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Kyle Smith Ms. Bell English IV 3 September 2013 COMIC BOOKS, AND THE INVINCIBLE IRON MAN The concept of the ideal protagonist, versus the evil, sometimes crazy antagonist, has always been a fascination of the American culture. Where a utopian world is turned into a wild, anarchist, dystopian hell. This classic tale of good against evil has been a magnet for the imagination of the human mind for centuries, capturing minds, inspiring youthful spirits to peruse their crave for a hero, and idol, or just someone to model after. This fascination flourished with the advent of the classic, comic book. THE HISTORY OF COMICS: The concepts of heroes and their attributes can be traced to Greek gods. For example, the modern comic book hero Flash explicitly draws on the iconography of the Greek god Hermes with his winged helmet and boots. (Random History) As you can see, the idea of superheroes playing a role in society digs deep. Still, comic books today are commonly used by children and adults alike not only to entertain, but an underlying reason is also to identify with the day political and social issues. The comic book industry, ever since the 1960s, has been nearly completely dominated by two publishers, Marvel and Detective Comics (DC). The history of comic books can be separated into sections, or ages. Some are The Golden Age, The Silver Age, The Bronze Age, all of which describe the meaning and purpose of the comics of the day. The use of these

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divisions is to better categorize the history of comics. Each age tells of different styles and techniques of writing, the difference of art, the marketing techniques and so on. The first variation of the comic book came in strips called comic strips. The arguably first comic strip is called The Yellow Kid by Richard Felton Outcaults, which made its first appearance in Joseph Pulitzers The New York World in 1895. I was originally used as a marketing tool to amplify the newspapers popularity and consumption. The introduction of the comic strip became so successful, that other newspapers began to use them, to where the comic strip feature, became standard. Such strips included, Buster Brown, Foxy Grandpa, Krazy Kat, Katzenjammer Kids, Popeye, and Mutt and Jeff. (Random History) Soon the comic strips became so famous, and usually comical, they cultured many names such as The Funnies, and other variants. The very first comic books were actually reprinted series of comic strips from the newspapers put into books. With the expansion of the industry, comic books began to identify with a cultural and economical significance, unlike their newspaper predecessors. The Golden Age was from the 1930s to the 1950s. This was when the creation of Superman, sent the industry to a whole new level of writing and styles, even a new centralized idea of a superhero. Soon both Marvel and DC started to create more and more iconic characters such as Batman, Wonder Woman, and Captain America. As World War II rolled around, the comic industry boomed again, potential because of the promotion of the New Deal reform policy and patriotism. Such a comic was those of Captain America. Much of the ages are broken down because of changes like described in the Golden Age. The Silver and Bronze ages mostly symbolized the change in styles and thematic ideals. As the Iron Age moved on, comics began to decline. But as comics moved to the TV and movie industries, they took off again, as well as the fascination with collection items such as comics.

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THE HISTORY OF IRON MAN: Iron Man is a very iconic figure in the comic world, mostly because he symbolizes the future of both social and weapon technology. Iron Man also plays a role similar to Captain America, in that a lot of his comics have much social and political struggles and ideals embedded into the story. A unique characterization of Iron Man, is that is technically isnt a superhero. Iron Man doesnt have any powers. The attribute that makes him what he is, is his genius hand for technology. He built his suit that gives him to ability to do what he does. You can argue that because his source of power in enplaned into his chest, that he does have powers, but he put the darn thing in himself! He uses this energy source not only to power his armor, or suit, but also to correct his damaged heart. He also has a microchip that prevents him from being paralyzed. He can be considered both man and machine, or a cyborg. The identity is ideally hidden from the public in the comics, but the man behind the mask is Tony Stark, a wealthy inventor who created everything he has. He is arguably the most troubled of the Marvel heroes. He is presented as a suave, sly, well managed person, but struggles with disability and his own mental well-being. After a takeover of his weapon manufacturing company in a 1979 storyline, he indulges into alcoholism, providing yet another internal struggle the young entrepreneur has to overcome. Stark publicly proclaims that Iron Man is his bodyguard, and to avoid prosecution for his own violence he once announced that the man in the suit had died and been replaced. He might have been talking about himself, since he is empowered by machinery and sustained by another man's heart. Beneath his polished veneer, Iron Man may be the most troubled of Marvel's heroes, forever fighting to prove that his armor is not hollow. (SuperHeroStuff)

