Desperately needing a life-support system to keep his heart beating, as well as a weapon to fight off his captors, he used materials around him created a make-shift suit of high-tech armor that earned him the name “Iron Man.”

Asked to do a favor for the counter-terrorist agency S.H.I.E.L.D., Iron Man goes to China and investigates the operations of a terrorist cult-leader known as the Mandarin. But when he gets there, the armored avenger discovers that the would-be conqueror is armed with ten rings of alien technology so advanced their powers are indistinguishable from magic. Iron Man is at his most heroic when he’s not sure he can win.

This break-out run by David Michelinie and Bob Layton not only introduced the idea that Tony Stark was an alcoholic, it also features Iron Man being set-up to take the fall for a public murder and having to fight his way through an entire gauntlet of super-villains.

If you want a tale that in Iron Man comics doesn’t involve you knowing a lot about his continuity, or if you’re looking to catch up on what he’s like these days, these stories should be in your hands already.