IRON MAN EPIC COLLECTION: RETURN OF THE GHOST Paperback – March 12, 2019

Kathy Dare the threat of all threats.

This Epic Collection is an interesting chunk of Iron Man history spanning from 1988-1989, including not only the best parts of the latter half of David Michelinie and Bob Layton's second run on the book but also a few obscure gems.The collection starts with Mike Saenz's Iron Man Crash, the first fully computer generated graphic novel which has never been reprinted until this book. Whether or not it has aged well is debatable, but creating it was no mean feat in the late 80's, taking an entire year to complete and helping to pave the way for the future of digital art which is ubiquitous in today's world. For what it's worth it's an interesting cyberpunk story that plays with the idea of a sentient Iron Man well more than a decade before Joe Quesada's less nuanced attempt.The main portion of the book is of course the Iron Man volume 1 issues by Michelinie and Layton. These are the stories directly follow the acclaimed "Armor Wars" arc and as such have a difficult time measuring up. The new red and gold armor is a great design and is a fan favorite alongside the "Silver Centurion" armor it was replacing but the initial one-off stories with guest star crossovers feel like a rush to return to status quo and not all of the other Marvel heroes seem very convinced with the flimsy excuse that this new Iron Man is really a "new" Iron Man. Some of the womanizing from Stark and Rhodey throughout the book also feels like it's a little much and doesn't hold up well during a modern reading.Issue 237 is a real standout of this collection. It's a simple but effective sci-fi adventure where Stark is forced to work for the government to investigate an abandoned space lab in exchange for wiping the slate clean of any crimes or lawsuits related to Iron Man's Armor Wars rampage. He of course finds much more than he bargained for and I'll leave it at that as it's a thrilling adventure worth tracking down on its own.The next few issues center around the title of this collection, "The Return of the Ghost," where Iron Man must again do battle with the dangerous corporate saboteur, only this time he has to team up with longtime enemy Justin Hammer whose own corporate interests are being harassed by the Ghost. It's a good arc with a surprising ending.Next comes a two-parter involving Iron Man's arch-nemesis, the Mandarin, the first and only take on this villain this influential creative team attempted. It's not one of Iron Man and Mandarin's better encounters and wouldn't be very memorable except for the actions of Kathy Dare, an obsessed stalker that harasses Stark throughout these chapters. The rest of the main series books deals with the repercussions of Dare's actions and it's handled well for the most part, ending in an enjoyable retcon story that takes place after Iron Man's origin. Overall this collection covers the best issues of the post "Armor Wars" Michelinie and Layton run with the exception of the "Doomquest" sequel featured in the next collection. It's not their best work, but they're still fun, classic Iron Man stories. Unfortunately some of the seeds planted in these issues don't get a chance to grow as the creative team leaves the book before their plans can mature. They did eventually get a chance to revisit what they would have done (to some extent) in their alternate continuity "Armored Vengeance" mini-series.The collection ends on three issues of "Marvel Fanfare" and they're one of my favorite parts of this collection. The first two issues are a story by Roger McKenzie with fantastic art by Ken Steacy where Iron Man goes up against Spider-Man's rogues, most notably Dr. Octopus. Doc Ock makes a great Iron Man villain and the result is a good read with unique, colorful artwork. Ken Steacy returns in the second story with a fun Doctor Doom tale, and Iron Man vs. Dr. Doom is always a treat.If this collection only included the Michelinie and Layton stories it would be a tough sell as it's not their best (nor worst) work on Iron Man, but the obscure inclusions make this a worthwhile buy especially for Iron Man fans looking for stories they may have missed the first time around.

A very underrated run on iron man. The art for the most part is quite good that is one of the best armor designs in my option

This rating is just the quality of the book, not the contents of the story and art.The ultra thin, low quality paper that showed up in some 2018 epic collections makes it's way to the iron man Epic line. The colors are well printed here though. Not like the ones that I've heard have faded looking printing ( the west coast avengers epic collection). This is my first epic collection with pages this thin. I'm hoping they go back to the thicker pages in future collections, but it seems the ultra thin pages are the new norm.

Fast shipping and the book it amazing condition

Esse volume começa com CRASH que é considerada a primeira graphic novel produzida totalmente por computador (isso ainda nos anos 80, quando a computação gráfica ainda estava engatinhando!). A obra vale como uma grande curiosidade, mas a verdade é que a tecnologia utilizada obviamente envelheceu e mesmo descontando isso, a história é fraca e talvez por isso mesmo não é de grande relevância para os quadrinhos e nem mesmo para o personagem.Na sequência, entremos realmente na série mensal que nessa época ainda estava nas habilidosas mãos da dupla Layton/Michellini. E eles provam mais uma vez que sabem como poucos trabalhar a dinâmica que as histórias do Homem de Ferro pedem. Com eles, Tony Stark consegue ser ao mesmo tempo um playboy charmoso e bon vivant, sem deixar de ser um inventor e mega empresário. E as histórias seguem uma boa mistura de thriller de espionagem industrial misturado com uma boa dose de ficção científica.É bem verdade que esse volume não traz nenhuma grande saga ou história inesquecível do Ferroso. Esse Epic traz um recomeço nas histórias do personagem após os eventos de Stark Wars e é uma preparação de terreno para despedida dos escritores que viria no volume seguinte. De qualquer forma, os fãs do Homem de Ferro não vão se arrepender em pegar "Return of the Ghost". Boas histórias e no final do encadernado algumas histórias divertidas do título Marvel Fanfare.

This latest volume, volume 14, slots neatly between the already-released Stark Wars and Doom installments, plugging another big chunk of the long-running David Michelinie/Bob Layton tenure on the title. Before it gets into the ongoing, however, this book opens with Iron Man: Crash, "the world's first computer-generated graphic novel." While it certainly looks very basic now, and the story isn't much to write home about, it was considered cutting-edge in 1988, and is an interesting curio now.After that, though, we're back into the main title, with ol' Shell-Head dealing with the fallout of the Armor Wars by posing as a new man inside the red and gold armor. With faithful friend Rhodey at his side (and a couple of superheroic guest stars like Spider-Man and Ant-Man), he tackles villains like the Mandarin, Radioactive Man, Blacklash, Blizzard and Boomerang, as well as threats to his company and a slightly-too-stalkerish new flame. It's all good, solid stuff for fans of the Armored Avenger; if you enjoyed the previously-mentioned couple of Epics, you'll certainly enjoy this one.Wrapping things up is a fun trio of Marvel Fanfare stories by Ken Steacy, worth their inclusion for the painted art alone. Extras include four pinups, a parody ad from The Year in Review, art from the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe and a new afterword by editor Ralph Macchio. I won't lie and say these are the greatest Iron Man stories ever created, but they're mighty fine for all that.

Estes Epics da Marvel são realmente demais, uma ótima maneira de reler não só os antigos clássicos mas também boas fases de um passado recente.