The Deadly Hunger of... The Blood Brothers!

 

Two Hulk-sized, super-strong alien bruisers whose name is partially derived from the fact that they feast on blood--wouldn't you have liked to have been a fly on the wall when Jim Starlin pieced together that character concept, which saw print in 1973 in the form of the Blood Brothers, enforcers of the will of Thanos during the time the villain held Drax the Destroyer prisoner in his base located in the Arizona desert. It was Drax who would reach out to Iron Man and provide him with knowledge of the rise of Thanos of Titan--as well as a hurried warning about the Blood Brothers, who were sent to retrieve the golden Avenger when Drax's telepathic contact had been detected, and return with him to Thanos's base. As we'll see, despite his confidence, Iron Man's resistance to the unexpected might of the Blood Brothers comes to naught (which is putting it mildly)--but at his destination, he successfully breaks away in order to conduct his search for Drax.

It's at the point when Iron Man attempts to free Drax that we're present for Starlin's introduction of... well, let's just say a character whose name came to be known in years to come by thousands of readers and moviegoers alike and who helped to make Marvel Studios and the folks at Disney a lot of money. Kudos to you, Mr. Starlin.

Earth's Mightiest Floating Heads!

 

"I like to goof off now and then, too, you know." - (Mrs.) Young-Ja Kim

Always one to take the sentiments of the redoubtable Mrs. Kim to heart (if I know what's good for me), I've finally gotten around to a little goofing off of my own by exploring a subject we readers of silver- and bronze-age comics are all too familiar with: Those aghast, worried, concerned, taken aback, consternated, and certainly conspicuous floating heads on issue covers which appeared out of nowhere to draw attention to whatever and whoever they were casting their piercing gaze(s) on.

It seemed a rare day when we saw such bodyless faces appear in titles featuring a solo character, since both hero and villain(s) were occupied in full-size poses slugging it out on a given issue's cover--but in group books, they were all the rage, carefully placed on valuable cover space to provoke a reaction in the comics browser that what awaited within was momentous enough to merit spending their hard-earned change on. It also goes without saying that they were also useful in a marketing sense when other characters in the group didn't make it on the cover but rated a head shot in order to let the prospective reader know that whoever they might have been most interested in still showed up in the story.

Both Fantastic Four and The Avengers featured a prodigious amount of floating heads in their first volumes, but it's the latter title which offered more variety when it came to its characters given the sheer amount of different Avengers to choose from. As for the approach we'll take with this, it became more interesting for me to present these "floaters" on their own and out of context rather than blending in with whatever else was on the cover. It turns out that, in just over 400 issues, there were only a mere twenty-five instances where these heads appeared before tapering off around 1990. Nevertheless, they made their mark, and are not to be confused with groupings of other, equally familiar floating heads:

And so let's get to it--though it seems that three of the Avengers have already taken a glance at this collection and are less than pleased with the direction we're headed in. You'll have to take up your grievances with Production, gentlemen!

Artwork by Gil Kane and John Romita (Prior framing art by John Buscema and George Klein)

The Heroism of "Iron Man" March

Being a friend of Iron Man is risky business, as most of his friends who have stood by him through good times and bad would attest to (those who are still with us, that is). Being a regular reader of Invincible Iron Man provided the opportunity of not only seeing new friendships for a figure like Tony Stark come and go, but also to see old friends resurface and step back into the lives of both Stark and Iron Man, whether it was only briefly or for an extended period. During those times, you couldn't help but be curious as to why some supporting characters who clicked with readers stopped appearing in the first place, which also begged the question of why they were brought back (though I would think it would be attributed to different writers coming aboard with other supporting characters in mind); for return engagements, however, it was good to catch up with them again, however long their stay would be.

In the case of prizefighter Eddie March, a character who first appeared in 1970 and managed to make appearances off and on for nearly twenty-five years, he had an interesting story from the beginning which you would think could only take him so far. A former sparring partner of Happy Hogan, Tony Stark's close friend, Eddie was a rising star in boxing, until one match rang down the curtain on what could have been a rewarding and lucrative career.

The rest of the match was brutal, with Eddie taking a good deal of punishment, but he rallies and finally decks his opponent.  Yet despite winning his match with Hogan and Tony Stark in attendance, the news he receives later in his dressing room is the kind of devastating news that brings an end to such careers.

