Acknowledgments for Alternate Iron #300

also by Matthew Malek

The story you are about to read is not mine. True, my name is the one credited with authorship and I did type the words that you will read. Yet this story does not belong to any one person. A large number of people contributed in various ways, and I would like to take a moment to thank each person who has helped to make this tale possible.

First, I would like to thank Len Kaminski for the inspiration. Alternate Iron #300 is intended to replace Iron Man #300, as the Alt-I universe diverges from that of mainstream Marvel. As the writer for Iron Man #300, and the issues which led up to it, I am building upon the foundations which he has set. Next, I would like to thank David Michelinie and Bob Layton. In general, I would like to thank them for being the ultimate Iron Man creators and for generating my initial interest in Iron Man thirteen years ago. More specifically, I would like to acknowledge them for writing one special issue (I won't mention which one here; it will be clear from the text) that I have built upon in the following story.

Moving away from professional comics creators, I would like to recognize the people who spent their time and energy to brave the wilderness that was my initial script. Many valuable editorial suggestions were offered by Bill Egan and by Pam Williams. Nearly all of them have been adopted into the final version of the story.

Of course, Alternate Iron is a monthly web publication. As such, it needs a home on the World Wide Wed. We have been lucky enough to have two people volunteer to host this new project. One is Bill Egan, the owner of IronFan.com, and the other is Dave Huber, the webmaster and editor-in-chief of Advanced Iron. Thanks are owed to both for agreeing to make this story, and those to come, available to the world.

Finally, there are many people on the Iron Man Message Board who I have been engaging in stimulating conversations with. The regular posters on this board are too many to mention, but I would like to acknowledge three people whose ideas are directly incorporated into this text. Not knowing their real names, I will use the handles which they go by on the message board. To start, there is "Ghost Rider", who conceived of the Plastic Armor. Next, there is the "Iron Centurion", who developed the idea of small, shoulder-mounted pulse bolt modules. And then there is the "Airborne Monk", who explained to me the real-life problems encountered by the military when trying to use remotely controlled fighter planes and other weaponry (this contribution will not be mentioned in the first five chapters available now, but it will be brought up in the conclusion to Alternate Iron #300, available via the web on May 15^th).

Basically, a lot of people really helped to make this story happen, and I want to share that credit... What can I say? I'm an academic! It has been deeply ingrained into me that we must list our resources!

Anyway, without further ado, here is the debut of Alternate Iron. I sincerely hope that you enjoy this story... and decide to come back every month (in fact, twice this month!) to partake in the ongoing alternate adventures of Iron Man!