Featuring: Iron Man
Release: August 11, 1964
Cover: November 1964
12 cents
Never has a Stan Lee script, or Don Heck artwork been greater!
13 pages
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|---|---|---|
| Daredevil #4 | Reading order | Tales of Suspense #59, Story B |
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As the cover indicates, it’s a moment of big change for this title. The science fiction tales are gone, and the horror stories (or tales of suspense) this title was founded on are long gone. But gone now also are the Watcher stories, which blurred the line between the older science fiction tales and our new superhero ones.
Henceforth, this title will contain two stories: an Iron Man adventure and a Captain America adventure.
Captain America’s return has been successful enough to give him his own title, but Marvel is still artificially limited in the number of titles it can publish, and seemingly reluctant to get rid of titles, preferring to repurpose them. Thus Captain America and Iron Man have to share a book. Just as Hulk has to share Tales to Astonish with Giant-Man and Wasp, and as Dr. Strange has been sharing Strange Tales with Human Torch and Thing.
Recall that Professor Nathan Garrett adopted the identity of Black Knight and fought Giant-Man and Wasp. He was not the first Black Knight, but the first of modern times. He genetically engineered a flying horse and built an arsenal of gadgets and weapons, primarily his multifunctional lance.
Having been defeated, he agreed to join the Masters of Evil to fight Giant-Man and the rest of the Avengers.
Having been defeated by the team of superheroes he attacked, he now wants revenge, and so is planning to attack the Avengers individually. He begins with Iron Man, starting with an attack on Stark’s factory.
Almost every villain for several issues now has started by attacking Stark’s factory. As targets go, it’s at least a sensible one. But it’s getting tiresome.
When last we saw Black Knight, he was getting arrested, and Thor was in possession of his horse. Though Thor noted he could not keep the horse, as it remained the legal property of the Black Knight.
Now, we see it has come to help Black Knight escape prison. It still has its saddle bag with the weaponry, including Black Knight’s dissolvo-ray. How can that possibly be?
Iron Man defeats the Black Knight, but has bigger problems.
His heart has gotten worse and he now needs the full suit to sustain it, not just the chest plate. He is now effectively trapped in his armor.
Iron Man makes a cover story that Stark has left town and put him in charge, but Pepper and Happy are suspicious of this.
Rating: ★★½, 49/100
Significance: ★★★☆☆
I read this story in The Invincible Iron Man Omnibus vol. 1. You can find it in the Iron Man Epic Collection vol. 1 or Marvel Masterworks: The Invincible Iron Man vol. 2. Or on Kindle.
Characters:
- Black Knight
- Iron Man/Tony Stark
- Wasp
- Giant-Man
- Captain America
- Thor
- Pepper Potts
- Happy Hogan
Story notes:
- Editor’s note refers to Avengers #6.
- Black Knight been in jail for “months”.
- Avengers off to charity benefit; Iron Man stays behind in case of emergency.
- Black Knight arsenal addition: wrapper.
- Stark’s office door has steel plates.
| Previous | #254 | Next |
|---|---|---|
| Daredevil #4 | Reading order | Tales of Suspense #59, Story B |
| Tales of Suspense #58, Story B | Tales of Suspense | Tales of Suspense #59, Story B |
