(If you’re too young to know what that title line refers to, never mind).

I really liked the Iron Man movie. And having some leftover money on my birthday gift certificate, I decided to pick up Marvel’s trade paperback collection of Iron Man’s early adventures.

While at times the series is very good, I don’t think it’s anywhere near the level of Stan Lee’s best work from the Silver Age. The problem is, I think, that unlike FANTASTIC FOUR, SPIDER-MAN, THOR or XMEN, the cast is very small: Besides Tony, the only regulars at this point (about halfway through the volume) are Pepper and Happy Hogan, which limits how much interaction the story can develop (and their interactions aren’t much—all Pepper and Happy do is banter like leftovers from a second-string romantic comedy). Plus, there’s no romantic element—Tony dates a lot, but there’s none of the melodrama that comes with Sue choosing between Reed and the Sub-Mariner or Peter Parker’s endlessly angst-ridden love life. And that’s not a compliment, more melodrama would have been an improvement.

The emotional aspect of the series rides entirely on Tony Stark’s damaged heart and his frequent need to rush and recharge it, and that’s not enough (and while the early issues pointed out what a problem this was in his personal life, even that angle’s faded as the series goes). Though in fairness, that may be partly because reality has gone so far past the formerly amazing SF concept of an electronic chestplate that can keep a heart beating.

I don’t know if Stan just stumbled, or if it’s that Don Heck, as the primary artist, didn’t contribute to the plotting as well as Ditko and Kirby did, but this is definitely the second string.

And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.”—Friedrich Nietzsche

“Each of us lives with a sword over his head. There are those who can ignore it and those who cannot.”—Murray Kempton.

“If we are not totally blind, what we are seeking is already here. This is it.”—Alan Watts

“Each one of you is perfect, just as you are. And you all could use a little bit of improvement.”—Shunryu Suzuki

“Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.” - Helen Keller

•A book that made you cry: The Incredible Journey. Lost pets, what can I say?
•A book that scared you: Ramsey Campbell’s horror novel, The Incarnate
•A book that made you laugh: Fish Preferred by PG Wodehouse; Time Trap by Keith Laumer (a classic comic SF).
•A book that disgusted you: Any romance novel that tries to convince me rape is sexy.
•A book you loved in elementary school: Any of the Jennings books, British school stories by Anthony Buckeridge.
•A book you loved in middle school: Dragonflight, by Anne McCaffrey.
•A book you loved in high school: The Last Unicorn.
•A book you hated in high school: The Great Gatsby. It’s grown on me since.
•A book you loved in college: The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, by
Stephen R. Donaldson.
•A book that challenged your identity: I’m not sure one has, but the short story “You’re All Alone,” by Fritz Leiber (which assumes almost everyone in the world is a kind of automaton) would have done it if I’d read it a few years younger than I did (I mean—how could I prove it wasn’t true?).
•A series that you love: Doc Savage, Elric, John Carter of Mars, the Cenotaph Road. To name four.
•Your favorite horror book: HP Lovecraft’s collected work.
•Your favorite science fiction book: Hard to pick, but I’ll go with Earth by David Brin. Brilliant piece of near future SF.
•Your favorite fantasy book: Last Call by Tim Powers. A quest for the Holy Grail set in Las Vegas. Marvellous.
•Your favorite mystery book: The collected Sherlock Holmes. It’s surprising how often I quote them to myself.
•Your favorite biography: Tarzan Alive by Philip Jose Farmer. The mock biography of the “real” person Burroughs based the Tarzan legend on. Other Powers, a biography of 19th-century presidential candidate Victoria Woodhull, is probably the best true biography.
•Your favorite “coming-of-age” book: The Prydain books by Lloyd Alexander. Chronicles a young farm boy’s growth from a kid dreaming of heroism to a man tackling the real thing.
•Your favorite book not on this list: Any of Stephen Jay Gould’s science histories, Keep Watching the Skies by Bill Warren, Alice in Wonderland, Tarzan of the Apes, Superfolks

I love looking at the old books at the back of Destin Library, the ones collected in the glass-fronted cabinets. To me, they’re like a time machine.
•Stories of Tom Swift, boy inventor back when being a ground-breaking inventor meant stories such as “Tom Swift and the Electric Locomotive” or “Tom Swift and the Wireless Message” (i.e., radio).
•A 1912 book by reformer Jane Addams on “white slavery,” the supposedly widespread practice of sinister immigrants seducing wholesome American virgins, hooking them on drugs, then forcing them into prostitution (this scare was mostly bogus, but created a huge controversy at the time).
•An 1895 Baedeker travel guide.
•A “History of the World War” from back when there was only one world war to keep track of.
•Famous authors (Dickens, Hugo, Kipling, Dumas), less famous authors (Zane Grey, Lord Dunsany) and people largely forgotten today such as Swinburne or F. Marion Crawford.
•A multivolume set of John L. Stoddard’s Lectures. Who the heck was Stoddard and why did anyone care enough to have his lectures bound?
•An 1837 edition of Moliere’s plays. Just the idea of a book close to 200 years old fascinates me.
•Perhaps the most obscure item in the cabinet (OK, most obscure next to Stoddard’s lectures) is “The Ideal Fitter,” on installing heaters (”The best and most comprehensive book ever offered the heating profession.”).
I love old books. They’re a glimpse into a time when people thought differently, kids played differently, when the horizons of what was possible and what was fantasy were different, and all of that fascinates me.