Invincible Iron Man #195: Review

Jun 1985

Dennis O'Neil, Luke McDonnell

Story Name:

The Thing Most Precious

Review & Comments

Rating:

Invincible Iron Man #195 Review by T Vernon (July 25, 2016)

Comments: Part three of four parts. Luke McDonnell ends his run as penciler with this issue.

Review: Here's where they pull out all the Dr. Strange stops and send our hero into a serious psychological drama dressed up with pseudo-spiritual mumbo jumbo. It doesn't hurt the story a lot so if you can suspend disbelief for a while, the plot is actually rather impressive as they present an inner characterization for Rhodey that jibes with everything we already know about him. Denny O'Neill has been laying the groundwork for this tale since issue #177 and now it all comes to fruition. And Luke McDonnell works his magic (pun intended) showing us a bizarre landscape of his own devising; I'm going to miss him. PS This isn't over.

From Our Blog:

Gwen Stacy, beauty queen of Standard High School, was Peter Parker's (alias Spider-Man) first great love.

Gwen Stacy: Classic Beauty

Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Invincible Iron Man #195 Synopsis by T Vernon

Iron Man (James Rhodes) heads to an Indian reservation in Calgary where he arrives at the office of Dr. Michael Twoyoungmen also known as Shaman. After Hank Pym could not diagnose Rhodey's headaches he referred him to Shaman. The mystic looks into Rhodey's mind and realizes it is a sickness of the soul, not the body. He has two options: psychoanalysis or a visit to the Gorge, a place of mystical healing, where he will learn what is most precious to him—and he will lose it....
Back at the HQ of the West Coast Avengers, Hawkeye is trying to encourage Tony Stark to rebuild the Iron Man armor that was lost in the ocean (last issue). Tony refuses as he came to realize that the armor was dragging him down in more ways than one. After Tony leaves, Hawkeye tells Mockingbird that he is sure Tony will resume the Iron Man mantle....
Interlude: In San Francisco while searching for Tony Stark, Bethany Cabe is attacked by two thugs in her hotel room and she dispatches them both easily.... Back east, Obadiah Stane hears of this and realizes he has underestimated her....
Out in the desert, Shaman casts his spell and he and Iron Man pass into a strange alien dimension; the travelers head for the flaming Gorge but are threatened by a rain of rocks. Shellhead protects his mystic guide as they continue the journey. Shaman keeps confusing Rhodey with mystic paradoxes and the hero is getting very impatient. The sound of Tony Stark's name knocks him to the ground and Shaman commands him to walk through the fires of the Gorge. As Rhodey navigates the flames, he must remove the armor bit by bit until he realizes what his problem is: all his life he has wanted to be somebody and as Iron Man he has achieved his goal—but the guilt of having stolen the armor from Tony Stark is causing his internal pain. When he gives in and lets go of the armor, he falls back into the real world and Shaman sends him on his way into a new life...