Issue(s): Iron Man #326
Cover Date: Mar 96
Title: "Burn out"
Credits:
Terry Kavanagh - Writer
Jim Cheung, Hector Collazo, & Steven Ellis - Penciler
Mark McKenna, Andy Lanning, & Steve Moncuse - Inker
Mike Marts - Assistant Editor
Nel Yomtov - Editor

Review/plot:
I have this because it's part three of First Sign, and i was reading both Captain America and Thor, which participated in the crossover, and i figured i might as well get the rest of it. So i did not realize that this is actually the first issue of Iron Man after The Crossing. I mean, the cover should have tipped me off, but i took it as more of a warning ("look, if you're going to follow this First Sign story, which, let's face it, isn't very good, you're also going to have to deal with this Teen Tony shit"). Anyway, take away all the negative implications of The Crossing and Teen Tony, you're still dealing with the fact that you as an Iron Man reader just got through a TWENTY ONE part crossover (not counting the "aftermath" issue Age of Innocence: The Rebirth of Iron Man #1) and you are immediately thrown into ANOTHER crossover. This was the 90s, ladies and gentlemen. There is a reason why when we heard that Marvel was going to wipe out half their universe and turn it over to the Image guys, some of us just shrugged.

Unlike the Thor issue, this does spend a fair amount of time dealing with the current Iron Man status quo, which means showing us that Tony Stark has now basically become 1960s Peter Parker (except at college).

We're actually introduced to a few new supporting characters (another thing that should have tipped me off), like "Benj" Brennan (the Flash Thompson), Kris Degan (the love interest), and Chap Walters (a kid who tricks Tony into signing up for the wrong class) but they won't matter much due to the aforementioned universe-wiping. Also, Meridth McCall, last seen as one of the Masters of Silence (Kaze II), is now just a professor.

Terry Kavanagh does fine writing the cliched teen drama stuff (which makes sense since he's doing basically the EXACT SAME THING with the effectively de-aged not-really-Peter-Parker on the Spider Clone stuff). The question is why Marvel thought this needed to be done on Iron Man. In addition to Ben Reilly, Marvel currently had the new Green Goblin for teen stuff, as well as plenty of other such books in the past (Darkhawk, the 90s Ghost Rider, the New Warriors and all their spin-offs). Adult Tony Stark was a pretty unique character and there was always plenty to do with him. Even if you want to write off his recent behavior as controlled by Kang or whatever, why totally change the theme of the book?

Anyway, it's not until halfway through the issue that First Sign intrudes. The anti-tech forcefield seen in the first two parts causes a blackout at the school. Tony puts on a portion of his Iron Man costume to light the way out, but something causes his tech to go haywire. It's also draining his power, and we are back to Tony needing his chest plate to keep his heart going. So he finds a lab on campus and shields his chest plate from the energy drain. That leaves him with just some underpowered gauntlets, though.

Tony traces the source of the disturbance to where Captain America and Thor are fighting the Zodiac goons. Thor has apparently traded his shirtless look for some "He-Man at the S&M Club" attire.

The three Avengers steal the Zodiac's skimmer, which has the power to punch through the barrier surrounding the city. They are therefore able to let in the rest of the Avengers. And if you've been blissfully unaware of The Crossing and didn't know about Teen Tony, i don't know how to prepare you for what's happened to the Wasp.

I just... I'm trying to be reasonable. It's not fair to pick up these books after skipping them for a while now (although that's effectively what First Sign was asking us to do) and then complain that the Avengers are unrecognizable. But they are! They are unrecognizable! Powerless, fashion crisis Thor. Teen Tony! The Literal Wasp! (And, i mean, Deathcry!) Like, ok Onslaught, come burn it all down!

Quality Rating: D+

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: This is part three of First Sign. Part four is in Avengers #396.

A note that i will have to place earlier if i get more issues with Teen Tony: The MCP tags this Tony Stark as Iron Man V from Earth-96020. I'm just going with "Teen Tony", thank you very much.

References:

• Jarvis relays info from Captain America to the rest of the Avengers (who are stuck outside the city). Jarvis got the intel from Cap in Captain America #449.

Crossover: First Sign

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A