amnesia, which is why they never found each other again.

[ToS #78] Steve and Nick Fury fight a bad guy.

[ToS #79] Red Skull is revealed to still be alive in the present day. First appearances of A.I.M. and the Cosmic Cube.

[ToS #80] Steve fights the Red Skull, who has the Cosmic Cube.

[ToS #81] Steve fights the Red Skull, who has the Cosmic Cube, until the land they're on crumbles and Red Skull and the Cube are both lost to the water.

[ToS #82] Steve gets drugged and captured by an adaptoid, who then takes his form.

[ToS #83] Steve frees himself and captures the adaptoid.

[ToS #84] The adaptoid adapts to all of the Avengers' powers and fights Steve.

[ToS #85] Steve goes to save Sharon, who has been captured by Batroc on behalf of Hydra under the condition that he be allowed to fight Steve. They fight, but when Hydra interferes Batroc gets annoyed and lets Steve save Sharon.

[ToS #86] Steve fights a bad guy in Asia and asks Fury to tell Sharon that they're going to go on a date, but Fury tells him she's on a mission.

[ToS #87] Steve fights the Planner, who is dressed in a Cap costume and committing crimes.

[ToS #88] Steve receives a video transmission from someone who looks and sounds like Bucky and goes after him.

[ToS #89] Steve finds out that the Bucky who sent the transmission was actually a robot created by Red Skull, who is still alive. They fight.

[ToS #90] Learning that Red Skull has some sort of plastic bubble weapon and fearing for NYC's safety, Steve promises to serve Red Skull for 24 hours in exchange for Red Skull not using the weapon on the city.

[ToS #91] Red Skull makes Steve reveal the location of a military submarine right before the 24 hours are up, then goes after it. Steve fights him. The sub blows up with Red Skull in it.

[ToS #92] Steve unknowingly interferes with a S.H.I.E.L.D. plot where an LMD Nick Fury is supposed to be assassinated, which puts Sharon in danger. Fury asks him to save her as a result.

[ToS #93] Steve and Sharon are both captured by A.I.M.

[ToS #94] First on-panel appearance of M.O.D.O.K. Steve and Sharon fight A.I.M.

[ToS #95] Steve goes on his first date with Sharon and proposes to her despite not knowing her real name. When Sharon declines, Steve decides to stop being Captain America and reveals his identity as Steve Rogers.

[ToS #96] Steve saves some random people dressed up as Cap who were filling the gap he left. He decides to continue being Captain America.

[ToS #97] Steve is summoned by T'Challa to Wakanda to help fight some bad guys who might be related to Steve's rogues' gallery.

[ToS #98] Steve and T'Challa fight Baron Zemo.

[ToS #99] Steve and T'Challa are caught by Baron Zemo. Sharon shows up while disguised as a spy and is asked by Zemo to shoot them.

[CA #100] Steve, Sharon, and T'Challa defeat Baron Zemo, who is revealed to be a fake. Steve asks T'Challa to join the Avengers.

[CA #101] Steve finds out about a fourth Sleeper and goes after it, but it gets away.

[CA #102] Steve and Sharon again go after the fourth Sleeper and defeat it with the power of love. Red Skull decides to use Sharon against Steve going forward.

[CA #103] Sharon's name is finally revealed (she was previously only known as Agent 13). They go on a date, but the Red Skull's minions kidnap her and force Steve to come after them. They escape, but unknown to Steve, the Red Skull has attached "nuclear tape" to the back of his neck.

[CA #104] Steve goes to fight the Red Skull while Sharon, Fury, and Tony Stark disarm a bomb connected to Steve's nuclear tape.

[CA #105] Steve tries to distance himself from Sharon, fearing his proximity puts her in danger, and goes off on a random mission to disarm a separate, unrelated bomb.

[CA #106] Steve fights some bad guys trying to steal LMD tech from S.H.I.E.L.D., including an LMD that looks like himself.

[CA #107] First appearance of Doctor Faustus, a psychiatrist Steve has recently started seeing. Faustus gives Steve some pills to supposedly help with nightmares, but it's a trap. Faustus gets arrested after a fight.

[CA #108] Steve and Sharon fight the Trapster, who they find out is working for the Red Skull.

[CA #109] Recap of Steve's origin story.

