Near Mint Condition announced a Marvel omnibus reprint for April 2027 that is massively popular but also surprisingly controversial: Iron Man by Michelinie, Layton, & Romita Jr Omnibus.
What is this material? The Iron Man by Michelinie, Layton, & Romita Jr Omnibus collects what is widely considered to be the first truly great run on Iron Man. It includes the complete “Demon in a Bottle” storyline focused on Tony’s alcoholism as well as several other key classic stories. Plus, it was the run that introduced James “Rhodey” Rhodes – the future War Machine!
This omnibus is a stone cold classic – truly some of the best comics of the Bronze Age.
So… what is it controversial?
It’s not the material that is controversial, or even that is being reprinted. Just as with last week’s announcement of the reprint of Deadpool by Joe Kelly omnibus, we haven’t had this book of “ought to be evergreen” material in print since 2013.
The controversy has to do with OTHER REPRINTS of this material. Specifically, the currently in-progress reprints in the classic Masterworks-based omnibus line as well as in the Epic line.
When Marvel released Invincible Iron Man Omnibus Vol. 4 in May, literally every single omnibus fan fully expected it to buck the trend of following the exact breakpoints of the Marvel Masterworks to end at issue #114 so that it would line up perfectly with this book. It would only involve adding three extra issues on top of the scheduled chunk of 3 Masterworks.
Then, Marvel could re-release this volume as “Volume 5” just as just did with Captain America by Jack Kirby, perhaps re-issuing it with new scans. There’s literally nothing else to add – there are no side appearances or crossovers in this period. It’s just a straight sprint of Iron Man (1968).
Instead, not only did Marvel flub that by ending Volume 4 exactly where the Masterworks broke off – three issues short of this book – now they are reprinting this book, which is the exact same book as the impending Volume 5 except Volume 5 will have those three gap issues.
It’s inexplicable. And, it’s going to cost Marvel thousands of dollars as people either buy this and skip Volume 5, or skip this and wait for Volume 5. But, that’s not the only controversial aspect of this reprint!In addition to the omnibus situation, there is currently only a single gap of two volumes remaining in Marvel’s Iron Man Epic Collection line. What do you think that gap might be?
IT IS EXACTLY THIS MATERIAL. THIS EXACT OMNIBUS OF MATERIAL. Because Marvel made the Epic Collections line up perfectly around this omnibus rather than around the Masterworks line.
But, wait, it gets worse.
Marvel already announced they are filling in the first book in that gap this September – with an Epic containing the first half of this omnibus! So, Marvel will release half this material in September, then they will release it again in April 2027, then they will probably release the other half in another Epic collection at the end of 2027, and then they will still also release it again (with three extra issues) in 2028 in Invincible Iron Man Vol. 5.
Argh! Is anyone paying any attention to anything over there?!?!
Anyway, if you want to consider your many collecting options for this material, check out my Iron Man Collecting Guide.
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