Title:
Iron Man 34
Synopsis:
and Calamity!” Story by Allyn Brodsky. Art by Don Heck and Joe Gaudioso. Cover by Sal Buscema. With Tony Stark as their prisoner, the Espionage Elite appear to be in control of Stark Industries; however, Kevin O’Brien and Jasper Sitwell are fighting back! Kevin frees Tony, and that means Shell-head can join the battle! Can Iron Man defeat the treacherous Spymaster?
Cover Date:
Feb 1971
Publisher:
Marvel Comics
Issue Number:
34
Year:
1971
Cover Price:
$0.15
Era:
Bronze Age
Genre:
Superhero
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Characters:
vs Spymaster & Espionage Elite
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Date Added:
2018-07-02 22:53:13
Story Arc:
Iron Man #33-35
Issue(s): Iron Man #33, Iron Man #34, Iron Man #35 Cover Date: Jan-Mar 71 Title: ”Their mission: Destroy Stark Industries!!” / ”Crisis -- and calamity!!” / ”Revenge!” Credits: Allyn Brodsky / Gerry Conway & Allyn Brodsky - Writer Don Heck - Penciler Mike Esposito - Inker
Review/plot: Gerry Conway becomes the book’s writer beginning with issue #35, but he was initially working off of Allyn Brodsky’s plot, a fact that wasn’t acknowledge in the credits. I don’t know if the handoff between Brodsky and Conway is what’s to blame, but this arc (which continues in an issue of Daredevil before concluding in Iron Man #36) starts off as a nice espionage story and introduces some interesting characters before beginning an unholy decent into madness involving the Zodiac Key, and that’s before we get to Iron Man #36-37.
Brodsky’s short run isn’t really considered one of the greats, but i was pleasantly surprised by it, and without a doubt, the Spymaster, introduced here...
...is one of Iron Man’s most enduring second-tier villains.
In this arc the Spymaster is working with a group called the Espionage Elite.
Spymaster cuts them loose during this arc...
...and they only have one appearance outside of these issues (in a Marvel Super-Heroes special in the 90s), so i’m not listing them as Characters Appearing. But they’re actually pretty cool too; each has their own specialty and i could see them being used in an Ocean’s Eleven style story.
Both Kevin O’Brian...
...and Jasper Sitwell...
...help Iron Man against the Espionage Elite, but despite O’Brian getting knocked out multiple times, it’s Sitwell who is seemingly mortally wounded, causing the Iron Man/Spymaster rivalry to get personal.
That said, the plotline gets a bit derailed here and it’s only a coincidence that Iron Man gets another shot at the Spymaster. It turns out that the Spymaster is working for the Zodiac, and now they want him to go after Daredevil.
Meanwhile, Madame Masque, wearing a really short skirt and an impossibly realistic rubber mask over her metal one...
...winds up bumping into Daredevil...
...and both of them wind up getting captured by the Spymaster.
Also meanwhile, instead of hunting down the Spymaster, Iron Man is helping SHIELD (speaking of short skirts, here’s what the ladies of SHIELD are wearing this season)...
...investigate the Zodiac Key, which nearly possesses Nick Fury. Ever see Iron Man use his repulsor beams to create an invisible box before?
The Zodiac show up to get the key back...
...and they are able to defeat Iron Man and Nick Fury when Kevin O’Brian lends an unwilling hand with the Key.
All are brought back to the Zodiac’s lair, for a storyline to be continued in Daredevil #73.
Despite the tangential plotline in issue #35, it’s actually not a bad story at all, and everything is still relatively normal so far. Don’t worry, though.
Quality Rating: C Historical Significance Rating: 6 - first Spymaster
Chronological Placement Considerations: Continued directly in Daredevil #73.
References:
• This arc begins an existential crisis for Tony Stark that continues into future issues. It starts in Iron Man #33, when he thinks back to all of his recent crazy adventures, including the fight with Val-Larr in Iron Man #26, the Controller in Iron Man #28, Myrmidon from Iron Man #29. ”The Monster-Master [Iron Man #30], the Smashers [Iron Man #31], they were all worth fighting, I guess””, he thinks to himself. But last issue’s encounter with the Mechanoid really got him down.
• Stark then thinks about his time with the Avengers, including a footnote for Avengers #1. The reverie includes a bunch of symbolic panels, including a group shot of villains. It’s an interesting group of villains to include. Iron Man was with the Avengers during Kang’s debut in Avengers #8. He fought the Mole Man with the Avengers in Avengers #12 and by himself in Tales of Suspense #87-88. The Sons of the Serpent guy would be from Avengers #32-33. All pretty normal so far (although except Kang, not exactly top Avengers villains). But then there’s Dr. Doom, who Iron Man had never fought at this point unless someone involved in this book had access to Doom’s time machine and used it to get a copy of Avengers #1.5. Then there’s that minotaur, which looks a lot like the one from Avengers #17, not the one from Iron Man #24. But Iron Man was off the team by Avengers #17. If you assume that the Doom reference is to Avengers #25, then what all these villains do have in common is that their Avengers appearances were all drawn by Don Heck, also the artist here (actually, Heck didn’t draw Kang’s first appearance but he did draw his return in Avengers #11, although Iron Man wasn’t in that one).
• SHIELD acquired the Zodiac Key in Avengers #72 (according to a footnote; it was also seen in Avengers #82 but i guess SHIELD recovered it again after that).
