BHOC: IRON MAN #121

IRON MAN was quietly becoming a really good comic book back in 1979, a change that at once seemed both gradual and instantaneous. The creative team of writer David Michelinie, co-plotter and inker Bob Layton and penciler John Romita Jr. transplanted the character to the modern era, dispensing with a lot of the Cold War tropes that had once defined him and instead casting Tony Stark as a pre-1980s figure of wealth and fame. The artwork was slick and powerful, with Layton’s finish on the Iron Man armor itself making it look far more solid and metallic than it ever had before . This change largely happened under everybody’s noses–fandom wouldn’t really take notice of IRON MAN for a few more months, but it was happening all through this period.

Part of what Michelinie and Layton worked out during this era is exactly what an Iron Man story should feel like, should be about. So many stories before this had centered around Stark as an arms manufacturer–the Stark International factory being attacked was always a reliable way to get a story jumping off. But this current creative team drew much more from the James Bond films of this era. Now, Tony Stark was more regularly depicted as a globe-trotting jet-setter, and his plotlines always involved espionage of one sort or another, whether corporate or international . This all grounded the character, and made the more absurd aspects of his set-up (like carrying an indestructible suit of armor around concealed in his briefcase) a bit easier to swallow. They also ended a decade of stories in which Stark seemed like he needed to apologize for his wealth. Under Michelinie and Layton, Tony certainly enjoyed the perks of being rich, young and good-looking

This was the second part of a pretty good two-parter guest-starring Namor, the Sub-Mariner. In it, Iron Man has journeyed to a remote island in the hopes of evacuating its one citizen, Hiram Dobbs, as the island has been used as a dumping grounds for toxic waste. But Dobbs refuses to go, and what’s more, he’s defended by Namor for some reason. Shell-head and the Sub-Mariner mix it up for a while, and then all of a sudden, the seals on Iron Man’s armor snap open by themselves, leaving him to drown. As this issue opens, we see that Namor rescued his foe, thinking that he deserved a noble death rather than a demise by misfortune. As Iron man recuperates, Dobbs tells him that the story the military had fed him is bull, that he’s been living on this island for twenty years and he’d never seen any signs of soldiers until just a few days ago. So something is fishy here.

Elsewhere, sojourning out in response to news that Tony Stark’s plane has gone missing, new cast members Jim Rhodes and Bethany Cabe find their helicopter shot down by the armed forces in the vicinity of the island, this despite Cabe providing correct clearance codes. Rhodes and Cabe are both fished out of the drink after they survive their fall, but now they’re prisoners. But not for long, as Cabe uses her feminine wiles to convince a guard to turn his back, then clocks him. Rhodes and Cabe race through the base looking for a way out, but accidentally find themselves stumbling over a well-adorned room that’s the nerve center of this operation–one that’s being run by Roxxon, the sinister energy conglomerate that was a recurring antagonist in the Marvel books of the 1970s.

The head Roxxon man delivers a bunch of exposition to Bethany and Rhodey, explaining that a deposit of vibranium was discovered on that little island, so Roxxon is attempting to steal the island and claim the rare mineral for itself–a metal that is primarily only found in quantity in Wakanda. Everything else has been a lie, a dodge to clear out Dobbs and seize his land. Back on the island, Iron Man recharges his armor with a small portable generator that Dobbs has and he and Namor compare notes. While they aren’t aware of the vibranium, they conclude that they’ve been duped, and so they set out towards the small fleet anchored off shore intending to get to the bottom of things, even if that requires a use of physical force.

In the past, while Iron Man was often said to be one of the most powerful heroes, the stories seldom evidenced that. It seemed like his armor was constantly running out of power or he was suffering a heart attack or some other malady that really stopped him from kicking ass. Michelinie, Romita and Layton dispense with all of that, and constantly show their lead character as a formidable powerhouse. So here, then Iron Man and Namor are fired upon by the waiting ships, they proceed to smash their way through them spectacularly. What’s more, it’s all done absolutely casually, as though this is merely an everyday occurrence for the armored Avenger. As much as anything, this upped Iron Man’s credibility among the fans. Back in the day, you’d sometimes see arguments about whether Spider-Man was stronger than Iron Man. After these stories, those arguments all went away.

Anyway, it’s at this point that the real Navy shows up–turns out the ships hat have been standing by are Roxxon-fielded frauds. But in order to cover up their misdeeds, the Roxxon commander detonates the island, destroying the vibranium and all evidence of their wrongdoing. Namor is able to save Dobbs (who years before had saved the Atlantean’s life, thus his devotion to the man’s cause) but the old fellow is heartbroken as he’s now lost the only home he’s had for the past two decades. And what’s more, while Iron man and Namor stopped what Roxxon was doing, the company itself doesn’t face any manner of punishment for its misdeeds. So it’s a win, but a win tinged by the fact that big business concerns seem to be able to buy their way our of facing justice for their actions, a concern that seems very topical even today. This was the world that Iron Man was increasingly inhabiting.