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In the 20 plus years I've actively been reading comic books, I never remember hearing anyone recommend Len Kaminski's giant-sized run on Iron Man. Granted, at the time of his work, I was still a kid. But I was a kid that read a lot of comic books! And since I've grown into a man (a quite sexy one, at that), I've still never heard a word-of-mouth peep about the work of Kaminski on the Armored Avenger.

So let me be the first person that I know of to go on record by saying that Len Kaminski's run on Iron Man is THE SHIT. No, it's not shit… it's THE SHIT. It's smart. It's fun. It's gripping. It's awesome.

And, of course, Kaminski didn't do it alone. Len had some excellent collaborators in the form of Kevin Hopgood and Tom Morgan. With Hopgood, Kaminski co-created the War Machine armor (and, in turn, the superhero War Machine). Not being a huge Shellhead history buff in my early years, I had no idea that Tony Stark originally piloted the War Machine himself (albeit for only a few issues) previous to Jim Rhodes. (Tony's War Machine was different, though, and by the time Rhodey stepped into the suit, it had upgraded.)

With Tom Morgan, Kaminski closed out his amazing run of Iron Man tales, attempting some rather ambitious storylines including an early adventure (literally) on the Internet and a "fantastic voyage" into Captain America's bloodstream (via the science of Hank Pym, naturally). Morgan also drew a few fill-in issues during Kev Hopgood's run, mixing well with Hopgood's unique artistic imprint.

So why has this run been overlooked by the fandom haunts I've frequented? Maybe it was the forums of discussion I visited. The message boards at Newsarama and Comic Book Resources tend to be full of high-turnover users who have more to say about the present than the past. At my local comic shop, none of the employees are Iron Man fanatics and none of the customers I know espouse their love for Stark Enterprises.

And then, of course, these comics came out during the 1990s. Before I proceed down this tangent of discussion, let me say that I have nothing against the comics produced during the 1990s. I love them as much as the books from any other decade. BUT many people out there – whether they've actually read comics from the last decade of the 20th century or not – bring a heap of preconceived notions to the table when discussing comics produced during the 1990s. It's generally accepted as a low period when savage success for the medium transitioned into savage decline.

While those assumptions of the 1990s hold some weight in the realm of comic book marketing and business practices, most preconceived notions about the superhero comic book content of that era are flat out wrong. True, books back then often tried to up the "gritty" quotient following Watchmen, Born Again, and The Dark Knight Returns. But many cosmic comics of that time had more colors and insane concepts than ever before (and anything since!), while attempts to explore the explosion of information technology yielded some interesting results.

The latter was where Len Kaminski shined on Iron Man. His explorations into the notions of technology in a recently information-rich business world are fascinating. Modern business vs. the demands of modern technology is a constant theme throughout Kaminski's work. And who in superhero comic books is equipped to better deal with that relationship than Tony Stark? None, of course.

I could go on for countless paragraphs about the interesting themes explored within the pages of Iron Man #278-280. I could probably write a fucking dissertation exploring the dialectical relationship between Tony Stark's human frailties and his adventures to the very boundaries of known technology only using examples from Kaminski's work. I could even accuse Google of ripping off Len Kaminski's restructuring of Stark Enterprises in Iron Man #306.

But instead of continuing endlessly in shameless praise, I'll settle for a HUGE "Thank You" to Len for his awesome work on Iron Man. Another GIANT "Thanks" goes to Kev Hopgood and Tom Morgan for the excellent imagery (along with the letters by Phil Felix and the colors by Ariane... and of course, Nel Yomtov, who edited the whole damn thing).

In closing, I'd like to extend a personal plea to all superhero comic book fans out there to go back and dig up Iron Man #278-318. Hell, you can even just start with #280 if you want (since #278-279 are Galactic Storm crossover issues). Most importantly, I challenge the tastemakers who evangelize about superhero comics on a regular basis to read Len Kaminski's run on Iron Man and see if you can restrain yourself from praising these comics up and down. I bet you can't do it.

P.S. With that said, I'd LOVE to see Marvel reunite Len Kaminski and Kevin Hopgood in time for the debut of Iron Man 2 in 2010. If we're going to see War Machine in action in that movie, I think it's only fair to bring his creators back to the Iron Man comic books, if only for a short miniseries akin to David Michelinie and Bob Layton's Legacy of Doom mini (which came out around the time of the first Iron Man flick).