A WORD WITH DAVID MICHELINIE...

First, David Michelinie and Ron Lim have collaborated on a Spider-Man/Iron Man prose short story in the latest issue of SPIDER-MAN MAGAZINE. The tale, written for younger readers, features Tony Stark endeavoring to learn the secret of Spider-Man's spider sense, with Spidey's full cooperation, while a disgruntled Stark Industries employee plans to steal and sell the secret.

The story is a fun little romp and "warm-up," so to speak, for their work on the upcoming IRON MAN: LEGACY OF DOOM miniseries.

I asked David this question concerning the story: After having written prestigious runs on both AMAZING SPIDER-MAN and IRON MAN -- and being the guy originally responsible for pioneering the amiable relationship between Spidey and Shellhead, what was it like returning to create a short story featuring these two characters, especially now in light of your, Bob Layton's, and Ron Lim's anticipated IRON MAN: LEGACY OF DOOM project?

David replied: "It's always flattering to be asked to write a story, in any medium. And since Spider-Man was the character that brought me back to reading comics in college, and Iron Man became one of my favorite characters at Marvel, it's always a pleasure to write either one. So writing both was a double kick. My only trepidation was which versions of the characters I was to use. A lot has happened with each since I wrote their ongoing adventures, and I didn't know if I'd be comfortable writing someone else's interpretation if it differed greatly from mine. But since this was a story out of continuity, and specifically geared to younger readers, I was told to use the 'classic' versions of the characters, which was pretty close to how I'd written them in the past."

Thanks, David!
 

BOB LAYTON ASSIST

I finally scored via EBay a (near-mint) copy of David's AVENGERS: THE MAN WHO STOLE TOMORROW, a prose paperback novel from 1979, the 10th book in the Marvel Novel Series. The focal point of the book stems back to Captain America's thawed-out return to modern comics in the classic AVENGERS #4.
    

Interestingly, in the author's acknowledgments, Michelinie writes: "The author wishes to thank Bob Layton for the spark that became the plot of this novel..."
 

Perhaps THE MAN WHO STOLE TOMORROW should be listed in the Bob Layton Checklist under "assists."

David related this bit of information on the book's marketing: "It got terrible distribution because it was the last on a list of ten books in that series, and the column on the order blank for book dealers ended after the ninth one. As a result, TOMORROW got shifted to the next column and most dealers didn't know there was another one and so didn't order it. Which was a big disappointment for me at the time, but I suppose makes the book a true rarity."
 

 THE ARMOR WARS: HAPPY 20TH ANNIVERSARY

Back in 1987, you, David Michelinie, Mark Bright, and Barry Windsor-Smith crafted what is arguably the best Iron Man story arc in the character's history. IRON MAN issues #225-232 were a storytelling showcase for action, suspense, and drama.

Now because the story itself is so well known to your readers and to Iron Man fans, instead of rehashing the storyline, my questions instead will focus upon various aspects of creating specific plot points or visuals.
 

Thanks, Bob!

1. There were at least two solid opportunities for Iron Man to conceivably use all-new specialty armors. The first was Shellhead's underwater tussle with Stingray in IRON MAN #226, during which he was clad in his standard Silver Centurion armor of that time. The second was his journey to Russia in an updated, but not visually updated, stealth armor in IRON MAN #229.

Questions: Why didn't Iron Man use all-new specialty armors in these two instances? Certainly it wouldn¹t have hurt sales. Or, didn't you guys want to hurt the payoff of the new red & gold armor which made its debut in IRON MAN #231?

1. In that Stingray story, we wanted Iron Man to be somewhat at a disadvantage in an aquatic element. We determined that we'd create circumstances where he didn't have an opportunity to switch to a specialty, undersea armor. If you remember, in the story, Stark went to see Walt Newell with the idea of convincing him to turn over the technology peacefully. In fact, he states during the battle that he was at a disadvantage for not having his specialized armor.

By the way, switching to a designer armor never hurt sales. In fact, those issues tended to see a spike in numbers. 

2. MARVEL AGE #55 revealed several design sketches of the then upcoming post-Armor-Wars armor. My personal favorite is the gold "jumpsuit," which I affectionately call The Ass Armor, because... look at the ass on that thing! In fact, The Ass Armor is one of my all-time favorite IM armors, despite it being just a sketch. The simplicity of it really grabs me.

You also supplied a copy of a preliminary armor design to ADVANCED IRON.
 

Question: How many sketches and tweaks did you and Mark Bright make before the post-Armor-Wars armor's design was complete?

2. Mike, I don't recall the exact number of sketches that Mark and I did. I know that we gave as many as we had to the editor of Marvel Age for use in that issue. The final design was an amalgam  of certain elements that both of us came up with. I'm tickled that you have dubbed one of the sketches, "The Ass Armor." Unfortunately, I really don't think I could sell a concept named that to any editor at Marvel.

As always, my intention is to simplify the design while keeping it modern and functional.

3. In IRON MAN #228, Captain America, then under the guise of The Captain, asked Tony Stark to create a new shield for him, which Tony did primarily in the hopes that Cap wouldn't interfere with Shellhead's assault on the Guardsman stationed at The Vault. Silly Tony!

Question: Did you and David ever consider having Stark place a tracking device or "neutralizing" gizmo in the shield to either track Cap's movements and/or immobilize him remotely?

3. No. Mostly because, during the time that David and I were creating the series, Tony Stark was still an honorable man and valued his friendship with Captain America.

Friends don't bug friends!

4. The Silver Centurion armor (and almost Tony with it) was destroyed by Firepower in IRON MAN #230. I remember my stomach sinking when I saw the cover! How could THAT happen?
 

Your alternate cover sketch makes it even worse!
 

Question: Did you and David have any reservations with trashing the armor so completely? After all, you had created the design. In addition, the #230 cover image included the use of zip-a-tone, which, sadly, is now extinct. (It also makes for lousy scanning.)

4. Absolutely not! Trashing an armor doesn't mean that the ability to create a second one has disappeared. The technology for creating various Mark versions of the Iron Man armor lies deep within Tony's encrypted computer systems. We just felt that Firepower should be portrayed as a positively-badass killing machine. Therefore, having him shred the armor into little, bitty electronic pieces seemed appropriate.

That's true about zip-a-tone. Zip-a-tone had a tendency to create what we referred to as "mora patterns" once the color dots were laid on top of it. You may have noticed that I used zip primarily on the solid color areas of Iron Man's armor and tried to stay away from screen-dot patterns. On solid primary colors, you could avoid the "moray" effect. With the advent of computer enhancements, zip-a-tone has become nearly-extinct as an artist's tool.

5. The Armor Wars ended with IRON MAN #232, a dream sequence -- Tony versus a personification of his armor.
 

Question: How many alternate endings to the storyline did you and David kick around, and can you recall any of them?

5.  To my knowledge, I don't think we had any alternative endings. When we knew that Barry was going to be on-board for the finale, the three of us determined that we should do something that solidified the effects of Tony's renegade behavior on his own persona. A man as noble as Stark would wrestle with his conscious, awake or fast asleep.