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Tales Of Suspense #49 (Iron Man)Issue(s): Tales Of Suspense #49 (Iron Man story only) Review/plot: ![]() Back at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, Angel trounces the X-Men... ![]() ...and announces his intent to join the evil mutants. ![]() He goes on a rampage hoping to attract their attention. Despite frequent references to the evil mutants, he never mentions Magneto or the Brotherhood by name. I guess the editors of the X-Men magazine didn't grant that particular right (see below). Xavier immediately beings doubting everything he's ever worked for. ![]() But the X-Men try to reach out to the Avengers for help (if you ever wanted to see classic Ditko draw the Avengers, here's your chance. ![]() All of the other Avengers are busy, so that leaves Iron Man, which is fine because it's his mess anyway. ![]() Stan Lee has claimed that the Iron Man book was more popular among female readers than other books. I wonder if it was because of all the leg Tony showed. I like that Angel's flight ability is shown to be superior to Iron Man's. ![]() Even with his new streamlined armor, he's still wearing an iron suit and not as mobile as a guy with wings. Besides, flight is all Angel's got; you gotta let him be good at something. At one point during the fight, Angel is about to run through a set of metal doors. To stop him, Iron Man pulls out some magnets, clamping the doors shut. But it turns out that there's a second door right next to the first, so Angel just opens it up and flies in. ![]() ![]() That's Bugs Bunny funny. In the end Iron Man gets Angel to snap out of his atomic evil by running out of power so that he'll fall to his death if Angel doesn't rescue him. ![]() Iron Man also uses "magnetic repellers" in his gloves (i think?) to slow his fall. ![]() If they are coming out of his gloves, i imagine these eventually become Iron Man's repulsor beams. After the battle is over, we get a neat little panel that shows the first meeting of Iron Man and the X-Men. ![]() And Xavier sends Iron Man a telepathic message saying that he owes Iron Man a favor. But when Iron Man tries to collect on that favor in the next issue of the Avengers, he'll find out how little it's worth. ![]() While Stan Lee usually goes out of his way to encourage cross-readership, in this intro to this issue there's a (tongue-in-cheek) blurb saying that the X-Men and Avengers appear courtesy of their respective owners. ![]() A fun, busy crossover issue. Quality Rating: C- Chronological Placement Considerations: Iron Man tries to take Professor X and Angel up on their offer of a favor in Avengers #3 (although it's to no avail). Based on Iron Man's costume, this has to take place after Avengers #2. The Hulk is grouped with the Avengers, but since this takes place after Avengers #2 that must be a mistake on the X-Men's part. Bruce Banner is shown working at a missile lab out West. None of the other Avengers are occupied with anything particularly exciting; they just happen to miss the call. References: N/A Crossover: N/A Continuity Insert? N My Reprint: Marvel Masterworks: The Invincible Iron Man vol. 1 Inbound References (1): showCharacters Appearing: Angel, Beast, Cyclops, Happy Hogan, Henry Pym, Hulk, Iceman, Iron Man, Jean Grey, Pepper Potts, Professor X, Thor, Wasp 1964 / Box 2 / Silver Age CommentsMore questionable science (radiation from an explosion turned the Angel evil? The Angel can melt Iceman's ice by flapping his wings fast?) Interesting that, according to this, there is a secret wavelength used by "the X-Men and other specially licensed crime-fighting organizations" such as the Avengers. I'm noticing that Iron Man is not as powerful in these older stories - he has trouble breaking down a door, fir instance. With his red and gold armor, he finally seems to consistently have the power of flight, though not too fast or far, but no repulsor beams, and much less strength than later on. Interesting how many of these heroes gradually get powered up over the years. Stan writes good humor, though. The banter betwen Happy and Pepper is funny. Posted by: Dave B | January 17, 2013 9:39 AM That blurb on the splash page reminds of the early DC Comics. The original Justice Society was a mix of DC characters (Flash, Hawkman) and All-American characters (Green Lantern, Atom). They all came out with a DC imprint, but they were separate companies, which often gets forgotten. Since this obviously comes after Avengers #2 (new armor for Tony), strange that they still show the Hulk as an Avenger in that panel. Maybe no one told Ditko? I don't buy for a minute that Warren can flap his wings so fast that it can melt the ice before Bobby can create more. And again, Professor X is still yelling all the time. I don't think he has yet had a sentence (at least in any panel that fnord has scanned) in which he ends a sentence with a period. Posted by: Erik Beck | December 12, 2014 12:47 PM I'm definitely thinking that "Illustrated by" is being used as code for breakdowns-only during this period. Other than some of the character poses, these scans look nothing like Steve Ditko pencils. Seems like the Marvel method is having growing pains and Stan is depending on Steve to do more of his storytelling for him, because Steve and Jack are the main ones at this time who can actually pull it off. Steve can't do pencils as fast as Jack can because nobody is as fast as Jack. Looking at Jack's work on Fantastic Four during this period, it looks like Jack is also doing quick layouts and depending on George Roussos to do the finishes. They're pushing Steve and Jack too hard and soon of necessity they're going to have to hire new talent so Stan can keep working in the Marvel method. Posted by: James Holt | August 11, 2016 11:10 AM I placed ToS#48 and 49 between Avengers#2 and 3. Posted by: Bobby Sisemore | October 25, 2016 9:41 PM Does anyone know if this incident is ever mentioned again? Having read all the way up to the early 90's (though only in the X-titles), I can't recall hearing about it. It would have been cool if Tony and Warren had actually developed a friendship based on Tony's being so willing to risk his life for Warren here. As rich playboys, they would have probably gotten along. Posted by: Ghost | July 6, 2018 12:18 AM Comments are now closed. |
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