Amyas: I grew up in an alcoholic household, and I found Tony Stark's alcoholism kind of helpful.  It helped me understand that you weren't necessarily a bad person just because you couldn't control your drinking.

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I like the idea -- a hero dealing with alcohol problems. I just feel like it was shoehorned on Tony. 

Greg: I think in the case of IM it was one that they thought could be trotted out for a storyline and then put back in the box.

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Things don't work that way. Tony is an alcoholic for a storyline = Tony is now and forever an alcoholic. I really feel like creative teams need to be responsible with these characters... alcoholism doesn't go away after a storyline. Alcoholism is now (and forever) part of Tony's character.

Kip: Funny how people read things differently.  Maybe coming from a family where no one drank alcohol at all, I saw Tony's alcholism as a problem that grew naturally out of the character.  and it wasn't just that, I saw him as someone with an addictive personality--drink, women, materalism; all things that he danced close to the edge

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I've read early issues of Iron Man. Tony is a playboy (–noun  a man who pursues a life of pleasure without responsibility or attachments, especially one who is of comfortable means) 

Being a "playboy" doesn't equal alcoholism (–noun  a chronic disorder characterized by dependence on alcohol, repeated excessive use of alcoholic beverages, the development of withdrawal symptoms on reducing or ceasing intake, morbidity that may include cirrhosis of the liver, and decreased ability to function socially and vocationally)

Greg: In his interview on the Iron Man DVD, Bob Layton says that the alcoholism element was at that point the "villain" for that storyline. It was a culmination of, as Layton says, looking at what would effect a billionaire playboy who had everything, and alcohol was seen as a major factor that could bring a man like Tony Stark down.

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I guess if I was looking for a way to "effect a billionaire playboy who had everything" I would take his money away. You could always give $$$$ back to Tony to restore the character. I feel monthly comic book characters should arc through an "illusion of change" in their storylines ---- alcoholism is a permanent change.

Nathan,

I agree with all your points. The alcoholism story was, and is, a permanent fixture to Tony Stark. It was not something you could do to the character, and then undo just as easily. It becomes ingrained in to the character like making Speedy a drug addict.

Great list, Emery.  I'd add:

Feral Wolverine (post adamantium removal)

Superman singing to destroy Darkseid

Onslaught doing anything

Kyle Rayner + Alexandra DeWitt + refrigerator

Jason Todd stabbing Tim Drake in the chest with a batarang while the both of them are dressed as replacement Batmen

Ult. Blob eating Janet Van Dyne (or any other panel from Jeph Loeb's Ulitmatum)

Norman Osborn crucifying Swordsman to a wall with Green Goblin daggers (actually, this one was kind of cool cause Strucker's a bit of an incestuous d-bag)

Spider-Man unmasking during the Marvel Civil War

Parallax doing anything

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Someone may have said that, but I don't think it was me.