10 Marvel Graphic Novels You Must Read Before You Die

3. Iron Man: Demon In A Bottle

Demon in a Bottle is truly something to behold, if not because of its iconic status, then because it's just a fine storyline all around.

Written by David Michelinie and Bob Layton, the book addresses Tony Stark's alcoholism head on, pulling apart the character's struggle with drink in the wake of a series of increasingly awful events.

The key thing here is that it isn't Justin Hammer, Whiplash or some other supervillain who's the antagonist of the story, but Tony's addiction instead, and, although Marvel had certainly never been strangers to portraying taboo subjects in their comics, Michelinie and Layton's storyline was fairly groundbreaking when it first released.

It is, by all means, the most iconic Iron Man story ever told. It might not be flashy, or gargantuan, or filled with plenty of action sequences, but it is uniquely human. Given Stark's metallic disposition, that element - above all others - grants it a salience few other comics can match.