Iron Man 125 & 126 2 vfn+ 1979 Bronze Age Marvel Comics ft Scott Lang as Ant Man

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Iron Man 125 & 126

Condition is Very Fine+

Covers

Covers are fully attached to original rust free staples with no staple stress. Minimal spine wear, no roll.   Covers have minimal edge and corner wear. All are flat and cover colours are bright, clear and fully reflective, undimmed by their 35 years. Back covers are white, with only a hint of margin tanning, Inside covers are clean, white and unblemished.

Internal

Pages are fully intact and fully attached to original rust free staples with lots of staple spring and no stress .  Pages clean, off white with minimal  margin tanning, no brittleness. 

Very Nice for a 35+ year old comics

Iron Man 125

Original Cover Price: 12p

"The Monaco Prelude." Part 3 of 5. Guest-starring Captain America and Ant Man (Scott Lang). Avengers cameo. Story by David Michelinie. Art by John Romita, Jr. and Bob Layton. Tony is without his armour. Luckily he has friends like Captain America, Ant Man, and James Rhodes. And, he'll need their help to solve a murder mystery.

Iron Man 126

Original Cover Price: 12p

"The Hammer Strikes!" Part 4 of 5. Story by David Michelinie and Bob Layton. Art by John Romita, Jr. and Bob Layton. Framed for murder, now it's Iron Man's turn to strike back. Tony takes the fight to Justin Hammer. 32 pages.

David Michelinie's best-known work are his two runs on Iron Man with co-plotter (and inker) Bob Layton, in the late 1970s and early 1980s which introduced the character's serious problem with alcoholism and his specialized power armour variants. He introduced two of Stark's closest comrades, Bethany Cabe and Jim Rhodes as well as new enmities with Justin Hammer and Doctor Doom.

For more info on Iron Man and his creators read on after this important message >>>>>>

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Iron Man is a fictional character, a superhero who appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee, developed by scripter Larry Lieber, and designed by artists Don Heck and Jack Kirby. He made his first appearance in Tales of Suspense #39 (March 1963).

A billionaire playboy, industrialist and ingenious engineer, Tony Stark suffers a severe chest injury during a kidnapping in which his captors attempt to force him to build a weapon of mass destruction. He instead creates a powered suit of armour to save his life and escape captivity. He later uses the suit to protect the world as Iron Man. Through his multinational corporation ? Stark Industries ? Tony has created many military weapons, some of which, along with other technological devices of his making, have been integrated into his suit, helping him fight crime. Initially, Iron Man was a vehicle for Stan Lee to explore Cold War themes, particularly the role of American technology and business in the fight against communism. Subsequent re-imaginings of Iron Man have transitioned from Cold War themes to contemporary concerns, such as corporate crime and terrorism.

 

Throughout most of the character's publication history, Iron Man has been a member of the superhero team the Avengers and has been featured in several incarnations of his own various comic book series. Iron Man has been adapted for several animated TV shows and films. The character is portrayed by Robert Downey, Jr. in the live action film Iron Man (2008), which was a critical and box office success. Downey, who received much acclaim for his performance, reprised the role in Iron Man 2 (2010) and The Avengers (2012), and made a cameo appearance in The Incredible Hulk (2008). Downey will play the role once again in the planned Iron Man 3 (2013). Iron Man was ranked 12th on IGN's Top 100 Comic Book Heroes in 2011

Tales of Suspense #39 (March 1963): Iron Man debuts. Cover art by Jack Kirby and Don Heck

