Issue(s): Iron Man annual #4
Cover Date: Aug 77
Title: "The doomsday connection!"
Credits:
Bill Mantlo - Writer
George Tuska - Penciler
Don Perlin - Inker

Review/plot:
Iron Man is on the West Coast, trying to track down MODOK. He figures out that he might be at one of three known AIM headquarters, and since he needs to find him quickly and the Avengers are all on the East Coast, he calls on the Champions for help instead.

I thought that was a pretty cool decision, and it was also cool when Iron Man first arrives and finds the Ghost Rider, who is so scary that Iron Man assumes he's a villain and attacks even though he had read reports on the Champion's members.

The Black Widow breaks up the fight and the team splits up to investigate the three AIM bases. MODOK turns out to be at none of these bases, and they all re-group at the site Iron Man was initially investigating.

In a scene that (god help me) reminds me a lot of Secret Wars #4, a mountain falls on the heroes and Hercules basically holds it up while Iron Man uses MODOK's technology to super-charge his armor so he can blast a way out (Darkstar, who can teleport, was conveniently knocked unconscious prior to this scene).

MODOK, in his super powered new chair, is injured while Iron Man blasts out of the mountain, and he seemingly explodes.

The AIM agents in this issue are wearing blue versions of the beekeeper outfits, which i originally thought was just artistic coloring license but it turns out they're a rebel faction.

Quality Rating: C

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: The MCP places this in a large gap between Iron Man #94 and #95 (the gap also includes a number of other Iron Man appearances in other books, including quite a few issues of the Avengers). For the Champions, it is placed between Champions #15 and #16. For MODOK, it occurs before his appearances in Ms. Marvel, even though it was published during or after. This is confirmed in the letter pages for Ms. Marvel #14. MODOK's apparent death in this issue is dismissed as the standard super-villain surviving improbable death sort of thing, and no actual explanation is ever given for how he survives. Hey, he's MODOK.

There was also a back-up story about Midnight in this annual. It has been surgically extracted and put in its proper place.

References:

• MODOK supposedly died at the hands of the Yellow Claw in Iron Man #75.
  
• While briefing the Champions on MODOK, Iron Man mentions that AIM tried to destroy him soon after they first created him in Tales Of Suspense #94.
  
• We're told to check out Champions #16 to learn the fate of Darkstar, who received a (seemingly minor) wound this issue. Champions #16 doesn't deal with her injury at all, so the wound must indeed have been minor.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

Mantlo later stated that he was extremely frustrated with what George Tuska did with his plots on this title.

MODOK read Tony's mind? Wouldn't he then know he's Tony Stark? Wouldn't that be a big deal?

Also, at least no one from this issue is in Secret Wars, so they couldn't be expected to know they were recycling a plot.

Having not read the comic in question, I suggest that perhaps MODOK was only reading surface thoughts at the time, and was not able to do deeper probing?

Curiously, the Bullpen Page in this very annual states that "Jim Shooter plotted it," but there's no reference to that in the credits or any other source I've seen.

I guess this is the earliest appearance of the rogue AIM agents?

At this point it was nice to see the Champions fighting someone other than their own headquarters and/or each other! Such an odd mix of characters made the Doom Patrol look like the Rat Pack!