Invincible Iron Man #202: Review

Jan 1986

Danny Fingeroth, Paul Ryan

Story Name:

The Savage Goes West!

Review & Comments

Rating:

Invincible Iron Man #202 Review by T Vernon (September 26, 2016)

Comments: Fill-in issue doesn't advance the Bethany Cabe/Madame Masque plot. Ka-Zar is a fan of Burroughs—Edgar Rice and William S.

Review: A nice issue celebrating a little-used but famous character, Ka-Zar, runs off the rails for being one of the talkiest comics in the series run. Massive piles of words and word balloons make the art hard to appreciate. One nice bit: the largely silent sequence of Shellhead doffing his armor, echoing the “suiting up” scene in issue #200.

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Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Invincible Iron Man #202 Synopsis by T Vernon

Iron Man is on the California coast, giving his new armor a workout: he withstands missile attacks, runs through maneuvering exercises, and is suddenly called to rescue a crashing airliner, depositing it safely on the beach. Mystery villain (spoiler: it's the Fixer) watches on a hidden viewscreen.
Elsewhere, Ka-Zar is on his way to visit the West Coast Avengers. In flashbacks we learn that after the Savage Land was destroyed in AVENGERS #256-257, Ka-Zar and Sheena (who is pregnant) were put up by the Avengers; suffering from survivor's guilt, Ka-Zar decided he needed to go on a trip to “find himself” which did not at first sit well with the wife but she came around shortly. Now he stops at a diner to get a meal and ask directions where he is harassed by a bully. The jungle hero ends up clouting the guy and all of his buddies, then rebuffing the advances of a sexy bystander. When he arrives at Avengers' Compound he is greeted by Iron Man and they chat about Ka-Zar's desire to be a superhero. In the library, the high-tech baddie known as the Fixer bursts in and demands Shellhead turn over his armor. Fixer attaches to Iron Man a device that deactivates the armor. To buy Shellhead some time, Ka-Zar attacks the villain but ends up a hostage. Under threat of harm to his guest, Tony removes all of his armor save for the helmet. He is able to shock his foe remotely and he and Ka-Zar flee the building with Tony only recovering a single boot and gauntlet. Fixer clamps Shellhead to the ground by an ankle but the jungle hero, his hands insulated against shock by tree bark, swings out of the trees and beats the villain into a pulp. Ka-Zar decides he can be a hero after all and heads back to his wife in New York. Iron Man realizes “heart” is better than hardware....