About Advanced Iron

Advanced Iron started in 1993 when Bill Egan of California, USA, followed the suggestion of a fellow Iron Fan, Mike Kalibabky, to put out a regular fanzine about Iron Man. At the time, Bill had been publishing Iron Fan,an "every-now-and-then" 'zine about Shellhead and his fans. Bill published several issues A.I. with black and white covers, then eventually "splurged" on featuring a color cover done by an Iron Fan.

Bill advertised in Iron Man itself, and A.I.(Advanced Iron) attracted more fans. Eventually, Bill handed over the reins of the mag to Dave Huber after 28 issues. Dave published 10 issues, then sought out the assistance of Jeff Pearson (Webmaster/ Publisher) and Roger Ott (EIC) in order to make A.I. more widely available via the fast-growing World Wide Web.

This they did -- since #39, A.I. has been a fully web-based 'zine,seeing its readership increase from approximately 30 readers per issue (as a paper 'zine) to well into the tens of thousands!!

In 2004 the reins were passed to Jeff Pearson who served as publisher and Vic Holtreman as Editor-in-Chief. The website design was updated and a new look was brought to the Zine. Unfortunately by 2006 personal commitments of both Jeff and Vic necessitated they devote less time to A.I. and things slowed down a bit.

Now, A.I. is under the tutelage of a new team again with the biggest update ever to both the website and the Zine -- some new Iron Fans and some old. But the result will be the same: high quality Iron Fan-produced material to satisfy your Iron cravings!!

How can I contribute to Advanced Iron?

If you want to opine (share your opinion) on the Iron Man title, if you have some Iron Man fan-fiction you'd like to share, if you have some Iron Man artwork you'd like displayed -- SEND IT OUR WAY!!

Do NOT worry about the "professionalism" of your work. We're all amateurs here (except when the Marvel creators contribute, of course!)!! And we don't limit our wares to just Iron Man -- info or submissions about any established or original armored hero is welcome!

Send your submissions to either of our editors listed below via attached e-mail file. Please keep art files as .JPG or .GIF files. Articles can be sent as Word files (.DOC), which are preferred, but we'll also accept plain 'ol text files or even an e-mail message.

Advanced Iron Staff Biographies

Notes: For security reasons, we have removed email links. If you need to get in touch with any of us, you can still find contact info in each of the issues.

Vic Holtreman (Publisher & Webmaster)

Vic, who is originally from New Jersey and currently lives in Utah, has served in the Navy, has been employed as a door to door salesman, construction worker, car salesman, waiter, drafter, mechanical designer, systems sdministrator, and is now self-employed with an internet business. He is person behind the up and coming movie news website: ScreenRant.com.

Vic has always been a huge Sci-fi fan who loved comics as a kid, and rediscovered them when he happened to see Iron Man on the rack at a local drugstore during the JRjr/Bob Layton run (it was right before IM accidently assasinated that ambassador). He was attracted to the realistic depiction of the armor and the attention to technical detail that Bob Layton brought to the title. Iron Man was his favorite as a child because it was POSSIBLE. A regular person could be that superhero in the real world.

He is the proud owner of a HDTV home theater system and owns over 120 DVD titles. Vic is married and has a young daughter who he is indoctriating (within reason) into the world of Sci-fi.

John B. Comerford (Editor-in-Chief)

Ironman John (IMJ) hails from the suburbs of Chicago and cites Iron man as his first foray into comics. He has been an Iron Man reader for 17 years, and over time has amassed more Iron Man knowledge and items than Tony Stark himself. In addition to revamping the zine as Editor, John's contributions include interviews, title reviews, compiled checklists for the readers, and regular articles about various items and aspects of Iron Man collecting. John first picked up Ironman #247, which he bought off of the spinner rack from a local Convenient store after a friend had gotten him interested in the comics of that era. The great cover art by Bob Layton immediately caught his attention and after reading the book, he's been hooked ever since.

His collection is widely regarded in Iron circles as one of the most comprehensive and complete centers of Iron Man comics, statues and merchandise in the hobby for this character. He has also been amassing an electronic database of all things Iron in the hopes of someday writing the definitive Collector's Guidebook to the Iron Man hobby. John is a graduate of a small private college in the Midwest and is also pursuing work in the field of Mental Health and Counseling.

