Issue(s): Iron Man #154
Cover Date: Jan 82
Title: "The other side of madness!"
Credits:
David Michelinie - Writer
John Romita Jr. - Penciler
Dan Green, Bob Layton, & Chic Stone - Inker

Review/plot:
The Unicorn had been in cryogenic storage at Stark International since the last time he fought Iron Man, due to a brain problem that was causing him to go crazy. He was accidentally freed during Whiplash's Blacklash's attack on the Stark's facility.

In his last appearance, the Unicorn was working for someone called The Other. It was later revealed to be the Titanium Man...

...who has now been deported back to Russia.

The Unicorn is still crazy and getting worse, but he's also powerful enough to force Iron Man to run out of power.

This prevents him from stopping the Unicorn committing suicide when he tries to walk to Russia to catch up with Titanium Man and ends up drowning in the ocean.

As always, Michelinie & Romita do well with the downtime scenes as well, such as this somewhat satirical little bit with Stark at the racetrack.

Quality Rating: C+

Historical Significance Rating: 2 - death of the Unicorn

Chronological Placement Considerations: N/A

References:

• The Unicorn last appeared in Iron Man #113.
  
• Blacklash attacked Stark International in Iron Man #146-147.
  
• The Titanium Man was deported to Russia after he was defeated by Iron Man in Iron Man #135.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

The OHOTMU Handbooks published in 1986-ish had Unicorn listed in the regular section, not the Book of the Dead, so I guess they assumed Unicorn would be back in the future (after all, a body was never seen). But much later, other Unicorns showed up and it became ambiguous if anyone of them were in fact the original.

For all intents and purposes, this is the last time anyone really tells a story *about* the original Unicorn; he may or may not be one of the guys showing up in later stories, but whatever the case the Unicorn identity becomes a cipher.

This story also creates a minor continuity problem: if Blacklash's damage to the cryo-labs caused power failures and freed the Unicorn, what happened to Jason Beere (From Avengers #168 and Iron Man #115) and the planet-destreoying bomb attached to his heart?

This issue is Bob Layton’s last during this run, and subtly draws the era to a close. The Unicorn was last seen in Iron Man #115–the very first Romita Jr. issue (Layton and Michelinie would join an issue later)—where IM reviews the villain’s history to that point, culminating in his servitude to The Other (the still unrevealed Titanium Man). Issue r#154 brings back the Unicorn, who has been incapacitated and effectively missed the intervening 40-issue run. Occupying the exact midpoint, issues #134-135, is IM’s epic battle with Titanium Man, which reflects backwards and forwards on the two Unicorn appearances.

It’s a nice bit of symmetry, which brings the inaugural plot thread full circle, and symbolically acknowledges the end of this historic run through the end of Unicorn. I can’t imagine it wasn’t intentional on the part of the creators.

There’s a bittersweet quality to the ending; but at the time it marked Layton’s (and shortly, Michelinie’s and Romita’s) farewell to a character he had always dreamed of working on. All three creators would return to Iron Man later; but none knew that at the time.