Featuring: Iron Man
Release: January 1, 1966
Cover: April 1966
12 cents
Tenderly written by: Stan Lee
Lovingly pencilled by: Adam Austin
Gently delineated by: Gary Michaels
Finally lettered by: Sam Rosen
12 pages
| Previous | #456 | Next |
|---|---|---|
| Tales of Suspense #75 | Reading order | Sgt. Fury #26 |
| Tales of Suspense #75, Story B | Tales of Suspense | Tales of Suspense #76, Story B |
Look at you! Bedraggled and red-eyed! Too much celebrating last night, eh? I always said you were nothing but a playboy!
Marvel has given up on the idea of clean story breaks, which makes reading tricky when I’d like to put the stories together. This is part 3 of the Happy-as-The-Freak arc, but also part 1 of the Ultimo arc. Essentially they seem to want to end every issue on a cliffhanger, so they begin the next story now. I can’t just keep reading Iron Man. We already are getting ahead of the Captain America stories he shares the title with, because I need to align those with the SHIELD arc. And there’s a whole Marvel Universe to check in with. Which means I need to either break last issue with the Freak saga unresolved, or break after this issue with the Ultimo saga unresolved. The Freak saga resolves in about 2 pages, but the Ultimo saga really only takes up the last 2 pages. The ongoing Senator Byrd subplot dominates the middle bit. I don’t know. We’re reading this now, then we’ll take a break. And see what happens with Ultimo at a later date.
Where were we. The experimental treatment on Happy turned him into a Freak. Iron Man had a thing that might save Happy, at risk to himself.
Well, it worked.
This was all a fallout from the Titanium Man battle. That’s when Happy was injured saving Iron Man, and revealed he knew (or suspected) Tony’s secret. This is their first chance to talk since then.
Luckily, Happy seems to have amnesia. One of two common fates for people who learn a hero’s identity.
Senator Byrd is still trying to get Stark to come to Washington to reveal Iron Man’s secrets. This has been going on a while and won’t be resolved just now.
Because Stark disappears. Byrd thinks Stark is behind this, but actually he’s been kidnapped by the Mandarin.
Who is about to unleash Ultimo.
To be continued. As we discussed, this is more of a teaser for the Ultimo saga then its proper start, so we will pause here and check in with the Howling Commandos. We should get back to the Ultimo saga in 2-3 months, and we’ll remind ourselves where we left off.
Rating: ★★½, 49/100
Significance: ★★★☆☆
I read this story in Iron Man Epic Collection vol. 2: By Force of Arms.
Characters:
- Happy Hogan/Freak
- Iron Man/Tony Stark
- Senator Byrd
- Pepper Potts
- Mandarin
- General Yen
- Ultimo
Story notes:
- If Stark’s identity were revealed, he feels he’d never be safe out of his armor.
- Byrd serves Stark with a subpoena to come to Washington and testify as to Iron Man’s identity.
- Byrd assumes Stark is tired because he’s been out partying.
- Police car with Stark and Byrd vanishes.
- General Yen demands Mandarin aid the Red Army, but Mandarin makes short work of the attacking troops. He serves no nation but himself.
- Police car reappears with Stark missing. Byrd blames Stark.
- Mandarin has transported Stark to China.
- Mandarin hurtles Stark’s attache case through window, not realizing it’s his armor.
- Ultimo rises.
| Previous | #456 | Next |
|---|---|---|
| Tales of Suspense #75 | Reading order | Sgt. Fury #26 |
| Tales of Suspense #75, Story B | Tales of Suspense | Tales of Suspense #76, Story B |
