Al EEE EET HD Yes, Advanced Iron has made it all the way to its 25th issue, and it's grown quite a bit too. If you were around with us back in 1993 you'll remember that first AI "newsletter": eight pages of black n' white with a killer War Machine cover by Robert Sumner. It had no articles - just a "Sightings" page to let you know what other books ‘ol Shellhead was showing up in, 7 pages of concept art for the new threads IM was to pick up in #300, the cover of issue #300 and the cover of the War Machine Ashcan. It was very brief, but lived up to its name by having very advanced (timewise) information. But I missed the fan input that we could get in the more expansive Iron Fan and found it easy to let the fans speak more immediately (in Al) without having to wait 6 months to let their views be known. Mike Kalibabky was the first of you to take this opportunity: Stark Remarks debuted in AI#2 and is still going strong today (Mike also has the distinction of being the only fan fiction writer for Al). Issue #2 also saw the debut of fan artist Jason Stephens, who not only did the first color cover (back of Al #3) ‘but every cover from #4 through #14 (and #17 as well!). Jason also became our resident reviewer; developing his own ratings system and providing strong critiques. But there were many others who stepped forward to contribute (in order of first appearance): Bart Ney (cover artist - AI#3) Heath McKnight (movie reviewer - Al #14) (Virtual fron Simulator - A1 #18) (started Metal Head -AI #17) Russ Fletcher (Stark Remark's artist - AI##4) Troy Brian (cover artist -AI #16) Allen Del Caro (Stark Remark's artist-AF#7) (started centerspreads - AT#21) Dave Huber (started in Iron Mania - AI #12) Dwayne Wilder (started in Dave's (started Shellheudism's - AT#16) Sheltheadisins - AT#19) (later became Maximum Iron Man) The Comic Book Club - AI #20) Allen Bujak (Armor File creator - AI #13) (see article on page 1) (started rendered cavers - AI #18) Arno Bakker (RAP- AI#22) ABOUT THE COVER This month's coveris @ spacial teat - 2 preview ofthe new Jim Lee lion Man amet t's rendered in a scene thet paye homage to a Bob Layton poster trom a faw years ago - one with ren Man rurning out cf the ammory with a wall of armors behind him. While | wantod to do a wall -the bost | could come up with two armor storage slots withthe Crimson Venger and Biohazard armors inside, If you look clesaly, you can see an energy glow from the gaunt tops and the unt-beam, -Allen Bujak ABOUT THe CenterSPReay This month Troy treats us toa scene from IRON MAN #231. Firepower shows us where he go! his neme as Shallhead chooses strategic retreat. If you'd like to see your favorite battle brought ole in the cantarspreed of Advanced Iron, contact Troy (see Contact Box atthe lend cf the Table of Contents}And the pro's were there too (in order of appearance): Len Kaminski (Kaminski's Korner - Al#2) Nel Yomtov (Stark Korners - AI45) Kevin Hopgood (Ms. Iron Arbogast - AI #5) Jeff Mariotte (contributed info for Stark Remarks - beginning AI #6 - brought us artwork from: Jim Lee {"Brass in AI #6] and Whilce Portacio ["Wetworks" in AIK7)) Steve Lowry of Malibu (Protohype! -10 illustrations from upcoming Prototype issues - AI #7) Gary Guzzo (concept work for new Kang, Iron Man, and Avengers months before the changes appeared as a result of Stark's downfall- AI #21) Jim Lee (interview about new Iron Man in AL #23) David Michelinie (interview and plots for IM #118 and #215 - AI #25) Believe it or not, that was not an exhaustive list, and I apologize to anyone I've left out. The point is that AI has grown quite a bit from that first 8 page mailer to the current publication which averages between 40 and 50 pages and has half a dozen regular contributors. In many ways, it has become what the late Iron Fan was supposed to have been: a voice for the fans - to the creators and to the rest of the fans. But it's also a showcase for new talent, a celebration of the history of the character and an exploration of his possible future. Some have voiced a concern over the loss of "Advanced" information in the publication that results ‘from the need to take time to coordinate all the inputs. It's been proposed that we relaunch the ‘Advanced