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Post by badwolf on Aug 26, 2019 14:37:40 GMT -5
I remember Magma from an issue of MTU with Iron Man. I didn't realize he had appeared before (or was it after?) I hear you. The Magma I was familiar with was the member of The New Mutants. Here is what I was thinking of:
He apparently died at the end of this issue (his island blew up). But no body was found...
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Post by sabongero on Aug 27, 2019 12:29:15 GMT -5
I hear you. The Magma I was familiar with was the member of The New Mutants. Here is what I was thinking of:
He apparently died at the end of this issue (his island blew up). But no body was found...
Glad to see Marvel Team-Up utilize obscure super-villains and make them menacing. I wish they had continued this series instead of stopping it at issue #150, and "relaunching" another Spider-Man title, Web of Spider-Man at the time. |
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Post by Icctrombone on Aug 27, 2019 12:54:13 GMT -5
I like the concept of team up books better than the execution. Brave and the Bold was better than most because they had Aparo doing the art every month.
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Post by sabongero on Aug 27, 2019 12:58:41 GMT -5
I like the concept of team up books better than the execution. Brave and the Bold was better than most because they had Aparo doing the art every month. Aparo... the illustrator from Batman in the 70's and 80's? I better look up some of these Brave and the Bold comic books then. I loved Jim Aparo art. On a separate note, have you read any of the other "Marvel Team-Up" series titled, Marvel Two-In-One which had The Thing as the primary character for the team ups. |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 27, 2019 14:04:43 GMT -5
I like the concept of team up books better than the execution. Brave and the Bold was better than most because they had Aparo doing the art every month. Aparo... the illustrator from Batman in the 70's and 80's? I better look up some of these Brave and the Bold comic books then. I loved Jim Aparo art. On a separate note, have you read any of the other "Marvel Team-Up" series titled, Marvel Two-In-One which had The Thing as the primary character for the team ups. Aparo on Brave & the Bold was pure gold. That was when he did pencils, inks & letters. He was at the peak of his career. And with the quirky Bob Haney scripts it was entertaining. Definitely the best team up title by DC or Marvel. |
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Post by Icctrombone on Aug 27, 2019 15:27:24 GMT -5
I like the concept of team up books better than the execution. Brave and the Bold was better than most because they had Aparo doing the art every month. Aparo... the illustrator from Batman in the 70's and 80's? I better look up some of these Brave and the Bold comic books then. I loved Jim Aparo art. On a separate note, have you read any of the other "Marvel Team-Up" series titled, Marvel Two-In-One which had The Thing as the primary character for the team ups. Aparo did most of the work from around 100-200 of that series. I read most of Team up and Two and one. The memorable stories from the Thing book was a 4 parter where he teams up with a few heroes to find Adam Warlocks body to reanimate it. Also the project Pegasus arc was good. |
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Post by chaykinstevens on Aug 27, 2019 16:43:58 GMT -5
Here is what I was thinking of: Bob Layton was okay at drawing Iron Man, but his Spidey looks horrible, almost as bad as the Trimpe/Esposito version inside. |
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Post by sabongero on Sept 4, 2019 18:00:25 GMT -5
 Iron man #171"Ball and Chain" 0.60 ¢ @ June 1983 Writer: Denny O'Neil Penciler: Luke McDonnell Inker: Steve Mitchell Colorist: Bob Sharen Letterer: Rick Parker Editor: Mark Gruenwald & Michael Carlin Editor-In-Chief: Jim Shooter Synopsis: Thunderball of the Wrecking Crew is waylaying a power plant in Niagara Falls because he wanted to talk to his ex-girlfriend, Rhonda Taddington, who left him. Near Stark International, Jim Rhodes is practicing and getting used to the Iron Man armor with the help of Stark International scientist Morley Erwin familiarizing him with the Iron Man circuitry. Afterwards, Morley told he's going to Niagara Falls to visit his sister, and Jim decided to take the day off and accompany him as it is only a few hours from Stark International. Meanwhile Tony Stark is elsewhere not remembering ordering breakfast at a hotel with the woman he was with because he blacked out drunk from the night before. Thunderball's tantrums made the news and Morley and Rhodes heard it on the news while listening to the radio, and Morley's sister was one of the hostages. Rhodes flew out in the Iron Man armor to battle Thunderball. Upon arrival, Iron Man bit off more than he can