Ok, so maybe I'm a few years on the uptake of this "classic" portrayal of Iron Man, but I simply had to see what all the fuss was about. Evidently, there were pieces of this storyline in the movie, so I wanted to see what they pulled from and just how drunk and disorderly Tony actually became. So, here goes.
I try to write these things without spoilers and such, so you can determine for yourself whether or not you want to read it, but I might have to be a bit more liberal this time, given that this story has been around for almost 30 years now.... Jeez, I'm old.
You ever have something that you idealized when you were younger and remembered it being "so great" only to revisit it years later and realize it wasn't really all that amazing at all; it was just a different time and you were into that sort of thing? This is how I feel about this trade. I definitely see where they pulled from IM's origins and such for the movie, but for the most part it left me a bit flat.
Were drugs and alcohol just the gasp-worthy things back in the 70's that made this so stand-out? They had Harry Osborn popping pills and it is known as Spider-Man classic. I guess Green Arrow did the same thing with his sidekick Speedy having a heroin addiction too... I guess there is angst in these types of stories but no one really wants to follow the exploits of some cracked out loser. At least not for very long. Regardless, this thing obviously sold books, which is really the whole point, from a publishing standpoint.
Now, there are some decent appearances and cameos in this thing, like Namor, the Avengers (Captain America even gives Tony Stark some fighting lessons; I don't know why Tony didn't change his clothes first) and some alright villains teaming up on behalf of Justin Hammer. Really, all the stuff that goes down is because of him. He starts mucking with the suit which leaves Stark wondering why he sucks at being Iron Man.
The whole first part with the Namor just seemed kind of... filler. IM has a few too many on the plane, then mentions his reaction time is messed up when he fights with and against Namor. Tony almost drowns because of Hammer. I felt it was much less about the drinking and more "holy crap, what happened with my suit? I almost died right there!"
Tony develops a bit of a romance with one of his bodyguards, Bethany Cabe, but in the mean time, he continues to have a few problems with the suit. He bodyguards for an ambassador and, during a press conference and with IM's hand on the ambassador's back, Hammer activates IM's repulsor blast, killing the ambassador in front of the whole city. What happens? Oh, they let him go.....
"Officer, I... I realize this will be difficult to believe, but I didn't murder anyone! My repulsor activated without any signal from me whatsoever!" Perfectly logical that the cops talk for a panel or two and decide that it really isn't really a threat, having killed a man in full view of hundreds of people..... Yeesh. All he had to do was give up his suit. No running from the cops, very little, "my life sucks because people hate Iron Man," just an "oh, well, you killed him, find out who did!" maybe i am just used to longer, more involved storylines, but this is supposed to be quintessential Iron Man here!
Tony gets kidnapped by Hammer, gets told the evil plan, blows up the machine messing with the suit, and gets Iron Man back online, beating up a team of baddies. Whatever, you can glance over this.
Tony really only gets his drink on in the last issue or two and stands up Bethany a few times, treats her and Jarvis like crap, prompting Jarvis to resign. Bethany wonders what is up and helps Tony out of his funk. Jarvis gets rehired, IM beats up Jarvis' insurance guy, and the world is happy once more.
The real 'Demon in a Bottle' was maybe 2 issues. It just seemed like a caveat in what was pretty much Justin Hammer messing with Iron Man. Maybe the story just isn't my thing, but I never got the sense that this was a long-term problem Tony had been dealing with. I thought that maybe there was more to it and Tony had been drinking out of control for years. Maybe I'm just not that into Iron Man. Maybe it's affected my review of this trade. Maybe.... maybe it just isn't that great...If you really like Iron Man, you should give Demon in a Bottle a look, but if you know the basic plot points of the storyline, you don't need to know much more. The real story is not all that compelling and you will do yourself a service to keep the idealized story in your head over the actual one.
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