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Title:
Iron Man 198
Synopsis:
”Revelations!” Script by Denny O’Neil. Pencils by Sal Buscema. Inks by Ian Akin and Brian Garvey. Cover by Sal Buscema, Ian Akin, and Brian Garvey. Over the past several weeks, Obadiah Stane has been keeping tabs on Tony Stark and his friends at Circuits Maximus! And to Obadiah’s dismay the former CEO of Stark International is prospering! The jealous Obadiah can’t stand that, so he sends a powerful airship called Circuits Breaker to destroy Circuits Maximus! Fortunately, Tony and Rhodey are home at the time! And the armored duo quickly go airborne to defend their headquarters! In the meantime and in very sinister fashion, Obadiah turns the tables on Madame Masque and Bethany Cabe! Origin of Obadiah Stane. Cameo appearances by Clytemnestra Erwin and Morley Erwin. (Note: This story was reprinted in 2010 in the hardcover: Iron Man Iron Monger.) 32 pages. Cover price $0.65.
Cover Date:
Sep 1985
Publisher:
Marvel Comics
Barcode:
407148024545
Issue Number:
198
Year:
1985
Variant Number:
Direct Edition
Country:
United States
Cover Price:
$0.65
Era:
Copper Age
Genre:
Superhero
Action
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Language:
English
Type of Comic:
Magazine
Characters:
Iron Man (Jim Rhodes)
Iron Man- (Anthony Stark) Creators Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, Don Heck & Jack Kirby 1st App. Tales of Suspense #39 (December, 1962) https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Anthony_Stark_(Earth-616)
Madame Masque (Whitney Frost) Creators Stan Lee & Gene Colan 1st App. Tales of Suspense #97 (October, 1967) (As Big M); Tales of Suspense #98(November, 1967) (As Whitney Frost); Iron Man #17 (June, 1969) (As Madame Masque) https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Whitney_Frost_(Earth-616)
Bethany Cabe (AKA War Machine, Iron Woman) Creators David Michelinie, Bob Layton, John Romita Jr. 1st App. Iron Man #117 (September, 1978) https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Bethany_Cabe_(Earth-616)
Circuits Maximus
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Date Added:
2018-07-02 22:52:48
Series:
Iron Man vol.1 (1968-2013)
Story Arc:
Iron Man #198-201
Issue(s): Iron Man #198, Iron Man #199, Iron Man #200, Iron Man #201 Cover Date: Sep-Dec 85 Title: ”Revelations!” / ”And one of them must die!” / ”Resolutions! / A new era! / Conflict!” / ”Sky duel!” Credits: Denny O’Neil - Writer Sal Buscema / Herb Trimpe / M.D. Bright - Penciler Ian Akin & Brian Garvey - Inker Howard Mackie - Assistant Editor Mark Gruenwald - Editor
Review/plot: It’s been about 30 issues since James Rhodes started wearing the Iron Man suit, but we’re approaching issue #200 so it’s time to get Tony Stark back in the armor in time for a confrontation with the man that brought him down, Obadiah Stane.
We start with an ”origin” for Stane. ”Ruthless businessman” was enough for me, but we learn that he was traumatized by witnessing his father playing Russian Roulette against himself and losing.
The shock caused him to lose his hair (!). Ostracized and psychologically scarred, Stane became obsessed with chess...
...and wasn’t above killing his opponent’s dog to get an edge.
And that’s the kind of can-do spirit and drive you need to get ahead in the munitions industry.
Nowadays, he’s convinced that Tony Stark is permanently beaten, but he sends a clunky killing machine (named Circuits Breaker, a reference to Stark’s start-up Circuits Maximus)....
...to take care of whoever the new Iron Man is (he deduces that it’s either Rhodey or one of the Erwins). But both Rhodey and Stark, in the bare-bones grey armor, team-up to take care of the machine.
Tony’s armor is melted in the battle, although it’s miscolored to look like his classic red and gold suit.
Art in #198 is by Sal Buscema, and while i’m a champion of his, i think inkers Akin & Garvey have a lot to do with the fact that this issue doesn’t feel like a fill-in. Same with Herb Trimpe and issue #199...
...although the Flexographics makes things a bit worse, and i really don’t appreciate this panty-shot, which is very odd for Marvel in general at this time and especially for an old-schooler like Trimpe.
But with the failure of the death-machine, Stane goes after Stark through his loved ones. In addition to the previously kidnapped Bethany Cabe, he also kidnaps Happy Hogan, Pepper Potts (as shown in the indignity above), Mrs. Arbogast, and the baby that Tony Stark helped keep alive during the blizzard while he was fighting alcoholism, and he blows up Circuits Maximus, killing Morley Erwin.
