Tales of Suspense #77

Featuring: Iron Man
Release: February 10, 1966
Cover: May 1966
12 cents
Homerically written by: Stan Lee
Heroically pencilled by: Adam Austin
Historically inked by: Gary Michaels
Hysterically lettered by: Sam Rosen
12 pages

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This is a grave moment in hour nation’s history! A time for patriotism… for dedication to the cause of freedom! There must be no special privileges for self-seeking opportunists like Stark, who flout their country’s laws!

Adam Austin has long since been unmasked as Gene Colan, but he is going back and forth between the two aliases. It’s worth noting that his art seems to improve each month.

Gary Michaels is a pseudonym for Jack Abel. He’s been working with Colan on this series off and on for a few issues now.

When we left off, Tony Stark was a prisoner of the Mandarin and Ultimo is rising. Confusingly, we’ve also seen Tony Stark filling in as the head of SHIELD since then. It’s hard to balance all the things one might want to in a reading order, and sometimes the chronology has to give. Stark’s appearances with SHIELD must take place either before or after this adventure. It’s hard because Tony’s just been pretty busy, and I like to keep the reading order relatively close to publication date.

Mandarin had thrown Stark’s attache case out the window, not realizing it contained the Iron Man armor. What can Stark do without his armor?

Mandarin kidnapped Stark from America to Asia via teleportation. Stark at the time had been in Senator Byrd’s car on the way to Congress to testify about the identity of Iron Man.

Ultimo is a giant robot that Mandarin created by “combining the mystic secrets of the Far East with the scientific wonders of the West”. That’s more than a little bit racist. So is Mandarin referring to his “oriental patience”. So is everything about the Mandarin, really. From his name to his visage.

The Iron Man/Ultimo confrontation doesn’t happen until the end of the issue. First, Tony Stark needs to get away from Mandarin and recover his armor. Meanwhile, Ultimo is fighting off Red troops, as Mandarin is refusing to serve the government.

Glad that Ultimo wears a loincloth for his modesty.

We’re not done with Senator Byrd yet. Angry that Stark vanished from his car, he has Stark cited for contempt of Congress and cancels his defense contracts. This causes Stark’s factory to close. Is this the end of Stark Enterprises?

It’s worth noting again that Colan has completely thrown away the traditional grids that have dominated these stories. All of his pages feature larger panels, unaligned panels, or diagonal panel edges.

Rating: ★★½, 49/100
Significance: ★★★☆☆

I read this story in Iron Man Epic Collection vol. 2: By Force of Arms.

Characters:

• Tony Stark/Iron Man
• Mandarin
• Ultimo
• Senator Harrington Byrd

Story notes:

• “Do what you will with me… but others will follow! You’ll never defeat free men!” — Tony Stark
• It took Mandarin years to create Ultimo, the most destructive android of all time.
• Ultimo emerges from a volcano.
• Mandarin subdues Stark with a ring. Stark’s chest device saved his life.
• Stark dives into moat after attache case. He finds his suit.
• Ultimo fires laser beams from his eyes.

Previous	#511	Next
Strange Tales #145, Story B	Reading order	Tales of Suspense #77, Story B
Tales of Suspense #76, Story B	Tales of Suspense	Tales of Suspense #77, Story B