[CA #110] Steve saves Rick Jones from the Hulk. Rick then puts on Bucky's costume and asks to be his sidekick. Steve agrees, and they fight Madame Hydra/Viper (in her first appearance) and her Hydra goons together.

[CA #111] Steve and Rick fight Hydra again. Steve jumps into a river as they're shooting at him. A bullet-riddled costume and a Steve Rogers face mask are found afterward, but no body.

[CA #112] Recap of Steve's adventures from the original Cap comics, Avengers, Tales of Suspense, and this current run, narrated by Tony Stark in the wake of Cap's apparent death.

[CA #113] Captain America is given a funeral that Madame Hydra then crashes. Rick goes after her, and so does Steve, who is unsurprisingly alive after all. After Hydra is defeated, Steve explains how the Cap that was gunned down was a fake. Steve now has a secret identity again.

[CA #114] After Steve and Sharon fight A.I.M., Steve asks Sharon to resign from S.H.I.E.L.D. Sharon refuses to quit her job, and they break up. Steve then tries to assume a different civilian identity but is found by Red Skull, who has the Cosmic Cube again.

[CA #115] After spending some time toying with Steve, Red Skull transforms Steve into himself, and himself into Captain America.

[CA #116] Red Skull continues to toy with Steve, who is being attacked non-stop due to looking like the Skull. Eventually, Red Skull teleports Steve to the isle where the Exiles are, as he recently betrayed the Exiles and know that they will want to kill the Red Skull on sight.

[CA #117] First appearance of Sam Wilson and Redwing, who save Steve as he's being attacked by the Exiles. Steve realizes he can take off the Red Skull mask and look like a normal man. He convinces Sam to adopt a superhero identity and names him the Falcon so that he can serve as a symbol when fighting the Exiles.

[CA #118] Steve trains Sam in hand-to-hand combat and together, they fight the Exiles. Red Skull is annoyed that Steve is thriving and decides it's time to end it himself.

[CA #119] Red Skull restores himself and Steve to their true bodies. They fight (along with Sam and Redwing). However, Red Skull loses his advantage when the Cosmic Cube gets deactivated as part of an unrelated plot by A.I.M. and uses the last vestiges of its power to teleport away.

[CA #120] Steve and Sam return to the States and part ways. Steve takes on a job at a local college and saves a professor from being kidnapped by A.I.M., then quits the job.

Characterization

We all know Steve as the guy who will fight for freedom any day of the week and prone to giving rousing speeches, both during and after battle. He encourages others to do the same, and is responsible for Sam becoming the Falcon. He even trains both Sam and Rick Jones in hand-to-hand combat.

Underneath that patriotic exterior, though, is a conflicted man warring with a lot of dissonant feelings. Sometimes he seems to resent being Captain America: he's Cap because he feels a duty to be Cap, but he also blames that devotion to duty for Bucky's death as well as the fact that he can't just settle down with Sharon, who feels duty toward her own job. At the same time, he feels like outside of Captain America, the man under the mask - Steve Rogers - has no identity or life of his own. His resentment leads him to quitting being Captain America, but his sense of duty leads him to pick it back up almost immediately afterward. However, there is no resolution at this time to his lack of identity as Steve Rogers. He tries to fill in the gap with Sharon by pursuing a romance with her, but it fails when she won't fit in the exact way he wants her to.

On top of all that, Steve actively blames himself for Bucky's death (in addition to the bit about duty mentioned above). He thinks he shouldn't have brought Bucky with him on that fatal mission near the end of the war and that he should have been able to save him. As a result, his enemies frequently use Bucky's ghost to either lure him into traps or mess with his mind. Despite his guilt, though, Rick Jones is able to successfully convince Steve to allow him to pick up Bucky's mantle.

And of course, Steve still feels disconnected from his current present, twenty years into the future. The disconnect is bad enough that he sought therapy for it, though unfortunately for him said therapist was Doctor Faustus.

When it comes to his love life, he falls hard and fast - probably too hard and too fast. While Silver Age comics in general completely fail at "show, don't tell" when it comes to romance, Steve takes it to another level, and it's explicitly confirmed that his intense feelings for Sharon are literally because she looks like someone he loved during the war. This leads to him proposing to her on their first date, before he even knows her as anything other than Agent 13. When she declines, he's so upset that he briefly quits being Captain America. He also repeatedly tries to make her quit her job as a top agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. because he fears for her safety, and they break up after her multiple refusals to do so.

