I love those hip-discs on Iron Man's classic design. I'm not sure what special purpose they served, but I have seen that they are loaded with circuitry when he's removed them, though. Mostly I just think they look cool, like the widow's peak and buccaneer boots on this design. Maybe someday we'll see it in live action.
I always thought they were just spare power packs. Sort of like the reserve oxygen used by scuba divers when their main air tanks run low. As for today's cover? Great concept! Ivo was often over-shadowed by DC's other mad scientists. Even Dr. Sivana had a bigger name than the professor! And, yet, it was Ivo---not that shrimpy Shazam-hater---who devised a way of individually siphoning off the Justice League's super-powers and relaying them, to himself, via the Flash.
ReplyDeleteIn the meantime, might I suggest a Golden Age team-up between Hugh Hazzard of Quality Comics (DC) and time traveler Ace Buckley of Nedor Comics (semi-public domain)? That way, Hugh's robotic buddy (Bozo the "Iron Man") could get to meet Buckley's female partner...Toni Stark.
That was THE suit. As fantastic as it was, it always stood out on the magazine racks. I could see non-readers mistaking Iron Man for a robot. Back in the 60's, I thought Tony Stark was super strong on his own, and just wore the suit as regular armor. For me, George Tuska was the only Iron Man artist. Love the background too.
ReplyDeleteThere are many superhero designs that were drawn to "look cool" when they'd either be impractical or look ridiculous in live action. That may be why we never saw the faux widow's peak on RDJ's Iron Man, nor many of those other features (the hip disks and buccaneer boots). As for the future, I don't think RDJ's fixing to come back to the role (even Variants) any time soon. Even without Tony Stark, though, there's always the possibility of Riri Williams, Harley Keener, or even young Nathaniel Richards popping up with something like that.
ReplyDeletereading the JLA since Brave &the Bold, Amazo is one villian I thought has been underused. But figuring out how to overcome it properly hasn't been all that easy either. Loved the program virus used on CW.
ReplyDeleteVery nice concept and cover Ross.
Warp nacelles probably......
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of Star Trek references: doesn't Silver Age Amazo kind of resemble the love child of Mr. Spock and Zandor of the Herculoids?
ReplyDelete@Anon233: that's an orange skullcap; not real hair.
ReplyDeleteIn the time travel story with Dr. Doom, they were very clearly defined as power packs. Not spares, exactly, but more like main power. If they got knocked off, he'd have only limited power left to run the armor systems on.
ReplyDeleteHmmm! Any chance of Amazo going up against the Asgardian Destroyer?
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