Good to have you on board, the more people participating in here the better for me. Also, any reference to Firefly brings someone a lot of credit in my opinion. 

Tales of Suspense 44- The Mad Pharaoh

Plot: Stan Lee
Script: Robert Bernstein
Art: Don Heck
Lettering: Sam Rosen

Grade: D

Cover: 



Synopsis: 
This story begins with Tony Stark about to get on jet. It is revealed that he is on his way to Egypt to assist a friend of his who is an archaeologist. The journalist's ask Stark about his experience with the ladies and the conversation turns to whether Stark could have seduced Cleopatra. 

When Stark arrives in Egypt, he meets the archaeologist who is looking to locate the tomb of Hatap, the Mad Pharaoh. Stark reveals that Iron Man could help him and returns to Egypt to enjoy the nightlife. His enjoyment is cut short when his heart begins to give out and he needs to return to his hotel room to recharge it. 

The next day Stark returns to the dig as Iron Man. He locates and opens the tomb of Hatap. He changes out of the Iron Man costume and returns to his tent. However, Hatap is still alive! He took a magic potion which kept him alive for 2000 years and he now wishes to return to the past to defeat Cleopatra. He kidnaps Stark, believing that his scientific genius could help Hatap to defeat Cleopatra. 

Once they return to the past, Stark slips away to change into Iron Man. Hatap flees from Iron Man and regroups with his followers while Iron Man sets out to find Cleopatra. When arriving at the Egyptian capital, Iron Man sees that it is being besieged by Romans and he defeats them. Cleopatra has, however, fled the city to escape the Roman siege and Iron Man overtakes and finds her. 

Iron Man reveals that Hatap has returned and offers to defeat him for Cleopatra. Cleopatra accepts Iron Man's help and promises him anything in exchange for defeating Hatap:



Iron Man defeats Hatap's army. He then charges in using a set of magnetic wheels to take Hatap's time-travelling gadget away. Hatap, when trying to recover it, accidentally impales himself on a sword. Iron Man uses the gadget to return to the present. 

Analysis: 
This is another fairly weak outing for Iron Man in my opinion. This gets a D rather than an F because there is some Silver Age charm to this one but there are also some fairly large problems with this story. 

Let's start with the biggest problem with this story. It's something which has been discussed already in this thread but this is the story where it really becomes a big problem for me. In his early comics, Iron Man lacks a compelling heroic motive. His motivations for travelling back in time with Hatap are that he wants an adventure and that he's horny and he wants to bang Cleopatra. It's really not a great motive for a superhero. He doesn't appear to have any motive for siding with Cleopatra over the Romans beyond the fact that he wants to sleep with her. 

The biggest frustration with this aspect of Silver Age Iron Man is that it would be so easy to create a realistic and sympathetic motive for him. You can go the route of the Iron Man movie, where Tony Stark is motivated by the guilt caused by his munitions background. Or you could turn Tony Stark into a hero who is motivated by a desire for adulation in order to fuel his fairly large ego. For this story to work, you'd probably need to ditch the secret identity but, as I've discussed earlier, I've never felt that Iron Man really gained much from having a secret identity. 

One of the biggest issues with these early Iron Man stories is that Stan Lee misses the point of what allows a reader to relate to some of his other creations. Let's use Spider-Man as an example. Spider-Man is a character who it is easy to relate to. There are two reasons for this. Firstly, Spider-Man is a normal guy who happens to be a superhero. In his personal life, he faces the normal issues of a normal person. This naturally makes it easy for us to relate to him. Spider-Man is also motivated by the tragedy of Uncle Ben's death and the guilt he feels for this. Being motivated by a personal tragedy is also easy to relate to as a reader. 

