Wanderings of Iron Man of 2020 at Couture's

(as seen in Advanced Iron #58)

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #20

"Man of the year!" - 1986

Story: Fred Schiller, Ken McDonald
Penciler: Mark Beachum
Inker: Bob Wiacek

Although this comic was published after the Machine Man mini-series, it chronicles events that occurred earlier in Arno Stark's career.

The year is 2015 and Arno Stark is a billionaire, a brilliant inventor and the owner of Stark Enterprises. He's also Time magazine's front runner in the «Man of the year» award. On top of that, Arno is also a family man; he has a wife and son. This is before things go sour for him, when he was still at the top. By the time this story ends, his life will have changed forever… and for the worse.

Arno's latest invention is «the first workable time displacement device»… a fully operational time machine! But to fund his research, he has also been designing and building a gigantic bomb for the U.S. government: the «Planet Buster». He doesn't like doing it, but he needs the big bucks he gets from those government contracts. This fruitful association however, has made him a target for Robert Saunders, the leader of an anti-war faction that has somehow learned about the immensely devastating weapon. Saunders manages to break unto the premises and sets off the bomb's timer.

The only way to stop the bomb and save Stark's company (along with his wife and his son) is to use Robert Saunders' retina patterns to disarm the bomb. There's one small problem though: Saunders is blown to bits by Iron Man during their battle. Arno thus decides to use his time machine and embarks on a trip to the past, where he hopes to find Saunders as a kid and record his retina patterns. But this futuristic Iron Man isn't counting on meeting two very special individuals on this trip: the first is the Blizzard and the second is the amazing Spider-Man.

This is a great comic. The story is awesome, the art's cool, it's just wall to wall action and drama from start to finish.

On top of getting a very interesting glimpse into Arno Stark's life before he became a ruthless mercenary, you will also be treated to the last moments in the life of the original Blizzard, one of our Iron Man's earliest arch-enemies. As for Spidey, he is still wearing the black alien symbiote costume he got in the Secret Wars, so he is stronger than ever, a match even for Arno Stark's powerful suit of armor. At the end of the comic, in the very last panel, you will finally be able to say that you understand a little bit the source of Arno's anger and ruthlessness.

Arno thinks to himself: "Investing my father's fortune in Stark's designs was the best move I've ever made. It's given my life meaning… made me whole. Now, with my time machine, I can finally step out of Stark's shadow and establish a reputation of my own."

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