Stark truth about Eoin Colfer and his new Irish Iron Man

Eoin Colfer couldn’t resist setting the latest instalment of Iron Man in Ireland, writes Ed Power

EOIN COLFER is a comfortably-off maverick with a twinkling manner and a cultivated goatee. Thus, the bestselling author of the Artemis Fowl young adult novels has at least three things in common with Tony Stark, aka laconic Marvel superhero Iron Man. When Marvel, the comic book powerhouse turned king of the box office, inquired last year whether Colfer might be interested in writing an Iron Man novel he didn’t have to think twice.

“They actually had in mind that I do one about Captain America and Tony Stark,” says Colfer. “I’m not really interested in Captain America. I like the Iron Man character, though — Tony is totally selfish and can’t understand why people think he is self-centred. He’s like ‘what…I’m brilliant…of course you all like me?’ He’s a great creation.”