BHOC: IRON MAN #124

We’re at the point where IRON MAN started to get really good under the creative team of writer David Michelinie, penciler John Romita Jr. and inker and co-plotter Bob Layton. The transformation sort of snuck up on me as a reader at the time. I found that I was enjoying IRON MAN more and more, but it wasn’t such a profound shift that it stood out from everything else that I was buying. Nevertheless, this run on IRON MAN has stood the test of time and today is considered one of the strongest in the character’s history.

One of the main things that this creative team did was to move the strip away from its original Cold War 1960s roots and position it in contemporary times, in the 1980s even though this was just a hair before that. They dispensed with most of the long-time supporting cast, instead bringing in a new crop of characters; Jim “Rhodey” Rhodes, Tony Stark’s pilot, Bethany Cabe, a new love interest, and Mrs. Arbogast, Tony’s executive assistant, among others. They also read the zeitgeist of the times and steered Tony Stark towards being more unapologetic about his phenomenal wealth and genius. Under their hands, Tony enjoyed all of the perks that came with being rich and good-looking, and there was a sense of fun about this that made the audience go along with it. Far from being a tragic figure with a busted heart, Tony Stark became aspirational, even if he couldn’t immediately conquer all of his demons or instantly overcome all of his problems.

The creative team also did something else that was instrumental in making IRON MAN a better read: they treated their lead character as a genuine powerhouse, one who would routinely mop the floors with enemies who once had given him a genuine challenge. The opening to this issue is a good example of this. While the prior issue had concluded with Iron Man on the ropes in terms of setting up an appropriate cliffhanger, this issue’s opening pages are dedicated to Iron Man beating the holy hell out of Blizzard, the Melter and Whiplash, three villains who had vexed him in the past. The action here feels cathartic, as Iron Man is given a personality that makes it clear that, while this isn’t all an absolute cake walk, he’s got the upper hand throughout.

All that said, professional bodyguard Bethany Cabe also holds her own in the fight, and is instrumental of getting Iron man out of the jam he was in at the close of the previous issue. So she’s immediately a more formidable presence as a romantic interest than most we might have seen at Marvel up to this time. This was an era in which the female characters were beginning to get a bit more attention, rather than simply being girlfriends who pined longingly for the hero, who was interested in them but dared not voice that interest. Cabe was a good step forward in this regard, and she consequently made for a much more interesting addition to the cast than many of Stark’s prior girlfriends.

Michelinie and company were also slowly seeding in the notion that Tony’s partying lifestyle was perhaps not entirely under control, and he was seen turning to alcohol or taking a drink much more frequently–as in this sequence where he’s imbibing at 9:30 in the morning. And yes, Stark has troubles here, including the fact that SHIELD is attempting a hostile takeover of his company to insure that Stark International will continue to make munitions for its global peacekeeping efforts. But this was really set-up for the most noteworthy story in this run, which was still a bunch of issues in the future. (Incidentally, the artwork on this particular issue is a bit shakier than usual, as a deadline crunch meant that Layton couldn’t do all of it, and the remaining pages had to be farmed out to assorted hands, including Bob Wiacek, Bob McLeod, Joe Rubinstein and Dan Green. All great inkers, but the shift from page-to-page is noticeable.)

As the story begins to move towards its climax, Iron Man has an appointment to meet with the visiting Ambassador of the nation of Carnelia at the United nations on behalf of Stark International. Bethany is there also, working as the Ambassador’s security. It’s a bit of a P. R. play, one that Iron man isn’t entirely comfortable with. But needs must. Unfortunately, it’s at this point that the mysterious figure who has been behind the recent malfunctioning of Iron Man’s armor chooses to strike. This is Justin Hammer, about whom we know very little at the moment apart from the fact that he’s a shady competitor of Stark’s. Hammer’s tech team has been able to override the systems in Iron Man’s armor remotely a couple of times so far, and he’s after the same contract that Stark International will be getting from Carnelia. So it’s time to throw a wrench in those plans.

I remember being shocked by this final page the first time I read this issue. It’s about as graphic and violent an image as you were apt to see in a comic book under the auspices of the Comics Code, and it took me as much completely off-guard as Iron Man and the rest of the characters. Triggering Iron Man’s repulsors remotely, Hammer blows a big hole through the chest of the Carnelian ambassador, making it look as though Iron Man himself did the deed. Heck of a cliffhanger–and the letters page told readers that the next issue wouldn’t have Iron Man on the run, accused of murder, but rather something else. So I was interested in seeing what that would be.