12:01 PM
Brad
Plot Overview: A government test ends when the tanks fall apart. Upon inspection it's revealed that the parts were greatly weakened. Meanwhile Stark is attacked from behind at one of his plants by the Melter.
The Melter reveals that he was a competitor of Tony Stark named Bruno Horgan. Stark outed him for using inferior parts and he lost all of his government contracts. Horgan of course vowed revenge. Some time later, Horgan discovers a beam that can melt iron and decides to use it for evil. The Melter now plans to sabotage Tony Stark at every turn to ruin him.
Happy Hogan finds Stark and helps him back to his office. Stark makes some excuse so he can sneak off and recharge his chest plate. Meanwhile, the Melter is still in the plant and begins to melt one of Stark's generators. Stark sees the alarm and becomes Iron Man.
Iron Man hits the scene and the Melter immediately melts one of Iron Man's arms. Iron Man flees the scene and uses some of his magnets to burst a few steam pipes. The Melter is forced to retreat from the scene. Iron Man returns to being Tony Stark and orders the generator repaired. Stark realizes that he can't confront the Melter again and begins to think of ways to beat him.
The government summons Stark to Washington DC and threaten to pull his contracts if he doesn't get the mistakes under control. They don't believe his story about the Melter and give him one last chance. Stark then gets called away to his Long Island factory on an emergency.
The melted iron has completely covered the generator and it's going to take even longer to repair the generator. Stark says he'll send in Iron Man to help with the repairs. Stark becomes Iron Man and starts to repair the generator.
The Melter appears again and melts a mass of pipes that Iron Man has lifted over his head. Iron Man escapes the molten iron and the Melter then tries to melt him. No effect. The Melter is taken aback by this and starts flailing for anything that might help him beat Iron Man. He melts a crane holding a boulder and Iron Man is forced to save Pepper and Hogan from being crushed. The Melter flees and Iron Man corners him in part of the factory. The Melter tries to melt the floor under Iron Man but he just turns on his transistor jets. Iron Man tears a panel of floor up and knocks the Melter off balance. The Melter decides to dive into the sewers and risk drowning over being captured by Iron Man.
Iron Man is frustrated by the fact that the Melter escaped and he doesn't know if he's dead or alive. He becomes Tony Stark again and the reader learns that he used an aluminum suit to thwart the Melter's ray. He orders everyone to get back to work as the issue comes to a close.
My Take: Really fun issue this time around. The Melter was a fun villain with your usual cliche origin story. He worked well in this story and it was nice to see Tony Stark being forced to think of a solution to his problems in this issue. I'm happy that Iron Man has been getting a steady stream of super villains and not just beating up on thugs and dictators. Marvel has been doing a really good job with the more recent issues of introducing super villains for the heroes to fight.
My biggest problem with this issue is that he came from the same template as Tales of Suspense #46. It had the same story with the government threatening to pull his government contracts due to some sort of sabotage. I don't think he's been named yet in the comics but Harrington Byrd seems to exist solely to threaten and question Stark every issue. This isn't a deal breaker by any means, it just felt like I was reading a really similar story to what I read last time. But that's comics for you.
Steve Ditko came on art for this issue and it really looked good. The Melter had a decent look and the Iron Man armor looked awesome in this issue. Ditko probably made Iron Man look better and more realistic to anything that's been done with him before, just a tremendous job on art.
I give this *** out of *****.
Notes: This issue features the first appearance of the Melter. I have a hard time framing the Melter in a context of what tier he should be in. He's essentially a C list villain but he's also been a part of some important moments in Marvel History. He was a founding member of the Masters of Evil and he was a semi important Iron Man rogue for awhile at least. As I said before, I have a hard time really placing him in that sort of context.
Next Issue: Amazing Spider-Man #6
Posted in: Happy Hogan,Harrington Byrd,Iron Man,Melter,Pepper Potts,Tales of Suspense
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