The beginning of 2007 has seen a

plethora of Iron Man-related

products being released by Marvel

and their licensing partners.

since each one of these releases creatively involves me - either inadvertently or directly - I thought it would be fun and informative to take a close look at each one of them and give you a few of my personal comments.

THE INVINCIBLE IRON MAN DVD REVIEW

By Bob Layton

Here’s Lion’s Gate’s line on their new animated feature--The Invincible Iron Man:

Past and present collide in this epic adventure that reveals the origin of Iron Man. While raising the ruins of a long buried Chinese kingdom, billionaire inventor Tony Stark digs up far more than he bargained for. He unleashes an age-old prophecy that foretells the resurrection of the Mandarin, the emperor of China's darkest and most violent dynasty. In order to confront the destructive force, Tony creates an armored suit infused with high-tech weaponry. To stop the evil that he himself has raised from the earth, Tony must become his greatest invention ever -- Iron Man! The newly born champion must travel to the four corners of the earth to battle the Mandarin's henchmen, the Elementals -- four magical warriors who harness the power of the elements -- earth, water, wind, and fire -- with deadly chemistry. But is the Iron Knight, as he his known in the prophecy, strong enough to defy fate and turn back the malevolent forces hell-bent on earth's destruction?

Watching the Invincible Iron Man, the latest of Marvel’s animated offerings, was an odd experience for me.

Some of it was a whole lot of fun…!

Some of it made me frustrated…

And some of it just bored the shit outta me.

Since this is my website—I’m going to discuss the film only from my own personal point-of view—rather than a blow-by-blow analysis of the story and animation.

As far as the fun parts go, the best time for me was the battle between Iron Man and the Elementals. The filmmakers used the confrontation to showcase various Iron Man suits—including my undersea armor. 

From a creator’s point of view, it was a trip to see something David Michelinie and I created in action on the screen —whether it’s Jim Rhodes, the Hall of Armors or one of our variant Iron Man concepts.

I also dug the sound effects in the movie.  Iron Man is one noisy, clanking mother in this film!

I also took it as a personal victory that the filmmakers gave Pepper Potts a ‘Mrs. Arbogast personality transplant’. It was more than obvious that they had created and amalgam of the two characters for the animated version of Tony’s ‘Girl Friday’.

And—it was fun for my Mom to see me on the ‘special features” section of the DVD. She falsely believes I’m a movie star now!  (Thanks to some well-conceived confusion tactics by me, of course!)

BTW: The rest of that interview with me will be seen on the DVD release of Jon Favreau’s Iron Man film in 2008.

And what made me frustrated, you ask?

I was watching the flick with my new art assistant, who asked me, at one point, why I had such a sour look on my face. The work-for-hire agreement that was in place during our initial run on Iron Man in the 70’s assures that neither David Michelinie nor I will ever see a single cent for the creation of those specialty armors, Jim Rhodes, Mrs. Arbogast’s personality or the host of other concepts we gleefully donated to the lexicon of Iron Man.

Yeah, yeah—some of you are going to say this is just Bob spewing ‘sour grapes’. 

Well--until you walk a mile in Siegel & Schuster’s shoes---shut the hell up!

I know the deal and why the corporations feel no obligation to creators from that period in their history—but it’s still incredibly frustrating. 

It’s was also one of the reasons for me leaving Marvel to start-up Valiant and, later--Future Comics.  

Better to have some ownership of what you create—even if it’s in a smaller venture-- than to give up the fruit of your labors to some uncaring corporate machine. No matter if it’s Michelinie and I, or some other creator--I really hate the idea of people making money and taking credit for shit they had nothing to do with.

I honestly accept that all of this is ‘the luck of the draw’—but I don’t have to be happy about it, do I?

And the boring?

Any part of the movie that had to do with the Mandarin/Elementals sub-plot was a total snoozer!

When the story focused on Tony Stark’s personal life and the characters that surrounded him like Jim Rhodes, Pepper or Howard Stark—the film was fairly interesting and engaging.

As soon as the plot got to the mishandled Mandarin and his funky, clichéd Elemental underlings—the movie takes a serious nose dive—except for the part where Shellhead kicks their earthy, windy, watery and flaming asses!

The producers just got it wrong—on the Mandarin and the menace he should represent.

Let’s all hope that Favreau has a better take and a smarter script.

Marvel Milestones: Iron Man Demon in a Bottle Statue

Here’s the ad copy for this piece of Iron Man merchandise:

Tony Stark has never been a stranger to vice; a fact captured perfectly in this “Marvel Milestones” release! Taken from the shocking cover of Iron Man #128, this 11” statue features a working mirror along with the two most challenging aspects of Tony Stark’s life — the bottle and the mask.

I just found out last weekend that they’ve made a statue out of my ‘Demon in a Bottle’ cover.  I had no idea that this was being done—but it’s SO totally cool!  How this project flew under my radar—I have no idea.

You’d think I would have received a freebee one from Marvel licensing…but that was only back in the good ol’ days, I suppose.

Boys and girls—this brings me back to my work-for-hire argument in the DVD review. This statue retails for $175.00 each.   However, I get no money or credit for this project.  Hell-- I don’t even get a goddamn copy of it, even though it’s based on something created solely by me. 

So, my feelings for this project are bittersweet—but I won’t let that cloud my judgment.

I’m simply grateful that the industry has finally changed and creators can now share in the spoils of merchandising.

I’m not really a collector and could generally care less about figurines. 

But-- this drunken baby is very dear to my heart—being the most famous cover of my career.

As far as the basic workmanship goes, it’s fairly close to the original cover on which it was based and it successfully portrays all the same emotion.  I love that they matched the phony labeling on the whiskey bottle, too.

I would recommend this product to all Iron Man collectors.

The Invincible Iron Man: Armor Wars TPB

By Bob Layton

Here’s the ad copy for this Iron Man trade paperback::

'How many? How many have drawn blood with my sword?' Millionaire industrialist Tony Stark is an inventive genius who has dedicated all of his enormous financial and intellectual resources to a single guiding principle: the creation of technology for the betterment of humanity. Stark's greatest creation is a modern-day miracle: a suit of form-fitting, strength-enhancing, steel-mesh armor he dons to become the living symbol of his ideals, the Invincible Iron Man! But when Stark discovers that the same technology he used to create the Iron Man armor - technology so secret he didn't even dare patent it - is now in the hands of several deadly super-villains, he feels responsible for the evil they have done with the high-tech tools he unwittingly provided. In the face of objections from his government, friends, colleagues and fellow super heroes, Stark swears to use the power of Iron Man to bring the evil to an end - and to take back what's his. The Beetle, Stilt Man, the Controller, Stingray, the Mandroids, the Guardsmen and Firepower don't know it yet, but they've got a problem. The world's most powerful force for good isn't playing by the rules anymore. And he's coming for them.

This edition is actually a re-issue of a trade released a few years back—this time sporting a new cover with cloned art from issue #231.  I have to say that I like this version much better than the original and the off-centered Demon in a Bottle TPB cover that was released in 2006.

The cover coloring is first-rate and the production values overall are much better.

As far as the interiors go—everything is still there, from the clever David Michelinie intro-- to the final awe-inspiring page drawn by the legendary Barry Windsor-Smith. I recommend this volume to all.