Review: Iron Man #49
- Rick Moore
- 4 days ago
- 7 min read
An Avenger, an Adaptoid and a Hot Blonde Walk into a Bar and...
Can we all agree that Tony Stark doesn’t have the best of luck when it comes to romance? At least up to this point?
Check it out. He falls for his staff assistant, Pepper Potts. Whether out of worry because of his bum ticker or wanting to avoid a harassment suit, Tony devotes most of his sixty plus issues in Tales of Suspense to hooking Pepper up with his chauffeur, Happy Hogan.
Then there’s Janice Cord - a lovely corporate rival who steals his heart only to meet her untimely end courtesy of the Titanium Man in Issue #22.
Along the way, he lets his eyes wander towards Whitney Frost - a rather complicated woman who also wears a mask to cover a disfigured face and happens to be the daughter of big-time Maggia boss Count Nefaria and who herself has a moral compass that doesn’t always point towards truth, justice and the American Way.
Now we come to poor Marianne Rodgers. She’s a drop-dead gorgeous blonde that I’m sure every artist loves to draw, but cursed with undefined ESP powers that never seem to offer anything positive. There’s no flash of insight where she can tell her beloved that that West Coast merger is going to net millions for him or even to spend a few minutes with that weird guy named Bill Gates. Every whisper from those nascent powers professes only bad tidings.
Which brings us to this issue where those talents ramp up to Def Con Two. Right there on Gil Kane’s quirky cover, we have her telling the purchasing public that she’s seen her sweetie die! Dare we say that Marianne Rodgers is more of a danger to Tony Stark than even past writers Gerry Conway and Allan Brodsky?
Sorry - bad joke. Please forgive me as we join Mike Friedrich and George Tuska to find that “There Lurks the Adaptoid.”
Credits
Writer: Mike Friedrich
Pencils: George Tuska
Inks: Vince Coletta
Letterer: John Costanza
Editor: Stan Lee
Cover Art: Gil Kane & Frank Giacoia
Release Date: May 9, 1972
Synopsis
Kudos to George Tuska for another appealing splash page Sure, inker Vince Coletta takes a few shortcuts with those faces, but hey, the sharp images help convey that everyone’s happy that Tony Stark is back in charge now that slimeball Board President Simon Gilbert has shed his mortal coil. Tony conveys his confidence by saying his company will be back on top and then rearranging his office. Hey, I’m known to clean my office at odd times so who am I to judge? He also wishes the best to a secretary who’s leaving to have a child. (Note that this is 1972 - years before the Family Medical Leave Act. When women became pregnant in those days, that typically meant giving up their jobs. And don’t worry - that position won’t remain vacant indefinitely.)
In the midst of all this, Tony also references “new directions” for Stark Industries. This is definitely a hint of larger, permanent changes in the upcoming issues.
All this busy work allows him to recap last issue’s battle with Firebrand, who turned out to be Gilbert’s son. Those musings are interrupted by Marianne Rodgers rushing into his office. (By the way, does anyone have any idea who Marianne does for a living? Is she independently wealthy? Or if she has a job, what kind of job is it? I ask because she always seems available when Tony or the story need to have her around.)
Anyway, Marianne let’s her fiance know that her latest ESP flash qualifies as a real doozy, being a vision of same ghastly white-haired robotic figure holding a nasty-looking cleaver. Worse, in this vision, she’s unable to save him as Iron Man from falling into a vat of acid.
As if that’s not bad enough, her ESP now informs her that Iron Man needs to go the Avengers Mansion. Like I said before, can’t this lovely woman ever offer anything beneficial? Even a nice weather forecast would seem a blessing at this point.
Sporting a new suit of armor that’s naturally untested, our hero arrives at the Mansion to find that it’s been invaded by The Adaptoid - an android who has replicated the powers of Captain America, Hawkeye, Goliath and The Wasp. Apparently, it’s there to complete it’s programming by destroying Captain America - who’s nowhere in sight.
The two spend the next two pages trading blows and accomplishing nothing more than wrecking a lot of furniture. However, a nerve gas arrow stuns Iron Man long enough for the Adaptoid to toss him off the Mansion’s roof. Not sure why we’re worried about a five-story fall when his armor withstood a much higher fall ten issues back in the horrendously dreadful White Dragon story. But a comic book needs its drama so with that crisis averted Iron Man’s returns to face his second android opponent in five issues (possibly fourth in seven issues, counting Mr. Kline and Mikas - assuming what we saw at the end of Issue #43 was accurate.)
