Iron Man was born of a challenge. Stan Lee, knowing that the growing Marvel audience was increasingly high-school to college-age, hip, and largely left-leaning, decided to push himself by creating a hero that would be the antithesis of everything the growing counterculture was railing against, to see if he could make them sympathize with and root for something challenging. Thus was born Tony Stark, an older, hard-drinking, womanizing playboy millionaire whose fortune was built on his skill in creating weapons of war and military hardware. Lee, in close collaboration with artists Don Heck and Jack Kirby and scripter Larry Leiber, shoved the new hero into dire straits, captured by communist forces, his heart badly damaged and replaced with an experimental contraption, and forced to escape by devising the Iron Man armor. The gamble paid off: the hero quickly became a cult favorite, with mainstream audiences finally getting hep to the steelhead thanks to the blockbuster movie of the '00s. This first appearance is one of the milestones of the Silver Age, a perennial favorite with fans and collectors.

Another of those Marvel keys that usually show up looking like they've been run over by a car, it is delightful to see this book in such startlingly clean condition. In recent years, savvy investors have been diving on high-grade copies of this important key, knowing that nice copies rarely turn up. If you're looking for a rock-solid high-grade Marvel key, look no further.

Overstreet 2012 NM- (9.2) value = $32,000

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