Stark has been adamant that he didn’t want to wear the new armor he’d been working on, but with Rhodey also injured in the blast that killed Morley, Stark has no choice but to call in the West Coast Avengers don the new suit.
The above is a variation on an oft-repeated classic sequence. When i first started this project and looked at some older ”dressings” i was shocked to see that Iron Man’s arm and leg coverings were actually a chainmail mesh, but it made sense: how else could Iron Man bend his limbs? Here, however, the leggings look a lot more solid, and considering that prior to this new armor Stark was working with a replica of his original grey suit, which definitely had solid arm and leg pieces, i’m wondering if he’s gone back to a variation of that. I did consult the 1985 Handbook but found the techno-jargon impenetrable. In any event, in future issues we’ll see that the arms and legs compress like in previous versions.
Anyway, it’s a cool new suit, and an interesting move to change the colors. This red and silver suit is referred to as the Silver Centurion armor, although not in this issue.
Tony fights his way through Stane’s defenses...
...including a group of Chessmen that he blows through quite easily...
...before coming face to face with Stane in his own new ”Iron Monger” armor.
It’s not referenced, but we saw in Captain America #303-304 that Stane was working on a set of armor for himself, although i see he didn’t go with my advice and use adamantium when he couldn’t replicate the metal from Cap’s shield.
The Iron Monger armor was based on the basic design of Stark’s previous suit. Iron Man defeats the Iron Monger armor by exploiting a feature of his old suit that caused it to lock up if it was ever controlled by an outside source (which he built after Justin Hammer took control of his armor and caused him to kill a diplomat). Stane actually had the armor controlled by a remote computer, but when Iron Man destroyed that computer, Stane’s suit temporarily locked up.
Defeated, Stane puts his repulsor to his own head, killing himself like his father did.
Issue #201 picks up with Iron Man rescuing Stane’s hostages from a collapsing building.
We’ve seen that Madame Masque (later retconned as a ”Bio-Duplicate”) was working alongside Stane but Stane betrayed her in issue #198.
A mad super-scientist working for Stane, Dr. Atlanta...
...switches Masque’s mind with Bethany Cabe’s (although Iron Man doesn’t realize it).
Cabe, in Masque’s body, is jailed but subsequently escapes. We see her take off her mask as she escapes...
...and later we see a woman with dark hair (but no facial scarring, which Masque is supposed to have) buying a gun at the LA airport. I think it’s a coloring error and this is supposed to be Masque in Cabe’s body.
Atlanta is picked up by AIM, which is in the middle of an internal power struggle (the big guy is Yorgon Tykkio; we’ll later learn that the Scientist Supreme is his brother, Valdemar).
They launch an attack on the West Coast Avengers compound. Iron Man shows up to help out, but they don’t get to the root of the AIM attack this issue.
This anniversary story is a lot of fun, if a bit by-the-numbers (hero recovers from his previous defeats, faces his arch rival, a new costume, death of a supporting character). I’m a little disappointed to see Rhodey sidelined. M.D. Bright’s art on the last two issues are nice, and i enjoy all the little sequences of Iron Man demonstrating his new armor’s capabilities (much more than i enjoyed reading about same in the Handbook).
Quality Rating: B Historical Significance Rating: 6 - Obadiah Stane’s backstory and death. First Iron Monger armor. Death of Morley Erwin. Tony Stark becomes Iron Man again, and debuts the Silver Centurion armor. First Yorgon Tykkio of AIM.
Chronological Placement Considerations: The new armor actually first appeared in 1985’s West Coast Avengers #1 due to a change in the WCA publication schedule, but storywise this clearly takes place first. This is pushed back in publication time to fit this before Avengers: Emperor Doom. I’ve also made sure to place this prior to Secret Wars II #3 since the new armor is shown there in a symbolic scene of all Earth’s heroes and villains bowing to the Beyonder. Issue #201 is really a standalone story but it starts with Iron Man in the direct aftermath of the battle with Iron Monger and rescuing the hostages.
References:
• Madame Masque says she’s working with Stane because ”he flung me aside like something used up and useless” and he’s also responsible for the death of her father. No footnotes, but her father, Count Nefaria, seemingly died in Iron Man #116. She probably considered herself scorned after Iron Man #139.
• The kidnapped baby was born in Iron Man #182.
• Iron Man fought Stane’s Chessmen previously in Iron Man #163 through Iron Man #166.