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The original Iron Man was set in Vietnam, this was a way for the writer to bring attention to not only Iron Man, but also to the war. Iron Man was first introduced in 1963 in Tale of Suspense #39 in March. In this story, Tony Stark, while experimenting with weapons in the Vietnamese jungles, get injured by a booby trap and is captured by the enemy. He is order to manufacture weapons for the Vietnamese, but instead creates his suit, defeats his enemy, and escapes. The suit also served to keep his heart beating after the shrapnel from the trap damaged his heart, causing him to become partially encased in metal to stay alive. Many Marvel characters have internal or external problems excluding the main antagonist problem. Life as a Marvel hero was never a bed of roses. (SuperHeroStuff) Some speculate that Iron Man is a symbol of John F. Kennedys optimistic and adventuresome spirit. With the inauguration of Kennedy in 1961, the United States was given this spirit. Kennedy had encouraged the buildup of American troops in Vietnam, and as the war there became more deadly and more divisive, Iron Man began to look even more like a symbol of The United States: he went halfway around the world to fight for what he thought was right, and he came home with a wound that seemed as if it would never heal. (SuperHeroStuff) Iron Man was a huge hit to the comic world, but the introduction of Iron Man to the movie industry, broke new grounds in superhero fascination. People, who didnt even read comics, fell in love the Iron Man for its technological and modern depiction of a real hero. One who doesnt need powers, but realistically made a difference just using what he knows to do what is right for the world.

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SOME BACKGROUND ON STAN LEE: IRON MANS CREATOR: Stanley Martin Lieber, or Stan Lee was born in New York on December 28, 1922. He had lived through part of the Great Depression, in which he watched how the struggle for life and survival can really take place. Lee eventually became a writer, and began to work for Timely Comics, (Marvels name at the time) in 1939 and quickly worked his way up to an interim editor for Timely in 1940. He also domestically served in World War II as a writer and illustrator. Lees career took a big step, when he was called upon to challenge the rival company, DCs introduction of The Justice League of America. So with the influence of co-workers and family, he introduced the creation of The Fantastic Four, disposing of the traditional superhero ideal. Soon after, many other heroes began to come forth by the works of Stan Lee, such as the Hulk, Spiderman, Doctor Strange, Daredevil, and the X-Men. This spike in popular characters boosted him to editorial director and publisher in 1972. Marvel comics we in awe of Lee and his talent. He then went on to the West Coast to involve himself with Marvels film adventures and became chairman emeritus. Lee became known for giving personality and a human aspect to his characters. This dynamic characterization gave a prosperous bonus to his career, as he used his characters to face real-world problem and issues such as drug usage. Stan Lee served as ambassador for Marvel, despite many lawsuits against the company for not getting enough appreciation and compensation for being the real comic creators. Lee influences and watched blockbuster film industries with the take off of many series such and the X-Men series, Iron Man, Thor, and The Avengers. In 2001, Lee started POW! Entertainment, while in 2002, publishing his autobiography, Excelsior! The Amazing Life of Stan Lee. He later received the Medal of Arts Honor from President George W. Bush, and later on launched

