Iron Man: The Iron Age #1

The story of his brief engagement to Joanna Nivena was told in IM#244. But there he told her about his heart problem and his armour, and she encouraged him to use it to fight crime. But it was *she* who finally broke up with *him*. Other women are pulled from future mentions too. Countess de la Spiroza pops up as an ex-girlfriend in ToS#69-72, and then again in IM(1998)#2-3. Lady Alyssa is merely mentioned in Jarvis's memory in Avengers #280). Jeanne is from a contemporary appearance in ToS#40 (but Marion from the same issue isn't mentioned, who suggested that Iron Man would look better painted gold). Minor events from other contemporary issues are mentioned. Iron Man captures spies at an airport and stops ships from colliding, both in ToS#41. He saves workers from a malfunctioning wind tunnel in ToS#43. Some inventions of Tony Stark are also lifted from comics of the time. The anti-missile missile gun is from Avengers #2, as is a Moon tractor seen here in plan form. Another invention on the drawing-board is the deep-sea bathyscaph that the Avengers will use to get to Gibraltar in Av#3, and in which they will rescue captain America in Av#4. The 3rd invention on paper is the sea-tank, the real version of which will be hijacked by Saboteur. This I think is unique to this comic. But Stark's new stealth plane looks suspiciously like the X-Men's Blackbird, both of them based on the real Lockheed SR-71.

Butler Jarvis appears in 1 panel. He didn't really make his 1st appearance until later in ToS#59. And this was in the *Captain America* story, as the Avengers butler which he continued to be. But later he was retrofitted as being Tony Stark's butler before that, and Howard Stark's butler even earlier as seen eg in Avengers: Timeslide. Senator Byrd was 1st seen in ToS#46. Other members of his committee are identified in #2 as a Southern Senator from ToS#42 and Hulk's nemesis Gen'l Ross. The supplier Charleton Carter that Tony gets back onside is also seen in ToS#48, again cancelling supplies. There is a cameo shot of Hawkeye arriving in town, long before ToS#57. The Saboteur was invented for this issue. But she will be reused in Heroes for Hire (2006) #6-7 and a Ka-Zar tale in Marvel Comics Presents (2007) #5-7. The origin sequence shows the original armour in gold rather than grey, and there is no mention of the colour change in ToS#40. James Rhodes was added to the origin in IM#144. In IM#267-268 the origin was updated from Vietnam to a vague South East Asian country, and Tony went to visit a Stark factory there, all as presented here. But the current comic doesn't use the idea, also from IM#267-268, that Mandarin was behind Iron Man's origin.

Kurt Busiek's aim here isn't to retell ToS#39-48. Rather he tells a new story spanning that era, and tries to incorporate all updates to the tale of Iron Man's early days that had appeared in later comics. As such the early tales only get mentioned in passing, sometimes only picking out minor details rather than the main plot. The last page of #2 lists a lot of connections with old issues, as Kurt took lots of stuff from diverse places, many of them originally one-off mentions. Pepper Potts wasn't actually shown until ToS#45, but she was already Stark's private secretary by then, and her promotion was seen in Age of Innocence. Howard and Maria Stark have had numerous flashback appearances, taking them back as far as being abducted by the Red Skull in WWII in Captain America Annual #9. The car crash that killed them was seen in flashback in Iron Man #288. There as here Tony bought the company that built the car, and improved their brake design. I don't think the claim here that RONG arranged the crash has ever been repeated. However in SHIELD (2010) #5 (later than the current 2 issues) Howard Stark says he faked his own death in a car crash in order to join the secret Brotherhood of the Shield. (But the inference there is that his wife wasn't in the crash.) Morgan Stark will actually be 1st seen in ToS#68, where his gambling debts make him a pawn of the bad guys. And he's generally been a problem for Tony since then.