He's also so open about his feelings for Sharon that Fury is essentially left to be the middleman for them at times, arranging their schedules so they can go on dates. Random unnamed S.H.I.E.L.D. agents are also shown to be aware of Steve and Sharon's romance.

Relationships

Bucky Barnes is Steve's teenage sidekick from WWII, though he perished as part of the same event that left Steve frozen in the ice for twenty years. Though he's dead, his spectre continues to haunt Steve, both in the form of Steve's guilt as well as enemies like the Red Skull using Bucky's likeness to draw him into battle.

Red Skull is Steve's greatest enemy, and continues to come back time and time again. His major flaw regarding Steve is that he enjoys seeing Steve suffer so much that he ends up drawing out his plots for long enough that Steve is able to escape and live another day.

Batroc the Leaper is on paper one of Steve's enemies, though they have worked together multiple times to fight a common foe. Batroc is shown to have a strong desire to defeat Captain America, but at the same time, he has an equally strong sense of honor that demands that any such defeat must take place under fair conditions. He will not hesitate to turn on others if they interfere with his sense of fair play.

Peggy Carter is Steve's first love from the war, though it's unclear if he ever knew her name. However, they were separated after Peggy got amnesia from an exploding cell, causing her to forget him and therefore never see him again.

Sharon Carter is Steve's singular love interest in the present day. He starts following her as soon as he sees her due to her resemblance to Peggy and learns she's a top agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. When he finally goes on a date with her, he proposes, and when he's turned down he briefly quits being Captain America. While she loves him back, she feels that her duty to S.H.I.E.L.D. prevents her from having a married life, and her refusal to quit despite his repeated requests lead to them breaking up.

Nick Fury is one of Steve's friends from the war, and is also the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. They talk a lot, and at least on one instance Steve has invited him to his place just so he can vent about his life (Fury usually mentions crying towels on these occasions). He also acts as a somewhat reluctant but also amused middleman when it comes to Steve and Sharon's relationship.

Rick Jones is a young man who briefly takes up the role of being a replacement Bucky. Steve trains him in combat gymnastics and though he fears for Rick's life, he ultimately allows him to be his sidekick.

T'Challa is King of Wakanda and the Black Panther. After they work together on a mission, Steve asks him to join the Avengers, which T'Challa agrees to.

Sam Wilson is a man Steve encounters while in the Red Skull's body (though his mask is removed so he looks like a normal person). Due to their shared goal of defeating a common enemy, Steve encourages Sam to take up a superhero identity and dubs him the Falcon, training him in hand-to-hand combat. Once the enemy is defeated, and after Sam learns Steve was actually Captain America, Sam returns to Harlem to be a superhero there.

Tony Stark is the weapons director of S.H.I.E.L.D. (and Iron Man, though Steve doesn't know this). Steve and Sharon constantly use gadgets he designed and have a huge amount of respect for him. The fact that Iron Man tricked out Steve's shield at one point is known by everyone, enough that there is not one, but two plots that involve enemies trying to steal said shield (though Steve removes the enhancements later).

Trivia

[ToS #60] Steve briefly wields a shield that is enhanced with transistors, courtesy of Iron Man (he later removes them due to balance issues, though).

[ToS #63] During the war, Steve acted like a bumbling private to deflect suspicions that he was actually Captain America.

[CA #105] Steve makes an explicit enough reference to Christ that it seems to confirm him as a Christian.

[CA #108] Everyone is constantly using stuff designed by Tony Stark, who is referred to as the weapons director of S.H.I.E.L.D.

[CA #110] Steve smokes a pipe.

[CA #111] A description of Steve's fighting style, which is referred to as combat gymnastics.

[CA #117] Steve is capable of using clay to form makeshift facial prosthetics for himself as a disguise.

[CA #117] Steve is normally camera-shy.

Noteworthy Panels

These are mostly panels that are noteworthy for meme reasons, since actual noteworthy events are highlighted in the synopsis.

[ToS #59] The heels of Steve's boots are razor-sharp.

[ToS #65] With true Nazi efficiency, the Red Skull has a hit list of four whole people that he wrote out in a notepad.

[ToS #74] All Steve needs is a flamethrower!

