Marvel Holiday Special chez Couture

(exclusive and never before seen in Advanced Iron)

MARVEL HOLIDAY SPECIAL

January 1993

"Holiday on ice"
Writer: Scholly Fisch
Artist: Tom Morgan

The holiday season is a time for celebrating and rejoicing, right? Well, not for Randall Macklin.

Unable to find a job, the angry ex-con decides to seek revenge upon the man who put his brother in jail. His brother Donny was the man hired by Justin Hammer to be Blizzard. It just so happens that before being sent to the Vault, Donny gave his brother his spare Blizzard suit, and tonight is the night it gets put to use.

Tony Stark is at Stark Enterprises' annual Christmas staff party when he spots the menacing Blizzard through a window. Before you know it, Iron Man is outside and a fight follows. Despite a few lucky shots, the old Blizzard suit is simply no match for Shellhead's new armor and the battle is short. Defeated, Blizzard falls to the ground in despair and wallows in self-pity. When he hears the ex-con's story, IM reacts in a rather unexpected way: he offers the man a job! When Blizzard expresses surprise at this, IM replies: "I've had pretty good luck giving people a second chance in the past. Like this one villain I used to fight a lot. Maybe you've heard of him… calls himself Hawkeye…"

Aaah… no one is immune to the spirits of the Holidays, and that includes our good buddy Tony Stark apparently. This feel-good story should be read during a late December evening, preferably with snow falling outside and a cup of hot chocolate. I am such a sucker for happy endings…

As for the art, well although many Iron fans would disagree with me, I actually really enjoy Tom Morgan's stuff. I think he's a cool artist, and this story is no exception. If you enjoyed Morgan's run on IM, then you definitely have to get your hands on this baby. The cover art, provided by the magnificent Arthur Adams is also very cool, even if IM is barely visible on it.

As for the seven other stories featured in this comic, some are good and some are bad. Among the good, there is a very cool Wolverine story with a twist you'll never see coming in a million years, a hilarious Doc Samson story that made me laugh my head off, an intense tale of the mad Titan Thanos and a very unusual Daredevil adventure told from the perspective of… a plastic lamb?

Well, the Iron Man story is very very very short, and some of the other stories are far from great. The Spider-Man story in particular is terribly boring.

Stark tells Rhodey: "Take a lesson, Jim. Having spotted his prey beneath the mistletoe, internationally renowned playboy Tony Stark moves in for the kill. *smek* Merry Christmas Mrs. Arbogast!"

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