Iron Man Run, Part 12

We pick up with Iron Man #12, where we finally learn Vincent Sandhurst's secret. He had clashed with his brother, an inventive genius, and a resulting accident had effectively made Boris Sandhurst an invalid. Wracked with guilt, Vincent had embezzled significant sums from Janice Cord and her father, in order to help his brother with his experiments. Boris has discovered a way to harness the power of other people to overcome his body's limitations, and is now prepared to break loose.

Meanwhile, Iron Man has quickly gotten control of his Tony Stark robot and convinces the ambulance drivers that he doesn't need to go to the hospital. He decides to retire the robot forever as too risky. He's still planning on buying out Janice Cord's factories, although he senses that Sandhurst is just a little too eager.

However, Vincent has disappeared and Janice and Tony visit his hometown. There, they learn that everybody has been taken control of via a metal disk on their foreheads. The Controller (Boris Sandhurst) attacks and takes control of Janice. Iron Man fights back, but eventually he too is controlled by the metal disk:

In the next issue, the Controller decides to take Manhattan. He commandeers a train, and loads the Absorbatron (by which he harnesses the power of other people) onto it. Will he get to NYC and gain the power of millions?

There is a long battle between Iron Man and the Controller, but in the end, the Big Apple is in sight. Fortunately, during the battle Jasper Sitwell did what was needed:

But afterwards Tony is conflicted about Janice. Can he continue to romance her, knowing that at some point he might have to make a tough decision to save her or to save a city like New York?

He goes off to the Caribbean, to investigate an attack on one of his plants there. He discovers an opponent to his employing the locals, a wheelchair-bound man named Travis Hoyt:

It turns out that Janice is staying with Hoyt. But Hoyt has discovered a fountain of youth-type pool that has restored his ability to walk, and given him great powers, even if it has scarred him horribly.

Hoyt is angry because the pool is drying up due to development on the island. He intends to bathe Janice in the waters, so she will be like him. But Iron Man comes along in time to save the day and Hoyt dies as the pool is sucked into the ground.
In Iron Man #15, we learn that the Unicorn had indeed survived diving off the cliff back in IM #4, and that he has been nursed back to health by the Fantastic Four's old enemy, the Red Ghost. Typical Marvel villain team-up; both of them spend the time insulting each other:

But as the Red Ghost has a formula that will help to keep the Unicorn alive, they reach an uneasy truce. The Ghost wants him to steal another one of Tony's inventions, which will bring about the battle the Unicorn desires with Iron Man.
Meanwhile, Janice Cord has decided after consulting with Tony to reopen her father's plants. They will be in friendly competition with each other. Archie Goodwin (the writer) makes sure to introduce the newest plot development at this point:

It's not hard to guess that Niven will turn out to be a bad apple.

The next day, as Stark and Sitwell are jetting to a test site with Tony's newest invention, the Unicorn strikes. Sitwell pushes Stark out of the plane, but before Iron Man can save the SHIELD agent, the plane crashes. Iron Man battles the Unicorn, but in the meantime, the Red Ghost has used the new invention to give him enhanced powers. Oh, and he was lying about the injections saving the Unicorn's life:

The Red Ghost blows up his own laboratory, trapping Iron Man and the Unicorn inside. As it happens, neither is able to escape on his own, so they have to combine forces:

The Red Ghost has attacked one of SHIELD's laboratories in the African jungle, using his pet apes (who have also gained new powers. Somehow Iron Man and the Unicorn track him down, but the Unicorn behaves in typical Marvel villain fashion, failing to plan. As it happens the apes make fairly easy work of the new allies, and it looks like the Red Ghost will surely succeed. But one of his apes has gained intelligence and rebels. The Unicorn grabs the Ghost and escapes, vowing to make the Soviet scientist find a real cure for his death curse.

Comments: A so-so run of stories; I liked the two Controller issues, but was bored by the last three issues. Archie Goodwin seems to be having a tough time figuring out what to do about Janice Cord; she's obviously well-suited as a mate for Tony and yet he keeps thinking about the risk that she's in with him. And virtually every storyline starts out with an attack on one of Stark's factories and/or one of his new inventions. Indeed, that's one of the reasons I liked the Controller issues, because Stark had almost nothing to do with the plot.

Iron Man Run Part 11

Picking up with IM #7, we discover that the Maggia is almost ready to attack Stark's plant, but they've got to figure out a way of dealing with Iron Man. The Gladiator (longtime Daredevil villain) volunteers to handle Shellhead.

