UNCANNY X-MEN #179 (March 1984) Letters Page answered by Rogue of the X-Men

RETRO REVIEW: Iron Man #149 (Aug. 1981)

Art by John Romita Jr. (Pencils), Bob Layton (Inks) & Bob Sharon (Colors)

Story by David Michelinie (Co-Plotter & Script) & Bob Layton (Co-Plotter)

Perhaps the most famous Iron Man story, certainly the best known during Michelinie & Layton's run, is the Demon In A Bottle story arc. I agree that story further defined Tony Stark and solidified him as a major comic book character, but it's still not my favorite IM story. I much prefer Doomquest. Which was basically a time travel story, an action-adventure story and a battle of good and evil story all in one. Doom & Iron Man are sent to medieval times to do battle. But that all happens in Iron Man #150. This issue is the catalyst to that. Let's get started.

(WARNING: Contains Language Not Approved By The Comics Code Authority!)

We begin our story on the open seas where a ship full of Stark International parts is being hijacked by pirates who moonlight as outlaws in the old west.

When suddenly Iron Man man shows up (how'd he know about a hijacked shipment of Stark Int. parts--? Oh, right!) He says: "fuck your helicopter! I'm Iron Man!" and frees the hostages and rounds up the pirates.

Iron Man has the captain turn the ship around and head to the nearest port. Clearly there's something up with this ship and it's cargo. Iron Man flies off to his next battle: being Tony Stark and and recapping what happened in previous issues.

Okay, back to this issue. Tony's most pressing problem at the moment is a meeting with the board of directors.

Topic of the day quickly becomes what was with that shipment of potentially dangerous Stark Ind. parts on it's way to Latveria? And the ethics of a Stark Industries employee, Rodney Dangerfield's doppelganger. 

Tony is not happy and promptly let's Dangerfield go with a nice severance package. 

Meanwhile...Doctor Doom is visiting his old pal, Cagliostro, who's been teaching the "Mad Monarch" the ways of Dark Magik. Eventually the matter of payment comes up and old Cagliostro learns a lesson of his own: Don't fuck with Doom.

But, as Luke Cage knows, Doom is a man of his word and a carrier of mini treasure chests. 'Cagllio get's paid and Doom returns to his own time in Latveria, several centuries in the future. 

Upon his return home, Doom learns about his cancelled order of Stark Ind. parts  from his chief scientist, Dr. Hauptmann. Doom should have ordered through Amazon.com.

 Back in New York, Iron Man is waiting at the evacuated Stark Ind. docks on Long Island Sound. Knowing Doom or his Doombots will show up for the package Doom ordered, Iron man is on the lookout for an attack. Unfortunately he was looking in the wrong direction.

Instead of politely asking if Doom's package might have gotten lost in a warehouse, the Doombots decide to play hardball, to Iron Man's dismay.

Needless to say, Iron Man lost that round and Doom's parts are on their way to Latveria. So what can a Genius-Billionaire-Philanthropist do but take a "business trip" to Latveria himself. Thanks to Rhodey, Tony gets into the country and prepares to crack some heads with the help of Iron Man.

Iron Man finds the secret entrance to Doom's castle and eventually confronts Doom himself. Doom isn't too happy Iron Showed up unannounced. But Iron Man isn't taking "no" for an answer. 

This causes Doom to throw up some next level gang signs and soon an avalanche is coming out of his metal fingers.

Iron Man breaks free from his rocky tomb and Doom and Iron man take their fight to Doom's laboratory. The two pound on each other while scientists scatter.

The fight continues as they land on Doom's time cube which suddenly turns on. Obviously this causes Doom and IM some concern.

Little did they know Dr. Hauptmann was at the controls. A little back story on Dr. Hauptmann, you see Doom killed his brother in Fantastic Four #85 and has been grudgingly serving Doom until he could find a way to get his revenge. He's also not too fond of Iron Man for some reason.

So that's it. The set-up for my favorite Iron Man story. Hopefully I'll find a copy of #150 of my own and review it as well. As for this issue, it's pretty good. I mean it's no Doom and Iron man leading armies in the time of King Arthur, but it's got plenty of good action and great dialogue. It also sets up the rivalry between Doom and the Iron Avenger that would be re-visited in stories to come. 8/10

True To The Source Material: Alex Ross

MARVELS was a graphic novel put out by Marvel with art by Alex Ross. It was also a fine example of re-creating an exact scene from the comic it was based on almost perfectly.

Below is a side by side comparison of how close he got. Above is the original lay-out by Jack Kirby for the Galactus Trilogy and underneath is the re-created page by Alex Ross. Pretty faithful to Kirby's original page, huh?

Comic Intermission #3: Don't Get Between The Thing and His Fruit Pie

The Thing shows Torgo how great Hostess Fruit Pies are. What with it's light, tender crust and real fruit filling. How can anyone not like Hostess Fruit pies when it comes in such tasty flavors as apple, cherry or peach? How!?

Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, CANCELED

Here I go again, another nerdy freak-out/rant post. But Why shouldn’t I? This was the best Marvel owned animated series (In my opinion) ever put on television and It’s being disassembled (Puns are fun) for really no reason. OK, maybe there is a reason, but it’s not because of something reasonable like not being a critical or commercial success. Because it was and is, the second season is still ongoing. It’s because Marvel’s new TV head, Jeph Leob, and the powers that be want a series that closely resembles Marvel’s The Avengers, you know the 3rd most grossing movie of all time.

Despite all that, I’m not going to go insane and dismiss all things Marvel or send a tweet to Marvel’s CCO Joe Quesada telling him to “die of AIDS”. No, this will be a rather somber post. Reflecting on what an awesome show Avengers: EMH was and what I hope to see in the future.

Let me start with the facts. Yesterday it was anounced that A:EMH would not have a third season and would instead be replaced by a new series called Avengers Assemble. It will be part of a new Marvel TV block along with the return of Ultimate Spider-Man and a new series called. Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. and all three shows will share the same Universe. 

Nothing more was said about what to expect from the new Avengers show other than that it will closely echo the movie and Falcon is involved and is soppossed to be the avatar for the audience.

So far this doesn’t sound terrible. But that’s not the point is it? A:EMH was a perfectly good, no great, show. It had everything you wanted in an Avengers animated series. It already established many of Marvel’s well known (and not so well known but just as awesome, looking at you Guardians of the Galaxy) characters to great effect. In the second season alone it took us through the Secret Invasion story line and Hank Pym’s transformation into Yellow Jacket. And the season not even half done. 

My point is, same with the original Spider-Man movie trilogy, what’s the point in getting invested in a series if it’s just going to get re-booted in the near future anyway? Why should I keep watching something if I’ll see a new incarnation of it and I’ll have to re-invest myself into another series? I mean The Spectacular Spider-Man and all those X-Men shows were all well liked and just like that they were gone. Now, those shows at the time were on before Marvel owned the TV rights to thier charecters. But A:EMH is completley owned by Marvel, under the Disney umbrells of course. 

Now as for the other two shows, Ultimate Spider-Man and Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. I don’t get it.

I gave that Spider-Man show a chance. I’ve seen about 5 episodes. I’m not being unfair when I say I just don’t like it. There may be a few things I see from time to time that I enjoyed, but for the most part, it’s not for me. Even with the great Paul Dini as writer/producer on it. Also, if the problem was to get the Avengers show to match the Avengers movie then shouldn’t that be the case for Spider-Man? Because from what I’ve seen I don’t see how it mirrors the upcoming movie nor the previous 3 films.

I know nothing about the new Hulk show other than I know that doesn’t mirror any of the Hulk movies or the Avengers. Unless there was a deleted scene inThe Avengers where the Hulk teamed up with the Red Hulk, She-Hulk, A-Bomb, and Skaar for some reason (maybe to S.M.A.S.H. shit?). 

So back to Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. I’ve already said how great it is many times before. I can remember watching episodes where they introduce one charecter after another and all I can think is “OK, they’re building up to something awesome for the finale or something awesome for the next season”. But none of that matters now. All I can do is watch the rest of this great season, enjoy it and re-watch the previous episodes.

I hope the new series keeps some of the charm of A:EMH or at least the same voice actors because I thought they did a great job. I even recognized some of those voices on Marvel vs. Capcom 3. If it mirrors like the movie it’s hard to imagine it will be terrible. It’s the fact that it will be part of the Ultimate Spider-Man TV show universe that scares me. 

Afterward:

I know I’ve been hard on Ultimate Spider-Man but it’s only because I love the charecter so much. I may be spoiling this for some (so stop reading if you want) but in a recnet/upcoming episode of A:EMH Spider-Man makes a cameo. He helps Cap with his reputation problem as well as fighting some bad guys with him. That incarnation of Spider-Man was exactly what I hoped Ultimate would be. He was a kid but he wan’t an anoying wise-ass kid. he was actually a super hero in training, not whatever Ultimate thinks thier doing.

All us Marvel fans may act like assholes and send less than flattering tweets or comments but there’s a reason. We love the Marvel Universe so much. Marvel should be lucky to have fans that care so deeply about what happens to it.

Comic Intermission #1: Spidey and Cap Sell Ricochet Racers

Apparently in the 70s, toy companies liked to use comic books and super heroes to sell shit. Isn't that crazy? What a marvel life was before the internet. Here in all it's full color glory is a 1976 ad for something called a Ricochet Racer.

They came in Spider-Man and Captain America themes so it's fitting they would be the ones to save the day with the racers. And A reminder for the kids to buy this shitty toy at the end of the short comic. Ah, childhood.