• Iron Man was forced to kill a diplomat in Iron Man #124-125.
• The West Coast Avengers have three quinjets, and it’s said that they just got the third one flightworthy again after it was damaged in Iron Man #193.
• In Iron Man #195, Hawkeye provided Tony Stark the facilities at the West Coast compound where he created his new armor.
Crossover: N/A
Continuity Insert? N
My Reprint: N/A
Inbound References (11): show
Characters Appearing: Bethany Cabe, Clytemnestra Erwin, Happy Hogan, Hawkeye, Iron Man, Madame Masque Bio-Duplicate, Mockingbird, Morley Erwin, Mrs. Arbogast, Obadiah Stane, Pepper Potts, Theron Atlanta, Tigra, Timothy Anders, Valdemar Tykkio, Vic Martinelli, War Machine, Yorgon Tykkio
Previous:
Micronauts: The New Voyages #9
Up:
Main
1985 / Box 22 / EiC: Jim Shooter
Next:
Web of Spider-Man #4
37 Reader Ratings
Comments
The ending of issue 200 is truly epic. The last words- ”somebody lost”- were haunting. Tony officially joins the WCA this issue. And this plays into a chronological complication surrounding issues 202-204. Issue 202 is a fill in. Issues 203-204 are described as happening ”a few hours” after this issue but Hank Pym’s already staying at the WCA compound, which he didn’t arrive at until WCA 1. The MCP decided to ignore the ”few hours” references and assume that issues 202-204 take place after the WCA 1-4. Matt Fraction clearly did not read issue 199 carefully. The dialogue makes it clear that this is the first time Rhodey and Pepper have met. Yet during his run, he had Tony tell Maria Hill about the time he demanded sex from Pepper while he was drunk, and when Rhodey tried to stop him, he took a swing at him.
Posted by: Michael | June 23, 2012 11:26 PM
https://www.supermegamonkey.net/chronocomic/entries/iron_man_198-201.shtml
Issue #198
Iron Man (1968 1st Series) 198
Iron Man (1968 1st Series) #198
Tags: Marvel Legacy Numbering: Iron Man (part 198), Iron Man
Published Sep 1985 by Marvel.
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Very Fine Add to cart $8.00
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”Revelations!” Script by Denny O’Neil. Pencils by Sal Buscema. Inks by Ian Akin and Brian Garvey. Cover by Sal Buscema, Ian Akin, and Brian Garvey. Over the past several weeks, Obadiah Stane has been keeping tabs on Tony Stark and his friends at Circuits Maximus! And to Obadiah’s dismay the former CEO of Stark International is prospering! The jealous Obadiah can’t stand that, so he sends a powerful airship called Circuits Breaker to destroy Circuits Maximus! Fortunately, Tony and Rhodey are home at the time! And the armored duo quickly go airborne to defend their headquarters! In the meantime and in very sinister fashion, Obadiah turns the tables on Madame Masque and Bethany Cabe! Origin of Obadiah Stane. Cameo appearances by Clytemnestra Erwin and Morley Erwin. (Note: This story was reprinted in 2010 in the hardcover: Iron Man Iron Monger.) 32 pages. Cover price $0.65.
Issue(s): Iron Man #198, Iron Man #199, Iron Man #200, Iron Man #201 Cover Date: Sep-Dec 85 Title: ”Revelations!” / ”And one of them must die!” / ”Resolutions! / A new era! / Conflict!” / ”Sky duel!” Credits: Denny O’Neil - Writer Sal Buscema / Herb Trimpe / M.D. Bright - Penciler Ian Akin & Brian Garvey - Inker Howard Mackie - Assistant Editor Mark Gruenwald - Editor
Review/plot: It’s been about 30 issues since James Rhodes started wearing the Iron Man suit, but we’re approaching issue #200 so it’s time to get Tony Stark back in the armor in time for a confrontation with the man that brought him down, Obadiah Stane.
We start with an ”origin” for Stane. ”Ruthless businessman” was enough for me, but we learn that he was traumatized by witnessing his father playing Russian Roulette against himself and losing.
The shock caused him to lose his hair (!). Ostracized and psychologically scarred, Stane became obsessed with chess...
...and wasn’t above killing his opponent’s dog to get an edge.
And that’s the kind of can-do spirit and drive you need to get ahead in the munitions industry.
Nowadays, he’s convinced that Tony Stark is permanently beaten, but he sends a clunky killing machine (named Circuits Breaker, a reference to Stark’s start-up Circuits Maximus)....
