Marvel Masterworks 17: The Invincible Iron Man

Tony Stark has changed the world, but those successes convinced the creator of the Iron Man armor that he himself was invincible. But no one is - and Obadiah Stane is about to exploit Stark's every weakness, pulling apart his life piece by piece until one of Marvel's greatest heroes is at rock bottom! Meanwhile, James Rhodes must protect them both from Stane, protect Tony from himself and protect everyone from a cadre of Atlanteans with Iron Man armor! It's a crash course in super-heroing for Rhodey. He rises to the occasion, but battling Thunderball is one thing - facing the Mandarin is another thing altogether! The new Iron Man will be in for the fight of his life…that he may not win! Also featuring an Annual with a tragic turning point for the Eternals! Collecting IRON MAN (1968) #171-182 and ANNUAL #6.

With a writing resume stretching across the romance, sword-and-sorcery, and Western genres, Denny O’Neil wrote four years of Iron Man — including some of the title’s most sweeping changes. His additional Marvel work includes runs on Amazing Spider-Man, Daredevil and Power Man and Iron Fist, as well as the one-shot X-Men: Heroes for Hope. At DC, his groundbreaking Green Lantern/Green Arrow run earned him four Shazam Awards. He also wrote and often revamped such mainstays as Batman (where he co-created Ra’s al Ghul), Flash, Superman and Wonder Woman, as well as adaptations of classic pulp heroes Doc Savage, Justice, Inc. and The Shadow. During the 1980s, he oversaw the groundbreaking death of Robin (Jason Todd). He has written multiple Batman graphic novels and novelizations, as well as The DC Comics Guide to Writing Comics.

Peter B. Gillis began as a 1970s freelancer on Marvel Two-in-One, Super-Villain Team-Up and other titles. Later, he became regular writer on Defenders, Eternals and Strange Tales, in which he subjected Doctor Strange to a soul-searching gamut of good and evil magic. Elsewhere in the Marvel multiverse, he wrote Micronauts: The New Voyages and launched Strikeforce: Morituri with Brent Anderson, telling tales of a universe in which superhumans must embrace death to protect the Earth. He has also written for First Comics, TSR Games and others; he co-created Shatter, the first digital comic.

Bob Harras edited several titles as Ralph Macchio’s assistant, mostly tie-ins such as Micronauts, Rom, Saga of Crystar and U.S. 1. He subsequently became chief editor of the X-Men titles and wrote for multiple series, including a three-year run on Avengers. Graduating to editor in chief, he oversaw well-received runs of Captain America, Daredevil, Deadpool and other titles, as well as the controversial second Clone Saga in the 1990s’ Spider-Man titles. Harras has since worked as contributing editor at WildStorm and collected editions editor for DC Comics. He began a decade-long stint as DC’s editor in chief in 2010.

Luke McDonnell penciled a long stint on Iron Man, encompassing the controversial storyline in which Tony Stark ceded the Iron Man armor to his friend James Rhodes. McDonnell’s work also appeared in Daredevil, Spectacular Spider-Man, What If? and elsewhere. At DC, he penciled most of John Ostrander’s Suicide Squad and its spinoff miniseries Deadshot, as well as a Justice League of America stint during its “Detroit JLA” phase. Eclipso, Green Lantern: Mosaic and Secret Origins are only a few of the other titles benefiting from his work.