And so, meeting the press afterward, "Iron Man" March stuns the reporters (as well as Hogan and Stark, meeting him in back) by announcing his retirement from boxing. But to avoid being pitied, he strikes a deal with his doctor to keep silent on his medical condition, so that his fans would think he'd simply decided to go out while he was on top.

Of course, with writer Archie Goodwin taking the trouble to put in place Eddie's introduction as well as his tragic circumstances, the words exchanged between Eddie and Stark should give you an idea of what's in store for our former boxer.

Oh, you can count on that, Mr. March.

A Life For A Life!

Yikes! What would make Captain Marvel and the rampaging Thing come to blows??

We apparently have no further to look than the two figures in shadow, above; but technically, we have to point the finger to Skragg and the Super-Skrull--two of the Skrull race who follow the orders of the mad Thanos, who needs crucial information from Mar-vell in order to obtain the Cosmic Cube. It's Skragg's belief that if the Kree Captain can be tricked into slaying the Thing, he'll come to realize he's murdered an innocent--which will push him towards insanity and thus make him more susceptible to providing the information Thanos needs.

Now that we've heard from the brains of the outfit, it's time for the brawn--i.e., the Super-Skrull--to lure the Thing into a trap which Mar-vell and his human host, Rick Jones, have also been manipulated into investigating. And having had dealings before with the Super-Skrull along with the rest of the Fantastic Four, it's almost a given that the Thing won't be obliged to ignore even so obvious a lure as that which the Super-Skrull dangles before him.

But as the Thing arrives at the building where the Skrulls will spring their trap, there is another component to Skragg's plan that will complete his preparations for Mar-vell, who, as Rick, has already entered the premises. And as the Thing boldly makes his own entrance, Phase 2 of this plan is quickly utilized.

Still unaware that the Super-Skrull isn't acting alone, the Thing continues to search the building; but he has been spotted by one who has already had first-hand exposure to Skragg's attempts at deception and who suspects that he's being targeted again with the same tactics. And following Rick having made the deductions, it's Captain Marvel who attacks the Thing on sight.

When A Legend Falls!

In the 1974 saga which followed Steve Rogers' efforts to crack open the conspiracy that would ultimately lead to the abandonment of his identity as Captain America, we watched as the power of advertising instigated Cap's decline in the eyes of the public and pushed the message that Captain America was no longer a man to be trusted--a campaign of revenge begun by the villain known as the Viper and facilitated by his former associate, Quentin Harderman. The idea of an ad agency bringing down Captain America, whose reputation and record of service are as irreproachable and untarnished as it gets, would seem to be a concept that would be dead on arrival--"...something that absurd is bound to blow itself out when it comes up against my record...", as Cap later reflects--but Captain America #170 presents us with a cover that puts both Cap and the reader on notice, and formally begins a journey that will turn this once-proud hero into a virtual outcast.

Yet we would have to go back one issue to see this smear campaign begin to gain momentum--and the best place to start would be the ads in question. It's unclear in the story just how widespread this campaign is or how many ads are in play, though we can assume that they're appearing in both print and television media; but after helping the Falcon out of a jam, it's a television set that catches Cap's attention as he passes by a storefront window where a TV is broadcasting a message regarding his activities.  A message of twisted words that leaves him aghast.

(No, I don't know how Cap or passers-by could hear television commentary through a store window, or why the store owner wouldn't mute a TV placed behind one. But Harderman isn't likely to complain, eh?)

Harderman obviously knows his business. Rather than pontificate, he simply stirs the pot, allowing the masses to make up their own minds while providing them with a front organization--the "Committee"--which promotes the illusion that the announcer isn't alone in his views. After noting the reactions of those stunned bystanders who also were within earshot of the ad and who fail to respond favorably to his words of reassurance, Cap departs with annoyance and frustration--probably not the best image he should be projecting right now.

To get some answers, Cap visits Harderman's office, where we learn about the "Committee To Regain America's Principles" (having the unfortunate albeit appropriate acronym of "C.R.A.P.")--a committee of one.

