Jun 1978
The Man, The Metal, and the Mayhem!
by Bill Mantlo, Keith Pollard, Fred Kida
Iron Man and Jack of Hearts get separated in the battle between the Rigellians and the Knights of Wundagore. Iron Man gets blasted out of the Rigellians command ship. He takes out one of the Rigellians cannons which earns him their ire. They blast him and he falls to the planet below.
Jack of Hearts learns the history of the Rigellian colonizers, stories previously told in Thor 134 and 218. They spend a few pages telling him about their past including their encounters with Thor. They tell him about why they chose Wundagore even though it is already populated and what they know about the beast-men (the Knights) that they are trying to subdue.
There is a brief interlude on Earth. Darkstar contacts Madame Masque and warns her that the giant egg into which Iron Man and Jack of Hearts disappeared has started to glow. Jasper Sitwell wonders how Tony Stark can sleep at a time like this. Sitwell is still oblivious to the fact that the man who he thinks is Tony is actually an LMD and that the real Tony Stark is Iron Man.
Iron Man gets the rest of the story of the Knights of Wundagore from the knights themselves. After he lands in a swamp he battles a giant insect. He surreptitiously recharges his armor as he listens to the Knights' story, about encounters with Thor and Hulk, and the High Evolutionary from Thor 135 and Tales to Astonish 94-99.
Not great but fun. I like all the history. I have never read any stories that involve the Rigellians or the Knights of Wundagore before. I was passingly familiar with both but that’s about it up until now.
Mantlo still has yet flesh out Jack of Hearts in any meaningful way. Issues like this one go a long way toward making him feel like more than just part of the scenery but I look forward hopefully to a story that is centered around Jack Hart.
The fact that the Rigellians are there to colonize the planet of Wundagore II is most likely a reflection of things that were in the public consciousness and on Bill Mantlo’s mind at that time. Jack of Hearts makes some very pointed comments to the Rigellians about their plans for colonization of Wundagore II and says that they would fit in well on Earth. I recall similar notes from Mantlo’s run on Micronauts which began publication in 1978. I discussed the first 12 issues of Micronauts (all written by Bill Mantlo) on Dave Talks Comics.
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