All e-mails sent to Bob may be published on this Letters Page unless withholding is specifically requested.

Last month, I presented a challenge to my readers to come up with a back story for the July IRON MAN CONCEPT OF THE MONTH which featured an alien version of the IRON MAN armor. The following are a couple of the responses--including one from our own Mike's Monthly Missives contributor--Mike Kalibabky.

Both Mike and Allen will receive an autographed copy of the new "IRON MAN: Demon in a Bottle" trade paperback as my way of saying 'thanks" for their efforts.

Read on--

Dear Bob, 

The alien prison is a brutal place - with a belief system that is essentially "Might makes right", Stark shows the aliens that might is more than muscle and strength of body, but instead is intelligence and strength of character.  He quickly befriends a young alien who shares the same ideals, and reminds Stark of his own, younger self who was imprisoned by Wong Chu.  The irony of being a "Ho Yinsen" to another person is not lost on Stark, and with his own health failing due to injuries and the brutal conditions, Stark becomes comfortable with such an end to his life.  Stark's continual planning, and innovation however, has not gone unnoticed by the rest of the prison population.  Also, Stark perpetual defeat of the other prisoners in physical combat, despite his wounds and using only his intelligence becomes legendary.  His influence on the prison ship rapidly grows, and shortly, he has it running like a corporation - with himself as CEO.  He finds that techniques which served him well at Stark Enterprises are not only unknown to the alien prisoners, but are also effective in creating a whole new culture that the aliens work quite well in. 

The prison ship, his ship (the Yinsen), begins to fabricate ever more complicated tools and manufacturing facilities.  Stark's young assistant begins to work on his own set of Iron Man armor, modeled after that whose tattered remains Stark still wears.  A surprise crackdown by the guards however, destroys much of what Stark has built, kills countless prisoners, and mortally wounds Stark.  For his treachery, Stark's young assistant is maimed.

On his deathbed, Tony Stark lies despondent.  He's convinced that these people are worse off.  But when the prisoners all come to see him, he sees something miraculous - each is happy to be alive, and each wants to impart what Stark has taught them on the rest of their people.  No one is purely after revenge, no one is out for bloodshed.  They have become a truly noble people, despite their origins.  More surprising is Stark's young assistant, who despite his grievous injuries has constructed a life support system, as well as mechanical devices to more than compensate for what the guards did to him.  He too, surprises Stark when he vows to carry on Stark's lessons, rather than pursuing revenge.  Stark loses consciousness, and is certain that he is dead.

Instead, Stark wakes again to find himself in a clone of his original body.  Derived by the alien leader as a method of infiltrating Earth, Stark's followers outside the prison ship, "grew" a body for Stark himself.  Stark marvels at the technology that allows him to breathe again, but learns that such technology is the reason why his destruction of the alien flagship did not derail their conquering leader.  Stark also learns that his fight as Iron Man has prompted the alien leaders to take a different approach toward Earth.  Instead of invasion, and fearing the reprisals of thousands of Iron Men, the alien leaders instead focus on infiltrating the human population.  While their people die starving on their ships, the leaders have developed countless human clones and variants all based on Stark - male, female, short, tall - every variety they could get by altering Tony's DNA.  They have even rebuilt Tony's warp ship.

Seeing his role in what would doubtless be a successful invasion of his home planet, Stark vows to defeat the alien leadership. After a pitched battle, Stark and his followers, all adorned in Alien Iron Man armor, free the refugees.  Stark must them himself decide where his own future lies - but for the moment, at the end, all that matters is having the freedom to choose it.

What do you think?

Allen Bujak

Bob,

Your challenge to create a back story for the alien Iron Man armor -- which is SUPERB, by the way -- was irresistible!

So... my brief little explanation follows below.

Following the events of IRON MAN: BAD BLOOD, Justin Hammer -- encased in ice and drifting freely in space -- exits our galaxy and is found by an alien spacecraft on a research mission. Hammer is bought on board the craft and thawed.

Unfortunately, the comatose Hammer is unable to communicate with his hosts, who immediately use a mind probe to that end. The process extracts information from Hammer¹s brain, including the schematics for the original Iron Man armor and the Evader unit. The mind scan proves harmful, nearly killing the patient.

The aliens begin analyzing the extracted data and build a modified Iron Man cybernetic interface to PULL thoughts from the user. Hammer, clever as he is, informs the aliens that HE, not Tony Stark, is the creator of the armor and is Earth¹s champion.

In order to reverse the effects of the mind probe, the aliens use their medicine to cure Hammer, but at a horrific price -- his DNA is modified, making him the spit and image of an alien. And with the cybernetic interface being his only means to communicate and function, the aliens design a new Iron Man armor for Hammer.