[ToS #79] Steve's A on his cowl peels off to reveal a circuit that blocks hypnotic waves.

[ToS #95] Steve tells Tony that he helped the Avengers the only way he could - with his money!

[CA #101] Steve rocks a Stark-designed transparent inflato-suit.

[CA #106] Steve hangs around shirtless in front of a random S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who is trying to talk to him about work stuff.

[CA #118] Steve apparently gave Rick an autographed photo of himself.

[CA #120] "Roger Stevens" is the best undercover name Steve can come up with.

#summary post #tales of suspense vol 1 #captain america vol 1 #steve rogers

[juststeveandtonythings]

Silver Age Tony Stark: A Summary

So, I thought it would be nice if I went back and condensed the stuff I read into a single post so that it might be a helpful resource later. This will cover Tales of Suspense Vol 1 #39-#99 (the Iron Man part of it - Captain America has his own post here), Iron Man Vol 1 #1-#20, and some additional plot-relevant comics. I chose Iron Man #20 as a stopping point, as that takes us up to December 1969.

Issue-by-Issue Synopsis

Significant events are in bold. Note that a lot of the earlier issues were kind of just silly fluff, so there isn’t much to say about them.

[ToS #39] Tony makes his first appearance, is caught by Wong-Chu in the Vietnamese jungle, and builds a gray metal suit to escape with Ho Yinsen’s help.

[ToS #40] Tony starts carrying his armor around in a briefcase. He gets the idea from the woman he’s currently dating to paint his armor gold.

[ToS #41] Tony fights a bad guy.

[ToS #42] Tony fights a bad guy.

[ToS #43] Iron Man is established as a crime fighter who sometimes visits Tony.

[ToS #44] First dramatic socket plugging. Iron Man is upgraded to be a “close friend” of Tony’s.

[ToS #45] First appearance of Happy Hogan and Pepper Potts. Happy saves his life and is hired as his chauffeur. Pepper is a modest-looking secretary who is in love with Tony.

[ToS #46] Tony fights the Crimson Dynamo/Anton Vanko but gives him a second chance and hires him.

[ToS #47] Tony fights a bad guy.

[ToS #48] Tony upgrades his armor to the Model 2.

[ToS #49] Tony fights a bad guy.

[ToS #50] First appearance of the Mandarin.

[ToS #51] Iron Man is upgraded again to be Tony’s bodyguard.

[ToS #52] First appearance of Natasha Romanova/the Black Widow, who has been sent by Russia to dispose of Vanko and Stark. Vanko is killed and Natasha escapes.

[ToS #53] Tony fights a bad guy.

[ToS #54] Tony is established to have feelings for Pepper for the first time.

[ToS #55] Tony fights the Mandarin.

[ToS #56] First appearance of the nickname “Shellhead” (though here, it’s two words). Tony decides to stop being Iron Man.

[ToS #57] First appearance of Clint Barton/Hawkeye, who teams up with Natasha to fight Iron Man. They get away. Tony takes Pepper out on a date by accident.

[ToS #58] The Chameleon disguises himself as Captain America and fights Iron Man.

[ToS #59] Tony fights the Black Knight. Tales of Suspense goes from being ½ Iron Man issue and ½ random non-superhero issue to ½ Iron Man issue and ½ Captain America issue.

[ToS #60] Tony realizes he needs to stay in his armor full time to provide his heart with enough power to keep beating, resulting in everyone thinking Iron Man’s done something terrible to Tony.

[ToS #61] The Mandarin attacks Tony’s home and he is presumed dead. Tony flies to China to fight him.

[ToS #62] Tony fights the Mandarin.

[ToS #63] Tony figures out his power problems and makes his return as himself. He realizes Happy loves Pepper too and claims he’s engaged so Pepper will forget about him and go for Happy.

[ToS #64] Natasha and Clint strike at Iron Man again, but Clint’s love for Natasha ruins their plans and they are forced to retreat from the fight.

[ToS #65] Tony fights a bad guy.

[ToS #66] Tony fights a bad guy while doing a weapons demo and chooses to blame the resulting damage (that no one but him and the bad guy witnessed) on himself rather than the bad guy. Happy goes missing.

[ToS #67] Happy has left because he’s unhappy, so Tony finds him as Iron Man and tries to convince him to return. He fails, but Pepper ends up succeeding. Pepper gets increasingly annoyed with Iron Man’s shady behavior.