...to take care of whoever the new Iron Man is (he deduces that it’s either Rhodey or one of the Erwins). But both Rhodey and Stark, in the bare-bones grey armor, team-up to take care of the machine.
Tony’s armor is melted in the battle, although it’s miscolored to look like his classic red and gold suit.
Art in #198 is by Sal Buscema, and while i’m a champion of his, i think inkers Akin & Garvey have a lot to do with the fact that this issue doesn’t feel like a fill-in. Same with Herb Trimpe and issue #199...
...although the Flexographics makes things a bit worse, and i really don’t appreciate this panty-shot, which is very odd for Marvel in general at this time and especially for an old-schooler like Trimpe.
But with the failure of the death-machine, Stane goes after Stark through his loved ones. In addition to the previously kidnapped Bethany Cabe, he also kidnaps Happy Hogan, Pepper Potts (as shown in the indignity above), Mrs. Arbogast, and the baby that Tony Stark helped keep alive during the blizzard while he was fighting alcoholism, and he blows up Circuits Maximus, killing Morley Erwin.
Stark has been adamant that he didn’t want to wear the new armor he’d been working on, but with Rhodey also injured in the blast that killed Morley, Stark has no choice but to call in the West Coast Avengers don the new suit.
The above is a variation on an oft-repeated classic sequence. When i first started this project and looked at some older ”dressings” i was shocked to see that Iron Man’s arm and leg coverings were actually a chainmail mesh, but it made sense: how else could Iron Man bend his limbs? Here, however, the leggings look a lot more solid, and considering that prior to this new armor Stark was working with a replica of his original grey suit, which definitely had solid arm and leg pieces, i’m wondering if he’s gone back to a variation of that. I did consult the 1985 Handbook but found the techno-jargon impenetrable. In any event, in future issues we’ll see that the arms and legs compress like in previous versions.
Anyway, it’s a cool new suit, and an interesting move to change the colors. This red and silver suit is referred to as the Silver Centurion armor, although not in this issue.
Tony fights his way through Stane’s defenses...
...including a group of Chessmen that he blows through quite easily...
...before coming face to face with Stane in his own new ”Iron Monger” armor.
It’s not referenced, but we saw in Captain America #303-304 that Stane was working on a set of armor for himself, although i see he didn’t go with my advice and use adamantium when he couldn’t replicate the metal from Cap’s shield.
The Iron Monger armor was based on the basic design of Stark’s previous suit. Iron Man defeats the Iron Monger armor by exploiting a feature of his old suit that caused it to lock up if it was ever controlled by an outside source (which he built after Justin Hammer took control of his armor and caused him to kill a diplomat). Stane actually had the armor controlled by a remote computer, but when Iron Man destroyed that computer, Stane’s suit temporarily locked up.
Defeated, Stane puts his repulsor to his own head, killing himself like his father did.
Issue #201 picks up with Iron Man rescuing Stane’s hostages from a collapsing building.
We’ve seen that Madame Masque (later retconned as a ”Bio-Duplicate”) was working alongside Stane but Stane betrayed her in issue #198.
A mad super-scientist working for Stane, Dr. Atlanta...
...switches Masque’s mind with Bethany Cabe’s (although Iron Man doesn’t realize it).
Cabe, in Masque’s body, is jailed but subsequently escapes. We see her take off her mask as she escapes...
...and later we see a woman with dark hair (but no facial scarring, which Masque is supposed to have) buying a gun at the LA airport. I think it’s a coloring error and this is supposed to be Masque in Cabe’s body.
Atlanta is picked up by AIM, which is in the middle of an internal power struggle (the big guy is Yorgon Tykkio; we’ll later learn that the Scientist Supreme is his brother, Valdemar).
They launch an attack on the West Coast Avengers compound. Iron Man shows up to help out, but they don’t get to the root of the AIM attack this issue.
This anniversary story is a lot of fun, if a bit by-the-numbers (hero recovers from his previous defeats, faces his arch rival, a new costume, death of a supporting character). I’m a little disappointed to see Rhodey sidelined. M.D. Bright’s art on the last two issues are nice, and i enjoy all the little sequences of Iron Man demonstrating his new armor’s capabilities (much more than i enjoyed reading about same in the Handbook).
Quality Rating: B Historical Significance Rating: 6 - Obadiah Stane’s backstory and death. First Iron Monger armor. Death of Morley Erwin. Tony Stark becomes Iron Man again, and debuts the Silver Centurion armor. First Yorgon Tykkio of AIM.