Jasper Sitwell is still angry over Iron Man kayoing him in the previous issue (to prevent him from getting killed by the Crusher), so mad that he forgets about security:

Meanwhile, Janice Cord and her lawyer approach Tony Stark about selling off her father's factories. Janice finds Tony charming at first:

Later, as they are touring the Cord facilities, the Gladiator and Big M kidnap Stark, Janice and her lawyer, as a ruse to get Iron Man to come save them, not knowing that with Tony a captive he can't change into his metal suit. This forces Tony to escape even though he's been warned that this will result in the death of Janice and the lawyer:

But Iron Man appears before the Gladiator can kill the pair and they have a good fight. Meanwhile, Big M and the rest of the Maggia attack Stark's plant through the southern wall. But Big M is conflicted by her romance with Jasper Sitwell, and in a flashback we learn how she became the head of the Maggia.

She had been the daughter of a very wealthy financier and lived the jet-set lifestyle among the beautiful people. She had a successful and politically ambitious boyfriend, and the sky seemed to be the limit. But when her supposed father passed away, she learned the truth; that he had been laundering money for the Maggia and, more shockingly, that her real father was Count Nefaria, the head of the mob. She initially refused to become a criminal, but when her boyfriend found out and dumped her as a political liability, she turned to her real father for training, and eventually succeeded him as Big M.

As the battle between Iron Man and the Gladiator has turned into a stalemate, the latter abandons the fight and heads for Stark's plant. Meanwhile, it turns out that Sitwell has been suspicious of Whitney Frost all along, and has prepared a trap for the Maggia. In the end, Iron Man and Sitwell defeat the Gladiator and the Maggia, but Whitney gets away:

In the following issue, a mysterious villain from China has somehow gained control of the Incredible Hulk, and sends him off to kidnap Janice Cord. We also learn that Cord's lawyer, Sandhurst, has reasons of his own for trying to convince Janice to sell her father's plants. This time Tony acts fairly bravely as she's grabbed by ol' Greenskin:

But the Hulk gets away with the girl, with Iron Man in hot pursuit. During the battle which ensues, the Hulk seems quite a bit smarter than he has in the past, using terms like "repulsor ray". In the end we learn why:

Who indeed is behind this? It turns out that the mysterious villain from China is the Mandarin. He has deduced from the fact that Tony Stark vanishes whenever there is danger just before Iron Man appears that the two are one and the same person.
As IM #10 begins, the Mandarin has prepared some phony photos, purporting to show Tony palling around with some communists. As Janice Cord and Tony are out at a nightclub a bunch of reporters and photographers burst in demanding a statement:

Tony quickly discovers that the photos of him with the communist agents were taken at times when he was on missions as Iron Man, and thus he has no alibi that he can present. He's contacted by a Chinese gal named Mei Lin, who advises him to come to her antique shop if he wants to find out why he's being persecuted. When he does so, he discovers the truth:

The Mandarin freezes him with a ray that stalls his circuits. But when he goes to unmask Iron Man, he gets a surprise:

And at the same time, Tony Stark appears on the television at an upstate hunting lodge giving a press conference. The Mandarin stalks off, needing to revise his plans for this new development, leaving Iron Man paralyzed by the rays with Mei Lin.

IM goads Mei Lin into anger by telling her that the Mandarin doesn't really love her. She leaves in a rage, slamming the door and propelling a lamp into the path of the paralyzing rays. Now free, Tony removes the mask which made him look like someone else, and reveals that the Tony on the TV was actually a robot.

IM flies to the upstate lodge where the robot Tony gave his press conference, arriving just in time to prevent the Mandarin from discovering that it's not really Stark. They have a classic battle. The reporters outside, hearing the sounds of a struggle, manage to record the Mandarin admitting that the photos of Tony with the communists were faked.

His plot foiled, the Mandarin grabs Janice Cord as a hostage and summons Mei Lin with his flying escape craft. But as Iron Man tries to rescue her, the Mandarin makes a fatal mistake:

Mei Lin, realizing that the Mandarin doesn't really feel the emotion of love, steps in the way of a blast intended for Janice. As IM and the Mandarin battle, the plane they're in careens out of control and:

The plane crashes apparently killing the Mandarin (Mei Lin had already died from the Mandarin's blast.

However, as Iron Man and Janice return to the hunting lodge, they discover that an ambulance has arrived for Tony and he's being taken away. Will he be revealed as a robot?

Comments: Solid set of stories here, with good continuing characterization. I like that Sitwell figured out that Whitney Frost was up to no good although it does make me question then why he was so upset with Iron Man for knocking him out. Janice Cord's conflict over Tony is realistically portrayed, and her heroic plea for Iron Man not to let the Mandarin go on her account is impressive.

Although I was not initially impressed with Tuska's art, as you see see here he was experimenting with page layouts and the effect is quite pleasing to the eye.

Iron Man Run, Part 9

Having shared a magazine with Captain America for the last 40 months, Iron Man found himself in the oddball situation of sharing a magazine with the Sub-Mariner for one month, Iron Man and Sub-Mariner #1. I assume that with all the changes going on at Marvel--Captain America, the Hulk, Dr Strange and Nick Fury all graduating to their own magazines from being 1/2 of a comic prior to that month, Stan and company found themselves stretched pretty thin and put the Iron Man and Subby stories into this one-shot.