[ToS #68] First appearance of Morgan Stark, who Count Nefaria tries to use to destroy Tony, though the attempt fails.

[ToS #69] Iron Man is challenged by Titanium Man in a one-on-one televised battle.

[ToS #70] Titanium Man plays dirty during the battle and almost wins, but Happy is able to come in with an assist, though he gets badly injured in the process. Before he passes out, he expresses relief that Pepper loves him. He also reveals that he knows Tony is Iron Man.

[ToS #71] Tony finally defeats Titanium Man. Pepper expresses disgust with Tony for being gone while both Iron Man and Happy were risking their lives.

[ToS #72] Tony fights a bad guy and mopes at how Pepper hates Tony but likes Iron Man.

[ToS #73] The Black Knight kidnaps a still-injured Happy from the hospital to lure Iron Man into battle. Tony defeats him and Happy is rescued, but Tony is left trapped in the Black Knight’s castle.

[ToS #74] Pepper rescues Iron Man from the castle, who then has to rush off to stop doctors from using experimental tech on Happy to save his life. But it’s too late and Happy gets mutated and runs off.

[ToS #75] Tony goes after Happy and manages to capture him.

[ToS #76] Tony manages to unmutate Happy, though Happy now has amnesia. Senator Byrd forces Tony to come to Washington so he can testify on Iron Man, but the Mandarin kidnaps him en route.

[ToS #77] The Mandarin summons a giant android called Ultimo, which Tony fights after secretly suiting up.

[ToS #78] Tony defeats Ultimo and comes back to find that his factory has been shut down and that there’s a warrant for his arrest for not appearing before the Senate.

[ToS #79] Tony feels that Iron Man is almost a separate entity. He fights a random Atlantean who attacked him. Then Namor shows up.

[ToS #80] Namor fights Tony because Namor wanted to be the one fighting the random Atlantean instead (even though the Atlantean was the one who attacked Tony in the first place).

[TtA #82] Tony and Namor fight. The random Atlantean then resurfaces, and Namor leaves to fight him instead.

[ToS #81] Tony decides to testify to the Senate, but is intercepted by the Titanium Man en route.

[ToS #82] Pepper appears at the battle between Iron Man and Titanium Man to try and help Tony, but Titanium Man starts attacking her instead. “Shellhead” appears again as a nickname, but hyphenated.

[ToS #83] Tony defeats Titanium Man. Pepper is relieved to see him and seems into him again. Happy regains his memories.

[ToS #84] Tony is about to testify to the Senate about Iron Man when he passes out. His chestplate is discovered, his heart issues become public knowledge, and suspicions begin to rise that he is actually Iron Man. Happy dons the suit with Tony’s blessing to throw everyone off, but then gets kidnapped by the Mandarin.

[ToS #85] Tony rushes off to build a new suit, then flies to China on a rocket to save Happy.

[ToS #86] Tony fights the Mandarin in hand-to-hand combat for some reason and wins. He and Happy head back to the States.

[ToS #87] Tony builds an “earth-borer” machine. While testing, random buildings, including his own factory, get sucked into the earth.

[ToS #88] Tony fights the Mole Man, who was responsible for sucking buildings in, and then says he’ll tell the public that the earth-borer was responsible rather than scare them with the truth.

[ToS #89] Tony realizes Pepper actually loves Happy. To cope, he goes on a bunch of dates. Then the Melter comes to demand tech from him.

[ToS #90] Tony defeats the Melter.

[ToS #91] Tony fights the Crusher. Happy and Pepper have eloped and are now married.

[ToS #92] Tony does a weapons demo in Vietnam and is then asked to defeat someone named Half-Face.

[ToS #93] Tony fights Half-Face and the Titanium Man, who is working with him.

[ToS #94] Tony defeats Titanium Man. Half-Face renounces his evil ways.

[ToS #95] First appearance of Jasper Sitwell, who has been stationed at Tony’s factory by Nick Fury. The Grey Gargoyle attacks, turns Iron Man to stone, and throws him off a building.

[ToS #96] Sitwell saves Iron Man. Iron Man defeats Grey Gargoyle, but passes out due to the strain on his heart.

