Thank you! No, I haven't read any of the Essential collections, but I have read some of the older Iron Man comics. At this point, I only remember some of the arcs I've read, and my reading has been all over the place since I've been limited by what I could borrow. I find the older comics generally interesting and amusing for the glimpse they provide into popular media of the era (transistors! magnets! No one wlll realize we don't know anything about science!). Except for the 80's. I already lived through that once, and Rhodey with purple fingernails and Tony with Hasselhoff hair made me shudder.

The book was only $8...I'm really tempted.