Home › Iron Man › #47

Cover: Gil Kane & Vince Colletta

Iron Man #47

Name: Iron Man #47
Brand: Marvel
Availability: InStock

Jun 1972 · Marvel · 0.20 USD

☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join free

“Why Must There Be an Iron Man?”

About this Issue

Iron Man #47 holds its place in Bronze Age history as the first full, page-for-page retelling of Tony Stark's origin since the character's debut in Tales of Suspense #39 nearly a decade earlier, making it the definitive Bronze Age restatement of what Iron Man is and why he exists. Writer Roy Thomas used the framing device of Kevin O'Brien's recent death to give the origin real emotional weight: Tony isn't simply recapping his past, he's asking whether the armor and the hero inside it are worth the human cost around him. The collaboration with Barry Windsor-Smith — by then already celebrated for his Conan the Barbarian work — brought a visual polish and expressive draftsmanship to the familiar story that the original Don Heck art never had, and the issue functioned as a deliberate creative reset that cleared the decks for the cosmic era of the title that followed almost immediately.

writer Roy Thomas · artist Barry Smith · inker Jim Mooney · letterer Artie Simek · cover Gil Kane, Vince Colletta

ComicBooks.com Value

Our Model is In Beta

Raw (Fine) $51

CGC 9.8 · 9 in census $5,204

CGC 9.6 · 32 in census $1,130

CGC 9.4 · 53 in census $558

CGC 9.2 · 38 in census $240

CGC 9.0 · 55 in census $212

CGC 8.5 · 52 in census $126

Show all 18 grades ▾

CGC 8.0 · 33 in census $126

CGC 7.5 · 29 in census $84

CGC 7.0 · 30 in census $84

CGC 6.5 · 20 in census $84

CGC 6.0 · 19 in census $84*

CGC 5.5 · 10 in census $81*

CGC 5.0 · 13 in census $76*

CGC 4.5 · 5 in census $70*

CGC 4.0 · 4 in census $67

CGC 3.5 · 6 in census $55*

CGC 3.0 · 2 in census $49*

CGC 2.5 · 2 in census $37*

* estimate — limited direct-sales data at this grade

Our model’s value — refined as new sales data arrives · CGC census counts shown where available

This exact issue on ebay

CGC 9.6 $1,346 1 listing CGC 6 $180 1 listing

Raw — VF/NM ▾ $114–$119 2 listings

VF/NM $113.73 VF/NM $119.03

Raw — VF ▾ $1.99–$240 4 listings

VF $1.99 VF $59.95 VF $174.09 VF $239.99

Raw — FN+ $140 1 listing

Raw — FN ▾ $35.31–$135 3 listings

FN $35.31 FN $82 FN $135

Raw — VG ▾ $65–$75 2 listings

VG $65 VG $75

Raw / ungraded ▾ $19.99–$125 11 listings

Raw / ungraded $19.99 Raw / ungraded $29.99 Raw / ungraded $31.77 Raw / ungraded $44 Raw / ungraded $65 Raw / ungraded $70 Raw / ungraded $73 Raw / ungraded $75.99 Raw / ungraded $99.95 Raw / ungraded $109.48 Raw / ungraded $125

Verified matches for Iron Man #47 · eBay asking prices, seen 26 days ago

More listings for this title

GD $37

Related listings we couldn't confirm as this exact issue · 1 total · seen 26 days ago

Read it digitally

Marvel Unlimited Marvel’s subscription reader ▸ Amazon Kindle Buy the digital edition ▸

Opens a search on each platform — digital availability varies by title.

Sell my copy

Have this issue — or a whole collection? Get a fair offer from us, skip the marketplace fees and the hassle.

We Buy Collections ▸

Fast, fair offers · we handle grading & shipping

History

The issue was scripted by Roy Thomas, who was serving as Marvel's Editor-in-Chief at the time, and drawn by Barry Windsor-Smith (credited as 'Barry Smith') with inks by Jim Mooney; the cover was provided by Gil Kane with inks by Vince Colletta. The splash page carries an explicit acknowledgment — 'Based in part on a story by Stan Lee and Larry Lieber from Tales of Suspense #39' — signaling that Thomas conceived it as a conscious heir to, rather than a replacement of, the original. Contemporary reading-order commentary has characterized the issue as a transitional fill-in between the departing Gary Friedrich run and the incoming Mike Friedrich era, with Thomas stepping in personally to use the breathing room for a character-clarifying origin piece rather than a plot-advancing chapter.

Trivia · 8 facts

Cover-dated June 1972 (released March 7, 1972); part of the Bronze Age volume that began in 1968.
Story title: 'Why Must There Be an Iron Man?' (21 pages); cover title: 'The Birth of the Power!' — writer Roy Thomas, pencils Barry Windsor-Smith (as Barry Smith), inks Jim Mooney, letters Artie Simek.
Cover penciled by Gil Kane, inked by Vince Colletta.
First detailed retelling of Iron Man's origin since Tales of Suspense #39 (1963); the splash page explicitly cites that issue as its source, crediting Stan Lee and Larry Lieber.
The origin recap is framed by an in-continuity story: following the death of Kevin O'Brien, police attempt to take Iron Man into custody, prompting Tony Stark's extended soul-searching about whether the Iron Man identity is worth preserving.
Characters appearing include Tony Stark/Iron Man, Marianne Rodgers, villain Simon Gilbert, and villain Wong-Chu in flashback; Ho Yinsen, Happy Hogan, Pepper Potts, Thor, Captain America, and the Mandarin appear in minor/flashback capacity.
The issue is the opening chapter collected in Iron Man Epic Collection Vol. 5: Battle Royal (2022), which also reprints the subsequent Mike Friedrich issues introducing Thanos, Drax the Destroyer, and Moondragon in #54–55.
Additional collected in Essential Iron Man Vol. 4 (2010), Marvel Masterworks: The Invincible Iron Man Vol. 8 (2013), and The Invincible Iron Man Omnibus Vol. 3 (2024); a British edition with a 6p cover price also exists, as does a National Diamond Sales advertisement insert variant.