Issue(s): Iron Man #186, Iron Man #187
Cover Date: Sep-Oct 84
Title: "Though this fault be mine..." / "The vengeance of Vibro!"
Credits:
Denny O'Neil - Writer
Luke McDonnell - Penciler
Steven Mitchell - Inker

Review/plot:
This issue introduces the villainy of Vibro.

Who is Vibro? He's the worst of the villains that editor Mark Gruenwald forced on Denny O'Neil during this phase of his Iron Man run. To be fair, the story needs a villain, because without a villain it doesn't make sense for James Rhodes to need to become Iron Man, and that's where a lot of the conflict that O'Neil was actually interested in writing about comes from.

But Vibro is lame. First of all, his real name is Professor Vibereaux. Really?!? And his origin is that he was bitten by a radioactive earthquake, and he got vibrating powers. He comes out disfigured and monstrous, but i actually think that's kind of cool.

But this issue is really about the tension between James Rhodes and Tony Stark. It's a little over done. Rhodey won't even let Stark fix the repulsors in his gloves, until the first battle with Vibro doesn't go well. Rhodey gets surly whenever Stark offers any comments on Rhodey's actions as Iron Man.

Meanwhile, Stark continues to talk in short gruff sentences...

...and after repairing the gloves, he has an extra hard time repressing his desire for a drink.

During the course of this story, Vibro destroys an offshore oil platform. Luckily, that doesn't seem to cause a major oil spill.

Someone is just not trying with the civilian names. First there's Professor Vibereaux. Then, in a subplot, two brothers find the costumes of the original Brothers Grimm.

And their names are Percy and Barton Grimes. Those are the most coincidental civilian names this side of Blackagar Boltagon.

I said the tension is a little overdone, but it's really quite good. It's all about under-the-surface conflict; two men who aren't good at communicating, and who know they're acting stupidly, so they just wind up being quietly hostile.

Quality Rating: B

Historical Significance Rating: 3 - First Vibro. First new Brothers Grimm. Iron Man's repulsor beams are fixed.

Chronological Placement Considerations: Yay, Iron Man's repulsor beans are working again. This should take place before West Coast Avengers #2, where Iron Man is shown using his repulsors. Takes place after Marvel Team-Up #145. And everything before West Coast Avengers #3 needs to take place before the Casket of Ancient Winters saga, so this is pushed back in publication time.

References:

• Iron Man's gloves were damaged in Iron Man #183 after he removed the alien technology that was added during Secret Wars.
  
• Revealing to Tony and the Erwin siblings that he's been getting headaches since he started wearing the Iron Man armor, he mentions how they actually saved his life when they broke the Mandarin's mind control in Iron Man #180.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

you would think vibro could come up with a much better use for THAT type of power.

that first panel you scanned reminds me of the Venom toy.

"Die, Spider-man, die
I want to eat your brain."

now repeat that to a beat.

Vibro just sounds more like some bizarre creation of the Silver Age who happened to pop up in the tail-end of the Bronze Age.

On how this relates to MTU 145... In the Brothers Grimes story which follows this, they come up with a name for the new company. In MTU 145 Morley and Rhodey are touting for business. It struck me that it would be hard to tout for business without a name, so I have these Iron Man issues before that.

And those names! It's like there was a bet on to see if they could create the stupidest civilian names of the decade!