I don't have a favorite Iron Man "story" but Iron Man definitely plays a crucial part of me even being a comic fan. I was in 4th grade and my comic collecting to that point was limited to the "toy" comics like G.I.Joe and Transformers and maybe Batman or a Superman every now and then,safe stuff,stuff i knew. Then one day,i made the weekly gas station trips with my dad and i wanted a comic,but i had the current Joe and 'formers issues,so not wanting to go home empty handed,i picked up a Iron Man issue.
Didn't know who Iron Man was,vague idea of any superheroes outside of the Big Guns like Spidey or Supes......but this issue was freakin awesome,i don't know the issue number,but it's the last appearance of the silver and red armor. Tony goes up againt this big nuclear powered looking guy and gets his ass kicked and apparently dies at the end of the issue. I actually thought he was dead,and this single issue started the landslide of comic obsession.
Next came X-men Classic,Justice League International,etc,etc.......by the time i got a Daredevil,i was gone. Hooked for life.
What if this was a blah issue,i wouldn't have cared,maybe wouldn't have ever tried another non-GI-joe comic,who knows,maybe later dropped comics completely. Maybe,maybe not. Something in that Iron Man roped me in,i don't even have that issue in a bag. I wanted to keep it honest with its nowhere near-mint conditon. I do miss the red and silver armor though.
I owe one of my life's great joys to Iron Man,that one comic started it all,and i'm lucky i still have it.