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Iron Man: Heroes Return - The Complete Collection #1
Iron Man: Heroes Return - The Complete Collection, Vol. 1
Kurt Busiek and Sean Chen return Tony Stark to the Marvel Universe - and restore the shine to Iron Man! As Tony rebuilds his corporation from the ground up, enemies old and new remind him his work is never done! With romance, rivalry and robots to keep Tony busy, can he help his Avengers teammate Warbird in her own struggle against his worst enemy...the one in a bottle? Plus, Shellhead must deal with a cold, calculated and very personal attack from his archnemesis - the Mandarin! Iron Man teams with Captain America to face the menace of M.O.D.O.K. and joins the Fantastic Four in an adventure to the moon! Guest-starring the Black Widow and James Rhodes: War Machine!
COLLECTING IRON MAN (1998) 1-14, CAPTAIN AMERICA (1998) 8, QUICKSILVER 10, AVENGERS (1998) 7, IRON MAN/CAPTAIN AMERICA ANNUAL 1998, FANTASTIC FOUR
(1998) 15
COLLECTING IRON MAN (1998) 1-14, CAPTAIN AMERICA (1998) 8, QUICKSILVER 10, AVENGERS (1998) 7, IRON MAN/CAPTAIN AMERICA ANNUAL 1998, FANTASTIC FOUR
(1998) 15
504 pages, Paperback
First published April 17, 2019
10 people are currently reading
53 people want to read
About the author
Kurt Busiek
1,863 books627 followersKurt Busiek is an American comic book writer notable for his work on the Marvels limited series, his own title Astro City, and his four-year run on Avengers.
Busiek did not read comics as a youngster, as his parents disapproved of them. He began to read them regularly around the age of 14, when he picked up a copy of Daredevil #120. This was the first part of a continuity-heavy four-part story arc; Busiek was drawn to the copious history and cross-connections with other series. Throughout high school and college, he and future writer Scott McCloud practiced making comics. During this time, Busiek also had many letters published in comic book letter columns, and originated the theory that the Phoenix was a separate being who had impersonated Jean Grey, and that therefore Grey had not died—a premise which made its way from freelancer to freelancer, and which was eventually used in the comics.
During the last semester of his senior year, Busiek submitted some sample scripts to editor Dick Giordano at DC Comics. None of them sold, but they did get him invitations to pitch other material to DC editors, which led to his first professional work, a back-up story in Green Lantern #162 (Mar. 1983).
Busiek has worked on a number of different titles in his career, including Arrowsmith, The Avengers, Icon, Iron Man, The Liberty Project, Ninjak, The Power Company, Red Tornado, Shockrockets, Superman: Secret Identity, Thunderbolts, Untold Tales of Spider-Man, JLA, and the award-winning Marvels and the Homage Comics title Kurt Busiek's Astro City.
In 1997, Busiek began a stint as writer of Avengers alongside artist George Pérez. Pérez departed from the series in 2000, but Busiek continued as writer for two more years, collaborating with artists Alan Davis, Kieron Dwyer and others. Busiek's tenure culminated with the "Kang Dynasty" storyline. In 2003, Busiek re-teamed with Perez to create the JLA/Avengers limited series.
In 2003, Busiek began a new Conan series for Dark Horse Comics, which he wrote for four years.
In December 2005 Busiek signed a two-year exclusive contract with DC Comics. During DC's Infinite Crisis event, he teamed with Geoff Johns on a "One Year Later" eight-part story arc (called Up, Up and Away) that encompassed both Superman titles. In addition, he began writing the DC title Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis from issues 40-49. Busiek was the writer of Superman for two years, before followed by James Robinson starting from Superman #677. Busiek wrote a 52-issue weekly DC miniseries called Trinity, starring Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. Each issue (except for issue #1) featured a 12-page main story by Busiek, with art by Mark Bagley, and a ten-page backup story co-written by Busiek and Fabian Nicieza, with art from various artists, including Tom Derenick, Mike Norton and Scott McDaniel.
Busiek's work has won him numerous awards in the comics industry, including the Harvey Award for Best Writer in 1998 and the Eisner Award for Best Writer in 1999. In 1994, with Marvels, he won Best Finite Series/Limited Series Eisner Award and the Best Continuing or Limited Series Harvey Award; as well as the Harvey Award for Best Single Issue or Story (for Marvels #4) in 1995. In 1996, with Astro City, Busiek won both the Eisner and Harvey awards for Best New Series. He won the Best Single Issue/Single Story Eisner three years in a row from 1996–1998, as well as in 2004. Busiek won the Best Continuing Series Eisner Award in 1997–1998, as well as the Best Serialized Story award in 1998. In addition, Astro City was awarded the 1996 Best Single Issue or Story Harvey Award, and the 1998 Harvey Award for Best Continuing or Limited Series.