It's impossible to give Tony Stark the "everyman" feel of Spider-Man. The attempts to humanise Tony Stark do add some value to the story but not enough to really make him easy to sympathise with. I get that Tony Stark's life is meant to be perfect on the surface but not perfect in reality. I get that the message is that nobody's life is perfect and that this even applies to someone who has everything. But it still leads to a hero who it is difficult to sympathise with. This aspect of the Tony Stark character becomes far more effective once his obsessiveness, alcoholism and emotional issues get brought to the front of the book by David Michelinie. Stan Lee's attempt to do the same thing revolves around his health problems and his inability to escape the Iron Man suit as he relies on it to sustain his life. It just doesn't have enough of an impact to allow the reader to relate to Iron Man. 

Moreover, Stark lacks a motivation. Once again, this is an aspect of Tony Stark's character which is introduced later. One aspect in which Iron Man and Spider-Man are very similar is that they are both motivated by guilt. Spider-Man feels guilt for Uncle Ben's death. That personal tragedy is the event that drives his heroism. Tony Stark feels guilt for the impact of his munitions business on the world. It's a societal, big-picture type of guilt but it's also an effective motive. It just takes a while for a writer to really tap into this aspect of Stark's character. This trait also explains some of the differences between Spider-Man and Iron Man. Spider-Man is motivated by the guilt stemming from a personal tragedy. As this is a small-scale tragedy, it leads Spider-Man to prioritise the means over the ends as he understands the importance of smaller-scale tragedies to the people affected by those tragedies. Tony Stark is motivated by societal guilt from his munitions business. As this is guilt which is felt on a broader level, Stark is a "big-picture" hero. He prioritises the ends over the means. He's more willing to compromise on his methods in order to achieve a positive result. This difference between the two characters will become more interesting once we reach Civil War but I want to discuss it here because I think it's important to note the lack of a strong motive for Silver Age Iron Man and how that changes as he develops as a character. 

Anyway, another issue with this story is that it kind of jumps all over the place. For example, this story is really the first time that Tony's heart problems have really put him in a dangerous and vulnerable position since Tales of Suspense 39. This becomes the main element of pathos for Iron Man throughout Stan Lee's run. And it's kind of just thrown in here as an interlude to the rest of the story. There are no consequences and there is no development for this issue in this story. It's just put in there and then disappears. The story is structured in an odd way and, once again, the Silver Age plot takes a while to get going. 

A major motive for Tony in this story seems to be that he wants an adventure. This makes sense as a motive for him. It's just a shame that it's only really used very inconsistently within the story and it's not really expanded on properly. This aspect of the character could have become an effective component of Stark's character. However, the fact that Tony has a secret identity kind of neuters this line of character development. Without his secret identity you could use this to explore Tony's ego and his desire for adulation. You could turn Tony into a hero who isn't motivated by a sense of duty but by a desire for attention, adventure and the love of the masses. It could create an interesting story to read about. Sadly... this isn't the route in which Stan Lee takes the character. 

To be fair, Cleopatra and Hatap work pretty well here. They both have believable motives. Hatap wants to reclaim the kingdom which he views as his right after his initial rebellion failed. This is a motive which, although it's not that detailed or interesting, at least makes sense. Cleopatra wants to keep her kingdom and is somewhat attracted to Iron Man. Cleopatra is also written as being a capable ruler and is the best female character in Tales of Suspense so far. Which is, admittedly, a really low bar. Although she is somewhat passive and reliant on her knight in shining armour to save her. She's a capable damsel in distress but she is still a damsel in distress. 

Another odd moment in the story is the moment where Iron Man helps the Egyptians against the Romans. This feeds back into the issues concerning Iron Man's motivation. He seems to side with the Egyptians largely because he is romantically interested in Cleopatra. Which is a weird thing to include in a story about a superhero as it makes him look selfish and like a bit of a dick. Which, admittedly, can be an effective plot device when writing about Iron Man but Stan Lee never explores these issues in an interesting way. 

That's fine I guess.  That is the second best.  

I am a staunch "Original Version of the Character is the Best Version of the Character" guy.  That is what I have instead of nostalgia for the version I grew up with.

For yet another opinion here's Coke and Comics review which I forgot to link to.  

