Review: Iron Man #38
- Rick Moore
- Jan 16
- 7 min read
Marvel Comics Editor-in-Chief Stan Lee talking with a group of creators in 1971…
“No! No! No! You’ve got it all wrong! This is not a character of science fiction! This is a someone born of the streets! Someone to brave the dangers of the night! Someone willing to tackle hoodlums of the Hood! Someone who’s true calling is to battle gangsters, mobsters and other organized baddies!
“And I am envisioning such a wicked recidivist now! A master criminal in charge of dozens of dangerous delinquents! A truly supreme test for our hero! A villain who is known and feared throughout the alleys and darkened streets as…Jonah!
“Now go forth and tell that story!”
After those creators leave, another group comes in a moment later.
“What book are all of you working on?”
“Daredevil.”
A perplexed look comes to Stan. “But I thought that last group I spoke with were the creators for Daredevil. Who are they working on?”
“Iron Man.”
“You mean I just dictated a street-level crime story for the upcoming issue of Iron Man?” He pauses a moment before shrugging. “Oh well, can't be worse than the Mechanoid, Monster Maker or the Zodiac Key.”
Nearing the midpoint of Gerry Conway’s nine-issue run, we’re still firmly in the territory best described as ”not good.” I have to wonder if the writer found himself swamped with Sub-Mariner and Daredevil, needing what would in later years be called a fill-in for this issue . Whatever the reason, what also I’d like to know is who decided to call the big heavy “Jonah”? I’m just asking because outside of the guy in the Good Book who we’re told was swallowed by a whale, the only other Jonah I’m aware of is a certain Daily Bugle publisher who really had it in for Spider-Man.
Anyway, I do have to say that one plus in this otherwise oddball comic book is the return of George Tuska. I know that this is not thrilling news for everyone. And I get it. But damn, after a year of Don Heck’s “really not good” art, Tuska merits the red-carpet treatment! (At least for this issue.)
With all that out of the way, let’s don our pinstripes and pork pie hats as we learn what happens “When Calls Jonah..!”
Synopsis
Once we’re past a splash page that essentially is George Tuska’s version of Sal Busecma’s cover, we find Stark Industries’ HR Director asking Tony about hiring an African-American guy named Frankie Majors who broke bad young, was framed for murder, spent time in the pokey and is now on the straight-n-narrow. The HR guy not only does this while puffing a stogy in the boss’s office, but also kills over four pages in doing so. Of course, we wouldn’t have a story if Tony didn’t say to give the guy a chance.
Nor would we have a comic if Tony Stark didn’t change into Iron Man to check out Frankie Major’s story on this own. This is where I once again question Tony Stark’s business acumen if an HR Director has to go to him with one hire in a plant with thousands of employees. Along those lines, why in the world is Iron Man conducting the investigation of this new hire? Isn’t that HR’s job?
Our hero learns that a hood named Anthony Garenia is now the big boss - or Jonah. Gardenia had also framed Frankie Majors for the murder that sent him up the river. This leads to the guy who’s beaten the likes of The Mandarin and Titanium Man being tackled by gangsters as well as falls to his knees when they fire upon him with said weapons. Silly me. I would’ve thought that most of the bad guys would’ve been reduced to swiss cheese from all the bullets ricocheting off his armor. Iron Man attempts to redeem himself by punching a couple of them before flying away. Again, I’d worry more that one of his punches actually would kill someone.
Oh well. At least he didn’t mention his weak heart.
Oh snap. He actually did mention it.
Instead of hiding his head in shame, Tony returns to the plant to meet Franike who introduces him to his girlfriend who’s waiting for him to call it a day.
Unfortunately, Jonah’s boys catch up to him not two panels later. And fortunately for him, Tony Stark just happens to be passing that very street corner! What are the odds of that? It’s not like New York City is a sprawling metropolis.
Of course after totally embarrassing himself against those same gangsters in his Iron Man suit, Tony Stark rushes to his new employee’s rescue…without the freaking armor! And guess what? He gets shot. (Note when wanting examples of Tony Stark’s genius, please disregard this issue.)
But thanks to Frankie’s boxing skills, both men get away. Even better, turns out that Tony’s only grazed on the shoulder. Which will explain why he wears that uber-silly sling on the cover and later in the story. Can I also wonder why he doesn’t just immobilize part of that arm so that it doesn’t move. That sling’s the goofiest thing we’ll see Iron Man wearing - at least until he adopts that hideous nose in a few years.
