Issue(s): Iron Man #178
Cover Date: Jan 84
Title: "Once an Avenger, always an Avenger! / Struggle!"
Credits:
Bob Harras / Denny O'Neil - Writer
Luke McDonnell - Penciler
Steven Mitchell - Inker

Review/plot:
It's Assistant Editors' Month, and instead of going the zany route, this book take the opportunity to do a few non-traditional stories, with no actual Iron Man or any kind of super-happenings in this issue. The main story features a group of kids who are in an Avengers club that functions as a local neighborhood watch.

They feel compelled to kick out their Iron Man since they've heard that the real Iron Man has left the Avengers. Local bully Blackie Donovan takes advantage of that by framing the Iron Lad for a bunch of mischief, but the Young Avengers eventually figure it out, bring Donovan to justice, and allow Iron Lad back onto the team.

The second story features a cop who is able to convince Tony Stark (still homeless) that he does in fact have an alcohol problem by betting him $50 that he can't go 12 hours without a drink.

Stark is able to win the bet, but the agony he goes through during those twelve hours is enough to make him realize his problems aren't just "nerves".

The first story is cute, and the second is pretty good without being too sentimental. So it's a nice use of the Assistant Editors' Month event.

Quality Rating: B

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: N/A

References:

• The Young Avengers have a copy of Avengers #231, which is when Iron Man quit the team.
  
• The current Iron Man, James Rhodes, is currently dealing with the Deviants in Iron Man annual #6, and therefore doesn't appear in this issue.

Crossover: Assistant Editors' Month

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

Wasn't Blackie Donovan also the name of the guy who killed Bennett Brant in an early Amazing Spider-Man? Or am I misremembering it?

According to this website, the guy who killed Betty's brother was Blackie GAXTON, not Blackie Donovan:
http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix/gaxtonbl.htm

Confused him with that guy and faux-Hobgoblin Lefty Donovan.

Absolutely my favorite of the AEM and one of my favorite Iron Man issues ever. Because, let's face it, who didn't want to be an Avenger when they were a kid? I once knocked my best friend cold when my "Mjolnir" (a rubber mallet) slipped out of my hand and he didn't raise his shield (trash can lid) fast enough and it conked him in the head.

The highlight of Assistant Editor's Month. There's no way around it: much of the best work in any field, and no less, comics, has a very personal basis on which to draw.
I look forward to re-reading the Rhodey Iron Man issues- I collected nearly all of them, around '86/ '87. That panel with the cop got me misty for a sec! Perfect set-up for Eric Beck's comment. That must have seemed like Panic City the moment it happened, but- how funny!