Iron Man #1
This issue marks the Spanish-language debut of 'The Crossing,' one of the most divisive Marvel storylines of the 1990s, in which Tony Stark is manipulated by the time-traveler Kang the Conqueror into becoming a murderous turncoat against his fellow Avengers. For Spanish readers, this Planeta DeAgostini series was the primary access point to that controversial arc in real time, placing it within a broader pattern of the publisher's role as the dominant conduit for Marvel's output to the Spanish-speaking market throughout the decade. While 'The Crossing' has been widely criticized for its narrative choices — particularly its treatment of Tony Stark's agency and continuity — it remains a culturally notable moment in Iron Man history precisely because Marvel subsequently reversed nearly all of its events, making these issues a snapshot of a storytelling experiment the company itself walked back. The series also represents the final chapter of the original long-running Iron Man Vol. 1 continuity as seen through a Spanish lens, before 'Heroes Reborn' reset the title entirely.
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Planeta DeAgostini, a Hispano-Italian publisher headquartered in Barcelona and a joint subsidiary of Grupo Planeta and De Agostini, had been licensing and translating Marvel comics for the Spanish market since the mid-1980s, distributing them through its Comics Forum imprint. The 'Iron Man Vol. 3' Spanish series launched in June 1996, reprinting American issues from the tail end of Iron Man Vol. 1's original run, with the first issue reproducing U.S. issue #320 — written by Terry Kavanagh and penciled by Heitor Oliveira and Adriana Melo — as part of 'The Crossing' event plotted by Kavanagh and editor-in-chief Bob Harras. The Spanish edition carried its own legal deposit number (B-22689-96) and ran the issues under the masthead 'El Hombre de Hierro,' spanning 13 stapled issues before concluding in November 1997.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Publisher: Planeta DeAgostini (Comics Forum imprint), Barcelona, Spain — a subsidiary of Grupo Planeta and De Agostini.
- Launch date: June 1996; the series ran for 13 stapled issues through November 1997 under the banner 'El Hombre de Hierro' (Iron Man).
- Issue #1 reprints The Invincible Iron Man (U.S. Vol. 1) #320 (cover-dated September 1995), written by Terry Kavanagh with art by Heitor Oliveira and Adriana Melo.
- The reprinted American issue is a chapter of 'The Crossing,' a crossover event involving Kang the Conqueror manipulating Tony Stark into acting against the Avengers.
- Format: 24-page stapled cuaderno (comic book), full color, dimensions 26 x 17 cm, with a legal deposit registration of B-22689-96.
- Later issues in the same Spanish series featured writing by Terry Kavanagh and Dan Abnett, with art by Jim Cheung, Hector Collazo, and others — reflecting the rotating creative teams of the American source issues.
- 'The Crossing' storyline that this issue introduces was subsequently retconned by Marvel in the 'Onslaught' and 'Heroes Reborn' era, making these Spanish reprints a document of a storyline Marvel itself disavowed.
- Planeta DeAgostini was the primary publisher of Marvel comics in Spain throughout the 1990s, also notable as the early career launchpad for Spanish artist Carlos Pacheco, who created covers for their Marvel editions beginning in 1986.
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