As an epilogue to the 1988 Armor Wars storyline in Invincible Iron Man, the sole purpose of "Intimate Enemies" by David Michelinie, Barry Windsor-Smith and Bob Layton appears to be to provide closure to an ugly chapter in the life of Tony Stark, after undertaking a mission that ran roughshod over ethics and the rule of law in favor of doing what he believed to be right. A fair recap of the situation is presented when Stark is called on by his teammates in the West Coast Avengers to explain his recent actions that have seen him waging a series of unprovoked attacks--including a refusal of a call to stand down, made by one of his oldest comrades.
The "wars" end with Iron Man being hunted down by a government-sponsored bruiser named Firepower, resulting in a deception which made it appear that the rogue Iron Man had been eliminated, along with his threat--a very tidy arrangement for Stark, since he's held blameless for his former bodyguard's illegal actions and is free to design a new suit of armor for a "replacement" who will hopefully once again inspire trust in Iron Man.
As for Stark, he certainly seems to be at ease with the situation--putting the entire episode behind him and resolving to press on as Iron Man (or, as far as the public is concerned, the all-new, all-different Iron Man):
But if the following issue's cover is any indication, Stark's sleep will be anything but restful, as his subconscious mind apparently still has unresolved issues where the former Iron Man is concerned.
"Closure" is indeed the key word to apply to this story, though in a business sense perhaps the word is meant to benefit the Iron Man book itself--wiping the slate as far as allowing its principal character to move on in his spiffy new suit of armor with brand new adventures and continue with the West Coast Avengers, as well. In the PPC's previous post on the Armor Wars, mention was made of accountability for Stark (or the lack thereof)--and to cut to the chase, it's clear after wading through the chaotic imagery of nineteen pages of the epilogue issue that while Stark continues to feel guilt over the injuries and suffering caused by his stolen technology, he feels no need to beat himself up over the methods he used or over-the-line steps he took to rectify the situation.
In hindsight, then, "Intimate Enemies" accomplishes only half the job--allowing Stark to have his cake and eat it too, by letting him "live with" the fact that he bears some responsibility for creating technology which ended up in the wrong hands and became weaponized, yet leaving him no qualms whatsoever in regard to the legalities he sidestepped or betrayals he committed to set things right. As a result, the story is distilled down to nightmarish scenes of the former Iron Man's hunt for a murdering "monster" made up of wires and circuits--a figure whose power to harm him can't be denied.
Stark's close friend, James Rhodes, is also a part of this scenario, perhaps as a trusted source who will give him the hard truth--no matter how blunt it turns out to be, or what other weakness of Stark's must be exploited.
The lesson for Stark, then, boils down to getting a grip, reaching into himself to turn things around and, in the process, forgiving himself, all things within his power. Graphically, that translates to accepting the circuitized "monster" he at times both feared and hated (which, in the case of his nightmare, works out to figuratively ending its threat to him)...
...and yet ignoring or otherwise pushing aside whatever concerns or worries he might have of his own choices in this matter. Does he even have such thoughts? Arguably not, if they're nowhere to be found in his subconscious--and to have them fester is to bring them along like luggage in succeeding issues, which doesn't seem to be an option as far as Michelinie or the book's incoming editor, Howard Mackie, is concerned.
In one form or another, the Armor Wars concept was revisited a number of times in new stories well into the 21st century. Later, we'll take a look at one such story from 1989, as Tony Stark is caught off guard when his mission, and his life, take a turn for the worse.
Armor Wars (actually called Stark Wars in the comic issues themselves) was a great story, and this was a great coda.
ReplyDeleteHowever, Michelenie and Layton botched it afterwards. There was no recognition after the story that this was a "new" Iron Man. Villains and other characters never acted like the superhero they were fighting was a newbie without the old Iron Man's experience. Some changes to the dialogue would have been welcome. As far as I can remember, the only writer who ever took that seriously was John Byrne during his run on West Coast Avengers.
And we never saw the aftermath of what Stark's crusade should have been - a reimagining of the armored villains bereft of Stark's technology. Some could have been essentially dropped, especially those armored villains who rarely made appearances like the Raiders. Revisit them as much less powerful foes who can no longer fight Iron Man, but could possibly fight Spider-Man. Or show how some armored villains adopted new, unknown technologies that could keep them in the fight and build a story around this new source of tech. That would have made Armor Wars seem like real stakes that changed the setting, not just a disposable story that had no impact.
Chris
Chris, I wasn't really bothered by the lack of ramifications for villains who suddenly found they needed to refit whatever it was they were using in their activities that relied on Stark's stolen technology--for instance, Stilt-Man, the Controller, the Titanium Man, et al. were conducting their operations well before their S.E. upgrades, and their return wouldn't be (and to my knowledge has never been) dependent on any aspect of their technology that didn't work out.
ReplyDeleteAs for the "Stark Wars" handle, you're certainly correct--in fact, the previous post made on this series goes into some detail on why I felt it was kept confined to Michelinie's storyline rather than being in use by the characters.
ReplyDeleteI don't think the aftershocks would have been very far-reaching or seismic.
Starting with A.I.M. and work outwards to the Tinkerer, the Mad Thinker, and more "generic geniuses". These evil engineers would making coin hand over soldering iron as villains tried to replace their lost components. There could be a story or two of handicapped crooks trying to steal the asking prices, but not much more.
Besides, utterly ignoring the ramifications of EPIC GAME CHANGING YOU'VE NEVER READ ANYTHING LIKE THIS NOTHING WILL BE THE SAME "events" is standard Marvel (and DC) policy.
Interesting that Chris mentions that the story was called Stark Wars at the time of publication, as there are a couple of other storyline from the same era which seem to have been retroactively renamed- for instance, the Avengers storylines now known as Under Siege and Judgement Day were, at the time and in the pages of Marvel Age Magazine, referred to as 'the Masters of Evil Saga' and 'the Avengers/Olympus War'.
ReplyDelete