chew, not knowing how to deal with Thunderball's magical ball and chain weapon. Going toe-to-toe and destroying the facility, Morley's sister, Clytemnestra, got in between the two adversaries and told Iron Man to just find the woman and have her talk to Thunderball instead of the two battling and destroying the facility thus preventing an electricity crisis in four states. Iron Man departed and Thunderball was calmed down for the time being. Elsewhere, Tony Stark was getting drunk at a party, and enjoying too much he passed out at a sofa. His date left him for another millionaire, and a drunk and asleep Tony is the butt of the jokes for the rest of the party. Iron Man found Thunderball's ex-girlfriend but she declined to go see her loser ex-boyfriend. He decided to go back and do battle. The two engaged in combat again once Iron Man arrived in the premises, and Iron Man was getting the short end of the stick. Morley's sister helped by sending a signal to Jim Rhodes, who capitalized on it and recharged the armor and overpowered Thunderball. Morely arrived to tell Iron Man the bad news that Tony Stark has been arrested. Comments: Tony's fall from grace continued as he comes to his senses but doesn't recall events as he blacked out from drunkeness the night before. At the party he drank too much and passed out, thus sleeping in the sofa, and became the butt of jokes in the party, as his date left the party with another millionaire. The "L" on Tony's forehead just kept getting bigger and bolder as each issue of Iron Man is published in this storyline. Jim Rhodes continued to grow as the Iron Man. He practiced getting to know how to use the armor with the help of Stark International scientist Morley Erwin. He obviously took a chance at trusting this scientist about the Iron Man armor. At least he knew his limitations, and while Tony is useless at this point, it's good that he received some help understanding the circuitry and weapon systems and how to use the armor properly. Even with proper practice, he is still unprepared to deal with certain villains, in this case magical weapons from a super-villain. Luck came into play in this superhero story, as Morley's sister helped a losing Iron Man be able to recharge and thus overpower his opponent. How the heck did Tony Stark get arrested when we last saw him sleeping drunk on a sofa during a party? |
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Post by sabongero on Sept 20, 2019 7:51:57 GMT -5
 Iron man #172"Firebrand's Revenge" 0.60 ¢ @ July 1983 Writer: Denny O'Neil Penciler: Luke McDonnell Inker: Steve Mitchell Colorist: Bob Sharen Letterer: Rick Parker Editor: Mark Gruenwald & Michael Carlin Editor-In-Chief: Jim Shooter Synopsis: Inside a museum, a pair of security guards tackled a man in medieval iron armor, and had him arrested. It turned out to be a drunk Tony Stark. Later on, inside the jail cell, Tony was bailed by Stark International, but instead of heading there, he instead elected to take a cab to the nearest liquor store, even after a whole bunch of reporters ambushed him outside the jail cell. At a ballpark, Iron Man was playing baseball with some kids and was hitting and catching the ball himself. After Iron Man returned back to Stark International and talked to scientist Erwin about his armor, and Tony's problem, he was summoned to Stark International by the V.P., Yvette Avril. Iron Man arrived in the meeting with Stark's senior staff, and was told Obadiah Stane will be taking over in several hours, but they can postpone that by a week or so as long as they can get Tony Stark's signature on a piece of document by the cutoff time in a few hours but they couldn't find Tony. Iron Man went to look for Tony, and solicited Captain America's help finding the drunk. In the rundown part of Lower Manhattan, thanks to a hobo informing him, Captain America found Tony Stark in a run down hotel in bed drinking away. Captain America yelled at him and slapped the alcohol bottle from Tony's hand and walked out of the hotel room. A shaking Tony, tears rolling down his eye, crawled on the floor to chase the alcohol on the floor. Out in the hallway, Captain America detected the smoke and surmised the hotel is on fire, and the super-villain Firebrand was burning the hotel from the outside, eliciting Captain America to jump through a window and tackle him in the air. Firebrand left the premises, and Iron Man arrived, and the two went inside the burning hotel to save Tony Stark and the rest of the residents. Iron Man flew to a rooftop of a Manhattan apartment building and grabbed a watertank to dash out the fire rampaging the hotel. Then he saw other buildings on fire and Firebrand setting them afire building after building. After dashing the fire in the other buildings, Iron Man engaged Firebrand in fight. And a stalemate battle between the two suddenly changed for the better for Iron Man as he took hold of Firebrand and took him to the Hudson