Busiek was given the 1998 and 1999 Comics Buyer's Guide Awards for Favorite Writer, with additional nominations in 1997 and every year from 2000 to 2004. He has also received numerous Squiddy Awards, having been selected as favorite writer four years in a row from 1995 to 1998,
Busiek did not read comics as a youngster, as his parents disapproved of them. He began to read them regularly around the age of 14, when he picked up a copy of Daredevil #120. This was the first part of a continuity-heavy four-part story arc; Busiek was drawn to the copious history and cross-connections with other series. Throughout high school and college, he and future writer Scott McCloud practiced making comics. During this time, Busiek also had many letters published in comic book letter columns, and originated the theory that the Phoenix was a separate being who had impersonated Jean Grey, and that therefore Grey had not died—a premise which made its way from freelancer to freelancer, and which was eventually used in the comics.
During the last semester of his senior year, Busiek submitted some sample scripts to editor Dick Giordano at DC Comics. None of them sold, but they did get him invitations to pitch other material to DC editors, which led to his first professional work, a back-up story in Green Lantern #162 (Mar. 1983).
Busiek has worked on a number of different titles in his career, including Arrowsmith, The Avengers, Icon, Iron Man, The Liberty Project, Ninjak, The Power Company, Red Tornado, Shockrockets, Superman: Secret Identity, Thunderbolts, Untold Tales of Spider-Man, JLA, and the award-winning Marvels and the Homage Comics title Kurt Busiek's Astro City.
In 1997, Busiek began a stint as writer of Avengers alongside artist George Pérez. Pérez departed from the series in 2000, but Busiek continued as writer for two more years, collaborating with artists Alan Davis, Kieron Dwyer and others. Busiek's tenure culminated with the "Kang Dynasty" storyline. In 2003, Busiek re-teamed with Perez to create the JLA/Avengers limited series.
In 2003, Busiek began a new Conan series for Dark Horse Comics, which he wrote for four years.
In December 2005 Busiek signed a two-year exclusive contract with DC Comics. During DC's Infinite Crisis event, he teamed with Geoff Johns on a "One Year Later" eight-part story arc (called Up, Up and Away) that encompassed both Superman titles. In addition, he began writing the DC title Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis from issues 40-49. Busiek was the writer of Superman for two years, before followed by James Robinson starting from Superman #677. Busiek wrote a 52-issue weekly DC miniseries called Trinity, starring Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. Each issue (except for issue #1) featured a 12-page main story by Busiek, with art by Mark Bagley, and a ten-page backup story co-written by Busiek and Fabian Nicieza, with art from various artists, including Tom Derenick, Mike Norton and Scott McDaniel.
Busiek's work has won him numerous awards in the comics industry, including the Harvey Award for Best Writer in 1998 and the Eisner Award for Best Writer in 1999. In 1994, with Marvels, he won Best Finite Series/Limited Series Eisner Award and the Best Continuing or Limited Series Harvey Award; as well as the Harvey Award for Best Single Issue or Story (for Marvels #4) in 1995. In 1996, with Astro City, Busiek won both the Eisner and Harvey awards for Best New Series. He won the Best Single Issue/Single Story Eisner three years in a row from 1996–1998, as well as in 2004. Busiek won the Best Continuing Series Eisner Award in 1997–1998, as well as the Best Serialized Story award in 1998. In addition, Astro City was awarded the 1996 Best Single Issue or Story Harvey Award, and the 1998 Harvey Award for Best Continuing or Limited Series.
Busiek was given the 1998 and 1999 Comics Buyer's Guide Awards for Favorite Writer, with additional nominations in 1997 and every year from 2000 to 2004. He has also received numerous Squiddy Awards, having been selected as favorite writer four years in a row from 1995 to 1998,
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
June 30, 2022
Iron Man along with the rest of the Avengers and Fantastic Four return after being exiled to the Image guys for a year. The 616 universe thought they were all killed by Onslaught. Tony's back although not much has changed. He's still a rich womanizer. He does fight new incarnations of some of his villains like Whiplash and Firebrand. It's all solid stuff, just nothing special. I do really like Sean Chen's art, especially his Iron Man design.
August 3, 2020
Seeing Tony Stark in a flying Plymouth Prowler is like mainlining pure 90s nostalgia straight into my heart. But the reality of the Busiek/Chen Iron Man is it’s just pretty good overall. Iron Man looks so great at the start it’s like he’s still dripping with gold. But almost everything post Mandarin just loses steam. Deadly Solutions (1-7) is probably the best way to ingest this specific run, because the art steadily declines and it ends with a Claremont Fantastic Four crossover that is just plain ugly. However, most issues however are fun self contained stories, and actually that’s when I think it works best. 3.5/5
June 20, 2019
Seems fine!
Maybe too much womanizing. And maybe the main conflict—the suit is killing Tony Stark!—is a little too much.
Rumiko Fujikawa is an impressive character. She's kind of designed without flaws. I wonder if she could have had a solo series or if that would have ruined the mystique.
Maybe too much womanizing. And maybe the main conflict—the suit is killing Tony Stark!—is a little too much.
Rumiko Fujikawa is an impressive character. She's kind of designed without flaws. I wonder if she could have had a solo series or if that would have ruined the mystique.
