Unlike his more classical superheroic predecessor, Arno first appeared using the armor as a ruthless mercenary, in order to raise money to keep his company going. However, stories with him would show him evolving into a more heroic character.
Technically, this comic is not his first appearance. His actual first appearance was in Machine Man 2020 #2 (November 1984) by Tom DeFalco and Herb Trimpe. So, why don't I look at that comic? Well, I wanted to spotlight him in a story in which he appeared in the mainstream Marvel Universe, and the Machine Man miniseries is not part of the main Marvel canon. Yes, Marvel has a multiverse as well, and Arno (at least this version of him), is native to another timeline. Arno does have a counterpart in the main Marvel Universe, this version is Tony's brother instead of his first cousin once removed. So, with that out of the way, let's look at Amazing Spider-Man Annual #20!
The cover is pretty cool. It's a Bob Wiacek piece. You got Spider-Man swinging over the across the city, his Spider-Sense flaring up. Looming over him is Arno Stark, the Iron Man of 2020. The pose and design of the suit (especially the faceplate) gives the first impression that Arno is this evil Iron Man out to blast Spidey to pieces. It's not quite true, but it does grab attention.
"Man of the Year"
Writers: Fred Schiller and Ken McDonald
Penciler: Mark Beachum
Inker: Bob Wiacek
Colorist: Bob Sharen
Letterer: Jim Novak
Editor: James Owsley
Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter
The story begins in Stark Industries. The year is 2015. Yeah, I know. Remember, this is not his first appearance. His first appearance was set in the year 2020, hence why he's called Iron Man 2020. This comic is clearly set before then. Arno Stark in his own version of the Iron Man suit, performing a demonstration of the superhuman strength the armor provides. He is restrained by some powerful metal bonds.
Arno easily shatters those bonds designed to hold him, and poses for the cameras.
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| "Check out the metal muscles, boys!" |
He then gets another summons from a man named Hawk, who tells him that there's something he needs to see in Lab "B". Arno is really excited. Buying Stark Industries has made him feel like his life is worth something, and this invention he's working on will allow him to step into the spotlight, out of Tony's shadow. He arrives at the lab, where some military men have arrived to look over Stark's new invention.
Arno's built a new weapon for the military: A "planet-buster" bomb. A nice parallel to Tony there. During the meeting, it's learned that a terrorist is on the loose. Cynthia Stark tries to call him, but is rebuffed. That is it. She is fed up! If Arno won't come down to see her and their son, then they'll come up to see him! Later on, Stark and the military are testing their bomb.
The bomb's damage potential is incredible. Its radioactive payload wiped out quite a bit of life in the area. However, the military man wants it to be more lethal. After all, the general wants to make sure those Russians can't fight back at all after this is dropped...despite the fact this weapon is illegal. Arno just feels sick. He wonders how much of himself he's given up just for fame. Anyway, the general tells him "Make the bomb more lethal, and we'll fund your time machine." Arno, Emmett Brown built one out of a DeLorean without government funding! Meanwhile, back at Stark Industries, a man is at work.
His name is Robert Saunders. He's not an employee of Stark's. Instead, he's rather...self-employed. He's learned of the bomb that Stark was developing somehow. He pleaded for it to not be built, but they still built it. Now, he has no choice...but to act to stop the bomb. He briefly meets Arno Jr, Arno's son. It makes Saunders recall his own youth. He was an innocent child once...and it makes him more determined to do what he feels he has to do.
His presence is detected, and the red alert is sounded!
Hawk tries to contact Arno, but he only leaps into action when Hawk explains Saunders has his wife. Saunders doesn't have a lot of time. Once Stark Enterprises' security systems kick in, he's trapped inside. The cyborg terrorist tries to flee, having armed the "planet buster". Thing is, Sanders has no intention of actually detonating the bomb. He plans to cancel the detonation from his own safehouse far away at the last second. He wants Stark to panic, and hopefully, the near-disaster will convince him to give up making weapons. However, Arno may end up ruining that plan.
Stark tries to restrain him, but Saunders ends up crashing into the walls of Stark Enterprises' security dome, dying in a fireball. That's a problem. You see, Saunders has prevented any attempt to disarm the bomb. It will go off in 50 minutes...unless Saunders uses a retina scan. And he's basically fried. Arno's screwed...or maybe not.
You see, Saunders was the leader of a radical anti-war group. He was a recluse, living off the grid. However, there is a record of him...from 35 years earlier.
It can be assumed that this event led to Saunders becoming the man he is now. Arno's got a time machine, so the only hope is to go back to the past and get a scan of the young Saunders' eye. The scene then shifts to the year of 1986. There, we join our resident Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, as he takes care of some crooks.
At this point, Spidey was rocking the slick black threads he got during the Secret Wars. The goons are working for a man named Gregor Shapanka, aka the original Blizzard. Spidey is easily able to take care of the cold warrior (heh), and heads back to the Daily Bugle. He's hoping his editor, Kate Cushing, will take the photos of his battle with Blizzard and give him some money for them. Peter Parker then notices a boy imitating him.
Peter meets a young Bobby Saunders, who is the child of one of the Bugle's stockholders. He's also a fan of Peter's pictures, liking their inventive angles and the urgency they communicate. Unfortunately, Peter learns from Robbie Robertson that Kate is out at the dentist. You'd think she'd have someone in take car of her business for her while she's getting her teeth cleaned. However, things are looking up. J. Jonah Jameson needs Peter to cover some peace talk in Geneva for "NOW" magazine. The assignment is potentially dangerous, but it does pay well.
Needing the cash, Peter eagerly agrees, and swings home to tell the news to Mary Jane. On the way home, he dances with a homeless guy. It's pretty funny.