When we last saw Iron Man, he was trapped in a secret compartment underneath a Maggia ship that was under fire from the forces of AIM. Iron Man breaks free and is able to recharge before being grabbed by a "vortex suction beam" that delivers him to AIM's submarine.

Meanwhile, Jasper Sitwell has rescued one of Tony Stark's female admirers from the sinking gambling ship, and she shows her appreciation:



But it quickly turns out her affections are simply a ruse; she is actually Big M, the leader of the Maggia, trying to subvert Sitwell to her side. There was a long history of the noble guys falling in love with an evil woman in the Marvel Universe starting with Hawkeye and the Black Widow (before she switched sides) and Balder and Karnilla, queen of the Norns.

Iron Man is subdued by gas and delivered by the agents of AIM to Mordius, their new leader, who plans to survey his armor completely and duplicate it. He creates three new suits which he gives to his men. Iron Man breaks free (he was just faking being gassed) and battles his three dupes. They find it surprisingly difficult to control the weapons in the armor, but Tony knows it's because his armor refracted Mordius' X-rays.

Mordius reveals himself to be quite cold-blooded, aiming a rocket cannon at the four Iron Men, since he now cannot tell them apart. The other three are destroyed, but Iron Man escapes, and Mordius's laboratory explodes:



Um, isn't that sort of a violation of the Avenger Code? Seems pretty obvious that the indication there is that IM caused an explosion that killed Mordius and several members of AIM.

In the second issue, Drexel Cord is a weapons manufacturer who has been driven mad by losing important contracts to Tony Stark. He designs a robot called the Demolisher that will attack Iron Man by tracking his power supply. In this regard he seems something of an amalgam of The Mysterious Melter, who was also a Stark competitor, and Smythe, the inventor of the Spider Slayer.

His daughter, Janice Cord, is aware of his intentions and departs for Stark's factory, where she encounters Jasper Sitwell. Together they head back for her father's plant. Meanwhile Iron Man is taking a terrific beating and as usual, is running short on power.

Cord deliberately destroys the computer controlling the Demolisher, rather than let Sitwell take over and save Iron Man. However, the Demolisher now doesn't differentiate between targets, and Cord is appalled to discover that his machine is threatening his daughter. He saves her by attacking the robot, but is killed in the process, just before Iron Man finishes off the Demolisher.

Johnny Craig had been inking the last few issues and he took over on pencils with Iron Man #2. Craig was a terrific artist in the Golden Age, but his Iron Man seems a little stiff compared to Colan. In addition, Archie Goodwin took over the scripting chores. The introduction of Janice Cord is important, as Tony Stark had been lacking a love interest since Happy and Pepper's marriage. Speaking of that couple, they have not been seen in almost a year at this point.

Well, it turns out there's a reason for that:



Say what? I didn't see anything about them quitting.

In the story, Tony's heart is weakened again (as Iron Man he had held up a missile that was about to fall on some workers), and he cannot even build up enough of a charge to do anything, so he has to hide in his office, refusing all appointments. Happy and Pepper come to see him. As Happy knows his secret he allows him to enter his office. Tony needs an upgrade to integrated circuits and he has a helmet that Happy can wear while receiving instructions on what to do. Happy responds a little inappropriately for a newlywed:



At a crucial point in the process, however, Tony's heart begins to give out. Happy goes against orders and gives the new integrated circuit costume an extra blast of cobalt radiation to give it the ability to absorb power from heat or cold, but after getting the suit to his boss in the nick of time, he begins to feel strange.

Yep, he's turning back into the Freak again. He kidnaps Pepper, and Iron Man and he have a fight on a skyscraper that's under construction. Tony realizes that he's protecting Pepper and so he jets her away, with the Freak in pursuit. Iron Man and Pepper trap Happy in a sealed truck and pump it full of gas to kayo him. By this point, Pepper has realized that Happy himself is the Freak, and so Tony tortures himself a little bit at the end:



Comments: Overall the stories establish plot points for the future (particularly Janice Cord, and Sitwell and the Big M), but are pretty much standard Marvel plots. Villains who only come back to reality when their daughter/son is threatened by their schemes?

And the "I'm almost out of power" dodge is getting old; indeed Goodwin indicates at one point that perhaps he will be dropping it with the new suit, which will now be able to draw power from heat and cold. It was interesting to see the switch from the long-running transistors to integrated circuits; I suppose some letter-writer from Cal Tech or MIT had alerted Stan or Archie to the newest technology.

This is an aside, but transistors were really hot in the early 1960s. I remember getting a "transistor radio" for my ninth birthday, and while it didn't freak me out, a lot of the adults expressed astonishment at such a small radio. It was quite common for manufacturers back then to pack transistors in to their plastic boxes so they could claim to be an "8-Transistor" radio, but if you analyzed the circuits, you'd find that four or five of them weren't even functioning.