Filipe Muffoletto (Layouts, Contributor)

Although he’d read his brother’s copies of IM #120 and miscellaneous late-70’s Avengers issues years earlier, Filipe’s love of Iron Man didn’t develop until reading his best friend’s copy of IM #182 (read Hube’s review of #182 at http://members.aol.com/ironhube/IMR182.htm ) when he was 8 years old. An insatiable collecting of Iron Man immediately followed for about 8 years. Only recently has Filipe revisited the Marvel Universe to catch up on and follow his favorite hero, James Rhodes, and sidekick, Tony Stark!

His love of all things art, his commitment to becoming a better illustrator, and his desire to be a part of the Iron Man community led to Filipe’s contributions of art for A.I. in 2005. Since his first illustration contribution (a cover re-creation of IM #182, no less) Filipe has yet to miss an issue of A.I. without an IM-related visual. You can see Filipe’s IM illustrations and cover re-creations at his site, www.fmuff.com.

Dave Huber (Columnist, Shellheadisms)

Dave first became involved with A.I. in 1994 when he saw a blurb about the 'zine in IM #309. He submitted various columns regularly, and eventually became editor and publisher beginning with A.I. #29. He's been a fan of Iron Man since the early 70s, and especially digs George Tuska's old-style artwork. His fave IM issue is #78, reprinted in the IM "monster" issue, vol. 3 #46. Besides IM, he regularly collects The Avengers and The Ultimates.

Dave, in his 5th decade of existence, is a native of Wilmington, Delaware USA. He teaches Spanish at a local school, has coached many different school sports, and maintains his school's webpage. Dave has a teenaged daughter, Vanessa. Dave digs basketball, golf and running, and reads every chance he gets. He digs sci-fi, history, politics and culture. He and some pals blog at the "Colossus of Rhodey" political blog located at http://colossus.mu.nu.

Heath McKnight (Columnist, Metal Head)

Heath McKnight lives in the sunny clime of Wellington, Florida. He has been with A.I. since 1995 in many different areas. His most constant contribution is "Metal Head," a column devoted to Iron Man movie news, genre-related movies, DVD, videogames and TV. Heath has also done up a treatment of an Iron Man movie script, and has done at least one A.I. cover -- the first featuring the "Heroes Reborn" armor.

Heath first discovered Iron Man thanks to a birthday gift from his Aunt -- a "grab-bag" of comics that included IM #191. He then began collecting the title regularly and eventually nabbed nearly every IM issue ever! He also has an awesome tattoo of Iron Man on his forearm.

Currently, Heath has directed and released the independent feature film 9:04 AM (www.904am.com), and is in development on an adaptation of the hit indie comic THE 3 GEEKS, created by Rich Koslowski (www.richkoslowski.com).

He also formed the non-profit Palm Beach Film Society, which organizes the Voices of Local Film night at the Palm Beach International Film Festival. Heath's movie company's webpage is at www.mpsdigital.com and the society's webpage is at www.pbfilmsociety.org.

Roger Ott (Contributor, IM Timeline, Vault & more)

As a child, Roger loved reading and art, so was immediately drawn to comic books, his favorites being Amazing Spider-Man, Incredible Hulk, and Fantastic Four, which he devoured whenever possible. Then in the early months of 1984, when Marvel Comics launched the Secret Wars limited series, Roger discovered many other heroes he hadn't paid attention to in the past, such as the Avengers, the X-Men, and in particular, a red-and-gold armored character named Iron Man. He picked up the next Iron Man issue that hit the stands, which was issue #182. The cover immediately captured his interest, and he was a fan from that moment on.

More than a decade later, in early 1996, Roger received a letter from Dave Huber asking for new contributors for a fanzine called Advanced Iron. Roger jumped at the chance to interact with his fellow Iron Man fans, and debuted as a columnist in AI #26, contributing articles for several months until asked to co-edit the fanzine with Dave Huber. Shortly thereafter, Roger became Editor-In-Chief of Advanced Iron, and working alongside all of the regular contributors, ushered A.I. from a print fanzine to a digital format with issue #39. After editing several issues, Roger had to step down as EIC in 2000 so that he could return to college to further his engineering studies.

In 2007, Roger rejoined Advanced Iron as a regular columnist and website contributor.

Special Skills: Able to recall minute details from the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe

Most prized Iron Man-related collectible: The full-size Retro and Classic Iron Man statues from Bowen Designs.