You may have noticed how Cap's speech seems much more intense and how he takes things more personally since Steve Englehart took over the book--a style that's inflamed more by the addition of a co-scripter for this issue, Mike Friedrich, who in Invincible Iron Man often has Tony Stark flying off the handle at the slightest rough patch or provocation. The Captain America that handles this situation resembles more the aggressive stance of the Cap of the 1950s, who saw enemies around every corner--and a cornered Captain America, which is uncharacteristic of the hero who's set such a high standard for his peers until now, is what we're seeing more and more of here.

With Cap's exit in a huff from Harderman's office, Harderman appears to have much more than a charity exhibition in mind for Cap--and it starts with a run-in that Cap soon has with the Tumbler, who, unknown to Cap, is taking his marching orders from Harderman. The Tumbler, who escapes from Cap's pursuit in this initial encounter, is kept in the dark as to Harderman's plans for Cap, for reasons which will soon become evident; but imagine Cap's surprise when his charity event partner turns out to be a familiar foe who only recently slipped through his fingers.

An unfortunate word for Cap to shout, given what happens next:

The shock of those who witnessed the scene is no doubt exacerbated by Harderman's calculated ad campaign which has had time to affect public opinion of Cap. It's clear that the Tumbler's death was arranged by Harderman; and we learn in the story's closing panels that a hidden assassin was responsible for the act. But no one but Harderman is the wiser--nor are the police, who move in to make an arrest. Harderman has done his work well--but will Cap go quietly?

The Double-Death Threat!

While it's true that you can't thumb through your stack of old Iron Man comics without coming across at least a half dozen Iron Man vs. the Mandarin issues, do you still recoil with a start when you come across the issue where the Mandarin once battled his armored nemesis TOPLESS?

Yikes! That probably triggered the evacuation alarm at Stark Industries automatically!

The Searing Vengeance of... Sunfire!

When it comes to Shiro Yoshida, the mutant known as Sunfire, it's difficult at times to be in the man's corner, since a great deal of his time in a comic is spent espousing his nationalist fervor for his island nation of Japan. One could argue, perhaps correctly, that Shiro's abrasive personality toward foreigners is not by choice, having been pulled in two different directions by his uncle and his father--one wishing to return Japan to the height of its power and influence and avenge its defeat that followed the twin atomic blasts of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, while the other constantly chides Shiro for taking such a fanatical view of current affairs and refusing to live in the present. The former, his Uncle Tomo, discovering his nephew was a mutant, sought to use his influence to fan the flames of hatred in Shiro and thus be able to direct the power of Sunfire however he wished--while Shiro's stern father, Saburo, refused to allow his son to become so obsessed with Tomo's enmity toward those that brought Japan to its defeat in the war. If Tomo and Saburo ever had these outbursts with each other, those scenes never became part of this initial story; but it was clear their tug of war with Shiro was taking its toll on him, since it was becoming evident that Shiro was becoming more aligned with his uncle's views every day.

Created by Roy Thomas and Don Heck, Sunfire--his powers to emit bursts of intense heat a result of his mother being located a number of miles from the center of the Hiroshima blast--arrived in comics in 1970 when the world's population of mutants was still sparse enough that his debut appearance in X-Men could be an impressive one. That assessment may be due in large part to his distinctive costume, which is arguably one of the finest designs in Marvel's extensive costume gallery and remains so nearly fifty years later. Accompanying his father, a U.N. delegate, to New York, Sunfire appears and destroys a new monument that Saburo dedicates to honor both peace and the youth of the world. Three of the X-Men--the Beast, the Iceman, and the Angel--are witness to the destruction and attempt to corral Sunfire, only to fail.

Yet Sunfire's true goal lies in Washington, D.C., the Yoshidas' next stop, where Saburo is scheduled to give a speech before Congress, with the dome of the Capitol building representing a symbolic target of Sunfire's (or shall we say Tomo's) ire. But as Tomo is prepping his nephew for the task that awaits, their conversation is overheard--and Saburo at last learns that it's his nephew who has been carrying out the recent attacks in the States.

Once again, the X-Men engage Sunfire--but at the battle's pinnacle, Saburo gives his son an ultimatum, with tragic results.