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several other TV and YouTube programs revolving his superhero creations. Lee is now 90, and remains and active contributor to the comic world. SUMMARY OF THE INVINCIBLE IRON MAN: THE FUTURE: PART 1: In the comic, The Invincible Iron Man: The Future: Part 1, Tony Stark is currently unavailable to run his company, so a representative takes over and introduces and new invention without Starks supervision or approval. Meanwhile, Tony Stark is in a camp supervised by the Mandarin. It then goes to a woman in charge of Hammer Industries, where she is arguing with a man over the phone about an order he had given the company. She tells the man to trust Stark, but he refuses. Later, the book switches to a jail breakout lead by a super powered man named Vibro. The breakout is interrupted by Iron Man 2.0, whose identity is unknown. While Iron Man 2.0 is dealing with Vibro, the real Iron Man comes in, and doesnt do anything but a couple self defense moves because he is confused as to how this new Iron Man, got there before he did and why was he there. So Vibro is defeated and both Iron Mans wrap up and leave, but Iron Man is still baffled about who Iron Man 2.0 is. After this, Tony Stark is in the Mandarins office telling him that if he wants these robots he wants, then the Mandarin needs to give him more materials, and Stark has a list. But the Mandarin refuses, and zaps him with a special ring, and has Stark taken away. Once Stark is taken back, he continues working with a mentally damaged partner of his named Ezekiel. It then switches to a scene where a man just finished and interview for a promotion (using context clues, one can assume it was a promotion) at Starks company Resilient. His coworkers are all eager to see how it goes, and all he says is that it was nice. He then gets frustrated with this co-workers abundance of questions and quiets them and launches a program that the representative from the beginning was talking about. Then it goes back to the presentation at the

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start. The story then goes back to the woman at Hammer. She is telling what seems to be a coworker that the man she was on the phone with, was dead, a suicide. They continue friendly banter until the woman tells the other a plan to ignore the order, and to trust Stark and Stane (Ezekiel). The other woman gets up and begins to get angry, and pink tentacle-like things come out of her fingers. She calms down and leaves, with no violence. The scene then switches to back to Stark in a mess hall, where he is talking to Ezekiel and reading a newspaper, when a guy walks up and yells at him, saying that Tony isnt anymore special than the rest are. He is referred to as a melter. Stark gets up and the two fight. But we then see that security is watching them, and tells the Mandarin, who orders a protocol that makes the melters explode it they use their power. Tony helps the man, by trying to make the Mandarin stop, but it continues to build up. So Stark uses the power in his chest from the suit, to heal the man. Stark is then escorted away and beaten. He eventually returns to Ezekiel explaining what happened and that everything will be alright. REVIEW OF THE COMIC: I thought the comic was good, in terms of artistic detail, dialog, etc. But I did have a problem following the storyline and trying to apply it to my little knowledge of Iron Man at all. I had many problems understanding who was who, why they were significant, and what was really going on. Nonetheless, I did enjoy the comic, I just would have rather had known any prior knowledge necessary to the storyline so I would have understood what was going on and why.

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WORK CITED: Coogan, Peter. 2006. Superhero: The Secret Origin of a Genre. Austin, TX: MonkeyBrain Books. Hayman, Greg and Henry John Pratt. 2005. What Are Comics? A Reader in Philosophy of the Arts. Ed. David Goldblatt and Lee Brown. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc. 410-424. McCloud, Scott. 1993. Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. Northampton, MA: Kitchen Sink Press. Meskin, Aaron. 2007. Defining Comics? The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism.65:4, 369-376. "A History of the Comic Book." Archetypes, Commercialism, and Hollywood A History of the Comic Book. Random History, 18 Mar 2008. Web. 3 Sep 2013. <http://www.randomhistory.com/1-50/033comic.html>.

"Iron Man Biography, History." Iron Man Biography, History. SuperHeroStuff. Web. 3 Sep 2013. <http://www.superherostuff.com/biographies/ironmanbiography.html>.

"Stan Lee." 2013. The Biography Channel website. Sep 03 2013, 04:23 http://www.biography.com/people/stan-lee- 21101093.

Fraction, Matt, Invincible Iron Man #521. Digital Comics Shop. Web. 3 Sep 2013. https://comicstore.marvel.com/my-comics/sid/1557

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