Iron Man aka the Golden Avenger is one of the most popular and celebrated characters in all of comics and is hard to keep track of if you've been out of the loop for awhile. Catching up on the the adventures of Tony Stark can be tough because Iron Man often has his hand in many different aspects of the Marvel universe. One interesting thing about Iron Man that separates him from a lot of traditional, popular characters is that his appearance is always changing. While some heroes change their costume every once in awhile they normally always revert back to their classic appearance. While Iron Man is traditionally gold and red (not always though!) his suit advances with real life technology and makes for some interesting suits of armor.
Instructions
Catching up on Iron Man Comics
1. Research past Iron Man stories. Since the release of the Iron Man movie, Marvel has had Tony Stark be centric to several major story-lines. These stories have defined Iron Man and his motives. The "Extremis" and "Civil War" stories are a good place to start.
2. Go to your local comic shop. Look for Iron Man titles. The probability is that he has his own monthly on-going and is a major player in the Avengers comic. Talk to customers or employees at the shop and ask for their advice on catch up on Iron Man.
3. Visit online forums, blogs or read articles. Talk to other comic book fans to get a brief (or full) synopsis of the happenings of Iron Man. Watch out for spoilers!
4. Read other Marvel comics. Iron Man has gained more and more importance over the past few years so knowing what is going on around him helps to catch up on the entire picture.