Iron Man's premiere was a collaboration among editor and story-plotter Stan Lee, scripter Larry Lieber, story-artist Don Heck, and cover-artist and character-designer Jack Kirby. In 1963, Lee had been toying with the idea of a businessman superhero. He wanted to create the "quintessential capitalist", a character that would go against the spirit of the times and Marvel's readership. Lee said, "I think I gave myself a dare. It was the height of the Cold War. The readers, the young readers, if there was one thing they hated, it was war, it was the military....So I got a hero who represented that to the hundredth degree. He was a weapons manufacturer, he was providing weapons for the Army, he was rich, he was an industrialist....I thought it would be fun to take the kind of character that nobody would like, none of our readers would like, and shove him down their throats and make them like him....And he became very popular." He set out to make the new character a wealthy, glamorous ladies' man, but one with a secret that would plague and torment him as well. Writer Gerry Conway said, "Here you have this character, who on the outside is invulnerable, I mean, just can't be touched, but inside is a wounded figure. Stan made it very much an in-your-face wound, you know, his heart was broken, you know, literally broken. But there's a metaphor going on there. And that's, I think, what made that character interesting. Lee based this playboy's looks and personality on Howard Hughes, explaining, "Howard Hughes was one of the most colourful men of our time. He was an inventor, an adventurer, a multi-billionaire, a ladies' man and finally a nutcase." "Without being crazy, he was Howard Hughes," Lee said.

 

While Lee intended to write the story himself, a minor deadline emergency eventually forced him to hand over the premiere issue to Lieber, who fleshed out the story. The art was split between Kirby and Heck. "He designed the costume," Heck said of Kirby, "because he was doing the cover. The covers were always done first. But I created the look of the characters, like Tony Stark and his secretary Pepper Potts."

 

Iron Man first appeared in 13 to 18 page stories in Tales of Suspense, which featured anthology science fiction and supernatural stories. The character's original costume was a bulky gray armoured suit, replaced by a golden version in the second story (issue #40, April 1963). It was redesigned as sleeker, red-and-golden armour in issue #48 (Dec. 1963); that issue's interior art is by Steve Ditko and its cover by Kirby. In his premiere, Iron Man was an anti-communist hero, defeating various Vietnamese agents. Lee later regretted this early focus. Throughout the character’s comic book series, technological advancement and national defence were constant themes for Iron Man, but later issues developed Stark into a more complex and vulnerable character as they depicted his battle with alcoholism (as in the "Demon in a Bottle" storyline) and other personal difficulties.

Tales of Suspense #48 (Dec. 1963), the debut of Iron Man's first red-and-gold suit of armour. Cover art by Jack Kirby & Sol Brodsky.

From issue #59 (Nov. 1964) to its final issue #99 (March 1968), the anthological science-fiction backup stories in Tales of Suspense were replaced by a feature starring the superhero Captain America. After issue #99 (March 1968), the book's title was changed to Captain America. An Iron Man story appeared in the one-shot comic Iron Man and Sub-Mariner (April 1968), before the "Golden Avenger" made his solo debut with The Invincible Iron Man #1 (May 1968).[10] Lee said that "of all the comic books we published at Marvel, we got more fan mail for Iron Man from women, from females, than any other title....We didn't get much fan mail from girls, but whenever we did, the letter was usually addressed to Iron Man."

Writers have updated the war and locale in which Stark is injured. In the original 1963 story, it was the Vietnam War. In the 1990s, it was updated to be the first Gulf War, and later updated again to be the war in Afghanistan. However, Stark's time with the Asian Nobel Prize-winning scientist Ho Yinsen is consistent through nearly all incarnations of the Iron Man origin, depicting Stark and Yinsen building the original armour together. One exception is the direct-to-DVD animated feature film The Invincible Iron Man, in which the armour Stark uses to escape his captors is not the first Iron Man suit.

The original Iron Man title explored Cold War themes, as did other Stan Lee projects in the early years of Marvel Comics. Where The Fantastic Four and The Incredible Hulk respectively focused on American domestic and government responses to Communist threat, Iron  Man explored industry's role in the struggle. Tony Stark's real-life model, Howard Hughes, was a significant defense contractor who helped develop new weapons technologies. At the same time Hughes was an icon both of American individualism and of the burdens of fame.

Historian Robert Genter, in Journal of Pop Culture, writes that Tony Stark specifically presents an idealized portrait of the American inventor. Where earlier decades had seen important technological innovations come from famous individuals like Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell and the Wright brothers, the 1960s saw new technology, including weapons, being developed mainly by corporate research teams. Little room remained in this environment for the inventor who wanted credit for, and control of, his or her own creations.

