Dullard Wizard

Many of my favorite [comics] blogs have regular features (like the best comics blog on the 'net, Mark Engblom's Comic Coverage), so who am I to be any different? I'm not a regular Wizard reader (Wizard being the biggest comics news magazine around) but my DC-oriented buddy Brent regularly lends them to me after he's done with 'em. What gets me is that its writers are supposed to be the "ultimate comics geeks," yet at times they make some grievous (grievous in a comics fanboy sense, that is) factual errors. And it's these errors that brings us to CoR's inaugural post of its first regular feature -- the "Dullard Wizard."

March's issue (#209) has a little diddy about Iron Man towards the back of the issue (click on the image for a larger view):

Now, when you're talking Iron Man, you'd better know what you're talkin' about with me around, natch! After all, I did write articles for, and was once editor-in-chief of, Iron Man's premiere fan magazine! As you can see, the segment is about a pivotal moment in Iron Man's history: The one and only time he dramatically changed his armor's color scheme. Iron Man's main armor had always been red and gold (with the very early exceptions of his original armor and then its gold-painted follow-up) so this change to red and silver had many fans aghast. (Not me -- this armor remains my favorite IM armor of all-time.)

But back to the point: Wizard writes that Tony Stark built this new armor in the late 80s in order to fight the [now-classic] "Armor Wars." Nope. Stark built this suit a whole twenty-five issues earlier -- in #200, which was 1985. The "Armor Wars" (which was actually titled "Stark Wars," but that's another story) had not a thing to do with the red and silver suit's construction. In actuality, Stark was piddling around with different armor designs as a form of therapy following his battle with alcoholism (from the late #160s to #182). He remained reluctant to resume wearing armor -- until arch-enemy Obadiah Stane murdered his friend and co-worker Morley Erwin (in #199). Highly pissed off, Stark quickly lost his reservations about becoming Iron Man, donned the new red and silver suit, and kicked Stane's ass!

The red and silver armor (commonly dubbed the "Silver Centurion") was actually seen a bit prior to Iron Man #200 -- in the pages of The West Coast Avengers. It looked a tad different as apparently its final design wasn't settled upon yet.

Ironically, the designer of the suit, classic Iron Man creator Bob Layton, was one of the folks who had a hand in its eventual demise. He and pal David Michelinie, upon reassuming the creative mantle of the title in issue #215, decided the suit was too bulky, and worked in a plot device whereby the suit was causing Tony Stark neurological damage (IM #217). Also ironically, it was during the "Armor Wars" when the Silver Centurion was destroyed (IM #230). This gave Layton and Michelinie the opportunity to return Iron Man to his "true colors," red and gold, in the following issue.

And now you know!