Info concept with a companion bulletin (and this idea awaits only your support). But AT retains and has expanded the other meaning of "Advanced" Iron. The publication has not only ‘grown in size and complexity, it has expanded onto tomorrow's medium of communication — the Internet. Dave Huber and Allen Bujak have really pioneered this area. Not only do they submit their articles via e-mail, they've made fan forum's available on bulletin boards and Web sites (see boxes below). The Internet has expanded our contact to those outside the US and given us the opportunity to speak directly with pros (you can even talk to Bob Layton via AOL's bulletin board -see below). In this issue, you'll see plenty of comments from long time contributors (and even award nominations - sheesh), so I think you'll get a good idea of where we've been. This jumbo issue should show you where we are. That leaves only the future. This issue is dedicated to all of you who are the future of All -Bill Egan IRON FAN IRON FAN ON-LINE Iron Fan email: /RONFAN@AOL.COM sin other Iron Fans on-line. Here's {Allen Bujak: Shellhead1@AOLCOM Bart Ney: BNEYB5@AOL COM some addresses to get started: [Dave Huber: IronHube@AOLCOM Amo Bakker: A.G.0.Bakker@caiw.n! Iron Fan on the WWW: http://www.scifi.com/cgi-bin/rbox/articles.pl?38&6&7 Iron Man/War Machine on the WWW: http://www.scifi.com/cgi-bin/rbox/articles.pI?3&4&28 Iron Man on AOL aol://4344:1491.comics.4001628.498942355 then.... select -> Comics From Marvel -> Browse Folders -> IRON MANJABVANCED IRON 425 THE FANS ‘Maximum Iron Man (Sheltheadism's '96) by Dave Huber —--—----—----------2 Maximum Iron Man (the Wilder Side of Iran Man) by Dwayne Wilder ————— 15 Virtual Iron by Bart Ney 23 Jron Mania by Jason Stephens ————-—-—___—--—------ 25 ‘Stark Remarks by Mike Kalibabky—————_—--——- 35 (art by Allen Del Caro and Bill Bryan ) ‘Metal Head by Heath McKnight and Kat Koemm —— 39 ‘Ramblings from Across the Pond (RAP) by Arno Bakker 41 The Armor File by Allen Bujak 66 (art by Allen Bujak & Bart Ney) ARTICLES From the Mouths of Heroes taken from CROSSROADS Newspaper————1 The 1st Annual Al Awards by Allen Bujak 20 ron Filings by Allen Bujak ———————_———-_______———— 44 FICTION HOMER Takes a Ride by Mike Kalibabky ——————___————6 (art by Allen Del Caro)[THE CREATORS INTERVIEW with David Michelinie ——————________________ 48 tron Man #116 by David Michelinie——————_—_—_—______—_—_— 5} Cover to iron Man Vol 2, #1 by Whilce Portacio——— a aN tron Man #215 by David Michelinie- 59 THE MARKET ] tron Wares (Daren Robert Domina and Steve Nottingham) ——_—_——— 32 NEWIFON MAN ARMOR Rendered by Allen Bujak CONTACT BOX /Some of our contributors asted that | pass their addresses along so that. you could get in touch directly, if you'd ike to comment on their work. If youd ike to contact someone who's not listed here, you can do that by writing to iron Fan (see address on inside cover) IRON MANIA VIRTUAL IRON IRON MAN'S GREATEST HITS Jason Stephens Bort Ney Troy Brian 3606 N.E. 78th Street 401 Rollingwood 610 East Woodland Avenue Kansas City, MO 64119 Vali, CA 94591 Apartment F-3 Springfield, PA 19064ek “Thursday. March 21. 1996, Sacte ‘You might think there isn’t much a kid can learn from comic books besides violence. Dave Huber knows better. Esgheneraere ‘iebebgrater Brot (Sue BroeCias at Sprenger Insrgey Org abe tas 1 st yout ea i 4 aoe TaptingcovicnMiG +20N ian: SHELLHEADISM'S ‘96 by Dave Huber {a superlative kind of guy!) Happy Anniversary to us!! Happy Anniversary tous!!! HEY!! We're 251! Issues, that is I jut want to say that I am most happy to have been a part of it. in SMELLREADISM'S «his month, we're gonna give cut some awards ~ some good, some tongue-in-cheek, some sarcastic, some completely off-the-wall ~ and if'ya don’t enjoy it, well, then THE HELL WITH ‘YA! Just kidding! ‘By the way, you may have noticed that Dwayne and | are going to be more “distinct” in our sections. Actually, you may even want to consider them separate columns! Hey, everyone needs to grow and Dwayne's stuff is unique and quite good! He needs his own forum! I'm sure you'll agree. Nevertheless, we'll both be under the MLAXGMUT FON MAN banner. Because, after all, that’s what we're all about!!! rs oy ot cs ut hee ws mating in ROW MAN lb? YESH sou te yersage, ung by mycin aa pone cx soa. sustains Scan hand Sononeay sect Croghan en arora et Man in the place into it. I loved the cover tat de ant parce shes tre ne Jace Sin? Wel ae Sree te whlch cures college buddy of covered all of Len ‘mine, Dan Kaplan, Kaminski’s gave me most of his accomplishments in IM collection. This ‘comprised issues #161-199. 