Issues of entrepreneurial autonomy, government supervision of research, and ultimate loyalty figured prominently in early Iron Man stories—and all were issues then affecting American scientists and engineers. Tony Stark, writes Genter, is an inventor who finds motive in his emasculation as an autonomous creative individual. This blow is symbolized by his chest wound, inflicted at the moment he is forced to invent things for the purposes of others. Stark's transformation into Iron Man represents his effort to reclaim his autonomy, and thus his manhood. The character's pursuit of women in bed or in battle, writes Genter, represents another aspect of this effort. The pattern finds parallels in other works of 1960s popular fiction by authors such as "Ian Fleming, Mickey Spillane, and Norman Mailer who made unregulated sexuality a form of authenticity."

Anthony Edward Stark, the son of wealthy industrialist and head of Stark Industries, Howard Stark, and Maria Stark, is born on Long Island. A boy genius, he enters MIT at the age of 15 to study electrical engineering and computer science. After his parents are killed in a plane accident, he inherits his father's company.

While observing the effects of his experimental technologies on the American war effort, Tony Stark is injured by a booby trap and captured by the enemy led by Wong-Chu, who then orders him to design weapons. However, Stark's injuries are dire and shrapnel is moving towards his heart. His fellow prisoner, Ho Yinsen, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist whose work Stark had greatly admired during college, constructs a magnetic chest plate to keep the shrapnel from reaching Stark's heart, keeping him alive. In secret, Stark and Yinsen use the workshop to design and construct a suit of powered armour, which Stark uses to escape. But during the escape attempt, Yinsen sacrifices his life to save Stark's by distracting the enemy as Stark recharges. Stark takes revenge on his kidnappers and heads back to rejoin the American forces, on his way meeting a wounded American Marine fighter pilot, James "Rhodey" Rhodes.

Back home, Stark discovers that the shrapnel fragment lodged in his chest cannot be removed without killing him, and he is forced to wear the armor's chestplate beneath his clothes to act as a regulator for his heart. He must also recharge the chestplate every day or else risk the shrapnel killing him. The cover for Iron Man is that he is Stark's bodyguard and corporate mascot. To that end, Iron Man fights threats to his company, such as Communist opponents Black Widow, the Crimson Dynamo and the Titanium Man, as well as independent villains like the Mandarin, who eventually becomes his greatest enemy. No one suspects Stark of being Iron Man as he cultivates an image as a rich playboy and industrialist. Two notable members of Stark's supporting cast at this point are his personal chauffeur Harold "Happy" Hogan and secretary Virginia "Pepper" Potts, to both of whom he eventually reveals his dual identity. Meanwhile, James Rhodes finds his own niche as Stark's personal pilot, revealing himself to be a man of extraordinary skill and daring.

The comic took an anti-Communist stance in its early years, which was softened as opposition rose to the Vietnam War This change evolved in a series of stories with Stark profoundly reconsidering his political opinions and the morality of manufacturing weapons for the military. Stark, however, shows himself to be occasionally arrogant and willing to let the ends justify the means. This leads to personal conflicts with the people around him, both in his civilian and superhero identities. Stark uses his personal fortune not only to outfit his own armour, but also to develop weapons for S.H.I.E.L.D. and other technologies such as the Quinjets used by the Avengers, and the image inducers used by the X-Men.

Tony Stark is an inventive genius whose expertise in the fields of mathematics, physics, chemistry, and computer science rivals that of Reed Richards, Hank Pym, and Bruce Banner, and his expertise in electrical engineering and mechanical engineering surpasses even theirs. He is regarded as one of the most intelligent characters in the Marvel Universe. He graduated with advanced degrees in physics and engineering at the age of 21 from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)  and further developed his knowledge ranging from artificial intelligence to quantum mechanics as time progressed. His expertise extends to his ingenuity in dealing with difficult situations, such as difficult foes and deathtraps, in which he is capable of using available tools, including his suit, in unorthodox but effective ways. He is well respected in the business world, able to command people's attention when he speaks on economic matters, having over the years built up several multi-million dollar companies from virtually nothing. He is also noted for the loyalty he commands from and returns to those who work for him, as well as for his business ethics. Thus he immediately fired an employee who made profitable, but illegal, sales to Doctor Doom  He also strives to be environmentally responsible in his businesses.