You would think Saburo's last words to his son, and the circumstances of his untimely death, would have had a lasting impact on Shiro--yet though he murdered Tomo in turn, Shiro would continue to embrace his uncle's fanatical dreams of Japanese supremacy for some time. And after he's presumably deported following his activities in Washington, Shiro ends up in Tokyo, where his path crosses with another who holds even more extreme views than Tomo, and who is able to subvert the vulnerable Sunfire to his cause.

The Plan and the Peril!

In the first meeting between Iron Man and the man known as Whiplash, Iron Man was for all intents and purposes little more than a living target--his power nearly depleted from an earlier battle and unable to make use of his strength or his weapons. Nor was his armor proving resilient enough to stand up to his foe's steel-rending whip. Iron Man only survived that meeting by rerouting power reserved for his injured heart, in one desperate strike which left him as incapacitated as Whiplash.

Since then, Whiplash has moved on from his association with the criminal organization known as the Maggia, but has meticulously been planning his revenge against Iron Man right under the nose of Tony Stark--positioning himself in Stark Industries' Cincinnati plant and waiting for the moment when the paths of both himself and Iron Man would cross. That moment arrives when Stark and his executive assistant, Pepper Potts, arrive for an inspection of a project under development by the plant's manager, Vicki Snow, as well as the plant's head of Research, Mark Scott (a/k/a Mark Scarlotti)--a man we know better as Whiplash himself.

It seems a lot of trouble and effort for Whiplash to go through in order to put in place this revenge plot of his. For one thing, he didn't do too badly against Iron Man in their last meeting, with the Avenger virtually at his mercy; and after Whiplash regained consciousness following Iron Man's desperate attack, it was the Maggia's leader, the Big M, who prevented him from finishing Iron Man then and there. It would seem that a man like Scott would have better things to do than fume about that outcome and be so consumed with thoughts of revenge. There's also one other oddity along these lines in writer Mike Friedrich's story, which we'll get to in a moment.

For now, we at least have a decent battle to look forward to between Whiplash and Iron Man, since it would be absurd to once again find Iron Man too debilitated to put up a fight. That means that Whiplash will have to have some sort of defense against Iron Man's powers other than a single weapon, since he has no strength or invulnerability to speak of. As we'll see, Friedrich will give him a hand in that respect (or in this case, two); but it appears he's also made Whiplash quite the electronics expert since his last appearance, which means he'll have a few surprises for Iron Man. Of course, his whip remains formidable, and there's no disputing the man's skill.

Iron Man--Recharged and Rebooted!

When writer Mike Friedrich came aboard Invincible Iron Man in mid-1972 to begin his 3½-year run, his first order of business was to CLEAN HOUSE in terms of getting Tony Stark's life back on track. In comic book terms, that meant making Stark less of a doormat who carries around a bum rap for manufacturing munitions and whose heart condition has him turning to his identity as Iron Man to have a sense of animation and thrill that he appears to lack in his personal life. Of course, it was his life as Iron Man, with his lousy suit of armor frequently malfunctioning or running out of power, which tended to exacerbate Stark's heart condition and sideline him to the point of being regarded as an invalid in the first place. Heck, just ask Bridget, Stark's stalwart cook:

(Jeez, I'd say you can just forget about that Christmas bonus, Bridget!)

So after the death of his close friend, Kevin O'Brien, and following a period of reflection that had him questioning whether he wanted to continue as Iron Man, Stark blurts out three words that he's probably been wanting to say for a lonnnnng time:

(Don't you love the symbolism of the Stark Industries logo happening to also bear a resemblance to the dollar sign? Who do you think you're fooling, Tony?)

Stark's first stop is his feisty Board of Directors, who aren't feeling so feisty when Stark calls their bluff and moves to regain personal control of his company.

(Oh, don't worry, Marianne Rodgers--you don't know it yet, but you'll also find yourself on Stark's hit list soon enough!)

The Board's Chairman, the power-hungry Simon Gilbert, has aggressively maneuvered himself (and the other Board members) into the position of capitalizing on Stark's difficulties, and now feels that Stark's embarrassment over the Guardsman debacle will effectively tie his hands as far as having any sort of clout to overcome the Board's show of strength. But the simple truth of the matter is that the Board is up this creek without a paddle, and, truthfully, always has been, since Stark owns controlling interest in his company. As long as that's the case, there can be only one way that this is going to go down.

Gilbert may be grumbling now, but his planning comes to naught when he meets his death trying to sabotage the factory after his hireling, Firebrand, fails to overcome Iron Man.