Crossover: N/A
Continuity Insert? N
My Reprint: N/A
Inbound References (9): show
Characters Appearing: Aquarius, Capricorn, Daredevil, Foggy Nelson, Guardsman (Kevin O’Brien), Iron Man, Jasper Sitwell, Lawholder, Libra, Madame Masque, Nick Fury, Sagittarius, Spymaster
Previous:
Hulk #135
Up:
Main
1971 / Box 6 / Silver Age
Next:
Daredevil #73
https://www.supermegamonkey.net/chronocomic/entries/iron_man_33-35.shtml
Issue(s): Iron Man #33, Iron Man #34, Iron Man #35 Cover Date: Jan-Mar 71 Title: ”Their mission: Destroy Stark Industries!!” / ”Crisis -- and calamity!!” / ”Revenge!” Credits: Allyn Brodsky / Gerry Conway & Allyn Brodsky - Writer Don Heck - Penciler Mike Esposito - Inker
Review/plot: Gerry Conway becomes the book’s writer beginning with issue #35, but he was initially working off of Allyn Brodsky’s plot, a fact that wasn’t acknowledge in the credits. I don’t know if the handoff between Brodsky and Conway is what’s to blame, but this arc (which continues in an issue of Daredevil before concluding in Iron Man #36) starts off as a nice espionage story and introduces some interesting characters before beginning an unholy decent into madness involving the Zodiac Key, and that’s before we get to Iron Man #36-37.
Brodsky’s short run isn’t really considered one of the greats, but i was pleasantly surprised by it, and without a doubt, the Spymaster, introduced here...
...is one of Iron Man’s most enduring second-tier villains.
In this arc the Spymaster is working with a group called the Espionage Elite.
Spymaster cuts them loose during this arc...
...and they only have one appearance outside of these issues (in a Marvel Super-Heroes special in the 90s), so i’m not listing them as Characters Appearing. But they’re actually pretty cool too; each has their own specialty and i could see them being used in an Ocean’s Eleven style story.
Both Kevin O’Brian...
...and Jasper Sitwell...
...help Iron Man against the Espionage Elite, but despite O’Brian getting knocked out multiple times, it’s Sitwell who is seemingly mortally wounded, causing the Iron Man/Spymaster rivalry to get personal.
That said, the plotline gets a bit derailed here and it’s only a coincidence that Iron Man gets another shot at the Spymaster. It turns out that the Spymaster is working for the Zodiac, and now they want him to go after Daredevil.
Meanwhile, Madame Masque, wearing a really short skirt and an impossibly realistic rubber mask over her metal one...
...winds up bumping into Daredevil...
...and both of them wind up getting captured by the Spymaster.
Also meanwhile, instead of hunting down the Spymaster, Iron Man is helping SHIELD (speaking of short skirts, here’s what the ladies of SHIELD are wearing this season)...
...investigate the Zodiac Key, which nearly possesses Nick Fury. Ever see Iron Man use his repulsor beams to create an invisible box before?
The Zodiac show up to get the key back...
...and they are able to defeat Iron Man and Nick Fury when Kevin O’Brian lends an unwilling hand with the Key.
All are brought back to the Zodiac’s lair, for a storyline to be continued in Daredevil #73.
Despite the tangential plotline in issue #35, it’s actually not a bad story at all, and everything is still relatively normal so far. Don’t worry, though.
Quality Rating: C Historical Significance Rating: 6 - first Spymaster
Chronological Placement Considerations: Continued directly in Daredevil #73.
References:
• This arc begins an existential crisis for Tony Stark that continues into future issues. It starts in Iron Man #33, when he thinks back to all of his recent crazy adventures, including the fight with Val-Larr in Iron Man #26, the Controller in Iron Man #28, Myrmidon from Iron Man #29. ”The Monster-Master [Iron Man #30], the Smashers [Iron Man #31], they were all worth fighting, I guess””, he thinks to himself. But last issue’s encounter with the Mechanoid really got him down.
• Stark then thinks about his time with the Avengers, including a footnote for Avengers #1. The reverie includes a bunch of symbolic panels, including a group shot of villains. It’s an interesting group of villains to include. Iron Man was with the Avengers during Kang’s debut in Avengers #8. He fought the Mole Man with the Avengers in Avengers #12 and by himself in Tales of Suspense #87-88. The Sons of the Serpent guy would be from Avengers #32-33. All pretty normal so far (although except Kang, not exactly top Avengers villains). But then there’s Dr. Doom, who Iron Man had never fought at this point unless someone involved in this book had access to Doom’s time machine and used it to get a copy of Avengers #1.5. Then there’s that minotaur, which looks a lot like the one from Avengers #17, not the one from Iron Man #24. But Iron Man was off the team by Avengers #17. If you assume that the Doom reference is to Avengers #25, then what all these villains do have in common is that their Avengers appearances were all drawn by Don Heck, also the artist here (actually, Heck didn’t draw Kang’s first appearance but he did draw his return in Avengers #11, although Iron Man wasn’t in that one).
• SHIELD acquired the Zodiac Key in Avengers #72 (according to a footnote; it was also seen in Avengers #82 but i guess SHIELD recovered it again after that).
Crossover: N/A
Continuity Insert? N
My Reprint: N/A
Inbound References (9): show
Characters Appearing: Aquarius, Capricorn, Daredevil, Foggy Nelson, Guardsman (Kevin O’Brien), Iron Man, Jasper Sitwell, Lawholder, Libra, Madame Masque, Nick Fury, Sagittarius, Spymaster
Previous:
Hulk #135
Up:
Main
1971 / Box 6 / Silver Age
Next:
Daredevil #73
https://www.supermegamonkey.net/chronocomic/entries/iron_man_33-35.shtml
Date Added:
2018-07-02 22:53:13
Writer:
Allyn Brodsky
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Penciller:
Don Heck
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Inker:
Joe Gaudioso
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Cover Artist:
Sal Buscema
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