David Michelinie

David Michelinie (born May 6, 1948) is an American comic book writer best known for his run scripting Marvel Comics' The Amazing Spider-Man and Iron Man and the DC Comics feature "Superman" in Action Comics.

Early career

Some of Michelinie's earliest work appears in DC Comics' House of Secrets and a run on Swamp Thing (#14-18 and #21-22), the latter illustrated by Nestor Redondo. Michelinie and artist Ernie Chan created Claw the Unconquered in 1975. Michelinie did a run on Aquaman in Adventure Comics which led to the revival of the Sea King's own title in 1977. In the Aquaman story in Adventure Comics #452, Black Manta killed Aquaman's son, Arthur Curry Jr. by suffocation. The infant's death has affected the character ever since. While writing the Karate Kid series, Michelinie used the name "Barry Jameson" as a pseudonym. With artist Ed Davis, he created Gravedigger in Men of War #1 (Aug 1977). The Star Hunters were created by Michelinie with editor Joe Orlando and artist Don Newton, debuted in DC Super Stars #16 (Sep-Oct 1977), and featured in their own short-lived series. The original storyline for Madame Xanadu in Doorway to Nightmare #1 (Feb. 1978) was developed by Michelinie and Val Mayerik.

Marvel Comics

Among Michelinie's best-known work are his two runs on Iron Man with co-plotter (and inker) Bob Layton, in the late 1970s and early 1980s which introduced the character's serious problem with alcoholism and his specialized power armour variants. He introduced two of Stark's closest comrades, Bethany Cabe and Jim Rhodes as well as new enmities with Justin Hammer and Doctor Doom. His most noted cliffhanger was when Tony Stark was thrown out of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s helicarrier and had to don his armour completely to use its flight function before he hit the ground. After leaving the title in 1981, Michelinie reunited with Layton on the book late in 1986, and along with penciller M. D. Bright, closed out preceding writer Dennis O'Neil's Advanced Idea Mechanics arc and launched the Armour Wars, during this time he and Layton introduced the Ghost. Michelinie left Iron Man again after issue #250, closing his second collaboration with Layton with a sequel to their Iron Man-Doctor Doom time travel episode from issues #149-150.

Michelinie was one of writers of The Avengers from 1978 to 1982 and worked with artists John Byrne and George Pérez. During this time he and Byrne created Scott Lang in The Avengers #181 (March 1979)  and with Pérez created the Taskmaster in The Avengers #195 (May 1980).

From 1987 to 1994, Michelinie wrote the The Amazing Spider-Man series which featured the art of Todd McFarlane, Erik Larsen, and Mark Bagley, while introducing the supervillains Venom in issue #298 (March 1988) and Carnage in #361 (April 1992). Michelinie had planned to introduce Venom earlier and included a "teaser" scene in Web of Spider-Man #18, in which Peter Parker is pushed by an offscreen Venom into the path of an oncoming train, the symbiote being immune to Spider-Man's "spider sense" that would have normally warned him of the attack. This was the first of what was to be several clues leading to the reveal of Venom. Michelinie left Web of Spider-Man shortly after and was not able to continue the introduction of Venom until his time of writing The Amazing Spider-Man.

Later career

He began working for DC again with the launch of the Justice League Task Force series in 1993 with artist Sal Velluto. In 1994, Michelinie became the writer of Action Comics. He also worked at Valiant Comics on the titles Rai, H.A.R.D. Corps and Turok: Dinosaur Hunter.