[ToS #97] Morgan sleazes his way in and pretends he’s here to help Iron Man, but he really plans on taking him to the Maggia (currently on a ship) to help pay off his gambling debts. Iron Man and the Maggia fight, and then the Maggia bring in Whiplash.

[ToS #98] First appearance of Whitney Frost. Tony fights Whiplash.

[ToS #99] Tony defeats Whiplash and passes out. He gets re-captured by the Maggia when their ship is shot at by A.I.M. They evacuate, leaving Tony trapped.

[IM&SM #1] Tony frees himself, fights Whiplash again, and is then captured by A.I.M.

[IM #1] Whitney seduces Sitwell in order to hopefully learn company secrets from him. Tony fights and defeats A.I.M.

[IM #2] A man obsessed with Tony called Drexel Cord sends a robot after him to defeat him, but it eventually tries to harm his daughter, Janice, and turns on Drexel before Tony finally defeats it. Tony feels guilty.

[IM #3] Happy and Pepper, who no longer work for Tony, hear that Tony is in seclusion and go to him. This is because he must now stay plugged in 24/7 to keep his heart beating. However, he allows Happy to help since Happy knows his secret, but this results in Happy being mutated again. He gets better, but Tony feels guilty.

[IM #4] Tony grapples with the price of being Iron Man and fights the Unicorn.

[IM #5] Tony gets teleported into the future and is almost executed, but he escapes and goes back to his time after a fight.

[IM #6] Tony develops feelings for Janice. The Crusher attacks the factory and threatens Whitney, who was hanging around. Sitwell is ready to do something very foolish to save her, forcing Iron Man to knock him out and defeat the Crusher on his own.

[IM #7] Tony, Janice, and her lawyer (who has been encouraging Janice to sell her late father’s company to Tony) are kidnapped by the Maggia and the Gladiator. Tony escapes just long enough to come back as Iron Man, which makes him look very cowardly to Janice.

[IM #8] Whitney’s backstory as a socialite who didn’t know she had an evil father is revealed. Back in the present, she leads a raid on the Stark factory that Sitwell manages to stop, but she nonetheless saves him when the Gladiator attacks him. When she flees, Sitwell is unable to bring himself to stop her.

[IM #9] The Mandarin ships a Hulk android from China to kidnap Janice and prove that Tony Stark and Iron Man are the same. Tony defeats the android.

[IM #10] Tony and Janice go on a nice date. The Mandarin tries to ruin Tony by releasing photoshopped images of him partaking in secret communist meetings, then lures him to his new hideout in the States.

[IM #11] The Mandarin unmasks Iron Man only to find that it’s some blond dude and that Tony is elsewhere (unknown to him, Tony is wearing prosthetics, and the other Tony is an LMD). The Mandarin goes after the LMD Tony. After a televised fight, the Mandarin is defeated but it looks like Tony died because the LMD shut down.

[IM #12] Tony gets the LMD working again, then shuts it down himself and puts it away. He and Janice go to visit her lawyer but are attacked by the Controller.

[IM #13] Tony defeats the Controller, but starts distancing himself from Janice due to fears that his feelings will interfere with his duties as Iron Man.

[IM #14] Tony and Janice go on a break due to Tony’s inner turmoil. Tony fights the Night Phantom.

[IM #15] Tony and Sitwell are attacked by the Unicorn and the Red Ghost while on a plane. Tony gets off but fears Sitwell has perished when he sees the plane explode.

[IM #16] Tony and the Unicorn have a “handcuffed together” episode and bring down the Red Ghost. The Unicorn then escapes with the Red Ghost. Sitwell is fine.

[IM #17] Midas and Madame Masque attack the Stark factory while Tony is away, which reactivates the Tony LMD. The LMD decides to take over Tony’s life, so when Tony returns, he’s treated as an impostor and thrown out. Tony is moping in the rain when Madame Masque kidnaps him.

[IM #18] Thinking that the real Tony is a very good impostor, Midas “forces” him to be part of their plot to take over Tony’s company, which involves fighting the LMD so Tony is actually for it. He flirts with Madame Masque as she trains him. When they break in and the LMD confronts them, he protects her and fights and defeats the LMD himself, but his heart stops beating. Madame Masque gets away while the Avengers find him and try to save him.

