Sunday Pin-Up

Iron Man by George Tuska

Image taken from Iron Man #66, the first Shellhead comic your friendly neighborhood Fortress Keeper ever purchased. It was the last chapter of a four-issue battle with Doctor Spectrum, Marvel’s answer to Green Lantern.

Although we literally dropped in at the end of an “arc,” writer Mike Friedrich ensured the plot was accessible for new readers (imagine that). It turned out that Spectrum’s power gem contained the imprisoned essence of a Skrull outlaw (ha!) who coveted Iron Man’s power.

The Skrull seemingly succeeds in taking over Iron Man’s body, but finds himself facing a fighting mad Thor - a development that thrilled the then-young Fortress Keeper.

(A super-hero fighting a super-hero? Wow!! Who’da thunk?!?)

There are a few more twists along the way (the “evil” Iron Man wasn’t really Tony Stark, for instance), but essentially Thor gets a few good licks in and the one, true armored avenger wraps things up in convincing fashion.

Although George Tuska’s super-hero art isn’t as fluid as his earlier efforts, we believe his version of Iron Man truly conveys the one-time hero’s power. To our eyes, the Tuska Iron Man remains definitive.