IRON MAN #1 Is Out Now!
As we prepared to launch 'The Stark-Roxxon War,' our first arc, we took New York Comic Con by storm. Here's my first con diary as a Comics Creator
Edited by Sam Thielman
THE WAIT IS OVER. Today, comic shops everywhere will have on their shelves IRON MAN #1, written by me, drawn by Julius Ohta, colored by Alex Sinclair (!), lettered by Rob Caramagna, and edited by Sarah Brunstad with Lindsey Cohick. I won't have to tell you that the first arc, "The Stark-Roxxon War," is How To Blow Up A Pipeline meets Succession, because you'll be able to read it for yourself.
The reaction to this book has been tremendous. I'm not even talking about the reviews, because I haven't read any reviews, and I am going to see how long I can go today without reading them. I'm talking about people who we sold this book to at New York Comic Con—more about that after the paywall—who came back to our booth to say they loved it. I'm talking about the podcasters who interviewed me and told me the issue landed for them. And I'm talking about my friends in comics, old and new, whose tastes, perspectives and track records I admire who've told me we've put together something special.
I believe in this story and I believe in the team telling it. I hope you believe me when I say this truly is a very specific dream of mine come true, like WALLER VS. WILDSTORM was, only this is on a much larger scale. I am starting to learn what it means to write an ongoing series—I just got off the phone with Sarah about revisions to issue 6, and it won't be long until I have to draft issue 7—and it is simply a different endeavor than writing a miniseries. Hopefully that means you see progression in my comics work from WVW to IRON MAN, and from IM #1 onwards. Issue 5 is an issue unlike anything I've ever written, ever in my life—except a major element of it (and issue #4, since #5 caps a two-part story) comes from my journalism.
Right, journalism, the thing this newsletter typically does. I told myself I would do journalism here this week, but with the IRON MAN launch coming off the heels of four whole days of New York Comic Con, that was overambitious. I came back from the con to my desk on Monday with the goal of advancing my ninth chapter of THE TORTURE AND DELIVERANCE OF MAJID KHAN and before I knew it, I had finished drafting the whole thing. Now the IRON MAN launch is here and I'd only be giving you half-assed journalism, because my whole focus is on the fact that something I've wanted for my entire life has manifested. But I've got one, maybe two pieces I want to present to FOREVER WARS readers as soon as next week. Soon!
But I'll be getting back on the IRON MAN tour before I can properly work on those stories. On Saturday October 26, readers in Bethesda, Maryland and Washington D.C. can hang out with me and get stuff signed at Big Planet Comics. I'll be at the Bethesda location from 11am to 1pm and the U Street NW location from 3-5pm. Then, on Wednesday October 30, I'll be back in Brooklyn to sign at Taylor Books & Co, where (like Big Planet) I'll be signing IRON MAN and REIGN OF TERROR, the two wolves inside of me.
The rest of this edition is going to be filled with name-drops, photos and reflections on a whirlwind, star-studded four days at New York Comic Con. That's going to be for subscribers only—so if you're here to learn more about IRON MAN and maybe get some comics BTS, you'll need to buy a subscription, as I'm going to keep that stuff paywalled so as much of my journalism can be as outside the paywall as possible. And we will have comics BTS at FOREVER WARS, because I loved reading that stuff from Ta-Nehisi when he was writing Black Panther. Hit that subscribe button.
For now, let me say one thing about a named character on the second page of issue 1. That is Steven, who we briefly meet outside a Stark Unlimited factory whose workers are engaged in a union drive. Steven is drawn like and otherwise based on my friend Steven Attewell, a brilliant and big-hearted person who we lost earlier this year to cancer far too young. At his memorial service, I listened to his family talk about his deep love for Marvel Comics, and I realized I had the chance to bring him onto Earth-616. He remains there now, forever part of Marvel canon, organizing the working class. RIP.
