Marvel has a history of taking classic characters and remixing them for alt-world storylines. One of those stories was 1872, which took popular Marvel heroes and villains and reinvented them for the time period. The series gifted readers with one of the coolest Iron Man designs ever, as Tony Stark went full steampunk.
Spinning out of the pages of Secret Wars, 1872, by Gerry Duggan and Nik Virella, was inspired by Timely Comics, the company which eventually turned into Marvel Comics. In the series, Marvel heroes lived in the town Timely, where sheriff Steve Rogers fights injustice and corruption. Governor Roxxon and Mayor Wilson Fisk (aka the Kingpin) have the town living in fear following Bullseye's assassination of Steve Rogers - who lifeless body Fisk feeds to pigs.
Tony Stark, serving as both an inventor and the town drunk, is inspired to create his own Iron Man armor after witnessing Rogers' murder - and following a strange encounter with a fortune reader (Vision). Stark smashes his remaining booze (with a hammer-shaped like Mjolnir) and proceeds to start building a suit. Meanwhile, Red Wolf teams up with Bruce Banner and Natasha Barnes (who's husband, deputy Barnes, was murdered) to bring justice to Fisk and his gang. The town starts an uprising against Fisk and his group of thugs (including Grizzly and Elektra) and Red Wolf shoots Bullseye dead. As Red Wolf is about to be killed by Grizzly, Tony intervenes with his new armor.
Stark puts the new suit to good use by protecting Red Wolf from incoming bullets, while fighting off Fisk's gang. Fisk offers locals a "handsome bonus" for shooting Stark dead, but as one of the townspeople say, "but what good is a pistol against that." The battle continues as Iron Man accidentally punches a horse (his mask's eyes aren't cut properly), crushing the armed gunman riding it. Red Wolf confronts Fisk and the two fight, as the Kingpin's pure power nearly overwhelms him. Red Wolf uses Steve's old sheriff's badge to stab Fisk in the eye. After Fisk taunts that he won't be put on trial, Natasha gets revenge and shoots him dead. The story ends with Stark Industry's being built as Red Wolf is the town's new sheriff.
1872 was a fun origin story for a familiar, but western version of Tony Stark. In just four-issues, he goes from stumbling drunk to finding his true calling as an inventor. By the stories end, he gives up drinking and pursues a career as an inventor. While it might have been a makeshift invention, Stark's steampunk armor was both cool and impressive. It felt like a mix of Iron Man and Bioshock's Big Daddy Robots. It was bulky and unfinished, but just what the town of Timely needed. While it won't be remembered as one of Iron Man's most powerful suits, it's without a doubt one of his coolest.