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Invincible Iron Man #285: Review

Oct 1992

Len Kaminski, Kev Hopgood

Story Name:

Ashes to Ashes

Review & Comments

Rating:

Invincible Iron Man #285 Review by T Vernon (July 31, 2018)

Comments: Part one of two parts. Title comes from the Anglican Church's funeral service (see next issue). Marvel Wikia lists Happy and Pepper Hogan and Rae Lacoste as being at the funeral though none of the three are identified in the comic. Kathy Dare shot Tony in issue #242 and hasn't appeared since #244.

Review: And Tony is dead with some attendant fussing at the funeral while villains take advantage of the situation and Rhodey has to save the day. Though Rhodey does get back into the habit quickly and takes down the baddies in a rather amusing set piece. And of course, the nominal heroes, the Avengers, show up too late and get the names wrong, leaving the rest of the embarrassment for next issue. One interesting bit: the creators interrupted Rhodey's race through the fire for a lost memory of Tony's, allowing him to assuage some of the guilt by realizing he was not the first Stark with a drinking problem. Though, mind you, a lot of this is undermined by the much later discovery that Howard and Maria Stark weren't Tony's birth parents, allowing a retcon to ruin some pretty good moments.

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Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Invincible Iron Man #285 Synopsis by T Vernon

At Tony Stark's memorial service, Rhodey scatters his ashes from the roof of Stark Enterprises, hurling the empty urn at an intrusive reporter in a helicopter. Afterward at the reception, Rhodey is not only upset that none of the Avengers showed up, but Kathy Dare, Tony's would-be assassin, has come, on advice from her therapist. She tries to apologize to a group including Rhodey, Mrs. Arbogast, and Felix Alvarez but she is rebuffed. On the other side of the room Dr Erica Sondheim is uncomfortable knowing Tony isn't dead, but Abe Zimmer isn't sure they can bring him back. At this point the helicopter crashes into the large room and the building goes into lockdown as a team of bad guys—Spymaster, Beetle, Blacklash, and Blizzard—begin downloading all of the Stark company secrets. Rhodey realizes it is up to him to save the day, so he makes a dangerous run through a corridor of flames...

Tony Stark's restless spirit goes back to a forgotten incident from his childhood, discovering that his father was an abusive alcoholic and mean to Tony and his mother.

...and reaches the office where the new silver Iron Man armor is waiting. He quickly dons the armor and aids the fire department in getting the guests out safely—and then he goes back for the bad guys. The villains assume this is the same Iron Man they know and attack—but Rhodey pulls a different set of moves and quickly clobbers Beetle, Blacklash, and Blizzard. Spymaster fires an EMP which cuts the power to the armor but Rhodey surprises him by standing up and punching his lights out manually....

Then a quartet of West Coast Avengers arrives—Hawkeye, Wasp, Doctor Pym, and Living Lightning—and confronts the unfamiliar armored figure, intending to take him down....

Story #2

Printed Circuits

Writer: ?.

Synopsis / Summary / Plot

By None

Barberoids 1 cover original artwork on ebay

Len Kaminski

Kev Hopgood

Andrew Pepoy

Mike Rockwitz

Kev Hopgood (Cover Penciler)
Bob Wiacek (Cover Inker)

Letterer: Chris Eliopoulos.
Editor: Nel Yomtov. Editor-in-chief: Tom DeFalco.

Listed in Alphabetical Order.

Hawkeye
(Clint Barton)

Tony Stark

Wasp
(Janet Van Dyne)

West Coast Avengers

Plus: Abe Zimmer, Beetle (Abner Jenkins), Blacklash, Blizzard, Doctor Pym (Henry Pym), Erica Sondheim, Felix Alvarez, Iron Man (James Rhodes), Kathy Dare, Living Lightning (Miguel Santos), Mrs. Arbogast, Spymaster (Nathan Lemon).

> Invincible Iron Man: Book info and issue index

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