Obsessively putting our comics in chronological order since 1985.
| 1963-10-01 00:08:10 |
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Marvel Comics Presents #58 (Iron Man)
Issue(s): Marvel Comics Presents #58 (Iron Man story only)
Cover Date: Sep 90
Title: "Neutralizing effects"
Credits:
Hollis Bright - Script
Steve Ditko - Plot
Steve Ditko - Penciler
Christopher Ivy - Inker
Kelly Corvese - Assistant Editor
Terry Kavanagh - Editor
Review/plot:
Steve Ditko always seemed like the type to not want to revisit the glory days, but as with Marvel Super Heroes #3 this is a story that takes place in the early Silver Age, on characters that Ditko worked on at the time. As i review Ditko works from the 80s and 90s, i think a lot about what would have been the right thing to have him work on. His style was dated by the 80s, but i still like seeing his pencils. Having him create things from scratch in those periods, a la Speedball, didn't work because it felt too retro. But having him work on stories that fit into the Silver Age feels too much like a "you can't go home again" situation, especially when for my project i stick these things right next to the original works. I actually find that what's worked best is when Ditko worked with another writer on Marvel stuff where he could go a little crazy, like ROM and the Micronauts.
Anyway, this one definitely has a nice classic look to it.
Mentioning ROM is appropriate, since the bad guy in this story is called the Neutralizer and actually looks something like a Spaceknight. The guy in the suit is someone in Stark's organization. Stark's people want him to go to the police, but Stark wants Iron Man to handle it alone (actually with some investigative help from Pepper and Happy).
It turns out at least two of Stark's employees were conspiring against him.
Pepper finds a clue that leads Stark to a warehouse, and a rematch with Neutralizer.
This story has nostalgia going for it, but none of the innovations that Stan Lee and company were actually doing in the 1960s. It's a simple mystery story, and that's putting it generously since there's really nothing to the mystery. But if Steve Ditko wants to draw classic Iron Man fighting another guy in an armored suit, i'm not going to stop him.
Quality Rating: D+
Historical Significance Rating: 1
Chronological Placement Considerations: The MCP place this between Tales of Suspense #46-47.
References: N/A
Crossover: N/A
Continuity Insert? N
My Reprint: N/A
| Previous: Tales To Astonish #48 (Ant-Man/Wasp) | Up: Main 1963 / Box 2 / Silver Age | Next: Amazing Spider-Man #6 |
Comments
Another Ditko Iron Man story that was probably produced around the same time as this appears in Marvel:Shadows and Light in 1997.
Minor continuity glitch? IIRC, in those older golden armor stories, Stark didn't have a pacemaker, but rather, he had a strong electro-magnet in his chestplate whose purpose was to keep tiny shrapnel fragments in his chest from piercing his heart. The pacemaker came later if I remember right. Seems pretty pseudosciencey to me too, but not so much as the giant gaping hole in Robert Downey Jr.'s chest, wow.
