Tales of Suspense #49

Cover Date: January 1964

Plot Overview: Angel is flying back to Xavier's school when he comes across Iron Man. Iron Man tries to warn him about an upcoming nuclear blast but doesn't make it in time. The blast catches Angel and turns him evil. Iron Man tries to catch up to the Angel as he flies off but his thrusters run out of power. Iron Man saves himself from the brunt of the fall with his repeller but suffers some damage. He sets about repairing the damage to his armor.

The Angel returns to the school and quits the X-Men. He says he'll be joining the evil Mutants and then escapes when the other X-Men try to restrain him. Professor X returns and mentally tries to talk sense into the departed Angel. After failing to reach Angel, X begins to doubt his mission.

The X-Men decide to call for the Avengers and Iron Man is the only one to answer. He heads out to find the Angel. Meanwhile, the Angel steals some TNT and sets it off above town to try and draw attention to himself. The police are aiming to shoot him down but Iron Man convinces him to wait. Iron Man chases the Angel through one of his hangers and tries to trap him in there. The Angel outsmarts him and tries to lock him in. Iron Man easily escapes and decides he has one chance to try and turn the Angel good again.

Iron Man grabs Angel and flies really high into the air until his thrusters give out. He begins to fall to the earth and the Angel snaps out of it and saves him at the last minute. Iron Man and the Angel return to the Xavier School and they thank Iron Man for helping the Angel. As Iron Man leaves, Professor X mentally tells him that he'll repay this act one day.

The Watcher appears in a backup and tells a tale of an alien race that follows the progress of mankind. They begin to worry that humans may one day rival them. But the humans discover nuclear power and the Cold War begins. The aliens relax and figure the humans will destroy themselves. The tale ends with the Watcher warning humanity to not let this alien race take over the galaxy.

My Take: This issue was a rough one to get through. For starters the dialogue was really bad. I mean, brutally bad. I know they had to show Angel was evil but he probably said "evil mutants" 20 times in an 18 page story. Having him say Magneto instead would have been a lot better and not so fake sounding. Also, when the nuclear blast he had an awful inner monologue that I'm adding a picture of here.

On top of the poor dialogue, Iron Man's plan to make Angel a good guy again was asinine on multiple levels. For starters, what if the Angel wasn't strong enough to stop his fall. Iron Man is a guy in a suit of armor and Angel is a mutant with wings that can fly. There's no indication that he had the strength to pull that off. And what if it hadn't snapped Angel out of it. Iron Man didn't have a plan B to save himself. It just wasn't a well conceived idea.

On top of those problems. There was a typo as they refer to Tony Stark as Anthony Blake early in the issue. There might have been another one but I don't recall it now. Not a huge deal, just thought I would point it out.

The art was good though. The Iron Man armor looked better than in the last issue. It seemed more refined and just overall better designed. As I said last issue, this newer armor will prevent some of the wonky contortions that some artists had him doing in the old tank armor. I think that will be a giant plus in the long run.

I give this *1/2 out of *****.

Notes: There was nothing of note in this issue.

Next Issue: Amazing Spider-Man #8

Tales of Suspense #48

Cover Date: December 1963

Plot Overview: One of Stark's associates back out of a deal and Tony decides to drive out to Charleton Carter's estate to find out why he's decided to no longer do business with him. Stark arrives and sees Carter being terrorized through a window.

Stark becomes Iron Man and enters the room. He comes face to face with Mister Doll. Mister Doll's powers seem to revolve around a sort of voodoo doll that he can shape to look like people. He shapes the doll to look like Iron Man and starts to cause pain. Iron Man tries to flee the scene and falls over a railing into the water. Mister Doll assumes that Iron Man has died.

Iron Man pulls himself out of the water but his chest plate is almost out of power. He manages to get back to his lab and hooked up to the power before passing out. He's awoken the next day by Pepper Potts calling him. Meanwhile, Mister Doll has forced Carter to sign over his business and he now plans to go after Tony Stark.

Tony Stark has become frustrated with the bulk of his current suit and decides to design a new one. He creates the more familiar red and gold armor of Iron Man. This suit features magnets which help him put it on faster. In general, it's got the same or more power but is lighter and more flexible.

The police decide to protect Stark from Mister Doll. Stark is displeased by this because he wants to track down Mister Doll as Iron Man. Stark tricks the guard into thinking he wants to ask Pepper out on a date and the guard allows them to go into a different room. Stark thanks Pepper for her help and tells her, to her disappointment, to keep acting like she's in love with him.