[IM #19] Tony has heart surgery, which removes the need for his chestplate and replaces the damaged parts of his heart with synthetic tissue. He is cautioned to avoid unusual stress, which will make it more likely that his body rejects the synthetics. Midas and Madame Masque kidnap him again. Madame Masque is revealed to be Whitney Frost, and they kiss without her mask on. They escape Midas, and Whitney goes her own way.

[IM #20] Tony fights one of his security guards, who is being possessed by Lucifer, and defeats him.

Characterization

Silver Age Tony essentially has no flaws aside from the issues he runs into from either his double life as Iron Man, or the knowledge that he might drop dead due to his damaged heart at any second. Said issues result in him having a lot of monologues in his head about the irony of seemingly having it all even though he is so troubled. He has also felt like Iron Man was a separate entity from Tony Stark. There is no mention of alcoholism or his abusive father at this point in canon. In fact, we know more about Whitney Frost’s backstory than we do Tony’s.

When it comes to his love life, he is 100% a flirt, and he also has a playboy reputation. (However, it’s unclear how many people he actually sleeps with, given that for most of the decade he had to keep his chestplate a secret.) When he develops romantic feelings for someone, though, he will eventually distance himself from them due to his fears that his life will endanger them and/or the fact that he might die at any moment will be an unfair burden to them. He also tends to not date other people when he has feelings, unless it’s explicitly an attempt to forget the person - he’s seen dating women until feelings for Pepper develop, and then he dates no one even though he’s not pursuing Pepper (due to his bad heart), and then he starts dating again to distract himself once he realizes Pepper loves Happy. After Pepper and Happy marry, he seems at peace with their relationship and eventually pursues Janice Cord, but then again has to draw away due to his personal issues, which leaves him open to developing feelings for Whitney Frost, despite her scarred face and the knowledge that she’s a long-time criminal.

Despite the trouble that his double life brings him, he does find joy in being Iron Man and believes Iron Man is a necessary force. It’s not until he gets heart surgery when he starts to feel doubt, and that’s only because being Iron Man makes it more likely he will die due to the chance his heart will reject the synthetic tissue it now has.

Here’s some of the things he’s done:

Extremely willing to sacrifice himself if it will defeat a bad guy

Donates to charitable causes, such as children’s hospitals

Gives people second chances

Makes it a point of being non-lethal even when it’s an inconvenience

Fights enemies, but then occasionally blames any disturbances resulting from those fights on himself so that the public doesn’t know what kind of terrors he actually faced

Relationships

Here’s a list of the important supporting characters in Tony’s life!

Pepper Potts is Tony’s secretary. She starts out as kind of average-looking and in love with Tony, then eventually starts to dress up more (and covers up her freckles!), which apparently prompts Tony to fall in love with her. However, Tony’s own inner turmoil over his double life and his bad heart stop him from actively pursuing her, and he makes attempts to both remove himself from the picture as well as push her toward Happy. Over the course of the run, her romantic feelings shift between Tony, Iron Man, and Happy (for a while, she despises Tony because she thinks he’s a coward due to him always disappearing when danger happens), but eventually she and Happy get married. By the end of the decade, she is no longer working for Tony but they’re on good terms.

Happy Hogan is Tony’s chauffeur, hired by Tony after Happy saves his life. For a while, Happy is unhappy because he doesn’t do anything (due to Tony not actually needing a chauffeur because he can fly). Despite this, and despite the fact that he understands Tony is a major competitor for Pepper’s affections, he cares deeply about Tony and will risk his life to save his boss. He is also the only person to know Iron Man’s identity, having figured it out for himself, and has even donned the suit. Like Pepper, he is no longer working for Tony, but they’re on good terms.

Morgan Stark is Tony’s cowardly cousin and a prominent gambler. His life and Tony’s usually only intersect when Morgan has gambling debts and tries to offer up Tony as a means to pay off the debts.

Natasha Romanova is a Russian spy who Tony immediately flirts with, though they become at odds once he realizes her real purpose. She only appears in a few issues and is mostly here because we all know she’ll come back later!

Clint Barton is a performer who turns to petty crime because he becomes jealous of Iron Man. He and Natasha team up to fight Tony more than once. Later, he joins the Avengers, but this is never brought up in the Iron Man run.

