Iron Man Epic Collection: The War of The Super Villains

A feud of epic proportions has been growing among the world's super villains! The mysterious Black Lama is pitting villain against villain, and the prize is ultimate power. This feud sets the Mandarin against the Yellow Claw, M.O.D.O.K. against the Mad Thinker…and all of them against Iron Man! It's a saga like only Marvel makes them: the War of the Super Villains! This volume also boasts the towering threat of Ultimo and Iron Man's return to Vietnam to rescue a friend behind enemy lines. Meanwhile, NYPD Detective Michael O'Brien begins an investigation aiming to nail Tony Stark for the death of his brother, the Guardsman! Add to that the Blood Brothers, the Controller and a new incarnation of the Molecule Man, and Iron Man must defend himself from all comers - or he'll lose everything! Collecting IRON MAN (1968) #68-91 and ANNUAL #3.

After a Justice League of America stint at DC, Mike Friedrich moved to Marvel and to Iron Man, where, with Jim Starlin, he brought Thanos and Drax the Destroyer into the Marvel Universe. He and Starlin continued Thanos' cosmic saga in Captain Marvel. Friedrich also wrote Captain America and various features for Marvel's anthology titles. Back at DC, he wrote regularly for Batman, Green Lantern, Flash, and others. 

After co-creating DC’s Swamp Thing in 1972, Len Wein moved to Marvel for lengthy runs on some of the company’s biggest titles — Amazing Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, Incredible Hulk and Thor — and helped bring the landmark Giant-Size X-Men #1 into the world, changing Marvel forever. Returning to DC as an editor, Wein oversaw an influx of British writing talent, highlighted by Alan Moore’s historic Watchmen miniseries. Wein also has worked in television and animation, returning to his roots to develop a Swamp Thing screenplay. He has written comic-book adaptations of The Simpsons and Futurama.

Bill Mantlo began his Marvel career on Deadly Hands of Kung Fu, in which he introduced White Tiger, one of the industry’s earliest Hispanic super heroes. Eventually writing stories for almost every Marvel title, he did some of his most fondly remembered work on Incredible Hulk and Spectacular Spider-Man. He also launched Cloak and Dagger in a pair of miniseries and guided Alpha Flight through some of its most harrowing ordeals. Mantlo excelled at integrating licensed properties into the Marvel Universe, as demonstrated by Micronauts and Rom: Spaceknight, both of which he wrote from start to finish. At DC, he wrote the Invasion miniseries for one of the company’s biggest crossover events.

One of the Golden Age’s earliest talents, George Tuska (1916-2009) created characters for Fiction House, Harvey Comics and Fawcett Comics’ Captain Marvel Adventures, among many others. He helped launch one of the most popular post-war genres in Lev Gleason’s Crime Does Not Pay. He eventually provided multi-genre art for Atlas Comics, to which he returned following its transformation into Marvel. Tuska penciled Ghost Rider, Luke Cage: Power Man and Sub-Mariner, as well as a 10-year Iron Man stint. At DC, he illustrated Challengers of the Unknown and Superman, among others. As a comic-strip artist, Tuska drew Buck Rogers, Scorchy Smith and DC’s World’s Greatest Superheroes. His final industry work was cover art for Masquerade, part of Dynamite’s Golden Age character revival, bringing him full circle.

Beginning as Stan Lee’s production assistant, Herb Trimpe (1939-2015) went on to pencil a seven-year run on Marvel mainstay Incredible Hulk — during which he debuted the future X-Man, Wolverine — as well as 1970s classics Marvel Team-Up, Shogun Warriors and Godzilla. He was equally prolific during the 1980s on Nick Fury, The ’Nam and G.I. Joe; the 1990s saw him illustrate Marvel’s First Family on Fantastic Four Unlimited. Trimpe’s war-story credits also include the introduction of the Phantom Eagle, the WWI aviator hero whose adventures were later chronicled by Garth Ennis.