It's Iron Man's Titans of Technology Thursday

After eight SWAMP THING posts in a row I have to admit that even for such a veteran blogger like myself a kind of fatigue has set in and I am slowly losing steam. So since I want to always give my best - not only to improve the quality of the posts and to keep my readers engaged but also to motivate myself - I have decided to do a few quick posts to go inbetween the SWAMP THING posts with the material that accumulates over the years from the few artists that I follow on facebook and which otherwise just lies in some folder. So to start this of I have decided to put more Bob Layton Iron Man goodness on the blog and it will probably not surprise any of my longtime followers that I have to start with the Silver Centurion armor which is the best armor Tony Stark ever made.

Now one of the reasons why I decided to start this series of posts with Bob Layton's IRON MAN is that his frequent co - creator on that title not only wrote the groundbreaking and character defining storylines DEMON IN A BOTTLE and ARMOR WARS but also introduced Tony Stark's redhead bodyguard with the hardbody Bethany Cabe. Who for me is still the best companion for Tony and not only because of all the stereotypes about redheads. So you can imagine that I was very disappointed when they gave her the boot in the movies and focused on Pepper Potts who was more Happy Hogan's girlfriend - and later wife - in the comicbooks.

Well versed comicbook afficionados have of course long surmised that the comicbook creator who worked with Bob Layton on IRON MAN I am talking about is none other than David Micheline who also wrote for the first SWAMP THING series after Len Wein had left the book. So while we come to something completely different with this - to quote a famous british comedy troupe - it still is connected to SWAMP THING MONTH.

As for the contents of the post this was supposed to be a quick done - in - one post, just grab a few Bob Layton commissions, put them in some random order and then go to the next one Tomorrow. Yeah, anybody who has followed this blog over a certain period of time already knows that things never turn out to be that easy. I admit it, I have a tendency to make things more complicated than necessary and the first wrinkle was my decision to make this post a tribute to the Silver Centurion armor.

Thankfully I had just enough pictures for a full blown post and things could have been so easy. Instead I decided to include some original art from that period I have not posted yet plus some of my favourite covers.

That way the posts is not that boring for my readers but with that much material to pick from choosing what goes into this post was that more difficult. But also more rewarding. And with that long introduction we come to my selection for this post which includes original commissions by Bob Layton, some of my favourite covers as well as the cover of the first american issue of IRON MAN with the brand new Silver Centurion armor I ever bought. Back then at the international newsstand at the central train station in Stuttgart, where I got all of my US comicbooks.

when in rome do as the centurions