Invincible Iron Man #73: Review

Mar 1975

Mike Friedrich, Arvell Jones

Story Name:

Turnabout: A Most Foul Play!

Review & Comments

Rating:

Invincible Iron Man #73 Review by T Vernon (January 20, 2014)

Review: Nice wrap-up to the Marty March/hidden city story which up till now has only been a subplot behind bigger adventures. The plot moves at such a rapid clip that one doesn’t notice that the opening explosion has nothing to do with the rest of the issue and is never referred to again. And a recurring theme of this era surfaces again, as Tony agonizes over his role in the Vietnam War as he finds his own weapons turned against him. Arvell Jones and Keith Pollard take over the art chores with this issue and while their layouts are nice, something seems a bit off in the way the figures are drawn and it is occasionally distracting. The most surprising aspect of the tale is a few adult references in the story: Pepper refers to the semi-pornographic parody Naked Came the Stranger, and the guard gives a clear indication he’s planning to rape Roxie; right there the issue is lifted out of the “All-Ages” category. Very strange for Marvel to go PG all of a sudden.

Comments: Based on an idea by Tom Orzechowski. Final appearance of Marty March (introduced in #69). Tony Stark’s brief appearance in GIANT-SIZE MAN-THING #2 takes place immediately before this issue.

Invincible Iron Man #73 Review by Rob Johnson (January 21, 2014)

Iron Man spends a lot of time off-and-on in Vietnam in his own series and in Avengers around this time. The Official Index gives a chronology, mostly based on references in the comics themselves. He'd already been there with the Avengers in Av#123-124 to investigate Libra's claims about Mantis' true origins. After some more Avengering with Captain Marvel and Thanos, Iron Man goes to Vietnam in IM#68 to help Roxanne look for Marty, but he leaves her to go fight Mandarin and Yellow Claw in #69-71. Then he goes back to the US to look after business and gets involved in (among others) Av#126, GSAv#1, Av#127&FF#150 and the start of the Celestial Madonna story in Av#128-129&GSAV#2. The he returns to Vietnam with the Avengers and Mantis in Av#130 to research *her* version of her past, where they meet Crimson Dynamo and pals. Then it's back home for IM#72. Then back to Vietnam for this issue and Crimson Dynamo again, to track down Roxie who he seemed to have forgotten about. Once there he links up with the Avengers and Mantis again, who are still searching for evidence of Mantis' past, leading to the bulk of the Celestial Madonna story in Av#131-132&GSAV#3&Av#133-135&GSAv#4, set in Vietnam (with a long side trip through Limbo and time). Crimson Dynamo's trio show up again in GSAv#4. Then it's back to the US again for IM#74, but which has Crimson Dynamo and gang getting arrested in Vietnam.

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Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Invincible Iron Man #73 Synopsis by T Vernon

After a splash panel of Iron Man crashing through a window of a Stark complex in Manila we go back a few minutes to see Tony Stark enjoying the reconciliation of Happy and Pepper while he explains to her his second identity as Iron Man. An explosion rocks the building and Shellhead rushes to investigate. He stops a second explosion in the boiler room and learns that only the chief engineer was killed. He then jets off to some unfinished business—in Vietnam….
Inside the hidden city in Vietnam, the chief, Kuon Set, decrees that Marty March must die to maintain the secret of Dragonfire, despite the fact that his niece Shara loves Marty. Meanwhile, not far away, the Crimson Dynamo learns that Roxanne Gilbert is a prisoner in the experimental city and sees the opportunity for revenge against Tony Stark for the death of Janice Cord (issue #22). Leaving his teammates Titanium Man and Radioactive Man behind, he jets off to the city and confronts Roxie. He orders a guard to take her out and allow her to escape to lure Iron Man into a trap—but Roxie clobbers the guard for real and summons the Armored Avenger via the previously unmentioned tracking device Tony had given her. Iron Man arrives and dodges Stark-designed hunter missiles launched against him by the Dynamo while inside Shara frees Marty from his cell and they link up with Roxie. The Crimson Dynamo takes an active role, flying out to meet his American counterpart and unleashing black smoke. Iron Man spins clearing out the smoke and beats on his foe. The Dynamo snatches up a Fire-Rock launcher (also made by Stark) and shoots a ball of napalm at Iron Man. The hero deflects it and the flames ignite the entire city. Shellhead abandons his enemy to rescue as many people as he can from the conflagration while the baddie seizes the opportunity to get away. Kuon Set, blaming the Americans for the disaster, flees and tumbles into a pit full of punji stakes. Marty declares his intention to stay with Shara and help rebuild the city. On the trip home, Roxie begins to think she was wrong about Iron Man while Shellhead’s mind is on the threat of the Black Lama….