Good mobsters being good mobsters, they then kidnap Frankie’s girlfriend - who’s never given a name. This leads to the scene we’ve been promised since the cover and splash page. Of course with a gun trained on Frankie’s girlfriend, what’s an Avenger to do? Magnetize the guns? Use sonics to knock everyone out? Blind them with his searchlight? Nah. A careful pose of his injured wing allowed Iron Man to zap the guy with the gun on the lady, setting it up so that he and Frankie can dispatch the rest of the gang in one panel with fisticuffs before the police arrive to arrest all of them.
And that’s it! We end with Frankie’s lady saying “Handsome man, you’ve really got soul!”
Yeah. Definitely “not good.” Hate to say it, but it gets worse from here.
Ratings
Writing
Although the plot may have come from former Iron Man writer Alynn Brodsky, Gerry Conway is the writer. That means it’s his job to make the final story work. That’s where I’m placing the blame for this issue. When I say blame, I’m talking about having Iron Man - the second most powerful Avenger at that time - facing off against gangsters. Talk about square bolts trying to fit into round screw holes.
Sure this story has a nice “feel good” aspect to it with Frankie Majors ultimately winning the day. But did it have to come at the credibility of our hero? I’m sure even the Scarecrow and Mister Doll were feeling emboldened after reading this debacle.
Another problem is that we spend an entire issue getting to know and like Frankie Majors only to see just a quick cameo of him in the next issue before disappearing into obscurity. He clearly didn’t have the same agent as Kevin O’Brien (who’s mistakenly spelled as “O’Brian” in this issue.) Why go to all that effort for someone who won’t figure into future issues? For that matter, what does this issue do to advance any storylines forward?
In terms of the actual writing, it's not overly impressive. Not with the tired cliches uttered by Jonah and his boys. But I’ve certainly read worse. I should add that Conway limits Kevin O’Brien to three panels with nary a tired Irish cliché uttered! I did wonder about Marianne Rodgers taking the issue off. But without giving away too much, she’s got a lot of lines to learn for the upcoming issues. 3/10
Art
Oh George, you’ve no idea how much we missed you! Which is true, after a year of struggling through Don Heck’s dated, unappealing work. However, I have to warn everyone that, with only a few scattered breaks, we’re going to be looking at Tuska art on Iron Man for around the next…seven years.
It’s not that George Tuska is a bad artist. He’s not. In my opinion, he’s a good artist. And that’s the problem. He’s a good artist working for a comic book company that at that time, had a number of great artists. Go down the line. John Buscema. Barry Smith. Neal Adams. Jim Steranko. Gene Colan. Gil Kane. John Romita. And so on.
His figures will never be as powerful and dynamic as John Buscema. Nor will his panels convey the energy of Neal Adams. Tuska’s emotions will never come across with the subtlety of Gene Colan. You get the idea.
But he does know how to draw a powerful Iron Man as well as tell the story with his pencils.
Is every panel stunning? No. Tuska’s bag of tricks is limited when it comes to poses and expressions. That works against him the longer he’s on a series. The expressions on Jonah’s face as well as most of his gangsters are rather generic, making them that much less impressive. Still, for the first time since Issue #32, the art doesn’t drag down the story.
And hey, that issue was also drawn by George Tuska. 5/10
Wimp Factor
C’mon. Gangsters tackling him? Falling to the floor from gunfire? Whining about his heart? Showing up in public with his arm in a sling? It doesn’t get any worse than this. 10/10
Villain Rating
The Bible has names that would work for a villain. Guess what? Jonah ain't one of them. We don’t even learn the names of any of the other gun-wielding buffoons from Central Casting. 1/10
Overall Rating
3/10
Additional Nuts & Bolts:
Rest assured that neither Jonah nor any one of his gang ever show their faces in a Marvel comic again. Nor - to the best of my knowledge - do any other Marvel writers ever admit to using another Allyn Brodsky plot.
After making us really like him, Frankie Majors makes only a cameo appearance in the next issue before falling into comic book limbo.
This issue is also the last one to sport a Sal Buscema cover. While his art never achieved the heights of his brother, John, I never minded seeing his name in the credits. I knew I was in for a solid art job with some trademark, but enjoyable, expressions accompanied by dynamic storytelling. The quality of his covers during these past several issues has me wondering how much better those stories would have come across if we’d had his pencils instead of Heck’s.
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