Next up: Stark takes his first steps towards shifting S.I. from a manufacturer of weapons of war to focusing on R&D and the tools of progress and peace.

Then there's Marianne, whom Stark is still in love with but whose powers of ExtraSensory Perception (which was getting all sorts of press around this time, if memory serves) have now suddenly included visions of the near-future--one of which involves Iron Man meeting his death at the hands of a monstrous figure when she is present at the scene. Unfortunately, when she arrives at Avengers Mansion in response to an "ESPer" flash that tells her that Stark needs her...

...her vision manifests in front of her eyes, which she takes as a sign that her presence will spell disaster for Iron Man if she stays with him.

(No, I don't know how Marianne can go charging in and out of Avengers Mansion as if she had her own membership card. Then again, this was well before Henry Gyrich stormed in and beefed up the mansion's security, so maybe she simply picked the lock.)

Thank goodness Stark pays the mansion's power bills, because Stark is resourceful enough to find a wall electrical socket (which you or I could never have done) and save himself. But the disaster that Marianne feared will turn out to be her own, if Stark's mood is any indication.

It's quite an abrupt end that Friedrich will bring to the relationship of Stark and Marianne, considering how long it's been going on in the pages of Iron Man and how only just recently Stark proposed to her. Why would Stark just slam the door on his commitment to his fiancée without first hearing the circumstances that led to an apparent betrayal on her part? Particularly when her ESP ability has otherwise been an advantage to him on more than one occasion? But just watch the whirlwind reasoning that Friedrich supplies Iron Man with to drop Marianne like a hot iron.

And so it comes to pass:

Wow! I wouldn't be surprised at this point if Stark phoned down to Security to have her escorted from the premises.

So, that takes care of:

☑ Putting Stark back in charge of his company;
☑ Choosing and implementing a new direction for Stark Industries;
☑ Severing ties with the last character remaining from the old days.

What does that leave? Oh, yeah--the armor!

Well, elation at a successful test run aside, Iron Man should never say "never" when it comes to his heart. Friedrich is obviously under the mistaken impression that Stark's heart is a transplant--though Friedrich is the new kid on this block, so he can be cut a little slack, especially when other writers like Gerry Conway have put forth the same misconception. Regardless, future writers would have Stark grabbing his chest again in no time. At any rate, the armor looks good to go!  (As long as there's a wall socket somewhere nearby.)

The Son of Fire!

Iron Man has certainly been threatened often enough by opponents who had the potential to damage his armor by intense heat, to the point where you started to wonder why most Iron Man villains didn't think to include a heat ray as part of their arsenal. Mikas... Firebrand... Sunfire... the Melter... Sunturion... it only makes sense to point them in the direction of a hero who depends on a shell of metal for his power. And hot on their heels (heh heh, get it?) comes this guy:

Being the "Son of Fire" gives Raga far more grandiosity than he merits, in a two-part Iron Man story that closes out 1972 for the book. Raga, boiled down (heh heh, get it?), would be little more than a minor cult leader were it not for his association with the mysterious Black Lama, who takes him on as a sort of protégé:

(The Internet was still years off when this story was published, but thanks to writer Mike Friedrich this scene may have been our first exposure to the term "world-wide web.")

We get our first look at the power Raga has learned to harness from within himself as he begins training his followers in the Black Lama's methods in the Santa Monica mountains. When one of his cultists, a girl named Cynthia, breaks ranks and decides to have a fling with a forest ranger, Raga becomes incensed--which is precisely how he becomes a threat beyond the lunatic he already appears to be.

Raga then goes on to set the forest ablaze, and the fire quickly spreads to engulf a much larger area in the mountains. That draws the attention of Iron Man (on vacation in California as Tony Stark), who finds and rescues our injured forest ranger and then deals with the outbreak of fire. It doesn't take him long to then locate the source of all the trouble, and just in time.

Fortunately, Iron Man's armor is now solar-powered, which gives him some measure of protection against heat-related threats. Still, it's clear that Raga is a threat to be taken seriously, and, if possible, from a distance.

Raga's sudden spike in power now has Iron Man facing off against a virtual living volcano--assuming he survives this cliffhanger to battle on in Part 2!