Alcoholism is the thing that defines Tony Stark even more than his fortune, his genius, or his heroism. To begin with his drinking was to deal with the stress put on him by living up to all of those things, the immense responsibility he felt to continue running his incredibly successful multinational company and keep saving the world as Iron Man. Any of those alone would make a lesser man turn to the bottle, but it was all three combined that really saw the downfall of Tony Stark. Demon In A Bottle addressed Tony's problems with alcohol directly, creating one of the most powerful and human stories ever told in superhero comics in the process. Written sympathetically by David Michelinie and Bob Layton, Demon In A Bottle never shies away from the disturbing reality of alcohol dependency, even whilst dealing with fantastical elements like...well, everything that usually happens in superhero comics. Perhaps the definitive Iron Man story, the drinking doesn't actually turn up until the end of the story, which is nonetheless packed with some of the best Tony Stark action we've seen to date. New villain Justin Hammer turns up, riffing on Armour Wars by providing Iron Man-esque suits to wannabe villains...for the right price. When Tony tries to break up this criminal enterprise Hammer frames him for murder with one of his suits, and so Stark has to go on the run. Along the way he trains in hand-to-hand combat with Captain America, railed against SHIELD's attempts to forcibly take control of both his company and Iron Man, and eventually manages to clear his name and put Hammer in prison for a long, long time. For the first time, however, the stress of the superhero life shows and Tony drinks to deal with it. It's a story that not only unveils a key facet of his character but also brought a new dawn to comic books, where the incredible feats and unlikely plot twists that costumed heroes got put through started to having actual, lasting consequences. An important comic book both for Iron Man and the genre as a whole!
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
