Mike Esposito | Through the Shattered Lens

50 years ago, in Iron Man #55, both Drax the Destroyer and Thanos made their first appearances.

Iron Man #55 opens with Drax the Destroyer being held prisoner on Thanos’s mobile prison planet. This Drax is far different from the Drax who became famous as a result of being a part of the MCU. This Drax is a former Earthling who was killed by Thanos but then resurrected and given one mission, to kill Thanos. There’s nothing funny, not even unintentionally, about his Drax. Knowing that Drax will not stop until he has destroyed him, Thanos has chained Drax up and spends his spare time taunting him. Just because Thanos is evil, that doesn’t make him smart.

Drax sends out a mental message to Iron Man, despite the fact that he and Iron Man have never met. Tony Stark agrees to help Drax because Drax’s messages are so powerful that Tony can’t even attend a business meeting. After suiting up as Iron Man, Stark flies out to Thanos’s prison planet. Along the way, Drax tells him the abbreviated details of Thanos’s origin and Thanos’s love of death.

Iron Man’s fist meeting with Thanos is not particularly auspicious.

Thanos thinks so little of Iron Man that he assigns the moronic aliens known as the Blood Brothers to battle Iron Man. Iron Man is able to free Drax, the Blood Brothers are easily defeated, and Thanos makes a hasty retreat. Drax thanks Iron Man, shakes his hand, and then heads after Thanos. And I suppose Iron Man gets back to Earth somehow.

Thanos and Drax were created by Jim Starlin, who wasn’t even Iron Man’s regular writer. When the planned story for Iron Man #55 ended up running behind schedule, Starlin was assigned to create a filler story. Thanos and Drax were both characters that Starlin had invented for a planned-but-never-written sci-fi epic in college. Starlin reused them and their origins in Iron Man #55.

Though thrown together at the last minute, Iron Man #55 predicted the future of Marvel in a way that, even at the time, few realized. When Starlin took over Captain Marvel, he reused both Drax and Thanos and crafted an epic space opera that was later reused during phase one of the MCU. For all the credit that was given to Kevin Feige, the Russo brothers, Stan Lee, and countless others, the MCU owes much of its success to Jim Starlin.

And it all began with Iron Man #55 running behind schedule.

IRON MAN #55 (October, 1972)
Writer: Jim Starlin/Mike Friedrich
Penciler: Jim Starlin
Inker: Mike Esposito
Letterer: John Costanza
Editor: Roy Thomas

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Spider-Man meets the Dallas Cowboys!

In 1983, Marvel comics teamed up with local newspapers to produce inserts that would feature heroes like the X-Men and Spider-Man visiting towns outside of New York, meeting with local celebrities, and, of course, providing ad space for local businesses. One of the newspapers that they teamed up with the now-defunct Dallas Times Herald, which was also the original home of Texas’s own drive-in movie reviewer, Joe Bob Briggs.

Marvel ended up doing three inserts for the Dallas Times Herald, one with the X-Men at the State Fair and then two featuring Spider-Man. In “Danger in Dallas,” Peter Parker accompanied J. Jonah Jameson and Dr. Mudge to Dallas so that Dr. Mudge’s wheelchair-bound son could meet his heroes, the Dallas Cowboys.

Dr. Mudge had also developed an anti-gravity device and the Circus of Crime was determined to steal it for themselves. Spider-Man had to stop them but to fight an entire circus, he would need some help. Good thing that Cowboys didn’t have anything to do that day!

Once the Cowboys had tackled the Circus of Crime, Peter and even Jonah were able to enjoy opening day. Peter even proved his courage by eating a Texas Stadium hot dog!

Spider-Man wished the Cowboys a good game, letting us know that even super heroes from New York were rooting for America’s Team in the 80s.

Out of curiosity, I decided to see how the Cowboys did during the 1983 season. They went 12-4 and were second in the NFC East. They earned a wildcard spot but lost to the Rams, 17-24. Despite Spider-Man’s blessings, it was not the Cowboys who went to the Super Bowl but instead the team currently known as Football Team. (Full disclosure: By default, that was my family’s team until Baltimore finally got the Ravens.) Fortunately, Washington lost to the Raiders, 9-38.

According to the cover, this was a 60 cent value in 1983. Currently, it sells for $18.00 online.

The Dallas Cowboys and Spider-Man #1 “Danger in Dallas” (1983)

Writer Marie Severin and David Kraft
Pencilers Marie Severin and Kerry Gammill
Inker Mike Esposito
Colorist Stan Goldberg
Letterer R. G. O’Shaw

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