Iron Man #47

Iron Man dominates the center of this June 1972 cover, bursting free of heavy chains with fists raised in a display of raw strength, while chaos erupts on all sides — robot attackers fire energy blasts to the left, an explosion scatters figures to the right, and a defeated mechanical foe lies crumpled at his feet. Gil Kane's pencils and Vince Colletta's inks give the scene a kinetic, larger-than-life energy that perfectly suits the bold tagline "The Birth of the Power!" The interior story, "Why Must There Be an Iron Man?" — written by Roy Thomas with art by Barry Smith — promises the kind of thoughtful superhero drama that made early-'70s Marvel so compelling.