River and plunged both of them underwater, thus extinguishing Firebrand and putting him into unconsciousness. He went back to Captain America and they checked on Tony Stark only to find out it was a bum who switched apparels with Tony Stark, and the clock ticked down and it was too late. At Stark International Obadiah Stane arrived to announce to Tony Stark's senior staff that he is their new boss. Comments: There's nothing you can really do when a man is determined to self-destruct and destroy his life. Unless he shapes up and decides he wants to help himself, there is nothing any of his family or friends or associates can do to turn his life around. After all, whatever you do, the person will just put it in check, and continue the self-destructive path he has chosen to walk on. And this is the predicament Tony Stark's alcoholism has placed himself in. Even super-powered friends, Iron Man, and living legends like Captain America are helpless to turn Tony Stark's life around. He is not merely affecting himself. He is inadvertently destroying the lives of his employees especially his loyal senior staff at Stark International. And at the end of the story, he lost control of his company, to his ruthless competition. I wonder if Howard Stark suddenly started rolling in his grave at this time. All the blood, sweat, and tears that Howard worked hard for to help build Stark International only to lose it because of alcoholic drinks controlled his son. And of course, it will only get worse from here. |
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Post by sabongero on Jun 18, 2020 18:25:33 GMT -5
 Iron man #173"Judas is a Woman" 0.60 ¢ @ August 1983 Writer: Denny O'Neil Penciler: Luke McDonnell Inker: Steve Mitchell Colorist: Bob Sharen Letterer: Rick Parker Editor: Mark Gruenwald & Michael Carlin Editor-In-Chief: Jim Shooter Synopsis: In the Bowery of NYC, muggers beat and kick a drunken Tony Stark in an alley way. One of the men pulled a gun to shoot Tony, when two men saved him and dressing him up in a tuxedo and bringing in a limousine to deliver Tony Stark to Obadiah Stane's unveiling of Stane International to replace Stark International's letterhead in the company headquarters. Key Stark International employees handed Stane their resignation letters effective immediately. Standing on officially now, Stane International property, Obadiah ordered them to leave the premises as they are trespassing, particularly Tony Stark. Iron Man appeared and Stane gave him a proposition to save Tony Stark from his drunken state. And Iron Man agreed. On the way out, Jim picked up Tony and flew him to Philadelphia to his mother's home to keep an eye on Tony to prevent him from drinking. Jim Rhodes flew to the American Southwest in the middle of the dessert several miles from a town to find the Sisterhood of Ishtar where Indries Moomvies was being held according to Stane. He went deep into their bunker and able to take their defense systems until he reached the sisterhood. He fell into a trap and almost died dropping to a vortex sucking him down to molten lava-like magma, but ingeniously made his way back up and took Indries from the sisterhood. Arriving at the plane, a laughing Indries told Jim the truth that she had no powers and Tony was a drunk simply because deep down Tony wanted to drink and couldn't control the habit. Jim let her go as she was straight with him. And later on proceeded to tell Obadiah Stane that his plans failed and he let Indries go. Unfortunately when Jim arrived back at his mother's home she told him Tony found cooking wine drank the whole bottle and left the house, and is who knows where at this point. Comments: You felt the hatred Obadiah Stane had for his rival Tony Stark. To have the man followed and even saved just to dress him up and to show him just how his world has crumbled by sticking it to his face, one can only wonder on the hatred beneath that man for Tony Stark. At the same time, it's all bottoms up for Tony Stark. Drinking his life away without a care in the world, and unable to even think straight anymore. So many men had walked that same path ruined lives due to uncontrollable habits, in this case, severe drinking. Even a superhero like Iron Man couldn't save Tony Stark for himself, and Jim Rhodes tried his best. It's going to be a long walk back when Tony finally starts to sober up, but that's going to be a while. Meanwhile, Jim is starting to get used to being Iron Man, even having Iron Man superhero sensibilities in utilizing the armor's powers. And instinctively recharging showed you the armor is like becoming an extension of himself now. He's getting confident and his practical knowledge of using the armor's abilities was showcased in the trap where he made his way up back from the vortex magma. Fantastic story by the late great Denny O'Neil. |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jun 19, 2020 18:23:40 GMT -5
One of my favorite Iron Man covers!