Michelinie and artist Paul Ryan are the only comic book creators to have contributed to the wedding issues of both Spider-Man (Peter Parker marrying Mary Jane Watson in The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21, 1987) and Superman (Clark Kent) marrying Lois Lane in Superman: The Wedding Album (Dec. 1996)

Michelinie returned to comics by teaming-up with Bob Layton and Dick Giordano to form Future Comics. The company closed in 2004. In 2008, he and Layton collaborated again for a four-issue Iron Man: Legacy of Doom miniseries and Iron Man: The End #1 one-shot for Marvel Comics.

Bob Layton

Bob Layton (born 1953) is an American comic book artist, writer, and editor, notable for his work on Marvel Comics titles such as Iron Man and Hercules, and for co-founding Valiant Comics with Jim Shooter.

Early life

Bob Layton was born in 1953. He learned to read comics from the age of four, explaining that his "older sister Sue became bored with reading the same comic to me about fifty times. (It was a Showcase featuring The Challengers of the Unknown.)"

After leaving high school, Layton began "playing comics dealer . . . selling them out of his apartment in Indianapolis," through which he met Roger Stern in 1973, while the latter was working for a radio station in Indianapolis.

Career

CPL

Layton and Stern began publishing a fanzine called CPL (Contemporary Pictorial Literature) out of Layton's apartment. Stern recalls that, "CPL started out as Bob's sale catalog. Bob was drawing the covers and including little reviews written by some of his customers. By issue #5, it turned into a small 'zine with a catalog insert, and I started writing short articles for it. I eventually became an editor of sorts."

CPL rapidly became a popular fan publication, and led to the two forming an alliance with Charlton Comics to produce and publish "the now-famous Charlton Bullseye magazine." During the mid-1970s, both Marvel and DC were publishing in-house "fan" publications (F.O.O.M. and The Amazing World of DC Comics respectively), and Charlton wished to make inroads into the superhero market, as well as "establish a fan presence", leading to the alliance with CPL to produce the Charlton Bullseye. This led to Charlton giving Layton and Stern "access to unpublished material from their vaults by the likes of Steve Ditko, Jeff Jones and a host of others." This association with Charlton (and Bill Pearson, production manager) in turn led to Layton becoming acquainted with the legendary Wally Wood, with whom he apprenticed. This apprenticeship led to work for Charlton on anthology titles, but not working from the Charlton offices, Marvel Comics and DC Comics, while still publishing fanzines.

Marvel Comics and DC Comics

Part of Layton's role as Wally Wood's apprentice included him occasionally delivering artwork to "NYC from Connecticut." Layton recalls that: “One day, I was in the Marvel offices . . . handing in Woody's pages to the production dept. So, I used the opportunity to show my samples around while I had 'my foot in the door'. When I passed the art director's office, I heard John Romita on the phone, frantically trying to find someone to ink a desperately late issue of Iron Man [by George Tuska]. Like an idiot, I stuck my head in his doorway and said I could get the job done in the four or five days that was left on the schedule. It was an utter fabrication . . . but I really wanted to work for Marvel Comics! Johnny gave me the pages and said, 'Show me what you can do, kiddo.'”

Layton's reaction was one of panic, and his search for help to meet the deadline led him to Dick Giordano and Neal Adams' Continuity Associates where his "fledgling contemporaries," the Crusty Bunkers ("Terry Austin, Bob Wiacek, Joe Rubinstein, Bob McLeod, Joe Brozowski, Carl Potts and a host of others") were able to lend a hand and help him finish the book.

A month later, Layton received a package containing "an entire issue of pencils on the Champions", and discovered that he was "the new regular inker on the book." He worked for Marvel "for about a year, then signed an exclusive one-year contract with DC — after they made me 'an offer I couldn't refuse'."

Layton began work for DC Comics in early 1977, taking up regular inking duties on All Star Comics, as well as inking multiple issues of Secret Society of Super Villains, DC Super Stars, and DC Special, among others. In Nov./Dec. 1977, he inked the first issue of David Michelinie's Star Hunters, and after a number of other shorter inking jobs, moved back to Marvel in 1978, to ultimately take up one of his best remembered roles.