Iron Man relieves the guards just in time for Mister Doll to arrive. Doll again makes Iron Man suffer through the use of the doll. He decides that he's subdued Iron Man and changes his doll to look like Tony Stark. Iron Man now has a problem. If he registers any pain, Mister Doll will know his true identity. Iron Man struggles to not show any reaction and Mister Doll takes his disinterest as a sign of weakness. He decides to send Iron Man away until he has further use of him.

Iron Man locks himself in the lab and struggles with all the pain. He decides that he must temporarily disable his chest plate. This will numb his nerves and block out the pain so he can build a counter to the voodoo doll. Stark works quickly and finishes his device just in time.

Iron Man confronts Mister Doll again and uses his new transistor ray to shape the doll into the shape of Mister Doll. Mister Doll drops the doll out of fear for hurting himself and is incapacitated. Iron Man turns him over to the police.

A short time later, Happy and Tony realize they left Pepper locked in that room. They go let her out, needless to say, she is not happy about it.

My Take: I'm a little sad to see the tank style Iron Mam armor make it's exit so soon. I love the clunky old style look to it. But it does make way for the more iconic red and gold Iron Man armor. Tony will be sporting a version of this armor well into the 70s.

This issue was a pretty fun read despite Mister Doll being a lame villain. We just had the Puppetmaster in FF and he's pretty much the same character. Mister Doll wasn't that important to the story. I think the new armor was the big deal in this issue and I liked how they handled that. They did a good job of showing off the new features of the armor and Tony did a really good job of explaining why the old armor needed to go.

Despite my love of the old armor, the new armor will be better from an art stand point. There were exactly two artists that understood how to draw the tank armor and that was Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko. Everyone else that drew the armor had him doing weird contortionist moves. I consider it a welcome upgrade for the future art of Iron Man appearances.

The art was decent in this issue. Mister Doll was a stupid looking villain and the new armor needs a little work. But those are really my only complaints about it. The art looked pretty good other than those two things.

I give this **1/2 out of *****.

Notes: This is the first appearance of Mister Doll. I had to look him up and it appears he's just a footnote in Marvel history with a handful of appearances. This book is also the first appearance of the Mark III Iron Man armor. As I said earlier, this suit undergoes some revisions but it's one of the iconic armors for Iron Man.

Next Issue: Amazing Spider-Man #7

Tales of Suspense #47

Cover Date: November 1963

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

Tales of Suspense #46

Cover Date: October 1963

Plot Overview: Anton Vanko has developed a suit for Communist Russia. The suit gives him control over all things electrical. He can use the suit to short circuit electrical equipment or to directly control it. He puts on an impressive display for his leader and is sent off to America to sabotage some of Tony Stark's weapons.

Stark is testing a new rocket and decides to watch the test as Iron Man. The rocket goes out of control thanks to the Dynamo and Iron Man is forced to save the day. The Dynamo continues to sabotage various Stark plants over the next few weeks and the U.S. government starts to lose faith in him. There are murmurings that Stark might be a Communist himself and they talk about pulling all his government contracts.

The Dynamo decides that he's had enough of sabotage and wants to face Iron Man head on. He shorts out the electricity at Stark's main facility and the battle is on. Iron Man immediately realizes that the Dynamo controls electricity and put up a shield to save himself. Iron Man takes to the air where the Dynamo can't hurt him and traps him with a bunch of uprooted trees.

Iron Man then picks up the Dynamo and threatens to drop him in the water which gets the Dynamo to surrender. Iron Man plays a fake conversation from Russia that convinces the Dynamo to defect to America. Stark later hires him to head up electrical research.

My Take: Fun issue this time out. The Crimson Dynamo and his electrical abilities were kind of unique as far as villains I've seen in the past. He didn't so much shoot electrical beams as he caused short circuits or took over other things. It felt like someone really thought outside of the box when they worked on him.

I really enjoyed the plot of this story. It was nice to see Iron Man squaring off with another guy in a suit for I think the first time in a series. It was also nice to get an actual fight at the end of the book. It was one sided but a lot of times in these Silver Age books you don't really get a fight. A lot of times you get a gimmicky way to defeat the villain and a really brief encounter. So  I always get a kick out of an issue that gives me a fight of some kind.