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Post by sabongero on Jul 2, 2020 12:50:28 GMT -5
 Iron man #174"Armor Chase" 0.60 ¢ @ September 1983 Writer: Denny O'Neil Penciler: Luke McDonnell Inker: Sam de la Rosa Colorist: Bob Sharen Letterer: Rick Parker Editor: Mark Gruenwald & Michael Carlin Editor-In-Chief: Jim Shooter Synopsis: Iron Man is in Obadiah Stane's office where Stane told him the armor belonged to Stane now that he has taken over Stark International, and ordered Iron Man to remove it. Iron Man refused and told him he is not employed by Stane and stared down Stane daring him to remove the armor from him. He then destroyed and left through the wall of the building behind Stane and flew away. Stane summoned Mrs. Arbogast to have the wall behind him repaired and to send for Martinelli. She obliged but at the same time resigned and told her former boss, that others will most likely resign as well. Meanwhile on the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, Colonel Nick Fury has plans to thwart Obadiah Stane's plans to raid Tony Stark's armory. But with his own intentions of accessing the Iron Man armors. Elsewhere in Stane International, Iron Man is accessing the building entrance to one of Tony Stark's laboratory building to meet up with scientist Morley Erwin but was attacked from behind by The Knight, one of Stane's chessmen goons. They battled on the grounds. The Knight bested Iron Man, and Jim flew off to find Morley Erwin to see if he has any suggestions about the armor's other weaponry to use against this foe. Martinelli decided to accept Stane's offer and stay as security staff for Stane International, as he had limited choices since he has mouths to feed and previous bad decisions limited his job opportunities elsewhere, much to Mrs. Aborgast's chagrin. Morley Erwin warned Jim Rhodes they have to prevent Obadiah Stane from accessing Tony Stark's armory as he would most likely sell to the highest bidder since he is an international arms dealer. They have to destroy the armors. Elsewhere, a drunken and beaten up Tony Stark woke up dishelved and uncaring about his whereabouts or his surroundings. At the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, Nick Fury has prepared to illegally obtain Tony Stark's armors from Stane International to prevent them from falling into Stane's hands. And in Stane's office, more of Stark's key employees tendered their resignation. Stane ordered Rhodes and Erwin found and have them report to him. Outside his office, The Knight is at guard. Iron Man used one of Tony Stark's inventions to burrow beneath the armory and made it there just in time as Stane's locksmith finally got through the front door. S.H.I.E.L.D. agents prepared to obtain the armors as well. Iron Man attached remote control units on the armors and Erwin had them flown out of the facility, as The Knight arrived and battled Iron Man. And Iron Man took down The Knight the old fashioned way, punching him til his lights went out. Elsewhere, the Iron Men armors headed to the Atlantic Ocean. Iron Man deposited The Knight's prone body on Stane's desk and instead of destroying Stane's wall once more, just walked out the front door. Above the Atlantic Ocean, Nick Fury has a divers team trying to acquire the Iron Men armors from beneath the ocean. Fury notified Rhodes, but the two didn't agree on terms. Comments: Looks like it's going to be Iron Man vs S.H.I.E.L.D. in the next issue. I've watched a few episodes on youtube regarding the Attitude Era of the WWE/WWF. And it somehow correlated with this issue. Perhaps I am overthinking this whole thing. But this issue touched on a few themes similar to the popular themes of the Attitude Era. The primary one is the blue collar worker telling their boss to shove it. I mean Stonecold Steve Austin's feud with Vince MacMahon catapulted the WWE/WWF to the billion dollar company that it is now. And what better way for Iron Man to emulate that with his feud with Stane. At the same time, Tony Stark has degenerated to his lowest point as he doesn't even care where he is right now. And loyalty has its price. Joblessness. And those that can't afford it, has a price... working for someone you do not like in the case of Martinelli. And even if Nick Fury is a so-called superhero in the pages of the Marvel Universe, he does occupy the grey area in terms of his character. He prevents the armors from falling into Stane's hands but at the same time has his agenda regarding retrieving them for S.H.I.E.L.D.'s purposes. You have the main story driving the issue, but at the same time there are various sub-plots that sometimes even trumps the main story in terms of reader interests. |
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Post by sabongero on Jul 28, 2020 12:42:20 GMT -5
 Iron man #175"The Treasure of Red and Gold" 0.60 ¢ @ Octoberr 1983 Writer: Denny O'Neil Penciler: Luke McDonnell Inker: Steve Mitchell Colorist: Bob Sharen Letterer: Rick Parker Editor: Mark Gruenwald & Michael Carlin Editor-In-Chief: Jim Shooter Synopsis: Nick Fury was determined to recover the Iron Man armors from the bottom of the ocean. Jim Rhodes was going to stop him. Initially they battled. But Iron Man was disabled by Krang and his Atlantians, who were able to steal the Iron Men armors and to use it to conquer Atlantis. Regaining his abilities, Iron Man caught up to the Atlantians who were now in Iron Men armor and was holding his own, but with the Atlantians outnumbering him and in their natural state overpowered Iron Man, and were about to kill him, when Morley who was earlier contacted by Fury used the remote control to bring the Iron Men armor to the surface