Iron Man: The Inevitable #1

This series was published to fill in while the Extremis story was dragged out from Nov 04 to Mar 06. It was published from Dec 05 to May 06, and #5 will place it after Extremis by explicitly having the Extremis armour. Fantastic Four/Iron Man: Big in Japan also filled the gap from Oct 05 to Jan 06, but is set before Extremis. Frazer Irving draws some strange faces in this series, especially Tony Stark's. And the Iron Man armour is somewhat doll-like. Stark revealed he was Iron Man in IM(1998)#55. In the last issue (#89) of that run he pretended to retire as IM. Then since #1 of the Extremis series he has been claiming that a new Iron Man is his employee. This Spymaster is a totally new character. More on previous Spymasters next issue. The Official Index suggests that the chauffeur Harold here and in #3 is Harold 'Happy' Hogan. Happy was working for Stark during the 1998 series, and will be seen during Civil War (where he is killed). His official role may well have been chauffeur/bodyguard, as it was during the Tales of Suspense days. This is the 1st actual appearance of Stark's PA Mrs Katherine Rennie, since her voice was heard in #1 of the Extremis arc. IM#13 will make it clear that Pepper Potts has more of a roving ambassador role now. Mrs Rennie will appear there, and a couple of times between Civil War and Secret Invasion.