BHOC: IRON MAN #125

These next two issues of IRON MAN were somewhat defining for the era, in that they separated Tony Stark from his armor and caused him to have to deal with life-threatening situations on his own without the aid of advanced ordinance and head-to-toe protection. In essence, it was a full steer into the style of a James Bond adventure, and it worked really well. Additionally, the cover-blurbed appearance by the new Ant-Man made at least my local circle of comic book reading friends excited; we had all really liked the character’s recent two-issue tryout in MARVEL PREMIERE and were excited to see him show up again. So even with the lead character reduced to appearing on a poster in the background of this cover, it was a pretty electrifying release when I came to it at my local 7-11 on one of my weekly comic book runs.

IRON MAN was not only reading well, but it looked great also, thanks to the now-in-synch combination of John Romita Jr. on pencils and Bob Layton (who also co-plotted the series with writer David Michelinie) on inks. For whatever reason, many of the runs during the 1980s were produced by a singular writer/artist, and Layton’s involvement allows for IRON MAN’s inclusion in that grouping, albeit with an asterisk. Romita’s storytelling was solid and strong, and while he wasn’t yet quite what he’d become, his figures already had a sense of mass to them. And Layton had adapted and improved upon the manner in which George Perez had given the Golden Avenger’s armor a shiny finish–Layton was just about the best at making the character at once seem like he was clad in metal but also looked sleek and slick, like a sports car. It was an effective combination.

The story picks up after a game-changing moment last time. We saw mysterious figure Justin Hammer use his ability to override Iron Man’s armor to cause it to fire a fatal repulsor ray through the body of the Carnelian ambassador during a public relations appearance. As this issue opens, though, rather than taking Iron Man into custody for the murder, the cops on sight trust him enough to buy into his story that his armor had been hijacked remotely and trust that Iron man’s boss Tony Stark will turn the armor into impound the following day. Stark does exactly that, stripping out vital components beforehand so that nobody else can make use of the armor’s destructive power. He also gets into it with his love interest Bethany Cabe, who had been hired as a bodyguard to the Carnelian ambassador and who, not knowing that Stark himself is Iron Man, can’t understand why everybody is letting the man walk.

However, the pressure of the situation causes Tony to immediately go on a bender, and he shows up at his offices the next morning still reeking of expensive alcohol and completely hung over, much to the disapproval of his executive assistant Mrs. Arbogast. Tony’s response is understandable, in that SHIELD is trying to take over his company, he just parted ways with longtime love interest Whitney Frost after inadvertently causing the death of her father Count Nefaria, and now he’s got a murder charge hanging over his head. But Tony picks himself back up at this point and heads over to Avengers Mansion, where he asks Captain America for a crash-course in self-defense. He tells Cap that he needs to know how to defend himself with his bodyguard Iron Man unavailable to him, but he’s actually got something a bit more dangerous in mind.

And that’s to track down the person who’s been causing his armor to malfunction and fail. During his recent battle with Whiplash, the super-criminal made a passing reference to “Hammer”, and that’s the only clue Tony has as to the architect of his misfortune. So he seeks out ex-con Scott Lang, who is now working as an engineer on the Stark payroll. Tony wants Lang to help him get some intel from inside Ryker’s Island where Whiplash is incarcerated, not realizing that the man he’s speaking with is the new Ant-Man. Lang owes Tony for his second chance at the straight-and-narrow and he offers to get Stark what he needs. Which he does, by donning his Ant-Man gear, infiltrating the prison and interrogating Whiplash.

While Whiplash can’t divulge an exact location, he does give up that Hammer is based in Monaco, so Tony takes his private jet down there–pilot Jim Rhodes is only too willing to go along and act as Tony’s back-up as the two have become close friends over the past bunch of issues. Having no idea where Hammer might be located, Rhodey jokes that Tony ought to call up Princess Grace and ask her where the man can be found–and is then stunned when he does exactly that. But when Tony and Rhodey arrive, the desk manager recognizes them and puts in a call to Hammer, and the duo find themselves accosted by masked gun-wielding mercenaries in Hammer’s employ. They’re looking to abduct Stark, not kill him, but this leads to Tony and Rhodey having to fight their way out of the building

Rhodey and Tony race off in their jeep, with Hammer’s men in close pursuit. In order to elude them, Rhodey jumps the jeep off the pier they’re on and onto the sandy beaches, which causes them to elude their pursuers. The pair is feeling pretty happy about their success without the need for Iron Man’s help–when they crest a hillside to be confronted by a veritable battalion of similarly-attired Hammer goons coming ashore from a landing craft. It’s readily apparent that the two men aren’t going to be eluding capture quite so easily. And that’s where this issue is To Be Continued! It was a fun, breezy read that ended almost too quickly, which wasn’t something that was typically said about IRON MAN only a year earlier. So this was definitely a title on a noticeable upswing.