butler, Edwin Jarvis. Jarvis resigns the next day. Continuing to drink to forget his problems, Stark is confronted by Beth, who tells him about her former husband, Alex, who became addicted to drugs to deal with his stress and insecurities, which ended their relationship and eventually killed him. Beth admits that she was younger, and didn't try to understand his insecurities, but now she's grown and will not abandon Stark like she abandoned Alex. She tells Stark that he is becoming his own worst enemy, and he must open up to and let his friends help him, otherwise he'll keep drinking and drinking until it kills him. Stark admits to his drinking problem and accepts Beth's offer to help him to quit drinking and help him through withdrawal. Stark then apologizes to and renews his working relationship with Jarvis. He learns that Jarvis's mother is sick and offers to pay for her medical costs, but learns that Jarvis has sold the two shares of stock he owned in Stark International that were preventing S.H.I.E.L.D. from buying a controlling interest in his company. The story ends with Stark optimistic about the future, conquering his alcoholism and determined to retrieve the stocks and maintain control over his company. Creation Writer/artist Bob Layton said of the story: "I'm gonna quote David Michelinie here, that it was never our intention to do anything relevant. We were paid to, basically, do the next episode of Iron Man. [It's] just [that in] that particular issue, alcoholism was the bad guy. Instead of Doctor Doom or somebody like that, it was the bottle. That was our villain of the month. And that's really the way we treated it. We built everything up to that. But the point of it is, it was never... we never attempted to be relevant. It just... in the corporate world, what gets to guys? What causes the downfall? Usually it's greed, or it's sex and drugs, right? Well, we couldn't do the sex part, right? Alcohol wasn't talked about all that much, really, to be honest with you. Especially with kids, you know, in that particular era. But, you know, we treated it as we intended to, as the bad guy." Reception and legacy "Demon in a Bottle" has been recognized by critics as "the quintessential Iron Man story," "one of the best super-hero sagas of the 1970s," and "one which continues