But to keep things interesting, Iron Man notices that something’s now wrong with his green-tinted sparring partner. The Adaptoid’s movements have become more erratic with his actions more uncertain.
Before we can see where that’s going, Marianne steals our attention again, chatting with Pepper Hogan. Both women spend a few moments comparing notes on Tony Stark before Pepper gives Marianne her blessing to run off to be at Tony’s side. No idea why Ms. Hogan stopped in, but the door’s always open for her to visit.
We’re back to Iron Man tangling with a truly confused android, their fight having now moved to a nearby park. Following two pages of decent property damage, Iron Man is knocked into a pond or small lake by a blast arrow. Now running solely on reserve power, he has only two minutes of juice to finish the fight or we’ll have to change the title of this book to The Invincible Adaptoid.
Fortunately, he buries said bad guy under a lotta rubble so that he can wander off to find an electrical outlet somewhere. (Can’t imagine where you’d find one in New York City?) Of course the Adaptoid’s not out of action yet. But he’s stopped by his “artificial genes…churning in uncontrollable evolution.” Gotta say that’s one really insightful android!)
Realizing that the only place to find an electrical outlet is the Avengers Mansion, Iron Man lands there with Marianne waiting for him. (Is it just me or doesn’t that building have some defenses that are supposed to allow only, y’know, Avengers to enter?)
Anyway, Marianne’s leading Iron Man to the nearest outlet when her vision appears again - with that spooky white-haired robot taking on a total Grim Reaper look. Since she’s convinced that she’s the one who will kill Tony, that’s more than enough for her to hightail it away, leaving her fiancé to gasp that he’s dying with only sixty seconds of power remaining.
That’s also a good place for us to end this issue.
Story
How do I say this? “There Lurks the Adaptoid” is the best Iron Man story since I stared these reviews with #30. Don’t get me wrong. We ain’t talking "The Kree-Skrull War" or "Days of Future Past." Truth is this is just a decent story. But that also underscores the dark and dreary wilderness that our hero’s wandered in for the past couple years. This stands out because it is a coherent story with a semi-worthy villain and an intriguing subplot setting up a larger story.
No weepy dialogue for Tony Stark. No cringe worthy purple prose populating the captions. We also get to see our guy actually acting like a boss again. Not sure why Pepper decided to visit, but like I said before, she’s welcome to stop by anytime. The only downside is that it looks like stormy weather ahead for Tony and Marianne.
Absent any real complaints, I’m pleased to rate this at 6/10.
Art
I know - I know. Either Tuska-Coletta works for you or it doesn’t. Although it’s not Neal Adams or John Buscema or Gene Colan, I’ve no real complaints about the art. Indeed, I’ll offer my compliments on the design of that nightmare image haunting poor Marianne. Added to that, Tuska made the rather silly-looking Adaptoid appear formidable. For want of a more precise description, I’m calling this “Good Tuska.” 6/10
Wimp Factor
I’m no fan of armor malfunctions or running out of power. But given that this is an untested suit, I can give Tony a little bit of grace. (Although if it were my life depending on that armor, you can damn well bet I’ve have put off rearranging my office until I knew that armor was good to go!). I also think it took Iron Man too long to deal with the Adaptoid and that once again, he failed to use any of his other weapons. That takes us to up to 6/10.
Villain Rating
Although the Adaptoid’s cut from the same cloth as The Super Skrull and Mimic - in that he simply duplicates the powers of a particular group - there’s a fun appeal to him. I find him a good, if rather dorky, visual. I’m not sure those four Avengers present that much of threat to Iron Man in terms of powers. But given who Iron Man faces in the next issue, I’m afraid that middle-school bully Timmy would challenge him at this point. Anyway, we also know that the Adaptoid’s part of a larger story so let’s be nice and call this 6/10.
Overall Rating
Words I’m happy to type - this is the best issue of Iron Man so far for this blog. 6/10
Additional Nuts & Bolts
It’ll be a few months, but by this time next year, Pepper Hogan will return to this series. And she’ll stick around for more than a few panels.
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