Aug 1977
Then Came the Monster!
by Bill Mantlo, George Tuska, and Mike Esposito
Iron Man steals a Chinese fighter plane and heads for home. He sets the plane on autopilot and falls asleep. The plane flies west. It is shot down over Eastern Europe. Iron man breaks free from the plane and crashes to the ground and is knocked unconscious.
He wakes up to find himself captured by a squad of gnomes and Frankenstein’s monster. He fights with the monster who associates Iron Man’s appearance with someone whom he refers to as the “other”. The “other” captured the monster’s mistress, the “daughter of creation”. The “other” shows up at the end of the chapter and blindsides Iron Man. He is the Dreadknight.
This story was a bit goofy. I'm reading it because I am reading my way through Bill Mantlo's run on Iron Man (95-115) but I can't say that I was terribly enthused about this issue. I wonder if Mantlo had a reason for having Frankenstein's monster and the Dreadknight in this story. Maybe he originally wanted to have Doctor Doom in it but the powers that be said no so he invented a new iron masked villain from Eastern Europe.
In 1977 Doctor Doom was a regular in Super Villain Team-Up so there's definitely some logic to not having him also appear in this story. It is pure speculation on my part that Bill Mantlo originally wanted Doctor Doom to appear in this story. I have no evidence other than that generated by my overactive imagination.
No comments:
Post a Comment