In 1978, Layton reunited with Michelinie, to co-write Iron Man. The two would become regular creative partners, and began their collaboration on Iron Man with #116 (November 1978). Micheline and Layton established Tony Stark's alcoholism with the story "Demon in a Bottle", and introduced several supporting characters, including Stark's bodyguard girlfriend Bethany Cabe; Stark's personal pilot and confidant James Rhodes, who later became the superhero War Machine; and rival industrialist Justin Hammer, who was revealed to be the employer of numerous high-tech armed enemies Iron Man fought over the years. The duo introduced the concept of Stark's specialized armours The two collaborated on the title until #154 and then returned for a second run from #215 (Feb. 1987) to #250 (Dec 1989).

Layton continued to ink and work on covers for titles such as The Incredible Hulk, Captain America, Power Man and Iron Fist, and Micronauts. In September 1982, he launched one of Marvel's first limited series, writing and drawing the four-issue Hercules: Prince of Power. Its success spawned a four-issue sequel in 1984 and a 1988 graphic novel (#37 in the "Marvel Graphic Novel" series) - Full Circle. Around this time, he designed the highly successful Marvel Secret Wars toy line for Mattel, which formed the impetus behind the 1984 Secret Wars event. Layton was one of the inkers on The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #18 (1984) which featured the wedding of Spider-Man supporting characters J. Jonah Jameson and Marla Madison in a story written by Stan Lee.

In February 1986, Layton revived the original X-Men characters in the series X-Factor, which he wrote and Jackson Guice drew. Layton wrote the first five issues before handing over the series to Louise Simonson. Michelinie and Layton became the creative team on Iron Man once again in issue #215 (Feb. 1987) They crafted the "Armour Wars" storyline which ran from #225 (Dec. 1987) through #231 (June 1988). After Michelinie and Layton finished their second Iron Man run with issue #250, Layton returned to the title briefly to write and draw #254 and write #256 before leaving Marvel. A year later, he returned to the comics industry to ink Jim Shooter's Magnus, Robot Fighter #1, from Valiant Comics.

Valiant Comics

Bob Layton was one of the chief architects of the Valiant Universe, along with Jim Shooter, Barry Windsor-Smith, Steven J. Massarsky, and Jon Hartz. He co-created a number of the core characters including X-O Manowar, and later became Editor-in-Chief and Senior Vice President, during which time he controlled the company during its most profitable period.

His first Valiant work appeared in Magnus, Robot Fighter #1 (May 1991), in which he inked Art Nichols' artwork from Jim Shooter's script. He would continue with Magnus for five issues and produce covers to issue #9, while inking the inaugural issues of Solar, Man of the Atom, which he edited. In February 1992, he co-created with Shooter and Steve Englehart and penciled the first issue of X-O Manowar, after which he handed over the core art duties to Sal Velluto, but provided inks for #2. The following month he drew the cover to David Michelinie's Rai.

In August 1992, he co-wrote, edited and inked Archer & Armstrong #1, edited and provided pencilwork on Eternal Warrior #1, and inked Barry Windsor-Smith on Unity #0. Starting in November 1992, he co-edited with Dark Horse publisher Mike Richardson the Predator/Magnus, Robot Fighter two-issue crossover, and in December was again inking and editing a Michelinie-written comic book series: H.A.R.D. Corps. Layton edited Turok, Dinosaur Hunter, Deathmate and Secret Weapons before writing the first of thirteen issues of The Second Life of Doctor Mirage. He was editing a vast array of titles during this time, for which he won the Editor of the Year award in 1993, as voted by the readers of the comics magazine, Wizard.