Heh heh, I love that for some reason. He swings home to Mary Jane. But there's another problem, thanks to that infamous Parker luck. You see, Peter has to leave tomorrow for that assignment in Geneva. And that's also Aunt May's birthday.
Yeah. Peter feels guilty about it, naturally. May did raise him like he was her own son. I think Peter's beating himself up about it. Just tell her that you have this important assignment, and you really need the money. I'm sure she'd understand. Heck, get her a cool souvenir from Geneva! She'd love that! It'd be a great conversation starter!
The next day, Peter prepares to leave for Europe when he notices Mrs. Muggins, his landlord, in the hall. He needs to avoid her until he can pay the rent. He changes into his Spider-Man togs and tries to leave via the roof, but there are sunbathers there. So, he comes up with a crazy plan. He just walks out the door as Spider-Man. He passes by Muggins, but runs into Bobby Saunders. Bobby was going to visit Peter, as he wants to learn photography.
Outside the Daily Bugle, a group of men are up to no good.
Yup, the Blizzard is back! And with a new suit! I liked his old suit better. He wants a bit of payback for Spider-Man busting him. The men note that Spidey seems to pass by the Daily Bugle often, and it's at that moment that he and Bobby arrive. Spidey drops the boy off at the Bugle, as he won't tell the Web-Swinger where he goes to school or even where he lives. Blizzard tries to snatch Bobby, but the kid's a fighter. And a biter, too. It's then that Arno Stark arrives.
Blizzard assumes Arno is Tony in a new suit. Makes sense, Iron Man's been known to upgrade his suits from time to time, so Iron Man getting a new look every now and then would not be seen as odd. Without saying a word, Arno grabs Bobby and flies off. Gregor Shapanka is furious. He's fought Iron Man many times, and the Armored Avenger just kicks his butt and flies off. Well, no more! No more! Blizzard has a more powerful suit, and he's ready to use it! He tries to engage the future Golden Avenger, but Arno has no time for him or his icy shenanigans.
So long, Gregor. We hardly knew ye. Arno pulls out a small retinal scanner. Spidey grabs it with his web. Like Gregor, he mistakes Arno for Tony, wondering what's going on. Arno just tells him he doesn't have time for this and blasts at the Web-Slinger. The attack creates some falling rubble. Spidey catches it with his webbing. In the process, he drops Arno's retinal scanner, and it ends up destroyed. Arno doesn't have time to jerry-rig another, as he only has twenty minutes left before the bomb explodes. He'll have to take Bobby with him to the future.
Spidey swings away with Bobby Saunders, utterly confused by the Shellhead seemingly going crazy. Arno considers just, well...doing the smart thing and actually explaining to Spider-Man what his deal is, but he fears that he has no time for it. You see, time is still going forward despite Arno using time-travel. Spidey is outclassed, and he knows it. Arno also has problems because none of his armor's equipment or weaponry is designed for anything complete destruction. Spidey is able to dodge an attack from the future Iron Man...at a price.
Spider-Man is furious. The Iron Man of 2020 just crossed a line, and the Webhead is going to peel him open like a tin can. People tend to underestimate Spidey because of his general quippy attitude and his reputation as a more "local" superhero. But the man is a lot more powerful than people realize, and Arno Stark learns it the hard way.
That's right. Spider-Man punches Iron Man 2020 so hard it damages his armor and sends him flying into a construction site. The Web-Slinger then wails on the future armor-user, causing more and more damage to the futuristic suit. Arno tries to get through to him, but Peter is in no mood to hear it. Arno's time runs out...and he vanishes back to 2015. Peter is left ultimately confused by the whole thing.
Several hours later, we check in on Bobby Saunders at the hospital. His father Richard comes to visit him, and Spider-Man also comes by to check on him. He'll end up with permanent facial scarring from the battle between Spidey and Arno. Richard thanks Spidey for saving his son's life. You see, Bobby was an adventurous boy, due to being left on his own all the time. Richard travels a lot for his work, and he realized that he needs to spend more time with Bobby. After all, that's the important thing in life.
He's really indebted to Spidey, so if there's anything he can do for the Wall-Crawler, he can help out. All Spidey wants is some money for a late flight to Geneva.
But what of Arno Stark? Well, he returned to 2015...
And returned to a crater. The bomb went off. His company, his wife Cynthia, his son Arno Junior...it was all lost in the explosion. Wherever he is now, Robert Saunders is laughing.
This was an awesome story. Yeah, it does employ one of the big clichés of time travel stories, but that doesn't matter if the story is good, in my opinion. Arno is portrayed as a bit of a tragic character here. He seemingly has everything. A booming business, and a wife and family...only to lose it due to a villain of his, thanks to time-travel, own creation.
I also liked that Arno paralleled Tony when it came to being a weapons designer. Arno is clearly shown to have something of a heart, as he does question during the story whether all the fame-seeking is worth it. It could be argued that this event helps explain his more ruthless personality in the Machine Man miniseries from a couple of years earlier. With his family and business gone, the grief and regret likely drove Arno to become a colder and harder person. He was shown in this story that he was willing to kill, but that was also because his armor's weaponry lacked a "stun" setting, in the metaphorical sense.
If you want to read this for yourself, I suggest tracking down the 2018 trade paperback Iron Man 2020. It collects this story, the 1984 Machine Man miniseries (which I'll have to look at some time this year considering it's set in 2020, and it's Arno's debut), and a couple more stories focusing on the armored mercenary.
The art is alright, but it does get a bit wonky in places. It's a 1986 comic, but there is some stuff that people do like to blast 90s comics' artwork for, like lots of hatching in places and some odd proportions. Despite that, it does do the job.
Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, spread it around! Join me next time as we see the Avengers as they go through the beginnings of the Kree-Skrull War...
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