Featuring: Iron Man
Release: July 9, 1963
Cover: October 1963
12 cents
Story plot: Stan Lee
Script: R. Berns
Art: Don Heck
13 pages
The cover bears a resemblance to the Ant-Man cover we just examined. The hero and villain are not actually in the same picture, with one confined to a separate panel.
Professor Vanko is Russia’s top scientist. He has built a suit that makes him master of electricity, the Crimson Dynamo. By the end, Tony Stark tricks him into defecting to the West.
The propaganda is strong with this one. Khrushchev is a fairly stereotypical super-villain, plotting to murder his own minions when their usefulness expires. At this point, he is also one of the most common nemeses, and certainly the villain who has crossed titles the most.
Phase one of Crimson Dynamo’s master plan is to set a rocket off course. This was also the master plan of Loki, Merlin, and Magneto. I imagine Thor immediately flew to Asgard to confront Loki about this one as well.
Crimson Dynamo goes on to sabotage Stark plants across America. The military hints that Stark may lose his defense contracts if he can’t deliver. Stark notes this would bankrupt him.
A Senator accuses Stark of being a Communist, sabotaging his own plants to weaken America’s defenses. This has echoes of the real “red scare”, but that was dying down by 1963. Senator McCarthy had died 6 years earlier. The House Un-American Activities Committee still existed, but was declining in prestige. Truman had denounced it 4 years earlier, and there were widespread protests against it in California 3 years earlier.
In the Iron Man 2 film, Tony Stark battled Ivan Vanko, but he assumed the identity of the Iron Man villain Whiplash, whom we haven’t met. But the fact that he was Russian and able to build his own suits of armor mark clear connections to Crimson Dynamo.
Rating: ★★☆☆☆, 32/100
Significance: ★★★★☆
I read this story in The Invincible Iron Man Omnibus vol. 1. You can also find it in the Iron Man Epic Collection vol. 1 or Marvel Masterworks: Iron Man vol. 1. Or through Kindle.
Characters:
- Anthony Stark/Iron Man
- Nikita Khrushchev
- Professor Vanko/Crimson Dynamo
- Happy Hogan
- Pepper Potts
Story notes:
- Anthony Stark designed Y-69 rocket; 3 pilots for test flight.
- Crimson Dynamo can control electricity in any form.
- Iron Man saved by transistor power.
- Iron Man tricks Crimson Dynamo into thinking Khrushchev would betray him, so Vanko defects. Khrushchev actually was planning to betray Vanko, but Stark didn’t know that.
- Vanko reveals ring of spies to FBI and confiscates their gold.
- Stark offers Vanko position within Stark Enterprises.
#102 story in reading order
Next: Amazing Spider-Man #5
Previous: Tales to Astonish #48
