Invincible Iron Man, No. 80

Written by - Mike Friedrich

Pencils by - Chic Stone

Inks by - Vince Colletta

Colours by - George Roussos
Cover Art - Jack Kirby & Al Milgrom


It's been a while since my last blog entry but I'm back again to write about comics I've been reading; today's is 'The Invincible Iron Man' no. 80 from 1975. The beautiful cover art is by Jack Kirby in which he presents Iron Man filling the width of the cover elbow-to-elbow, giving Iron Man a sense of strength and weight; locked into the middle of the page almost having to carry the weight of his name upon his back.

The story is entitled 'Mission into Madness' and on the opening page at the top it states "The dreaded deadline doom has broken up our storyline far more than it should, but we're back on track now, and we're gonna see our story on to its smashing climax! Onward!" I couldn't find any extra information about this, but I guess it suggests that the book was late on its release due to missing tight deadlines for whatever reason.

The first few pages are a recap on previous issues in which it explains how Iron Man has done battle with foes such as the Yellow Claw (who was secretly an explosive automaton), the Death Squad and Modok. The start of this story finds Iron Man chasing Firebrand and the Black Lama through inter-dimensional space. They arrive in Black Lama's home dimension and are attacked by castle guards. I fight ensues and then Iron Man and Firebrand are taken to a secret hiding place by Princess Susan and her father King Jerald (the Black Lama) who goes on to explain how he isn't a bad guy but temporarily insane. Iron Man doesn't believe him and so Firebrand attacks and escapes. Iron Man defeats some Nulatron robots, catches up with the Black Lama and agrees to help him suppress the revolt, but the longer he has to stay in this dimension, the more insane he will become.

Forbidden Worlds, No. 131

Forbidden Worlds #131 is a collection of different tales from October 1965 and is published by ACG (American Comics Group). The cover art is signed by Pete Costanza, however, Kurt Schaffenberger claimed in a letter in 1998 that many covers at ACG were both penciled and inked by him. They were signed by Costanza because DC editor Mort Weisinger (whom Scaffenberger was working for on the Superman Family series at the time) didn't want him drawing covers for other companies.

Pirate Peril!

Written by - Zev Zimmer (Richard E. Hughes)

Pencils & Inks - Pete Costanza

This is the first story and features Tom Cargill who is on holiday at a seaside town in New England. Whilst there he meets Dr. Oswald, a psychic researcher who summons the ghosts of a pirate crew that wreak havoc until they are stopped by Magicman.

Two Weeks With Pay

Written by - Richard E. Hughes

Pencils & Inks - Emil Gershwin

This is a re-print of a story originally titled 'Mr Hobbs' Vacation' from 1959 in 'Adventures Into The Unknown', also published by ACG. Hobbs always makes up wild stories about his holidays that nobody ever believes; this year he is captured by aliens but on returning to work he doesn't say a word about it.

The Four-Fingered Hand!

Written by - Richard E. Hughes

Pencils & Inks - Chic Stone

This is perhaps my favourite story in this issue as it features both Attila the Hun and Adolf Hitler that shows how throughout history a strange talisman is found on dead evildoers.

Master Of His Fate

Written by - Ace Aquila (Richard E. Hughes)

Pencils & Inks - Edd Ashe

The final story in the collection tells of how Cyrus Robroy insisted to everyone that he controls his own destiny, but the Gods, amused by his own arrogance, have other ideas.