Iron Man (1968) 1

Iron Man (1968) 1

May 1968

Alone Against AIM!

by Archie Goodwin, Gene Colan, Johnny Craig

- Iron Man, trapped in the AIM sub; gassed into unconsciousness (pp 1-3)

- Sitwell runs into the gal in the fedora; surprised to see her there; she promises to explain; they jump overboard and are rescued by Nick Fury, Dum Dum Dugan, and Gabe Jones by helicopter; she identifies herself as Whitney Frost, says she was on board hoping to meet Tony Stark; but after they drop her off it is revealed that she is also Big M, leader of the Maggie (pp 4-8)

- AIM sub arrives at a small island off the New England coast; Iron Man is put in the X-Ray Photochamber; after analyzing Iron Man the Vario Mold Matrix creates three sets of armor identical to Iron Man in every way, or so they think, as 3 AIM scientists don the armor (pp 9-11)

- Iron Man breaks free from the X-Ray Photochamber and gets into a brawl with the three iron clad scientists; their armor malfunctions; Iron Man destroys the Vario Mold Matrix; the 3 are killed by their boss as he tries to get Iron Man

- Iron Man's thought balloons reveal the reason why the other suits of armor malfunctioned: the refractory coating on his armor

- before fleeing the island Iron Man overloads the generators so the building explodes (pp 12-18)

The Origin of Iron Man

by Archie Goodwin, Gene Colan, Johnny Craig

- originally told in Tales of Suspense 39 (Mar 1963)

- Tony Stark, genius with transistor technology, visits Viet Nam; caught in a booby trap, land mine, anti-personnel; captured by Weng Chu; with professor Yinsen; together they build a suit of armor; Yinsen sacrifices himself creating a distraction; Tony Stark powers up the armor and escapes

- Gene Colan, great artist; some of his panels are gorgeous, but maybe not the best choice for Iron Man

- Whitney Frost - Big M, later Madame Masque

- silly explanations

10/30/15

Iron Man and the Sub-Mariner 1

Iron Man and the Sub-Mariner 1

Apr 1968

The Torrent Without -- The Tumult Within!

by Archie Goodwin, Gene Colan, Johnny Craig

- one and only issue in this series, similar to Tales of Suspense, 1/2 Iron Man, 1/2 Sub-Mariner; Sub-Mariner had previously been in Tales to Astonish 101, after this gets his own series

- breaks free of the magnetic table, recharges using the power from the laser

- AIM boards the gambling ship; skirmish between Whiplash and the agents of AIM; Whiplash and Big M run off, escape

- Sitwell gets pinned down

- Iron Man gets trapped under water briefly but manages to escape back into a compartment that isn't flooded

- Iron Man, Sitwell, Whiplash all meetup; Iron Man attacks Whiplash but then gets sucked out of the ship and into the AIM submarine

Tales of Suspense 99

Tales of Suspense 99

Mar 1968

At the Mercy of the Maggia

by Stan Lee, Archie Goodwin, Gene Colan, Johnny Craig

- Iron Man has one last trick up his sleeve, he turns to his emergency booster supply (for his heart) but uses it to power up his repulsor rays; knocks Whiplash out; but then collapses himself unconscious

- Sitwell gets a message from Nick Fury that Morgan Stark has been spotted at at JFK airport; rushes to JFK; apprehends Morgan Stark; interrogates him; finds out Iron Man is aboard the Maggia's gambling ship, so JS heads there; gets on board hoping to find Iron Man

- Iron Man is about to be killed by Whiplash when Big M interrupts, wants the Iron Man suit intact; Iron Man gets laid out on a magnetic table, holds him in place, as a laser is used to try and break open his armor; but that is soon interrupted

- Maggia's ship is attacked by AIM (Advanced Idea Mechanics); ship begins to flood, laser stops functioning

- AIM: Scientists who want to take over the world, dress in yellow "beekeeper" outfits

- last issue of Tales of Suspense

10/25/15

Tales of Suspense 98

Tales of Suspense 98

Feb 1968

The Warrior and the Whip!

by Stan Lee, Gene Colan, Frank Giacoia

- Iron Man vs. Whiplash aboard the Maggia's gambling ship

- Iron Man nowhere near full strength, ducking and dodging Whiplash's whip, image reproducer

- Jasper Sitwell discovers Iron Man has been taken away, calls the SHIELD Helicarrier, confirm that TS has a cousin, then Sitwell is confronted by a large group of women who identify themselves as Tony Stark's girlfriends; one of the women stands out, she is wearing a fedora and claims to be far more than a friend of Tony Stark

- Iron Man keeps Whiplash distracted with multiple images of himself until the power for the image reproducer runs dry

Tales of Suspense 97

Tales of Suspense 97

Jan 1968

The Coming of Whiplash

by Stan Lee, Gene Colan, Frank Giacoia

- Iron Man immobilized, power drained, Grey Gargoyle

- Jasper Sitwell (agent of SHIELD) - blond hair, crew cut, glasses; first appearance in Strange Tales 144 (May 1966); first appearance in ToS 93 (Sep 1967); sent by Nick Fury to protect Stark Industries

- Sitwell tries to revive Iron Man unsuccessfully, goes to look for Tony Stark

- Morgan Stark, gambling ship, Maggia, gambling debts, offers to hand over Iron Man to the Maggia; talks his way through the gate at Stark Industries and gets some of the guards to help him load Iron Man in his car

- Iron Man waits, gets a partial charge from the cigarette lighter in Morgan Stark's car; waits until they are aboard the gambling ship before making his move

- All leads up to a confrontation with Whiplash (next ish) this is his first appearance

- Morgan Stark first appeared in ToS 68 (Aug 1965) where he was also trying to trade Iron Man for gambling debts