1 got me into IM again. I had to see more. ‘one fell swoop -- and he was right on target? Hoved it! So I wrote him immediately, Jason apparently dug my 0 purchased iettesso mach he fs 232-290, Las up wanted meas pat of his to date! Alright! ‘column, | accepted, of course!! We worked in Needles oa, Iwas amaze at what had tandem fora number of months under asons happened to Tony in my abscnce!! I have bought title of “Iron Mania,” with my subsection dubbed “Shellheadism's.”For a number of different reasons, not the least of which was Jason's busy schedule, we parted company. “Shellheadism's” was its own sig now! Then, in the middle of 1995, 1 received a letter from mega-Iron Fan Dwayne Wilder who asked if he could say a few words ‘Sheltheadism's” every month. “Of course!” ‘was my reply!! Dwayne is a huge 70s comic fan like me ~ we'd be perfect together!!! Dwayne and I teamed up under the “Sheltheadism's” banner for afew months, then under the new maximum RON MAAN title. A. continues to evolve... [lam escans parr] ‘Asa special treat to celebrate A./. #25, we're ‘gonna look back at some 4./, history ~ and award some lucky individuals for their efforts (or lack thereoft!). f'you're a newcomer to Advanced Iron, sit back and try to navigate through this. Hopefully, this will inspire you to ask for some copies of some back issues!! And, hopefully, it'll entice you to get involved with usl! Here we go...!! 1° like to start off with talking about covers. ‘Allen Bujak is going to handle the big awards (ike the best overall cover, but I'm gonna get a Tittle more in-depth. Best Jason Stephens Cover goes to A.I. #13 and #8 (tie). Jase’s “Green Man” IM on #/3 is on my top ten best ‘overall IM armors list, mainly because ofthe great art here. His “Stark Drowning in the Martini Glass” on #8 is dark, thoughtful and brooding, Very nice. The Best Allen Bujak ‘Cover Award goes to #22. The Stark ‘gravestone with War Machine's legs in the foreground is verry tasty! Great touch with the ‘Avengers logo, t00. Best Other-Than-The-Previous-Two-Guys Cover Award taps Da Baron -- Troy Brian for #16, But must say that Bart Ney’s #15 and Robert Sumner’s #/ covers were close. 1f Sumner's cover was in color, it'd be real close!! The Best Should-Have-Been-A-Cover Award {20cs 10 two fellas: first, Troy Brian’s back cover ‘on #14 (War Machine) is unbelievably phenomenal (how’s that for a superiative?), and Heath MeKnight’s opening drawing to his #2/ ‘column, “The End Is Here.” 1 had to call Heath about this offering to tell him how terrific it was ‘The Less-Than- Optimal Cover Award ‘B0es to Mr. Stephens for #6. It's not bad, just not nearly Jase’s normal quality. The ‘What The..? Award for cover art also goes to Jason (lucky him, Inu?) for #5. didn't ‘know the Hulk only hhad a left eye! The Best Pro Art Offering Award gocs to Key Hopgood for his “Iron Arbogast” in #5. ‘Absolutely hilarious!!! Hey, how come she ‘wasn’t part of the Iron Legion from #3002? ‘The Bill Egan-Had-His-Mind-On-Other- ‘Things Award obviously goes to our main man for A. #11. Maybe the Spell-Check broke on ‘his computer that day’? Anyway, Jason editorializes on this in the following issue! The Best Advanced Scoop Award goes to A.. #15. Now I know some will disagree here, but just Jook at the magnitude of what Bill got a hold of here: the preliminary art of the “new” IM and all ofthe Avengers!!! The Best Prediction ‘Awvard goes to...me!! Hey, remember when I said that Mantis would be involved in all that “Crossing” nonsense (A./. #19) ?? Heh, heh...1! ‘The Best Never-Saw-Nor-Heard-OF-It ‘Award goes to AJ. #1's “Sightings”: The What If Iron Man 2020 Remained in The Past (153) is ‘an issue T've inquired about for some time. No ‘one has heard of it, nor ever recalled sezing it, including Mike Kalibabky!! Does it exist?? The Best News-That-Never-Came-To-Life