Tony Stark¹s arch-rival, then, becomes... IRON ALIEN!

Hey Bob, I've got an idea for the origin of the Alien Iron Man armor!  Tony Stark, as a final achievement in his life has developed a warp drive system.  Anxious to see if it works (before it's public unveiling), Stark dons the Iron Man armor and climbs aboard the ship.  He engages the warp drive and is thrilled to see that it is successful!  The thrill is shortly replaced by terror when he realizes that his destination (Alpha Centauri) is being used by aliens as a staging ground for an invasion of Earth.  Stark's ship is immediately attacked, and as Iron Man he is in the fight of his life against an alien armada - with no way to get home.  Stark fights valiantly and succeeds in destroying the alien flagship and numerous others, but in the end he falls.  Defeated, but alive, Stark is interred on a prison ship.  Stark learns that the alien fleet is all that is left of a dying race and thanks to the machinations of new, militant ruling class - the refugees have now become conquerors.

Great, GREAT update for July! I went through it quickly and cannot WAIT to explore it further!

Thanks,

Mike Kalibabky

Mr. Layton; 

Wow. I never even knew you had a website but it's great to see your stuff again!

As a forty-something, I spent a great deal of my mid-to-late twenties reading IRON MAN and really admiring your inks over JRJR (whom you made look way better than anyone else can!) and your own run at penciling the Golden Avenger. It's a shame more of the artists working in comics today don't have an actual grasp of either human anatomy or how light/shadows play off objects (I could go on all day about these subjects!). I was curious as what your favorite armor of IRON MAN's was. I guess as a comic book child of the 70's and 80's, I'm partial to the suit that stayed the longest and the one that you illustrated so well.

Also, are you looking forward to the movie and has anyone contacted you for storyboarding or armor ideas?

Thanks for the website and have a Happy Independence Day!

Sincerely,

Chris L. Weppler

Dear Chris,

It's always great to hear from another long-time Iron Man fan.

In answer to your first question, I'd have to say the original red & gold classic is still my favorite--followed by post-Armor Wars version.

As far as the upcoming IRON MAN feature film goes: I'm not sure that Jon Favreau even knows who Bob Layton & David Michelinie are, let alone appreciate our contributions to the legacy of that character. 

The one thing I've learned from my years of dealing with Hollywood is that everything there is dealt with by perception. 

In other words, very little actual research is ever done.  Mostly, they go by what they've been told, either by Marvel or their own people.  So, unless there's a huge Bob & David fan on Favreau's staff, I doubt that our phones will be ringing anytime soon.

Would I be opposed to contributing on the project?  Absolutely not.  I believe Jon has a huge opportunity to both elevate his own status in Hollywood and lift the character of Iron Man to an iconic level in America's collective, pop-culture consciousness.

Here's to hoping that he doesn't drop the ball.

IRON MAN DIRECTOR JON FAVREAU

Mister Layton,

I'm writing this email with nervousness.

It's just that I'm about to write to an artist I've read since a long time. Iron Man, Hercules (for me-- one of the funniest comics I’ve ever read) and it's not easy for me. Internet and e-mail offer this rare opportunity, namely to have the chance to reach out to my comics icons. I've made the effort with Bob McLeod and it worked. You can imagine the emotion when he actually answered my e-mail.

I'm trying to be an artist myself. I hope you don't mind that I send you a few pieces of my personal work. Since you're a master of inking, I would like to ask your advice on how I could progress. I think my inking is a little "heavy". I'm working with a Raphael 2/0 brush. Maybe I need to use a smaller brush? Can you help me?

Thank you for dealing with my bad English and, secondly, for simply looking at my work.

Best regards,

Vince

a French fan

VINCE'S CONAN ILLO

Dear Vince,

Thanks for taking the time to e-mail me and for the flattering words concerning my work.

I wouldn't be too concerned about your English. I made some quick corrections so you wouldn't be too embarrassed.  I love hearing from my fans from the other side of the Atlantic and consider you as important as any north American fan.

As far as inking goes, it's a bit difficult to demonstrate techniques on a web page.  However, the size of the brush isn't something to be concerned with.  I've seen fellow artists get a thin, precise line with a #4 brush. The issue is control--not the size of the inking implement.  If you are having difficulty controlling the brush, that's because it's hard to judge the distance between the point and the paper with a brush.  A bristle brush offers very little resistance against the paper.  My advice would be to switch to a pen point--at least until you've developed a bit more hand control.  With a hard point, you can feel the surface of the paper and better judge how much pressure to apply to achieve a desired line.

I hope that little bit of advice helped, Vince.

And--thanks for sending one of your drawings for us to view.

