The Invincible Iron Man #1
Title: “Armageddon Days”
Medium: comic
Cover date: July 2008
Publisher:
2 characters in this story:
| Character (Click links for info about character and his/her religious practice, affiliation, etc.) |
Religious Affiliation |
Team(s) [Notes] |
Pub. | # app. |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Force Works; Illuminati...  |
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5,673 | |||||
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[A.I.M. splinter group] | |
2 |
Some explanation is warranted about this new first issue of a new Iron Man series. The Invincible Iron Man #1, with a cover date of July 2008, features the title "The Invincible Iron Man" on the cover and presumably in the internal indicia as well. This is the "official" title of the series.
This is a different Iron Man series than Iron Man volume 4, which began with a cover date of January 2005. The title on the cover of the first issue of Iron Man (vol. 4) #1 (Jan. 2005) was also The Invincible Iron Man. That was the title that appeared on the cover of that series for 12 issues, before using simply Iron Man for two issues and then displaying a cover title of Iron Man: Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. for the rest of its run (until issue #35).
The Invincible Iron Man #1 (July 2008) launched while Iron Man volume 4, with the cover title "Iron Man: Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.", was still being published. Iron Man: Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. #29 and The Invincible Iron Man were released in the same month.
Because so many issues (perhaps most) of various Iron Man comics had previously sported a cover title of "The Invincible Iron Man" yet been officially named simply "Iron Man," one could very reasonably regard this new series (launched July 2008) as simply Iron Man volume 5. But most sources we refer to list it under the full title The Invincible Iron Man without such a volume numbering. Perhaps this is because this series was launched while Iron Man volume 4 was still being published. Even more confusingly, we have seen this 2008-launched series identified as both The Invincible Iron Man volume 1 as well as The Invincible Iron Man volume 2. Confusion about what to call this and other Iron Man series stems partially from the fact that the cover title often has not matched the "official" indicia title. There are varying opinions about how much significance the indicia title should be given relative to the title as it appears on the cover. When are subtitles and super-titles part of the official series title and when are they not? Different answers to these questions has led to different ways of identification series titles and different volume numberings. That is why it is important to identify issues not only with an issue number and volume number, but also a date (or, more accurately, a cover date).
