Issue(s): Iron Man #88, Iron Man #89, Iron Man #90, Iron Man #91
Cover Date: Jul-Oct 76
Title: "Fear wears two faces!" / "Brute fury!" / "When calls the Controller" / "Breakout!"
Credits:
Archie Goodwin / Gerry Conway - Writer
Jim Shooter - Script on #90
George Tuska - Penciler
Vincent Colletta / Jack Abel / Bob Layton - Inker

Review/plot:
Goodwin is plot-only for issue #90 and then replaced with Gerry Conway on #91. Conway will write through issue #97, ending the rotating writing credits on Iron Man that began with #82.

Dead pigs...

...mean Blood Brothers.

Blood Brothers are pretty tough...

...and so far their appearances have also meant guest-stars. This time it's Daredevil (probably not your first choice to fill a role previously played by Drax the Destroyer and the Thing).

That said, Daredevil and Iron Man figure out that if you can separate the Blood Brothers, they become weaker.

This is a key fact about the Blood Brothers that was not demonstrated in their earlier appearances.

The Blood Brothers also usually mean Thanos, but this time they are working for the Controller. Thanks to the interference of Iron Man and Daredevil, they fail to free the Controller from the rubble he is buried under.

But while Iron Man is locking the Blood Brothers up...

...the Controller gets free of his own accord, thanks to the help of a homeless lackey that places controller discs on other derelicts.

Iron Man beats the Controller in the initial confrontation...

...and drops him in a big vat of plastic...

...but "Scrounger" again tags people with the controller discs, re-powering the Controller and allowing him to escape. I don't know what to make of Scrounger.

While Iron Man is fighting the Controller again...

...one of the Blood Brothers gets free. But knowing that the Brothers are separated, Iron Man lets the Controller put a control disc on the free one, since the Controller inherits its "strength", which is this case is negative strength, allowing the Controller to be defeated.

Iron Man had trouble getting Daredevil to team-up with him, since DD was trying to catch a plane. Iron Man promises to use Tony Stark's influence to delay the plane so that Daredevil can stay longer. WTF!? I have to sit on the runway for a couple of hours so Daredevil and Iron Man can play together? "I'll charter you a flight.", "You can use Stark's private jet.", and "I'll fly you there personally in an Avengers Quinjet." are all much more acceptable options here.

The subplot with Michael O'Brien trying to prove that Tony Stark is responsible for the death of his brother is continued, but at least it advances in these issues, with O'Brien catching private investigator Harry Key sneaking into Stark International...

...but instead of arresting him, he has Key pick up an additional package for him.

With Pepper having quit to take Happy to a new doctor, Stark gets a new secretary in Krissy Longfellow. Stark wastes no time putting the moves on her. Check the Characters Appearing for Krissy's real identity.

Stark is having some doubts about his lighter armor.

A fun arc. Tuska's art continues to look pretty good, although there are a few stiff moments...

...and despite the creative team changes in this arc it's a pretty decent story.

Quality Rating: C+

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: Daredevil appears here between Daredevil #137-138. The MCP places this after Iron Man annual #3, and before Avengers #150 (for the Beast).

References:

• Happy Hogan was turned into the Freak in Iron Man #84 after getting injured while replacing Iron Man in Iron Man #82. He's now relapsed and Pepper, although no longer blaming Tony, is taking Happy away to a special clinic and resigning from Stark International.
  
• The Blood brothers previously appeared in Iron Man #55 and Marvel Feature #12.
  
• Iron Man's latest armor, designed for lightness, not defense, doesn't serve him well against the Blood Brothers. The suit was introduced in Iron Man #85.
  
• Daredevil was on the way to the airport to investigate the Karen Page disappearance shown in Ghost Rider #19 and Daredevil #137.
  
• Iron Man first fought the Controller in Iron Man #12-13.
  
• He last appeared in Captain Marvel #28-30 and that's when he got buried under the rubble. Tony Stark is tipped off to this information by the Beast.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

Beast's appearance here just underscores how flipping long it took for the Avengers to sort of their membership. They put out their call for new members in #137, it takes over a year for that to be resolved in the Avengers title, and in between Beast shows up as an Avenger in X-Men, MTU and here. What was going on with the Avengers at the time (the book, not the team)?

There were some problems with the Avengers- Perez being late on issue 145-146 and of course, Englehart getting kicked off the book in issue 150 but mostly it was Englehart letting the plot drag out. Hawkeye goes time traveling looking for the Black Knight in issue 137, Moondragon and Thor go looking for him in issue 141 and they don't rejoin the Avengers until issue 149. Not counting the fill-ins, that's 11 issues.

I think the idea is that the Controller can't channel the power of two people through one control disc, and thus it "overloads" his armor somehow.

Willard, the doorman for Stark's apartment building, appears in #'s 88-89.

Tuska's rendering of Michael O'Brien looks like a red-haired Doug McClure, the film and TV star likely best known as Trampas on the '60's Western show "The Virginian".

Scrounger is a modernized psychopath version of Remley from the first Count Dracula film with Bela Lugosi.