Bob,

I had a question about X-O Manowar #68 and the new VALIANT owners. I read once that the reason this story was done was to set up the VALIANT

universe for Nicieza's re-launch (I'm assuming at the time the idea of a reboot hadn't been discussed). Clearly it wasn't used as such.

I was wondering, if the new owners gave you the chance to pick up from where you left off and you accepted, what kind of follow up could we expect?

A resolution to the idea that everything after X-O Manowar #1 was a dream, a confirmation of it, or something else altogether?

Thanks!

Mike Sacal

Mike,

I have said, on more than one occasion, that I would definitely be interested in re-addressing X-O Manowar in some capacity.

For the record, let me make one thing clear: I have NOT committed to ANYTHING with the new owners.  Nor, have I been approached by them. 

If I were to go back to doing X-O, I  would hope that it would be scripted by me, if nothing else. I wrote the majority of that character's early (and most popular) adventures.

I'd rather not discuss what I would do at this particular moment.  However, I assure you that I would stay as true as possible to the character's origins and root concept.

I have also stated in the past that my story for X-O Manowar #68 was a HUGE mistake.  I was upset by the plans that the company had to revamp the character, so I concocted that dumbass story that negated my contributions to the legacy of X-O--more or less returning it to a blank slate.

I know it was stupid--but I had had enough of Acclaim and their petty meddling. I apologize to all X-O fans for that unfortunate storyline.

Mr. Layton,

My name is Sean O'Toole and I'm a longtime fan. (I don't care what ANYONE says, The L.A.W. was THE BEST.) I've looked and googled

EVERYWHERE and I can't find your Charlton Portfolio. I really want that last Ditko Blue Beetle story.

Do you have or KNOW anyone who has one I can buy?

I've been searching for months and didn't want to bother you but I'm outta places to go and people to see. I've checked E-Bay a zillion times.

I appreciate your time,

Thanks,

Sean O'Toole

thegeneral0725@hotmail.com

Sean,

I looked around to see if I have an extra copy or two left, but I came up empty. I would make a xerox copy of the story and send that to you as a consolation if I could find my copy of the bloody thing. Unfortunately, with all the boxes that are in my storage unit (from the Marvel, Valiant and Future Comics days), finding it is the proverbial "needle in a haystack".

Once again, I'm going to call upon the kindness of my readers to help Sean out and find him a copy of the Charlton Portfolio #1 or a xerox copy of the unpublished Blue Beetle story it contained.

Thanks for taking the time to write me, Sean.

A fellow Blue Beetle and Steve Ditko fan,

Bob,

I'm a huge fan of your and David Michelinie's "Demon in a Bottle" story arc in IRON MAN, #120-128, that slowly and methodically developed Tony Stark¹s alcoholism. The following are excerpts from an interview with Mr. Michelinie and you which appeared in the May 1980 issue of (the now-defunct) COMICS FEATURE magazine. I thought it might be interesting for the fans to hear your and David¹s remarks about the story shortly after it was published. I'm using the interview this month because I suddenly got swamped with some last-minute stuff and because we are having an unprecedented heat wave here.
It's been over 90 degrees during the past week and the temp in my house is over 80+. We northeastern Minnesotans aren't used to this!

Time to stick my head in the refrigerator now...

Mike K.


FEATURE: The "Demon in a Bottle" sequence in IRON MAN gathered a lot of attention and I think you received an award of some kind?

MICHELINIE: We received an award of merit, which I haven't seen yet, from the Institute for Scientific Analysis which covers the treatment of alcohol in the media.

LAYTON: It's really great to get an award from a place you never heard of until you get the award! [Laughter] It's good to get an award, though from anywhere! We also got a half page write-up in the house journal of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.
I went around the country and did a TV show in Washington D.C. and a radio and TV show in Indianapolis the people who picked up on that particular story. We received a lot of mail, a lot of interesting mail because when you do something that¹s even the least bit controversial, you get a lot of really interesting responses. I've been working with Pam Rutt and Mike Friedrich of Marvel's publicity department and they've contacted me about possibly doing more promotion for IRON MAN later this year. They¹ve been really good about it. I think it¹s good that Marvel is now taking an active hand in promoting the books rather than just having people go to conventions. They're saying, "Hey, let's start taking our business seriously." There's nothing like working for a group of people who hold the product they produce in contempt, which has been the case with business people in comics for years. I think now they¹re starting to say, "Hey, these guys are getting written up in the magazine of H.E.W."
I've done some lectures since then. I lectured at Bucks County Community College in Pennsylvania to about 200 students, and it was basically because of "Demon in a Bottle." It was a great experience and I'm going back there later this year. Hopefully more college campuses will open up to it. I've gotten a lot of good responses. Going to conventions, you're not going to promote the fans are going to buy these books regardless. If you get out to a college campus or an elementary school and I did a lecture at a ghetto elementary school in Indianapolis and for them it was a big thrill. I grew up in a poor family and I had the chance to say if you really want to
do something, if you want to be a comic book artist or writer, or whatever, just apply yourself. It was a really rewarding experience for me.

