Invincible Iron Man #58: Review

May 1973

Mike Friedrich, George Tuska

Story Name:

Mandarin and the Unicorn: Double-Death!

Review & Comments

Rating:

Invincible Iron Man #58 Review by T Vernon (October 9, 2013)

Review: So Mandarin’s plot to destroy Iron Man is foiled by the fact that the hero can fly away from him? That’s poor planning. And comic book science at its best: Mandarin and Unicorn blasting one another causes them to switch minds! And so the villain quickly abandons his scheme to control all unions in the country while he tries to get his head together. Another story with a fatal case of the stupids. And note the cover: it looks like Iron Man is yelling, “Come back and play with me!”

Comments: Part two of two. The villains are back in their right minds by issue #68.

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Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Invincible Iron Man #58 Synopsis by T Vernon

Mandarin and his mindless slave the Unicorn attack Iron Man together, wrecking his chestplate, The hero jets off and makes it back to Stark Industries where Pepper Potts finds him (she doesn’t yet know it’s Tony). She plugs his armor into the wall socket but there is no response, the suit isn’t recharging….
Interlude: Marianne Rodgers, last seen cracking up in issue #52, has been committed to an asylum where she is plagued with visions of monsters…. A flashback reveals how Mandarin found the Unicorn and healed him of his degenerative illness but the procedure left him a mindless drone….
Iron Man recovers and hides himself away in the lab; he concludes that his heart has finally healed and he may soon be able to live without his chestplate. Meanwhile, the factory is invaded by striking workers bent on wrecking Tony’s office. Tony confronts them and explains how his plan to share environmental technology with Russia is actually a move toward world peace. When the police arrive, Tony declines to press charges. As Iron Man he heads back to Gene Khan’s office to find the villains waiting for him. During the ensuing fight he blasts the Mandarin with his Uni-Beam so that Mandy and Unicorn end up shooting each other. This causes their minds to switch bodies (!) so Mandarin destroys a wall to distract the hero by having to rescue bystanders and the villains get away. Iron Man returns to the factory striking workers tell him they will give Stark a chance to prove himself and Tony looks forward to a healthy future. Or not. ‘Cause then the phone rings….