February 1, 2022
It is rare for me, as a DC fan, to pick up a Marvel comic book. However, I was eager to pick this up as I am entertaining reading through some Marvel in the future. As Iron Man is one of, if not, my favourite Marvel character, I thought this would be a good place to start. Needless to say, this was gravely disappointing and reminded me in a negative way as to why I don't read Marvel.
So, first off, what was this volume about? Well, this volume comes off a recent attempt by Marvel to revive its Avengers-line of characters who had unfortunately faded in popularity by the '90s. While characters like the X-Men, Spider-Man, and Daredevil were reaching all new highs in popularity, characters like Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America needed a bit of a re-invigoration. Marvel's attempt at breathing new life into these characters, Heroes Reborn , didn't achieve the success Marvel had hoped it would. So, Heroes Return served as damage control for Marvel, undoing the status quo of Heroes Reborn and relaunching the titles for these characters. Iron Man - Heroes Return serves as the third volume of Iron Man comics. This collection collects the first 14 issues of this relaunched series and a couple of extra issues from other titles which shared crossover stories with Iron Man.
The art in most of this volume was by Sean Chen and was quite good, although the faces of every female character was kind of identical. As for Kurt Busiek's writing,...eh. First of all, there were way too many crossover stories. I mean, as the first 14 issues of Iron Man's relaunch, there are two boring crossover stories (one for every seven issues). Can Iron Man get his first solo story arc in before we start borrowing him for shallow comic book events? In addition, other Marvel characters like Black Widow, Warbird, the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, and Captain America incessantly appear throughout the series. How is Iron Man's character going to be developed if all of these other characters keep getting in the way? No wonder Iron Man as a title was fading into obscurity before Heroes Reborn. The writers were too busy focusing on EVERYONE ELSE except the titular hero.
Secondly, the major story arc in this volume just ambles along for almost the entire collection. There is no momentum, no purpose, it just sort of strolls in the most anticlimactic way. The first issue got me interested in the story, but as the series progressed, I became more disinterested, detached, and bored. I came to contemplate whether I even wanted to bother finish reading this volume. Needless to say, I will not be continuing with subsequent collections of this volume of Iron Man.
It gets worse. "A hero is only as good as their villains." Unfortunately, it would take media adaptations like the MCU Iron Man and Iron Man: The Armored Adventures to provide Iron Man with decent villains. The villains in this collection are SO BAD. .
Overall, I definitely do not recommend reading this. There is a reason why Iron Man was not a household name, beloved superhero, or an important part of the Marvel Universe until the MCU.
So, first off, what was this volume about? Well, this volume comes off a recent attempt by Marvel to revive its Avengers-line of characters who had unfortunately faded in popularity by the '90s. While characters like the X-Men, Spider-Man, and Daredevil were reaching all new highs in popularity, characters like Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America needed a bit of a re-invigoration. Marvel's attempt at breathing new life into these characters, Heroes Reborn , didn't achieve the success Marvel had hoped it would. So, Heroes Return served as damage control for Marvel, undoing the status quo of Heroes Reborn and relaunching the titles for these characters. Iron Man - Heroes Return serves as the third volume of Iron Man comics. This collection collects the first 14 issues of this relaunched series and a couple of extra issues from other titles which shared crossover stories with Iron Man.
The art in most of this volume was by Sean Chen and was quite good, although the faces of every female character was kind of identical. As for Kurt Busiek's writing,...eh. First of all, there were way too many crossover stories. I mean, as the first 14 issues of Iron Man's relaunch, there are two boring crossover stories (one for every seven issues). Can Iron Man get his first solo story arc in before we start borrowing him for shallow comic book events? In addition, other Marvel characters like Black Widow, Warbird, the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, and Captain America incessantly appear throughout the series. How is Iron Man's character going to be developed if all of these other characters keep getting in the way? No wonder Iron Man as a title was fading into obscurity before Heroes Reborn. The writers were too busy focusing on EVERYONE ELSE except the titular hero.
Secondly, the major story arc in this volume just ambles along for almost the entire collection. There is no momentum, no purpose, it just sort of strolls in the most anticlimactic way. The first issue got me interested in the story, but as the series progressed, I became more disinterested, detached, and bored. I came to contemplate whether I even wanted to bother finish reading this volume. Needless to say, I will not be continuing with subsequent collections of this volume of Iron Man.
It gets worse. "A hero is only as good as their villains." Unfortunately, it would take media adaptations like the MCU Iron Man and Iron Man: The Armored Adventures to provide Iron Man with decent villains. The villains in this collection are SO BAD. .
Overall, I definitely do not recommend reading this. There is a reason why Iron Man was not a household name, beloved superhero, or an important part of the Marvel Universe until the MCU.
February 20, 2026
The story drags at points and it's awfully wordy where it doesn't need to be. (There's a point where instead of showing Iron Man blowing up a drone, he just says that he did it instead.) But the story is very high quality and definitely enjoyable.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews