Tony Stark - CEO

The ride along is over Fraction

I’m going to admit that my interest in the Marvel Comics that use my image and Iron Man trademarks varies. Back when Stan Lee first approached me I was pretty involved, making sure that the stories really captured what it was like to be both Tony Stark and Iron Man. Overtime though I learned to trust them to do their thing, and I really took a few steps back from the project.

At times the Marvel stories and my life have diverged, that whole Heroes Reborn thing for example, whereas others my life has been captured in the pages of their books with great detail.  I still can’t read their storyline “Demon In A Bottle”, because it does hit too close to home. But with Marvel putting out the movie, I’m back to working very closely with them, so close that when they suggested that Invincible Iron Man writer Matt Fraction come follow me around for a few weeks to help him with his newly (re)launched title it seemed like a natural extension from what we were already doing.  That was before Fraction showed up and I had to live with the reality of dealing with a comic book writer following me around twenty-four hours a day seven days a week for two months.

First off like any writer who hasn’t yet become Stephen King, Tom Clancy, Robert Kirkman rich he’ll eat everything and anything. It’s why I try to do interviews with Time and Newsweek at the office, because inviting a writer into your home is basically the same thing as randomly throwing out half of whatever is in your fridge. Comic writers are even worse.

But food is just money, the real frustration was that he’s a terrible wing man.  We were on the West Coast and had seperated.  I was with Megan Fox and he had gone back to the hotel room that he and I were sharing to write an upcoming issue of the comic.  I was glad, because he’d been cramping my style all night in his K-Mart clothes. 

Just as I was helping Miss Fox draw a bath so she could show me all of her tattoos my iPhone rang and I had the following conversation with Fraction.

Fraction: I’m at a scene where you’re talking with Pepper would you call her ‘baby doll’ or ‘sugar lips’?

Me: I don’t know, which doesn’t make me sound like I write for MASH?

Fraction: What’s MASH.

Me: A TV show.  Look I don’t really have a preference.

Fraction: Well okay like what will you call Megan Fox tonight?

Me: Probably a dirty whore.

Fraction: I can’t use the word whore, it’s not a Max title.

Me: Whatever that means. Look I’m sure you’ll figure it out.

I hung up on him.  Later he called back twice, but I let that go to voice mail because Megan and I were… occupied.  The next day when I met him for breakfast, which I paid for of course, he seemed a bit miffed but I ignored him and let the previous nights experiance just carry me through.

This sort of thing happens a lot for cops.  They’re called ride alongs, and Warren Ellis was featured in a Powers story about one.  Mostly they’re just about on the job stuff, but I guess since being Tony Stark is such a unique experiance Marvel had thought this was a good idea.

I outlasted it thankfully, and he’s on his way home.  I won’t miss him like I do Stan Lee.  Stan Lee was a great wing man.  Shit Stan’s still a great wing man.  You want to score, bring Stan with you to any night club and you’ll be going home with the second hottest girl in the club (Stan will get the first). 

This I promise you true believers.

Anyone on the west coast free for lunch? I’m in Malibu, hitting LA and then Seattle for dinner with Bill & Melinda regarding her foundation.

Not much to say about last night other than Megan Fox is very flexible, and fits well into the Elektra costume I happened to have.

Realized I’m supposed to be in LA in 16 munutes for dinner with Megan Fox. Got wrapped up in a uni beam power managnent problem/solution.

Long night. Avril was a poor date choice, and I spent most of the night working to increase the propulsion yield in my armor’s boots.

My endorsement for President: http://tinyurl.com/64pj8f

Tony Stark: I endorse Senator Obama

I think it was Ronald Reagan who was quoted as saying, “I didn’t leave the Republican Party, the Republican Party left me.” 

Seeing as the government is Stark Industries’ largest costumer I try to stay on the sidelines of elections, since I’m not wanting to anger either party.  I’ve worked closely with presidents in both parties, and served in the Cabinet as Defense Secretary previously.

Still I suppose on most issues I’d be termed as a classic Republican.  I think business should, for the most part, be free to do their thing and I think if you’re smart and hard working you deserve to be free to make of your life what you want and can.  So while I don’t really think it’s anyone’s business who I vote for, I’ve cast ballots for George Bush in 2000, Bush Senior and of course Reagan.  I voted for Clinton twice however, and I voted for Kerry in ’04.  Yet one of the beautiful things about our system of government is that until now you never knew, the secret ballot is a great thing.  I could vote for who I thought best, without hurting the strong ties Stark Industries has with both parties.

So why today am I changing and openly supporting Barack Obama?  McCain’s a war hero, and a good man. He’s the man I wanted to vote for in 2000, rather than George W. Bush, and I’ve supported him via donations in each of his campaigns for the Senate. 

Personally it’s just that I’m no longer comfortable pretending the religious right does not exist in this country, and pretending that they do not hold an inordinate amount of sway over the Republican Party.  I don’t care what church you go to, and I’m even comfortable breaking bread with people like Tom Cruise who clearly have a bizarre and wrong religion / pyramid scheme.  If you want to believe that God designed humans that’s okay by me, it’s your life and you should be free to do what you want with it.

But don’t you remember when science, true wonderful science, used to be something that people trusted?  Remember when Kennedy made it a national goal to marshal the country’s best scientific minds to reach out to the stars?  We stopped on the moon along the way, but haven’t gone any further because; well because we’ve stopped caring about science.

While it’s true, in a Philosophy 111 sort of way, that the only thing we can ever really know is that we know nothing science offers our best guess.  And yes science is wrong, a lot.  That’s the thing about it, it’s always updated, changed and corrected.  As long as results are achieved via the scientific principal, then they’re open for debate.

Bringing God into the laboratory never has worked, and never will.  You can’t prove God, not as he’s defined by modern Christianity, and so why try and fail?  Why foist Intelligent Design on us just to prove in a quasi-scientific way that God exists?  Why teach our children to question the results of science, and replace it with an outdated mysticism? 

The John McCain that I would have voted for in 2000 would not have put up with that.  He say the religious right for what it was, and rightly called them a dangerous element within the party.  That McCain is gone, and now a vote for the Republicans under him is a vote for against science and learning and knowledge.

Moon rocks weren’t the only things that a love of knowledge and science gave us.  Do you like the iPhone?  I do.  In a generation we’ll be lucky if we can improve on it if we keep moving away from the founding principals of science to accommodate religious beliefs.  People always ask me where the next Tony Stark, or the next Reed Richards is going to come from.  If the Republicans win this election I’m afraid the answer will not be “America” for a very long time.

That is why I am endorsing Barack Obama as President.

Thank you.

- Tony Stark, October 24th 2008