FEATURE: Was that story written from the standpoint of a social responsibility or---

MICHELINIE: I thought it would be a good story. That's the reason I did it. When I took over the book, Tony Stark's girlfriend had left him, his company was being taken over it just struck me that this guy either put him on ABC at 1:30 in the afternoon in his own soap opera, or what would really happen to this guy? He'd go out and get plowed. He's got all these problems; he's got to escape somehow. It seemed logical these days that the way he would escape would be getting into the bottle. I thought that was very logical, very natural. It hadn't been done before to my knowledge and I thought that would be a hell of a nice story. With Bob's input, it just developed and we did it over a period of about a year.

LAYTON: Iron Man was Tony's release. He sits up in his ivory tower and all these people underneath him are vying for power, and the only release he really had was to become Iron Man. Suddenly he puts his helmet on and he becomes anonymous. As Tony Stark he'd sign a piece of paper and a building would go up in Milwaukee, or fifty people would lose their jobs somewhere.
And he never sees it. Or even if he sits at a drawing board and designs something, he doesn't have the time to go down and build it. He sends it downstairs and Scott Lang puts it together. He never really sees the product of his handiwork, but he puts on the Iron Man costume and he's anonymous, he can touch hands with people and be one on one. He gets his release that way.
When Justin Hammer took away his ability to change to Iron Man, his release was gone. And that's the thing that pushed him over the edge. Like in real life, he started blaming people around him because he refused to accept the blame himself.

MICHELINIE: The villain of the whole thing was Tony Stark. The story got a great deal of positive response. The negative response came basically from people who thought, "You're doing this to a hero. He won't be a hero anymore." But in my mind it made him even more of a hero because he fought the ultimate enemy -- himself. As a man, not as Iron Man. To me that makes him even more of a hero, more admirable.

FEATURE: Do you feel you have to keep up with current fashions to maintain that flair in IRON MAN?

LAYTON: I buy GQ, the fashion stuff from PLAYBOY, anywhere I can find it. My neighbors started giving me pictures of the cars from the latest car magazines. I have electronics magazines. I get things like COSMOPOLITAN from Dave's neighbor's trash bins [laughter]. Someone coming to my house must think I¹m a transvestite! [Laughter] There's a whole pile of women's magazines. For Ling, I used a really nice evening gown that I got out of COSMO. Basically, I try to keep up with everything. That's what Tony Stark's supposed to be.
J.R. [John Romita, Jr.] had it [the understanding of a playboy lifestyle] in his layouts. J.R. really understood the fashions the flair that Tony Stark should have as a playboy, that Errol Flynn sort of dashing look, the teeth glimmering in the sun sort of thing.

FEATURE: Considering that IRON MAN has always been technologically oriented, do you keep up with the science journals?

MICHELINIE: Bob reads them more than I do. I really haven't approached the science aspect of the book. I¹ve been more concerned with Tony Stark-- the person in the armor. I was talking with Bob about this the other day and I think we should switch emphasis slightly more back to Iron Man. My background is in science and science fiction. As far as current technology is concerned, the repulsors I defined as particle beam emission units. I read an article, and this is something that is modern, it works, it's real. When I come across something that we can incorporate into the Iron Man legend, I try to do what research I can to make it as technologically accurate and interesting as possible.

FEATURE [to Layton]: How do you feel about finishing [as an inker] other people¹s work?

LAYTON: You had to ask that. Generally, I have not been… it depends. I really do the work for myself and those professionals around me who appreciate my work. If the fans like it, fine, but that¹s not a motivation for me doing work. What happens, though, is that a lot of guys I've worked with haven't really cared for what I do on [their pencils] because I will not follow lines, especially in the books that I plot. I am the finished artist so if I feel this panel didn't work I feel obligated to change it because I'm the man on the spot. My name is finished artist and the finished art is my responsibility. I've created some antagonism in the past because of that. I make my impression on people's pencils. With J.R. it wasn't that way. J.R. and I didn't fight each other. He would make comments like, "Bob, I think your line needs to be a lot heavier here," or such and such, but for the most part I can't remember getting anything but compliments from him. And I would return them. I think Dave and I got back about 80-90 percent of what we plotted from J.R. in terms of what we wanted visually.

END

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