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I actually just got 4 new BFC figs from that seller. Solid deal!! Although they are technically a Christmas present from my fiance, so I can't have them until next month... sighs... she's the boss!! LOL

After one of the most steady, spectacular and dynamic runs of all, came one which was possibly the most dramatic and controversial. It was penned by Dennis O'Neil, another legend in his own right, who had a big hand in the beginning of the 'Bronze Age' - the period of comic books writing in the 1970s, when darker, more serious themes were introduced (perhaps more strongly felt over at DC than at Marvel, which, after all, had started out as basically a stable for heroes with problems). O'Neil, himself a recovering alcoholic, has written many memorable superhero stories involving substance abuse. He participated in the legendary "Snowbirds don't fly" Green Arrow/Green Lantern story, with its iconic "My ward is a junkie!" cover, and later wrote "Venom" for Batman, in which the Caped Crusader struggles with addiction to the same substance which, much later, empowers Bane. One wonders if this affected the decision to have him write on 'Iron Man', who after all, a few years earlier, had gone through an emotional alcoholic episode. O'Neil started out his run with an issue straight-out about alcoholism, and you could have thought that'd be the end of it, but he had different plans. Big plans. Stark International came under attack from an unknown source; sabotage, then corporate attack and outright terrorism by bizarre armored operatives known as 'Chessmen' - the Knight who attacked directly, the Bishop who used psychic weaponry and the Rook who employed a series of elaborate traps. Tony Stark suffered more and more pressure and stress as he attempted to root out the source of the attacks, but was comforted by his latest lady-friend, the beautiful Indries Moomji. But when things were at their worst, after weeks of hellish struggling against endless assaults and hunting for his unseen enemy, Moomji cruelly rejected him, revealing she had been toying with him all this time. She was, in fact, the Queen and her final attack proved critical; Tony Stark, having been deliberately tempted with alcohol all this time, finally succumbed and got drunk. And he basically remained drunk for days, while his enemy calmly proceeded with his assault on Stark International using means fair and foul, just as Midas had done years before, but with far more success. The enemy was Obadiah Stane, a man who had worked his way up from poverty through any means, leaving a trail of broken lives, getting richer and more powerful with each step. His approach to success was that of a chess-master; devising long-term strategies and applying an array of different tactics using different pieces at the same time. He took possession of Stark's company, renaming it Stane International and returning to the arms and ammunition trade - at the same time taking steps to ensure Tony Stark would not be able to strike back: he froze Stark's own assets. Tony, now drunk practically all the time, became destitute and resisted all attempts to help him by any of his friends, even the superheroic ones. He ended up a desperate homeless derelict, sleeping in flophouses, drinking dollar-store hooch. What became of Iron Man? Some time before Stane took over, an unrelated crisis struck Stark International, and Tony Stark was unable and unwilling to armor up - so he actually made Jim Rhodes the new Iron Man, and Rhodey extremely reluctantly accepted. The next few months saw Rhodes, the new Iron Man, struggle to fill the role - Tony Stark had had years of experience and knew the exact abilities and limitations of his armor, because he had created it himself. On the other hand, he himself had been a soldier for years before he became a pilot at Stark Industries, and his different approach to Iron Man surprised some of the enemies he faced. He also wasn't without support, as he was helped by genius engineer Morley Erwin, a former Stark employee, and his even-more-genius sister Cassandra; they maintained the armor and helped him learn to control some of its more intricate systems. He even participated in the 'Secret Wars', Marvel Comics' biggest event to that date. In his absence, as he was fighting for the fate of all reality in a distant corner of the universe, Tony Stark's own fate was also determined. He survived. He resolved to stop drinking. And he joined the Erwins and Rhodes as they moved to the West coast to start a new electronics company called 'Circuits Maximus'. Their team evolved into an armored superhero-for-hire (because someone had to pay the bills for their start-up) backed up by an engineering genius triad. The new Iron Man took on and defeated opponents such as the mercenary Flying Tiger, former member of the Wrecking Crew Thunderball, the insane Vibro -who channelled the power of the st.Andreas rift to cause earthquakes- , a new version of the Zodiac's Taurus, Firebrand, who had resurfaced after years of retirement and criminal artist the Termite, whose touch dissolved solid materials. Rhodes was going through psychological stress, however. He found he had become irrationally attached to the armor and was tortured by the idea that Stark would reclaim his position, even though he showed no willingness to do so. In fact Stark felt that being Iron Man played a big part in pushing him towards alcoholism. Things got worse, however, as Stark started to build a new armor for himself, more as a mental exercise than anything else (or so he told himself) and Rhodes felt more threatened; things eventually got to a head as the two men went head-to-head in an Iron Man versus Iron Man duel, which ended with Stark resolving he would never be Iron Man again, and Jim Rhodes seeking counseling to deal with his issues - which, it was revealed, were exacerbated by imperfect calibration of the armor itself. Ironically, the whole matter was solved by none other than Obadiah Stane. Growing worried by the fact Tony Stark had not been outright destroyed, had in fact recovered, he chose to simply have the new company eliminated by means of an old-fashioned bomb. The explosion destroyed Circuits Maximus, killed Morley Erwin and severely injured James Rhodes and Clytemnestra... but left Tony Stark unharmed, as well as fatally determined. Unknown to Stane, he had designed and created a new, superior Iron Man armor, perhaps intending for Rhodes to wear it - but now he donned it himself. He made his way to Stane Industries to confront Stane, only to find that the chessmaster was again employing different strategems to win; he had abducted several of Tony Stark's oldest friends and now held them hostage. But Iron Man managed to free them and take them to safety. Stane responded by sending his Chessmen at him again, but they were brushed aside; and when all of his plans and tactics failed, Obadiah Stane resorted to his final solution: a giant, powered armor based on Iron Man's older designs, perfected by his own engineers. The duel between the Iron Man and the Iron Monger devastated the Stane International campus, but was a very one-sided affair; Stane was no match for the unleashed Stark, and when he realized there was no victory possible, he took his own life, blasting his head off with his own repulsors. The nightmare - the long nightmare, at almost three years - was over; now, Tony Stark had to rebuild. The next few issues were clean-up - for instance, switching back the minds of Bethany Cabe and Madame Masque, whom Stane had had swapped out - as well as restarting a new conflict, namely with the sinister science-terrorist organization AIM, in particular the subversive Yorgon Tykkio. Perhaps to make up for the havoc he had undeniably wreaked, O'Neil's final act as writer on 'Iron Man' was the creation of the Stark space station, which would prove an iconic mainstay in the years to come and the site for some of the most gripping stories ever told in the title. Next, a familiar team returned to Iron Man - Michelinie and Layton, for their second run.