Iron Man FYs 1990–92

1990:

Batting just more than .500.

1991:

1992, the last year for which I'm able to retrieve quality data from Impel Trading Cards (also the year I left elementary school):

Today:

As strong as Galactus.

Compare Iron Man over time to the much more stable metrics fluctuation for Spider-Man (1990, 1991, 1992, today) or the more plausible inflation for Thor, who was revised over this period to be an actual god and not just an architect with a magic hammer (1990, 1991, 1992, today). For the purposes of this report, we'll ignore that none of the measurements appear in like units, gaps in the data, and other "rigorous" science stuff. Note that while I don't have any formal training in performing regressions analysis, I do have multiple Ghost Rider rookie cards. Also, the complete set of 1990-series holograms, which not even the House of Ideas can boast. (These cards, incidentally, represent my investment plan for outlasting the global financial crisis.)

I only hope these new data I've uncovered—which seem at first glance to suggest force metrics inflation over a relatively short period of time—will prove useful in the hands of the appropriate analyst. I'm thinking primarily, of course, of one Spencer Ackerman, whose presentation last week at Transformer ("Iron Man Vs the Imperialists") was rivaled only by his American Prospect feature on the same subject. A mashup with DoD/SHIELD spending over the relevant time-frame seems in order. Presumably Julian Sanchez, Tom Lee, Yglesias, and The Nabob (who in tandem represent a sort of informal government watchdog group for character continuity) could also weigh in on Shellhead's massive, massive powers inflation. Probably the course-corrective action required here is spending more stimulative funds on DC Comics.