Featuring: Iron Man
Release: November 12, 1963
Cover: February 1964
12 cents
Written by: Stan Lee
Illustrated by: Don Heck
Lettered by: Ray Holloway
13 pages
So there’s this idea of an archfoe. Not every superhero needs one, but most have one. For Superman, it’s Lex Luthor. Batman has an extensive rogues gallery, but Joker stands out amongst them as his archfoe. We have not yet met Green Goblin, but many consider him Spider-Man’s archfoe. That’s likely why he was the villain in the first Spider-Man film. Those people, including the filmmakers, are wrong. We have met Spider-Man’s archfoe. It’s Dr. Octopus.
Thor has fought Loki in almost every issue. Magneto showed up in X-Men #1 and will be showing up a lot more. The Fantastic Four have fought Dr. Doom in a full quarter of their issues.
For Human Torch, it seems to be the Wizard. For Ant-Man/Giant-Man, it’s a little less clear. I tend to point to Egghead, others to the Human Top.
In this issue, Iron Man meets the Mandarin. He’ll be showing up again in a few issues. And conventional wisdom suggests Mandarin is Iron Man’s archfoe. I have no idea why conventional wisdom suggests that. I just don’t understand and never have.
Mandarin is a “yellow peril” villain, part of a long tradition of villains, with the most eminent one being Fu Manchu. Within Marvel, they had the Yellow Claw back in the 1950s. We’ll visit his old stories when he reemerges in the modern era. Today, by modern standards, this tradition of villains is considered racist. They are stereotypes of Asian people, which feed and draw from the prejudice that many Americans feel toward the people of various Asian countries. This prejudice is rooted partly in government propaganda, going back to the war against Japan, and continuing with the Cold War against Communist China, with this xenophobia enduring to the present day.
Mandarin has a particularly awful name.
I don’t want to be too harsh on Stan and crew here; I have the benefit of 60 years of hindsight. What he’s doing is in line with the rest of the pop culture of the era. Stan is in many ways ahead of his time. These stories have already taken strong anti-racist stances in the pages of Fantastic Four and Sgt. Fury. I just wish he’d put more thought into how they depicted Chinese people.
Even setting aside the problematic nature of the Mandarin, I still don’t understand why he becomes such an enduring Iron Man villain. The comic makes a big deal out of the fact that he knows karate. Iron Man has a suit of Iron Armor with all kinds of sophisticated technological gadgets. I just don’t see the threat posed by martial arts prowess.
Then let’s look to his design. A funky headpiece and a tunic with the letter “M” on it. I claim that a single letter which is your initial is the single worst logo a supercharacter can have.
I’ll make an exception if that letter is sufficiently stylized.
I can also forgive it if it’s in a more innocuous position, like a belt buckle or collar logo, as opposed to blaring on the chest.
Mostly, the Marvel villains we’ve met have not had chest logos. Black Knight had what seemed to be a skull/crossbones, but it was never very clearly depicted. Only Hate-Monger also went with the “initial” logo. I would argue it was also a poor design choice in that case.
In general, the better logos are not just letters. Let’s take the opportunity to peek at the logos we’ve seen. All the superhero ones are pretty solid, even if just a plan yellow circle. And even if it took me decades of Marvel reading to notice Ant-Man’s logo was an ant.
We can compare with some contemporaneous logos from the Distinguished Competition. Which one is the lamest? The one that’s just a letter.
That was a digression. Back to the Mandarin.
If he’s a Chinese fanatic at war with the Western world, it’s also weird he chooses a Latin letter for his stupid chest logo, as opposed to a Han character.
The one interesting thing about Mandarin is his rings. He wears 10 rings and each has a different power. We only learn what two of them do this issue. That opens up the potential for future revelations. And their powers may justify him as an actual threat to Iron Man.
One ring we learn emits a high frequency wave. A second emits a paralysis ray. Which is weird as Mandarin also had a machine that emits a paralysis ray. Seems a bit redundant.
Leaving aside whether the Mandarin is a good villain, this comic has a ridiculous ending. They spend the whole issue talking up the great threat Mandarin poses to global security to the point where the US government is willing to send Iron Man into China to attack him. An overtly aggressive act and possible prelude to war. And then Iron Man defeats the Mandarin. Mandarin seems to be unconscious. But then Iron Man notes his ride is there and he has to go.
What? He can’t take Mandarin with him? Or finish him off? What was the plan here? Just get in a fight, and then leave? It makes no sense.
Or maybe it does. I guess he was just sent to learn about the Mandarin.
But then he had this whole vow about how he’d “die trying”. Did he forget? It was only 5 pages earlier. He was ready to die to end the Mandarin’s threat but not miss a plane?
What an odd story.
The story has one more development that is supposed to be significant, but it took me reading several more issues to appreciate they intended it to be significant. I failed to even note it on my first note-taking pass on this issue. Pepper got a makeover. This new look will stick. No more freckles. Happy notes he liked her better the other way. I did too, Happy.
The status quo remains this. Happy keeps asking Pepper out and she keeps rejecting him. Pepper keeps pining over Tony, but he seems not to notice her.
I’ll end with the concerns Pepper expresses over being Happy’s date to dinner. It’s quite a different take on Mr. Stark’s character than the movie presented.
Rating: ★½, 29/100
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: The Invincible Iron Man vol. 1. Or through Kindle.
Characters:
- Mandarin
- Iron Man
- Pepper Potts
- Happy Hogan
Minor characters:
- General Ho Lee
- Bill (Stark employee)
Story notes:
- It is noted that Mandarin is infamous in Red China.
- Mandarin has an all-seeing crystal globe.
- Emissaries of “red government” visit Mandarin’s castle.
- Red government seeks Mandarin’s atomic knowledge and secrets of his power rings.
- Stark has to skip employees’ dinner he was supposed to give speech at.
- Pepper has new makeup and hairdo.
- CIA gives Iron Man location of Mandarin’s castle.
- Iron Man’s energy gauge notes reserve power is falling; this may indicate a short circuit.
- Mandarin castle full of traps.
- Iron Man’s ultra-beam chest light can dispel any ray.
- Iron Man’s belt emits a high-frequency wave.
- Pepper agrees to go to dinner with Happy.
- Story takes place over single day.
- Each of Mandarin’s ten rings has a different power. One emits a high frequency wave; one emits a paralysis ray. We don’t explicitly learn what the other 8 do. He was able to make a crystal ball disappear and a drawbridge lower with gestures. These may have involved the rings.
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