His workload decreased greatly towards the end of 1994, in large part due to the sale of Valiant (Voyager Communications, Inc.) to video game giant Acclaim Entertainment for $65,000,000.00 USD, a deal in which Layton played an instrumental part. His story concepts and design work on Turok, Dinosaur Hunter was utilized to great effect by Acclaim when the video game became the largest selling title in Acclaim’s history, with over 1.5 million units sold. He continued to work editorially, largely for the new Acclaim imprint Armada Comics, for which he edited a number of Magic: The Gathering comics during 1995-96. He edited Bob Hall's four-issue Armed & Dangerous (April–July 1996), and returned to X-O Manowar for which he wrote the final three issues.

After a several-year association with Valiant/Acclaim, Layton moved to Florida for a short retirement. Although he found time to write the first eleven (of twelve) issues of Acclaim's Doctor Tomorrow between 1997 and 1998, inking a couple of issues, notably #6 which was drawn by Dick Giordano, who resided in Florida as well and was something of a mentor to Layton.

Return to DC and Marvel

In 1998, he returned to DC, re-teaming briefly with penciler Sal Velluto on a story in September 1998's The New Gods Secret Files and Origins, before collabotaring with his fellow Floridian and artistic friend/mentor Dick Giordano on several projects. The two-issue prestige format Elseworlds tale Batman: Dark Knight of the Round Table was co-drawn and co-inked by the both of them, from a script by Layton and debuted a month after their six-issue mini-series The L.A.W. (Living Assault Weapons), which ran from September 1999 to February 2000, with script and inks by Layton, and full pencils by Giordano. The two wrote a second Batman Elseworlds tale, Batman: Hollywood Knight a three-issue mini-series which told the story of a Serials-actor who became convinced he was The Batman. It was written by Layton with pencils and inks by Giordano.

Between Elseworlds, Layton worked with Marvel Comics on an Iron Man reunion, which saw him produce the four-part limited series Iron Man: Bad Blood with his long-term collaborator David Michelinie. The series ran from September to December 2000, with art by Layton and, as previously, the plot was a joint effort, and the final script by Michelinie. Layton then stayed at Marvel for a short time, teaming with Dan Jurgens as inker on Captain America (#38-50), as well as inking a short run on The Avengers (#44-47). He inked the Dan Jurgens-drawn The Power Company: Manhunter and part of Just Imagine Stan Lee... Secret Files and Origins for DC in March 2002.

Layton in 2013

In December 2000, Layton launched Future Comics, with Dick Giordano, Allen Berrebbi, and David Michelinie. Layton acted as editor-in-chief, Berrebbi was CFO and director of marketing, Michelinie was head writer, Giordano was art director, and Skip Farrell was the publisher. Between 2000 and 2002, they prepared to revolutionize the direct market system by bypassing distributors and selling direct to customers and shops through the Internet.

In August 2002, Freemind #0 was released. Edited and inked by Layton, written by Layton and Michelinie, and with pencils by Giordano, it was followed by another title, Metallix, before the company bowed to pressure and signed with distributor Diamond Comics Distribution in an attempt to maximize sales while maintaining their independent approach. Ultimately, after three titles the third was Deathmask, and seventeen total issues, the company was not making enough money to survive, and it folded, with one announced title — Peacekeeper — unpublished.

Layton's work continues to be collected in multiple trade paperback collections. In 2006, he produced a number of variant covers to issues of Superverse Comics' Zoom Suit, written by John Taddeo, and in 2007 his work was featured in issues of Marvel's encyclopedic All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z: Update. Layton worked for Marvel as a freelance artist and writer on several projects including the miniseries Iron Man: Legacy of Doom and Iron Man: The End.

He continues to enjoy doing commission work, writing: “How often do you, as an artist, get an opportunity to revisit a drawing and correct your mistakes? It’s also a lot less work that doing a monthly, 22-page comic. And occasionally, the fans come up with some great concepts for me to execute.

Layton has been quoted as saying that he "miss[es] telling stories," and to that end has showcased unpublished issues of Future Comics properties on his website, where he presented his serialized comic" Colony, with art by Giordano, and which "is a project that [Layton has] been developing for [over] 10 years and is currently making the rounds in Hollywood." Other potential film deals for the Future Comics characters are reportedly semi-ongoing.