Whilce Portacio Returns To The Armored Avenger In New Iron Man Variant Covers

[JayC]

In Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Spencer Ackerman and acclaimed artist Julius Ohta’s new run of IRON MAN, Tony Stark must rebuild his armor after his entire inventory is mystically corrupted by Roxxon! Over the course of the series, Tony will get his hands dirty assembling a new suit, tinkering and upgrading it as the series progresses. For inspiration, Ackerman and Ohta looked to legendary artist While Portacio’s inventive work on the character in the ‘90s. To mark his impact, Portacio will also grace the series with variant covers on IRON MAN #3-5.

Portacio’s first cover depicts the destruction of Tony’s iconic “Heroes Reborn” armor, which was designed by Portacio and used throughout his run. Then, Tony gets to work on his new “Improvised Armor” in the artist’s second cover before powering it up for the first time on the final piece in Portacio’s series. Colored by series colorist Alex Sinclair, the trio of covers spotlight the signature way Portacio brings the inner workings of Tony’s technology and craftsmanship to the page.

"Whilce Portacio is one of the most unique and visually dynamic artists in the history of comics,” Ackerman said. “Even before we learned we'd be blessed with Whilce's variant covers, Julius and I talked about how we could incorporate the tangle of cables that Whilce used to show how powerful the Heroes Reborn-era Iron Man suit was. You'll see Julius directly homage Whilce's legendary design in our third issue."

Check out Portacio’s covers and preorder them at your local comic shop today!

IRON MAN #3 – 75960620898200311
Written by SPENCER ACKERMAN
Art by JULIUS OHTA
Colors by ALEX SINCLAIR
Cover by YASMINE PUTRI
Variant Cover by WHILCE PORTACIO – 75960620898200321
On Sale 12/25

IRON MAN #4 – 75960620898200411
Written by SPENCER ACKERMAN
Art by JAVIER PINA
Colors by ALEX SINCLAIR
Cover by YASMINE PUTRI
Variant Cover by WHILCE PORTACIO – 75960620898200431
On Sale 1/22

IRON MAN #5 – 75960620898200511
Written by SPENCER ACKERMAN
Art by JAVIER PINA
Colors by ALEX SINCLAIR
Cover by YASMINE PUTRI
Variant Cover by WHILCE PORTACIO – 75960620898200521
On Sale 2/26

[ADour]

It's only been two issues so far, but I've been very pleasantly surprised by this run. Onto these variants, I'm not the biggest fan of the Heroes Reborn Armor, but I can appreciate an old artist revisiting a character that he contributed to so prominently, even if a bit infamously.

[SUPREME007]

On 12/3/2024 at 7:44 PM, ADour said:

It's only been two issues so far, but I've been very pleasantly surprised by this run. Onto these variants, I'm not the biggest fan of the Heroes Reborn Armor, but I can appreciate an old artist revisiting a character that he contributed to so prominently, even if a bit infamously.

Man, that run was.... something. Ironically, the Heroes Reborn Armor is one of my favorite armors I can still appreciate the early Hasbro run at it, but it would be nice to see an updated form.

[RobertD]

The first cover is awesome, the second one is... not to my taste, and the third is just kind of so-so.  Wouldn't mind seeing Portacio on something regular, but I guess he's got bigger things going on.