thus freeing Iron Man and letting the Atlantians remove the armor before suffocating. Iron Man then gathered the various armors and with Fury's weapon destroyed them and left as useless slabs. Comments: Simple straight-forward action adventure. I still like that Jim Rhodes is still acting as a rookie-type superhero. He is not always capable of winning battles by himself and that he required help from a junior technician/scientist formerly employed by Tony Stark. After all, he's still not familiar with the many functions of the armor. The dialogue showcased the motivations of the characters both main, minor, and guest. The Atlantian-dictator Krang was portrayed as a typical villain with aspirations of domination, but regards surface-dwellers materialistic gems as worthless. Nick Fury's grayish-area motivation for the benefit of S.H.I.E.L.D. Jim Rhodes who viewed himself as a hot-shot pilot who liked luxury and women, and his loyalty to Tony Stark, telling Morley Erwin it's their duty to prevent Tony's armor from ending up in the hands of a government intelligence agency like S.H.I.E.L.D. Also, he is contrary to himself when he thought the expensive treasures from the sunken ship as worthless. But then checks himself for saying so. And Morley Erwin besides being a "sidekick" to Jim Rhodes Iron Man, is an idealist. Tony Stark is nowhere to be seen in this issue which is fantastic. As it got tiresome with Denny O'Neil's opinion on not liking Tony Stark and talking about alcoholism. And also, with Tony's absence we finally get a feeling that the Iron Man comic finally belonged to Jim Rhodes. The undersea battle was pretty straight-forward. But the ending was anything other than contrived. Gotta love how the junior-man on the series is responsible for the Atlantians not killing and drowning Jim Rhodes since they had the overwhelming numbers. And intelligence defeats brawn once again as the Atlantians weakness was used against them in a clever way. Good job Dennis O'Neil. Mc'Donnell's illustrations were easy to follow. But the best thing was that Luke made the fishes who were in front of the panel had their own "emotional" state and facial features. It was about ten different fishes with ten different facial emotional looks in them, making them appear like people who were ambivalent, scared, angered, etc. |
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Post by sabongero on Aug 15, 2020 13:02:13 GMT -5
 Iron man #176"Turf" November 1983 Writer: Denny O'Neil & Ann Nocenti Penciler: Luke McDonnell Inker: Steve Mitchell Colorist: Carl Gafford Letterer: Rick Parker Editor: Mark Gruenwald Editor-In-Chief: Jim Shooter Synopsis: For a thousand years, an alien has been preventing an alien invention from entering the portal on Earth. At Stane International, Rhodes and Morley went to Stane's office to effect their resignation. Morley planned on starting his own company. Elsewhere, a homeless man was about to get a beatdown from a gang of teenagers before a homeless Tony Stark bribed them with a cufflink with diamonds to leave the homeless man alone. Both homeless men talked about the downturn in their lives. At Rhodes' home he contemplated calling a lady from his black book for companionship, but changed his mind and put on the red and gold armor to take a look at the vortex when he "saved" Voorhies. Arriving at the bunker of the Daughters of Ishtar, Iron Man was received by the women. The "sensitive" announced the creature underneath the vortex is growing weaker, as she can sense it. Curious about the technology, Iron Man and the "sensitive" phased down the floor until they reached where the creature was. Meanwhile the homeless man told Tony about his war wounds from the Korean War, and Tony just nodded not paying attention to him. And Iron Man and the "sensitive" arrived where the Guardian/Alien was preventing a full scale invention. Sensing the creatures pain, the "sensitive" collapsed into unconsciousness. An alien ship appeared through the portal. Sitting against a building's wall in the sidewalk, Tony starts getting wet as rain poured down, the other homeless man offered him a place inside his cardboard "home." Iron man tangled with the alien ship. The "sensitive" told Iron Man he has to close the portal as the Guardian/Alien is dying. Using his repulsors to maximum power, Iron Man caused a cave in to cover the portal. And in that instant, the Guardian/Alien disintegrated into dust. In the cavern, Iron Man brought the "sensitive" back to the surface area. Elsewhere, the rain stopped and the cardboard home of the homeless man was destroyed. He went to go find another place to put a "home." Tony just walked away and sat in another street and sat down looking at a piece of cardboard. Comments: It's a serviceable throw-away story. It's too bad there weren't any back story given to the alien or perhaps even getting a glimpse of the technology. Unfortunately, throw-away stories aren't deep and we have a sample over here. Given Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter's strict deadlines, this story felt like it was hurried just to put an issue of Iron Man in the stands at the time. Too bad that Guardian/Alien creature story wasn't written in the modern era, perhaps we could have had more depth than just it preventing an alien invasion for a thousand years. Also, the creature was a generic looking wraith. It could've had more "originality" than looking like the Dire wraiths that Rom was facing around that era in Marvel. The most exciting part of this issue was when Rhodes and Morley resigned from Stane. And that's saying something about this issue. |
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