The art on this issue was okay. The Iron Man suit fared a little better than usual as he wasn't contorting in weird impossible ways. The Crimson Dynamo suit was downright terrible though. I added a picture to this post so you could see how bad it was. It wasn't quite as bad as the Porcupine from the last issue of Tales to Astonish but you would have to try and look as bad as the Porcupine did. Just for the sake of comparison, I added a picture of the Porcupine as well.

I wanted to take this issue to go on a brief tangent. The last few months at Marvel has really seen the focus shift towards super villains and that makes me happy. During a lot of the early issues it was just Thor or Iron Man taking out a Communist threat or some one shot sci-fi threat. That's fine here and there but it really makes you yearn for some real baddies after awhile. In just the past couple of months we've been introduced to Jack Frost, the Super Skrull, Sandman, Doctor Octopus and the Eel. There's varying levels there but those are all super villains that had some staying power with multiple appearances over the years. It's nice to see them building a rogue's gallery for the Marvel Universe.

I give this issue *** out of *****.

Notes: This issue features the first appearance of the Crimson Dynamo. 4 or 5 guys take up the Dynamo armor over the decades at Marvel but he stays a fairly constant presence in the Iron Man titles. I would call him a strictly B list villain but I would also include him in Iron Man's rogue gallery. He definitely has a place in the lore of the Iron Man books.

There are also some other minor first appearances here. Senator Harrington Byrd makes a few more appearances in the Marvel Universe so I included him.

Next Issue: Amazing Spider-Man #5

Tales of Suspense #45

Cover Date: September 1963

Plot Overview: Tony Stark enters a race with a car created by his own technology. During the race, his chest plate begins to run out of power and his heart stops beating. Stark crashes the car and is trapped. A man named Happy Hogan comes out of the crowd and saves Stark from the car. Stark has Hogan take him to his hotel so he can recharge his chest plate.

Stark offers Hogan money to show his gratitude and Hogan says he would rather have a job than money. Hogan explains that he's a former boxer that didn't have the heart to finish off his opponents. Stark hires Hogan as his new chauffeur. They arrive at Stark's Office where he introduces Hogan to Pepper Potts. They take an immediate disliking to each other as Stark sneaks off to test out his armor.

The alarm goes off and Iron Man catches Professor Shapanka stealing from the vault. Iron Man captures Shapanka. Later, Tony Stark decides to let Shapanka walk but also fires him. Shapanka essentially vows revenge as he leaves.

Shapanka gets the idea from Stark saying cold feet and develops a cold suit to make himself immortal. Shapanka goes on a crime spree before finally approaching Stark for revenge. He freezes the guards plus Potts and Hogan. Hogan almost catches Stark changing into Iron Man just before being frozen. Iron Man tries to catch Shapanka with a trap door but he freezes the gears and manages to climb out. Iron Man can feel his suit freezing during the fight and decides to make a gamble. He creates a heat ray with his suit that melts the ice on Shapanka's suit. Shapanka surrenders and Hogan decides that he should also be Stark's bodyguard as the issue comes to a close.

My Take: This was a really good issue. The addition of consistent supporting characters immediately pays off as the book has more personality and Stark has more characterization. Happy and Pepper have a good dynamic between them and it has made Tony think about his changes into Iron Man a little more.

The expansion to 18 pages for this story was a huge help here. Everything was able to breathe a little bit. The characters got some time to develop and the story seemed to progress naturally. Sure, the Jack Frost stuff was probably 4 pages of an 18 page story but he wasn't important.

I really liked seeing Stark bring Hogan into the fold and meeting his assistant Pepper and how all three characters are going to interact with each other. Honestly, I don't think this issue even needed a super villain to be an enjoyable read. The characters were able to carry the story that will for the first 10 pages.

Jack Frost as a character is a good idea. He's an actual super villain which has been rare so far in the Iron Man books. He has a power that will provide some problems for Iron Man and his bad heart. And he's generally a good second tier villain to throw out there for the hero to beat in a one shot story here and there.

I'd give this **** out of *****

Notes: This is the first appearance of the villain Jack Frost. He eventually becomes Blizzard who is a consistent Iron Man C list villain throughout the 70s and early 80s. He's actually one of my favorite Iron Man villains.

More importantly than the Blizzard, this issue introduces Pepper Potts and Happy Hogan. They will of course become two of Iron Man's main supporting characters through his entire existence.

Next Issue: Amazing Spider-Man #4