Award. goes to the plugging of Jim Lee’s Brass (4.1 46). He was supposed to debut last summer. He never made it to print. At any rate, he’s just another Guyver rip-off... ‘The Best Addition To Webster's Dictionary Award goes to 4.!.’s own Jason Stephens for his invention of the term“digitization” (4.1 #21), Speaking of Jase he also gets the Best Fact-Out-OF-Opinion Award for his dialogue on the age group of the Iron Man cartoon audience. In Advanced Iron #21, hae says Iron Fans have no right (his emphasis) to criticize a cartoon made (supposedly) for 5-12 year-olds, But inl # 10, Jase states, “If anyone over, say, twelve wants to watch it (the TM “toon], then they must get into a younger rindse.” T emphasized “say” because this is a clear indication that Jase grabbed this number ‘out ofthe air. He may be close or actually correct, but where's the factual back-up? Jase could, but won't, get the above award for his thesis inA.L #18, Here, states that between the ages of Wand 25...” He provided no source for that info in his column, but in a recent phone ‘conversation, Jase stated that the figure comes from a Wezard, But in A. #23, Len Kaminski (in “Maximum fron Man") ‘says that figure is grossly overstated. And recently, I corresponded with Marvel insider Kurt Busiek about this very same question. He says the same thing: he estimates (based on his dealings with comic outlets) the figure to be close to what Len K. said: around 30-40%. 1 ‘must state that both Len and Kurt said they didn’t have exact figures, but they were ‘confident that they were close. And, they're in the business, right?? Bus, Jason says in that “poll,” the 90% figure was touted as a “wake-up call” for the industry, as most of the business” bigwigs thought (incorrectly) that the figure was the 30-40% number... Now, it’s time for the contributors’ individual columns. I must say, this was tough, Again, don't jump all over me if you differ!! These are my opinions!! Here we go... BEST “STARK REMARKS" Michael, | gota go with your offering in 4. 46, First ofall, Loved how you laid your column out -- especially the headlines you had ‘over each subsection (OK, I emulated this with ‘my “depts.1”). I really dug the info you had, as ‘well as your opinions (like, “why doesn't IM have a helmet-mounted weapon?). The art by Russ Fletcher and Rob Sumner was excellent (Grass, Guyver [yes!!] and Rhodey). Plus, you had the “Brass” exclusive (but what happened to him?) BEST “ARMOR FILE” Allen, without a doubt, it’s gotta be 4.1 #21 and The Crimson Venger!! Besides the fact that he'd probably Kill me if I didn’t vote for this, it really és my favorite! Hey, and why ‘not? It’s the Silver Centurion’s answer to ‘War Machine!! And if you already don’t know =the red and silver armor is by far my favorite armor (see 4.1. #22). ‘With weapons like the “Pulsed Plasma Cannon,” the “Rapid Fire Repulsor Cannon" and the “Maximum Discharge Repulsor Cannon,” ‘ya gotta go nutty with delight! Plus, Allen included a print-out ofall the helmets of every ‘conceivable IM armor!! Hold on, I gotta go get a Valium...!! 3EST “IRON MAN! really dug Jason’s bitin A.J. #9, which is ‘why I initially wrote him! But the best of the best is Jase’s (and mine) in #16. 1 won't say too much about it as it was my vote for overall best article. But Jase’s art compliments the text perfectly here and be took a big chance revealing the outcome of the “Crossing” at theend of his column, You also see here the “core” of the IM movie plot (thanks, Heath!) included in what I feel was my best effort to date. BEST “METAL HEAD” ‘No doubt about it ~ in 4.1. #2/, Heath outdid himself! From the opening drawing (could nay, should have been a cover) through the casting call -a brief but incredibly palatable piece of work! Still, Ralph Fiennes...?? (snicker, snicker...) 1 should have awarded Mike Kalibabky a special prize titled “Most Clairvoyant.” While re-reading many of the A. ’s during research for this column, I discovered several interesting tidbits: first, in A.J. #4 he mentions where Len ‘Kaminski talked about how War Machine's original armor design had him in gold and blue duds. Unless you're blind, what prominent color

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