Invincible Iron Man #164: Review

Nov 1982

Dennis O'Neil, Luke McDonnell

Story Name:

Deadly Blessing

Review & Comments

Rating:

Invincible Iron Man #164 Review by T Vernon (December 7, 2015)

Comments: Part two of three parts.

Invincible Iron Man #164 Review by (December 7, 2015)

Review: The story kicks into high gear with an unusual villain: a flying bishop who is quite formidable but not as silly as last issue’s Knight. Their battle works on two levels—physical and psychological and is very entertaining—a great achievement in writing and art. And it helps distract us from asking why the villains haven’t missed Tony Stark. Well, the next issue promises that Iron Man will run a gauntlet, and they are always fun, especially if you don’t remember that we just had one in issue #161.

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Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Invincible Iron Man #164 Synopsis by T Vernon

The Bishop, one of the mysterious chess master’s men, breaks Knight out of a New Mexico jail; the purpose however is not benign: Bishop carries him high into the air and drops him as a punishment for his failure….
Atop the World Trade Center, Tony Stark has booked an entire restaurant to impress his new crush, Indres Moomji; as usual he is called away but Indres is grateful for anything he does for her. Security has traced the baddies to Glen Travail in the Scottish Highlands—and by “coincidence,” the Laird of Glen Travail has invited Tony to be his guest to discuss a business deal. As Rhodey is about to fly Tony to Scotland, Indres shows up as a surprise passenger. Once at their destination, they are welcomed by the fat and jolly Laird who shows them to their rooms. Just before dawn, Tony jams the spy devices in his room and suits up as Iron Man to do some investigation. As he checks out the area surrounding the castle, the Avenger is attacked by the Bishop, levitating though the air and wielding an energy-firing crozier (look it up), and as with the Knight, Shellhead finds he can’t easily dodge his foe’s attacks and misses with his return blows. Soon his repulsors are on the fritz followed by the rest of his armor. Inside, Rhodey tries to go to his aide but he is subdued by the very strong Laird. Iron Man falls into a stream and the Bishop holds him under with his crozier; the respite gives Tony the time to realize that he was only weakened when his enemy was facing him directly. He tosses a rock and knocks off the Bishop’s mitre (should have looked that one up too) and discovers the rays affecting his nervous system were indeed coming from the hat. His abilities restored, he tosses his foe in the air, snaps his staff and catches him on the way down. Shellhead confronts the Laird who shows him Rhodey on a viewscreen, staked out for poisonous spiders; the Laird then announces that Iron Man’s next foe will be the Rook—meaning the entire weaponized castle….