The Avengers are the superhero team Tony is part of, but his involvement as both Iron Man and as Tony Stark is rarely mentioned. Similarly, the other Avengers make occasional cameos but rarely come up in the narrative. The most notable mentions are 1) when the Chameleon disguises himself as Steve Rogers, causing Tony to fight the real Steve, 2) when the Mandarin sends a Hulk android after Tony, resulting in Tony telling it (without knowing it’s an android) that he always thought Bruce was misunderstood, and 3) when Tony nearly dies after his battle with the LMD, resulting in the Avengers coming to save him and helping him get the heart surgery he needs to survive.

Janice Cord is a woman whose father developed an obsession with Tony and tried to kill him, perishing in the process. Tony develops feelings for her and they eventually start going out. He encourages her to continue with her father’s company, despite the fact that that means he’ll have another competitor. However, Tony then starts distancing himself from her after realizing his work as Iron Man may conflict with his feelings for her. Currently, they are broken up and another man is pursuing her, but she still has feelings for him.

Jasper Sitwell is a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent stationed at Tony’s factory and is a teacher’s pet sort of fellow who rubs Tony the wrong way at first, though this soon changes. The relationship between Sitwell and Iron Man becomes strained, however, after Iron Man is forced to knock him out to stop him from doing something dumb, which embarrasses Sitwell. Sitwell dates Whitney Frost for a while - she’s using him to get to Tony’s weapons, but he knows she’s using him. Nonetheless, they develop actual feelings and both save each other when the time comes.

Whitney Frost is the head of the Maggia who uses Sitwell to get to Tony’s weapons, though she develops feelings for him along the way. However, he realizes she’s using him and stops her when she raids the factory, though he allows her to later flee. As part of the escape, her face becomes badly scarred and she returns as Madame Masque with a new plot involving capturing Tony, except this results in them kissing each other (with Tony undeterred by her scarred face). However, she then runs away, not wanting to burden him with her status as a wanted woman.

Trivia

There’s a lot of random stuff I tagged as trivia (which can be found on the #tony stark trivia tag), so I’ll only mention the stuff that might be helpful for a fic writer to know.

[TtA #82] Tony knows judo.

[ToS #81] Tony enjoys flying.

[ToS #91] Tony occasionally wears flame-retardant coveralls in the lab.

[ToS #92] Tony had a governess and wasn’t allowed on roller coasters as a child.

[ToS #94] Iron Man is internationally known.

[IM #3] Tony’s new secretary, after Pepper leaves, is a woman named Ms. Greer.

[IM #10] Tony likes bogie and W. C. Fields.

[IM #10] Tony develops tech for S.H.I.E.L.D. as well (not just the U.S. government).

[IM #15] Tony read a lot of Edgar Rice Burroughs as a child.

[IM #17] Tony has an electronic memory bank where he’s recorded all his activities in the event of his death. He also wears lab coats when working.

[IM #19] A summary on how the Model 2 armor is assembled.

Noteworthy Panels

These are mostly panels that are noteworthy for meme reasons, since actual noteworthy events are highlighted in the synopsis.

[ToS #40] Tony outfits the U.S. military with roller skates.

[ToS #45] Tony keeps a humongous framed image of his good friend Iron Man on his wall.

[ToS #48] Tony has eyeholes in his face mask because he thinks that allowing his expression to show will instill fear in the hearts of his enemies.

[ToS #53] Tony throws things together literally at random and produces an anti-gravity device, because that’s how science works.

[ToS #57] Clint declares that Natasha is the only one he’s ever loved, despite not knowing anything about her except for her looks and her dislike for Iron Man.

[ToS #58] “Well, partner, I’m glad it all came out in the wash! No hard feelings?” - this scene between Captain America and Iron Man is referenced in Civil War: Casualties of War.

[ToS #82] Tony can spin his ear discs to reveal ROLLER SKATES.

[ToS #84] SURVEY SHOWS THAT STARK AND IRON MAN NEVER SEEN AT SAME TIME TOGETHER.

[ToS #93] More roller skates!

[IM #5] It’s time-traveling Tony!

[IM #11] Tony needs a disguise? Time to go blond and get rid of the facial hair!

[IM #13] Yes, I will point out all the roller skates I can.

[IM #17] Sad Tony in the rain.

#summary post #tales of suspense vol 1 #tales to astonish vol 1 #iron man and sub-mariner vol 1 #iron man vol 1 #tony stark