Iron Man #112
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeIron Man #112 closes out Bill Mantlo's four-part 'Moon Wars!' story arc (issues #109–112), the storyline that introduced Vanguard and the nascent Soviet Super-Soldiers lineup to the Marvel Universe and tested Iron Man against an extraordinary range of antagonists — Soviet superhumans, the Rigellian Colonizers, the Knights of Wundagore, and Galactus's robot 'Punisher' — all in a single sprawling cosmic-Cold War adventure that was ambitious by late-Bronze Age standards. The issue is also a small piece of comics-industry history for its letters page: writer Bill Mantlo championed up-and-coming fan cartoonist Fred Hembeck, arranging for him to contribute a full-page illustrated comic commentary in place of the usual letter column — an editorial gesture so unusual that veteran editors have since noted Marvel would never permit it today. That single page marks Hembeck's effective debut in an official Marvel publication, nudging him toward the career that would soon produce 'Dateline: @!!?#' and a long run in Marvel Age. Together, the 'Moon Wars!' arc and this issue's bonus content capture a late-1970s Marvel culture that was genuinely porous to fan voices and willing to let a versatile journeyman writer like Mantlo play across cosmic, Cold War, and superhero registers simultaneously.
In "Moon Wars!", Iron Man faces an otherworldly threat unlike any he’s encountered before—pitting his genius and armor against a mysterious enemy from beyond the stars. Written by Bill Mantlo and brought to life by Keith Pollard’s dynamic art and Alfredo Alcala’s sharp inks, this 1978 classic sees Tony Stark at his most isolated and inventive. The cover by Keith Pollard and Bob Wiacek captures the issue’s surreal, high-stakes tone perfectly.
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The issue was written by Bill Mantlo, whose tenure on the title was defined by an appetite for blending topical Cold War tensions with Marvel's cosmic mythology — a combination he had been building across the entire preceding arc beginning with issue #109. Pencils were laid out by Keith Pollard, with Alfredo Alcala providing finished art, and Jim Shooter served as editor-in-chief, a role he had recently taken on at Marvel. Mantlo's relationship with Fred Hembeck, who had already had letters printed in issues like #109, led Mantlo to arrange for Hembeck's illustrated letter-page cartoon to appear here — reportedly even securing him a nominal payment from Marvel, a highly irregular step at the time that speaks to Mantlo's known habit of nurturing new artistic talent.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Titled 'Moon Wars!', this is Part 4 of a four-part arc running through Iron Man #109–112 (1978); the arc as a whole carries the formal first appearances of Vanguard (Iron Man #109) and the new Crimson Dynamo (Dimitri Bukharin) as part of the proto-Soviet Super-Soldiers lineup.
- Written by Bill Mantlo; pencil layouts by Keith Pollard; finished art (inks and pencils over breakdowns) by Alfredo Alcala; colored by Don Warfield; lettered by Irving Watanabe; edited by Jim Shooter.
- Cover by Keith Pollard and Bob Wiacek; released April 25, 1978, with a July 1978 cover date.
- The issue features appearances by Iron Man, Jack of Hearts, Madame Masque, Jasper Sitwell, Happy Hogan, Pepper Potts, Vanguard, Darkstar, Crimson Dynamo (Dimitri Bukharin), the Knights of Wundagore, the Rigellian Colonizers, and the Punisher — the robot servant of Galactus, emphatically not the Marvel vigilante.
- A notable subplot confirms that Pepper Potts and Happy Hogan have relocated to a home in the Rocky Mountains, a continuity development for two of Iron Man's longest-running supporting characters.
- Tony Stark's secret identity is maintained in this issue through the use of a Life Model Decoy, allowing Stark and Iron Man to appear simultaneously — an unusually overt use of S.H.I.E.L.D. technology for a private individual.
- The letters page includes a full-page illustrated cartoon by fan Fred Hembeck — written, penciled, inked, and lettered by Hembeck — titled 'And Now, For Something Completely Different...', making this one of Hembeck's earliest appearances in an official Marvel publication and a documented early moment in his professional trajectory.
- The issue exists in a Mark Jewelers insert variant, distributed through military PX channels, as was standard for Marvel comics of this era.
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Reprints
↩ Reprints [Marvel Hostess Ads] #28 (1978)
Reprinted in Comic Reader #155 (1978), Strange #114 (1979), L'Uomo Ragno [Collana Super-Eroi] #270 (1980), L'Uomo Ragno [Collana Super-Eroi] #271 (1980), Atlantic special #2/1982 (1982), Atlantic Spesial [Atlantic Special] #2/1982 (1982), The Marvel Universe According to Hembeck #[nn] (2016), Marvel Masterworks: The Invincible Iron Man #12 (2019), Iron Man Epic Collection #7 (2025), The Invincible Iron Man Omnibus #4 (2026)
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