Chronological Placement Considerations: The new armor actually first appeared in 1985’s West Coast Avengers #1 due to a change in the WCA publication schedule, but storywise this clearly takes place first. This is pushed back in publication time to fit this before Avengers: Emperor Doom. I’ve also made sure to place this prior to Secret Wars II #3 since the new armor is shown there in a symbolic scene of all Earth’s heroes and villains bowing to the Beyonder. Issue #201 is really a standalone story but it starts with Iron Man in the direct aftermath of the battle with Iron Monger and rescuing the hostages.
References:
• Madame Masque says she’s working with Stane because ”he flung me aside like something used up and useless” and he’s also responsible for the death of her father. No footnotes, but her father, Count Nefaria, seemingly died in Iron Man #116. She probably considered herself scorned after Iron Man #139.
• The kidnapped baby was born in Iron Man #182.
• Iron Man fought Stane’s Chessmen previously in Iron Man #163 through Iron Man #166.
• Iron Man was forced to kill a diplomat in Iron Man #124-125.
• The West Coast Avengers have three quinjets, and it’s said that they just got the third one flightworthy again after it was damaged in Iron Man #193.
• In Iron Man #195, Hawkeye provided Tony Stark the facilities at the West Coast compound where he created his new armor.
Crossover: N/A
Continuity Insert? N
My Reprint: N/A
Inbound References (11): show
Characters Appearing: Bethany Cabe, Clytemnestra Erwin, Happy Hogan, Hawkeye, Iron Man, Madame Masque Bio-Duplicate, Mockingbird, Morley Erwin, Mrs. Arbogast, Obadiah Stane, Pepper Potts, Theron Atlanta, Tigra, Timothy Anders, Valdemar Tykkio, Vic Martinelli, War Machine, Yorgon Tykkio
Previous:
Micronauts: The New Voyages #9
Up:
Main
1985 / Box 22 / EiC: Jim Shooter
Next:
Web of Spider-Man #4
37 Reader Ratings
Comments
The ending of issue 200 is truly epic. The last words- ”somebody lost”- were haunting. Tony officially joins the WCA this issue. And this plays into a chronological complication surrounding issues 202-204. Issue 202 is a fill in. Issues 203-204 are described as happening ”a few hours” after this issue but Hank Pym’s already staying at the WCA compound, which he didn’t arrive at until WCA 1. The MCP decided to ignore the ”few hours” references and assume that issues 202-204 take place after the WCA 1-4. Matt Fraction clearly did not read issue 199 carefully. The dialogue makes it clear that this is the first time Rhodey and Pepper have met. Yet during his run, he had Tony tell Maria Hill about the time he demanded sex from Pepper while he was drunk, and when Rhodey tried to stop him, he took a swing at him.
Posted by: Michael | June 23, 2012 11:26 PM
https://www.supermegamonkey.net/chronocomic/entries/iron_man_198-201.shtml
Issue #198
Iron Man (1968 1st Series) 198
Iron Man (1968 1st Series) #198
Tags: Marvel Legacy Numbering: Iron Man (part 198), Iron Man
Published Sep 1985 by Marvel.
Available Stock
Want List
eBay (12)
Contents
CGC Census
Add to cart
Very Fine Add to cart $8.00
Add to cart
Very Fine Add to cart $8.00
Add to cart
Fine Add to cart $4.80
Add to cart
Fine Add to cart $4.80
”Revelations!” Script by Denny O’Neil. Pencils by Sal Buscema. Inks by Ian Akin and Brian Garvey. Cover by Sal Buscema, Ian Akin, and Brian Garvey. Over the past several weeks, Obadiah Stane has been keeping tabs on Tony Stark and his friends at Circuits Maximus! And to Obadiah’s dismay the former CEO of Stark International is prospering! The jealous Obadiah can’t stand that, so he sends a powerful airship called Circuits Breaker to destroy Circuits Maximus! Fortunately, Tony and Rhodey are home at the time! And the armored duo quickly go airborne to defend their headquarters! In the meantime and in very sinister fashion, Obadiah turns the tables on Madame Masque and Bethany Cabe! Origin of Obadiah Stane. Cameo appearances by Clytemnestra Erwin and Morley Erwin. (Note: This story was reprinted in 2010 in the hardcover: Iron Man Iron Monger.) 32 pages. Cover price $0.65.
Date Added:
2018-07-02 22:52:48
Writer:
Denny OâNeil
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Penciller:
Sal Buscema
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Inker:
Akin & Garvey
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Colorist:
Bob Sharen
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Letterer:
Rick Parker
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Editor:
Mark Gruenwald
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