Wanting to bank Cleopatra seems like a pretty good motive to me... even if it's not heroic...the bragging rights alone. It certainly fits with the playboy aspect of his character. Sure, it's not heroic... but at least he has a reason to pick a side.. how often to superheroes jump into a fray and have no idea what's going on only to find out later they were on the wrong side?

What I don't like is the time travel.. Tony can't go mucking about with Egyptian history and not mess up the time space continuum!

You know, the irritating thing is that I actually had the Liz Taylor Cleopatra film down as something to discuss in my notes and then just forgot to include that segment. I really appreciate you bringing it up. 

Tales of Suspense 45- The Icy Fingers of Jack Frost



Plot: Stan Lee

Script: Robert Bernstein

Art- Don Heck

Lettering- Sam Rosen



Grade: C



Cover:



Synopsis:
The issues begins with Iron Man speeding on a highway using his transistor powered roller-skates. The police see him and decide not to stop him as he is probably chasing after a super-criminal. In reality, Tony's a bit late to a track race he's participating in and needs to arrive on time as a playboy needs to be a playboy. 

Unfortunately, Tony forgot to re-charge his metal plate before going to the race and his heart gives out during the race. He is rescued by Happy Hogan, who is to become a supporting character in the book moving forward:




Happy then takes him to a motel room so he can re-charge. It's best not to question the ethics of leaving someone who is clearly ill and has just been in a car crash in a locked motel room alone. Just accept that Happy's a good bro. 

Tony then gives Happy a job as his new chauffeur/bodyguard and introduces him to Pepper Potts, Tony's secretary. This is the start of a love triangle between Happy, Pepper and Tony as shown in the below panel:



It's revealed in this issue that Happy likes Pepper and that Pepper likes Tony. Tony's feelings for Pepper are not examined and Pepper is not interested in Happy. 

At this point, the story shifts. It turns out that Tony's lab is being robbed by one of his scientists, Gregor Shapanka, who planned to use the money from the robbery to perfect his plans for immortality using cryogenics. Gregor is caught by Iron Man and is fired, although Tony lets him leave without calling the cops in a moment of mercy. 

Gregor perfects his immortality process and, naturally, becomes a super-villain. He starts by robbing banks before deciding he will get his revenge on Tony. He attacks Stark Industries, freezing Happy and Pepper. However, Jack Frost is stopped by Iron Man whipping up a miniature furnace. The furnace's heat disables Gregor's suit and he is arrested. 

Analysis: 
This was, in my view, the best issue since ToS 39. I think that adding an extra 5 pages to the story and adding some supporting characters does improve the quality significantly. We also get our first recurring villain in this issue, although it will be a while before Gregor Shapanka returns. The plot was a little bit more developed, the characters felt a bit more well-rounded and I enjoyed the story more than I've enjoyed a few of the previous Silver Age adventures. 

Let's start by looking at Tony in this issue. This isn't a particularly important issue for Tony's development but there are still a few things to note. Firstly, this is the first issue for a trope which is going to become very common for Iron Man throughout his history. This is the first time that a villain attacks Stark Industries in order to commit espionage and general chaos. I genuinely have no idea why anyone ever agrees to work for Stark Industries given how often it's attacked. Tony must offer some extremely generous life insurance. This, once again, leads me to question the necessity of Iron Man having a secret identity. Tony Stark is already a target for super-villains. Revealing that he's Iron Man might actually discourage super-villains from attacking him since they'd know he's extremely well protected rather than just a soft millionaire who they can get away with targeting. 

The second thing to note about Tony here is the recurrence of his heart problems from the last issue. For the second issue in a row, Tony's heart gives out, putting him in a weak condition when he is out being a playboy. This trope is, to be honest, already getting tiring. Stan Lee was clearly trying to find a hook to allow readers to relate to Tony. However, this particular idea was never that interesting. Tony's heart condition blocking his playboy lifestyle was a more interesting approach to this. Tony's heart condition threatening his life always felt like melodrama and never lands with the reader. 

