Featuring: Iron Man
Release: March 10, 1966
Cover: June 1966
12 cents
Spectacular story by Stan Lee
Pace-setting pencilling by Gene Colan
Indescribable inking by Gary Michaels
Lonesome lettering by Artie Simek
12 pages
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| Tales of Suspense #77, Story B | Reading order | Tales of Suspense #78, Story B |
| Tales of Suspense #77, Story B | Tales of Suspense | Tales of Suspense #78, Story B |
Ultimo, who never really lived– is now truly dead!
Stark factories are closed because Senator Byrd has cancelled the Defense contracts. Tony Stark is missing because Iron Man is in Asia battling Ultimo, the android creation of the Mandarin.
We get a cool time lapse splash page. Ditko often did these time lapse panels in his Spider-Man stories.
Of course, the flip side of all these splash pages and large panels is we get fewer panels to tell the story.
The battle between Iron Man and Ultimo takes them into the volcano that birthed Ultimo, and now threatens to explode. Ultimo is more powerful, but Iron Man is faster, and able to escape the volcano.
Mandarin saw Stark die and fall into the moat. When Stark’s body cannot be found, he assumes Iron Man has removed the corpse. Think harder, Mandarin. Consider all the possibilities here.
Stark’s money has been impounded. Warrant for his arrest. We’ll pause there, read this issue’s Cap story, and then see what the FF are up to. We left them in the middle of Attilan with Maximus about to destroy the human race so that the Inhumans may inherit the Earth.
Note that with these circumstances, this is a poor time for Stark to be hanging out at SHIELD, so assume the times we’ve seen him with SHIELD take place before the Mandarin battle.
Rating: ★★★☆☆, 53/100
Significance: ★★★☆☆
I read this story in Iron Man Epic Collection vol. 2: By Force of Arms.
Characters:
- Ultimo
- Iron Man
- Mandarin
Story notes:
- Ultimo shields himself from repulsor ray blast.
- Battle ends up in volcano where Ultimo was created.
- Mandarin intensifies Ultimo’s heat rays to their most extreme power.
- Ultimo’s eye beams bring the dormant volcano to life and consume Ultimo.
- Iron Man is in Red China.
- Iron Man finds Red Air Base from which they launched an assault on the Mandarin.
- Stark still unsure if Happy got his memory back.
- In a Red plane, Iron Man comes across friendly planes to escort him home.
- Pilot nicknames: Sloppy Joe and Ravin’ Rooster.
- Daily Bugle headline: “Stark Indu[tries] Shut Down By Government Order– Warrant Issued for Arrest of Anthony Stark for F[ail]ing to Ap[pear before commi]tee”
- [?] Standard headline: “[Stark] Plants Closed All Over Count[ry]”
| Previous | #513 | Next |
|---|---|---|
| Tales of Suspense #77, Story B | Reading order | Tales of Suspense #78, Story B |
| Tales of Suspense #77, Story B | Tales of Suspense | Tales of Suspense #78, Story B |
Then, Tony Stark is considered a traitor and all his factories are closed… But anyway, SHIELD works based on Stark’s inventions and they take advantage of his technology. I guess Nick Fury and Byrd don’t have the same opinion; but I am surprised that SHIELD does not protest in favor of Stark, since the closure of their factories would leave them without any of their new spy gadgets that they need to fight Hydra xD.
Definitely worth thinking about. And we’ll reflect on it when we see how this all wraps up. Presumably SHIELD also answers to Congress in the end. But maybe if Stark lands on his feet after all, we can deduce Nick Fury pulled some strings behind the scenes.