February 4, 2005
The Lost Voice...
I am not Wil Wheaton but like him, I am just a geek. I love toys (really?) and comic books and when you combine these two passions it can get really (no, really) geeky.
In 1971 my big brother left for college and handed me a stack of comics. Most of them were The Invincible Iron Man from Marvel. I was 7 years old at the time and a budding artist. Soon my room was littered with sketches of Iron Man. I watched the reruns of the Iron Man TV cartoon series after school and was a faithful reader of the comic books. I chickened out and stopped following the exploits of the Armored Avenger in high school when it was no longer “cool” to read comics and watch cartoons.
Five or six years later, I found myself in the back of a drug store in Hamilton, New York, spinning a comic rack in search of what ol’ Shell Head was up to. I’ve been hooked ever since. Much like The Playmakers, my obsession with Iron Man is merely an attempt to recapture my youth. It may be feeble, but it sure is fun.
So it is with a sad heart that I extend condolences to the family of veteran actor John Vernon, who died on February 1st. He was known best for his wonderfully smarmy portrayal of Dean Wormer in 1978’s Animal House, but I will always think of him as the baritone voice behind the man behind the mask of Iron Man. Vernon voiced the character of Tony Stark and Iron Man in the aforementioned TV cartoon series. The animation is so bad, it’s awesome (kids are so spoiled today). But it’s the sound effects, music and especially the voiceover talent that makes these videos a must-have. Download the wav. files below to hear John Vernon bring The Invincible Iron Man to life in the classic "The Hands of the Mandarin"
The walls! They're closing in!
Buy John Vernon as Iron Man at Amazon in "The Invincible Iron Man - The Death of Tony Stark & The Crimson Dynamo"