Issue(s): Iron Man #113
Cover Date: Aug 78
Title: "The horn of the Unicorn!"
Credits:
Bill Mantlo - Writer
Herb Trimpe - Penciler
Keith Pollard - Layouts pages #2-3
Josef Rubinstein - Inker

Review/plot:
Tony Stark unveils the new Stark International, rebuilt after the take-over by Midas. Keith Pollard is responsible for layouts only on the 2-page spread showing the new campus.

Jack of Hearts leaves after the unveiling. He says it's because it's time for him to put his father's estate in order, but in later appearances he'll say it's because Stark had too much going on and was too distracted to train him. Jasper Sitwell also leaves, in part because his ex-girlfriend Madame Masque is now with Tony.

After again showing us that a spy or assassin has infiltrated Stark's facilities, the rest of the issue is a fight with the Unicorn, who has been upgraded and given a new costume.

The Unicorn is being directed by a third party, and the silhouette is pretty clearly the Titanium Man.

Iron Man is able to defeat the Unicorn, but recognizes that he's just a pawn.

Quality Rating: C

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: This begins with Iron Man and Jack of Hearts having recently returned from their battle on the moon, so Iron Man appearances shouldn't take place in between. Jack of Hearts next appears in Marvel Premiere #44, which takes place "hours" after he leaves Stark this issue.

References:

• Jack of Hearts' father was murdered in Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #23. We're also told to "keep watching Marvel Premiere" for his next appearance. It's Marvel Premiere #44.
  
• Stark demonstrates that his new LMD works both ways; it can also convert itself to an Iron Man duplicate for when he's Tony Stark. The LMD was introduced in Iron Man #109.
  
• Iron Man notes that the last time he saw the Unicorn, he was in a coma and dying, in Iron Man #68-69.
  
• The Unicorn has been dying since Iron Man #4. It's pretty much been the story of his life.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

This is one of the earliest comics I had as a kid. I couldn't even read at the time. Simply having the Unicorn in it made me think the character was a far more important rogue of Iron Man's gallery for many years after I truly started collecting comics (about 7 years later!).

"A different costume, but I'd know him anywhere - it's the Unicorn!"

Brilliant deduction there, Tony. Could it be because of that silhouette of a unicorn on the front of his costume?