IRON MAN ANNUAL #9

Cover shows strong gloss and sharp corners with no visible creases or color breaks; spine appears tight with no stress lines evident in this view. There is minor edge wear at the bottom right corner and a small amount of surface wear visible near the bottom edge. The book is in a protective sleeve which slightly obscures fine surface detail, and the back cover and interior pages were not assessed.

Iron Man Annual #9, cover dated December 1987, is a 52-page Copper Age annual plotted by David Michelinie and Bob Layton with script by Michelinie, penciled by Mark Bright and inked by Layton, with colors by Bob Sharen. The story, "Savior or Assassin? Call Her– Stratosfire!", introduces Stratosfire, a Roxxon Oil-sponsored armored operative built around the Sunturion technology Iron Man had first confronted in the regular series, and it ends with her apparent destruction. Set between Iron Man #222 and #223, it lands squarely in the Michelinie-Layton-Bright run that carried the title through the Armor Wars period, and it includes a supporting-cast turn for Jim Rhodes and Bambi Arbogast plus a two-page profile of Stark Enterprises' Los Angeles facility. The story was later chopped into seven parts for reprint in the UK Transformers weekly, a curiosity that occasionally draws British collectors.