On a more positive note, I appreciated the development of Tony as a playboy millionaire with a heart of gold here. For example, after Happy rescues Tony, Tony's response is to offer Happy money for saving his life. This is actually a really effective character moment in my opinion. I genuinely believe that Tony Stark is a good man. I don't like it when writers turn Tony into a villain. Tony may be flawed, but he does try to be a good man. But Tony is also a playboy millionaire. To a playboy millionaire, doing good often equates to spending money on your friends or on a charitable cause. It makes a lot of sense that Tony's reaction to having his life saved is to give money to the rescuer. 

This leads me onto Happy, and I thought that this was also an effective character moment for him. Happy has never been a character who is particularly interested in money or material possessions. The most important thing to Happy is his pride. He is ferociously proud. He doesn't want to accept gifts or charity from anyone. He wants to earn his living so, rather than a one-off gift, he is more interested in a job with Tony. Tony and Happy become good friends from this point, but they are two completely different personalities and they have had a completely different set of life experiences. 

We also see that Happy is a selfless individual. When Tony is trapped in a burning car, Happy steps in to help without any promise of a reward. 

The final interesting character moment for Happy occurs during his conversation with Pepper. We see that Happy is, at times, a little bit insecure when comparing himself to guys like Tony during this interaction. When Pepper rejects him, Happy immediately assumes it's because he's outclassed by Tony. 

This provides a good moment to talk about Pepper. Pepper is, by a mile, the best female character in Tales of Suspense so far. She actually has a personality. She's actually able to hold her own in a male-dominated workplace and she has a snark which is missing from a lot of female characters at the time. She isn't in the spotlight as much as Happy is here but the spotlight she does get establishes her pretty well. 

The best thing about this story is that it effectively creates an interesting supporting cast around Tony for the first time. In general, all three of the main characters receive some decent character moments here. It makes it a lot more enjoyable than a lot of Iron Man's Silver Age stories have been so far. 

This issue also establishes the start of a love triangle between Tony, Pepper and Happy. I said when discussing Tony's heart condition that Stan Lee appears to have been desperately hunting for a way to allow people to relate to Tony. This is the other mechanism for doing that. And, like the heart condition, it descends into melodrama very quickly and it falls flat. It's not a big issue in this story though as, in reality, all that happens is that Pepper shoots Happy down and Pepper is shown to be interested in Tony. 

Let's move onto talking about Jack Frost, the main villain of the piece. In his next appearance he'll have been revamped into Blizzard and he becomes one of Justin Hammer's minions in the 70s. Overall, I liked Jack Frost and he's one of the better villains we've had so far. There's always been a bit of an issue with me with Gregor Shapanka as a character though. I'll explain this shortly but I do want to emphasise that I at least find Jack Frost entertaining to read about and, for once, I appreciate an attempt to add depth to a Silver Age villain. It should also be noted that this is the first of a fair number of villains who are created by Tony Stark in his role as leader of Stark Industries. He may be the first but he certainly will not be the last. 

Gregor effectively has three motives in this story. Firstly, he wants to achieve immortality. Secondly, he wants to make lots of money. Finally, he has a vendetta against Tony for firing him. All of these motivations make sense and they could work together. However, there's an issue here. After he's fired by Tony, Gregor discovers the key to achieving immortality using cryogenics. The issue is that he then uses his suit... to rob banks to achieve his second aim. But... why not just sell the secret to immortality and make lots of money using that? If Gregor patents his invention he could make far more money using that than he could robbing banks. This part of Jack Frost falls flat to me. Then he goes to Stark Industries and wants revenge on Tony which is a reasonable motive if not particularly original. My favourite Blizzard appearances have tended to come either when the writer leans into Blizzard's role as a mercenary or when the writer leans into Blizzard's immortality. When writers try to combine the two it never works as it always leaves the obvious issue which I've discussed above. So long as the reader can forget about either the immortality angle or the mercenary angle, Blizzard can be a pretty effective, if by no means an A-grade, villain. I don't want to whinge too much though as I did enjoy Jack Frost here and I do usually enjoy Blizzard as a character. 

Finally, this issue saw the debut of the jet-powered roller skates! You've got to love the Silver Age...