Free Comic Inside: The Iron Man Comic You’ve (probably) Never Seen

The 90s Iron Man cartoon was not very good. Actually it was garbage. Released along with Fantastic Four as part of the Marvel Action Hour, Iron Man season 1 was…well, this.

Lazy, boring, and not well thought out not only describes that intro but the show itself. At the time it was the only Iron Man cartoon available. One tape was released of the 60s cartoon that was part of The Marvel Superheroes but…

Yeah. Anyway, to the topic.

Fox Kids had aired cartoons based on Spider-Man and the X-Men (and later Avengers and Silver Surfer) so when it came time for a home video release of 90s Iron Man 20th Century Fox’s home video Fox Kids brand released them. For Iron Man only the two-part retelling of Tony Stark’s Origin, “The Origin Of Iron Man” (one of the few stories to even resemble being good, though some episodes tried more than others at least in concept) was released under this brand. And it came with a minicomic that featured none of the villains that were being used for the show so what was the point? By the way, I couldn’t find this comic even mentioned in the Marvel wiki so you know this one is obscure. Oddly I did find it on My Comic Shop but it was out of stock. That’s fine, because I own it anyway since I bought the video when it originally came out. Like I said, it was the only Iron Man media out there. This was way before Marvel Studios and Robert Downey, Jr made Tony Stark and Iron Man a household name.

“Keep punching, one of us is sure to actually connect.”

Iron Man: Disaster!

(which describes the show and this comic really)

Marvel Comics/Fox Kids Home Video (1997)

WRITER: Mariano Nicieza

PENCILER: John Statema

INKER: Rick Bryant

COLORIST: Tom Smith

LETTERER: Ken Lopez

EDITOR: Glenn Herdling

The seven page comic starts with Iron Man fighting Crimson Dynamo, who isn’t one of Mandarin’s flunkies in the cartoon. Since there’s no time to explain anything, Iron Man gives us a brief exposition dump that he knows Dynamo is here to steal information from Stark Enterprises for an unnamed terrorist group. (There are so many in the Marvel Universe you can just choose one. AIM, Hydra, the Serpent Society…you have options. It’s not like you’re really matching up to the cartoon anyway. Go nuts!) Apparently they also don’t have time to show us anything either, because when Crimson Dynamo sends out a huge electromagnetic pulse that blacks out Los Angeles we really don’t see it. Instead Iron Man monologues about it like he’s doing a radio drama. This came out in the 90s by the way.

Luckily Iron Man puts up an opposite polarity energy shield around himself just in time (which I’m not sure is close to making sense but that would be the only thing matching the cartoon it came with) but rather than stop Dynamo he has to go save a school bus that’s now without power and about to go over a bridge…for reasons. What follows in a montage of Iron Man saving people while Crimson Dynamo takes forever to break into Stark Enterprises. He did say it cost him his full armor’s reserves to create that discharge to black out the city but it’s never brought up again. Whatever held him back it gives Iron Man time to come back and easily take him down. The end.

This comic was a big load of nothing. As many previous installments of this article series has shown, even the seven pages was no excuse. There’s no attempt to try. It’s a story where stuff happens and the hero wins. It’s unimpressive. One again, like the show. There’s so little here I don’t even have room to bother with posting an image but the cover is the same artwork so you already know what you’re in for. Sure it isn’t much but it’s a 90s comic stuffed into little interest in being good even by 90s comic standards. This was clearly just a paycheck for these guys, which ALSO sounds like the cartoon, so it’s the only thing they got right.

Well, at least season 2 was awesome!

Anyway, getting the new computer meant redoing my list of mini comics. While it’s still incomplete the new schedule means next time I’ll finish off the illustrated booklets of Masters Of The Universe so keep an eye out for that one.