Invincible Iron Man #9: Review

Jan 1969

Archie Goodwin, George Tuska

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Story Name:

...There Lives a Green Goliath

Review & Comments

Rating:

Invincible Iron Man #9 Review by T Vernon (October 16, 2012)

Review: It’s Iron Man versus the Hulk (sort of) told with a fast and chaotic pace, courtesy of George Tuska’s multitude of cluttered panels. And the Mandarin is back in an epic ending that would have been a surprise had it not been obvious by at least page two. Entertaining issue just comes across as a filler, an unnecessary lead-in in to the two-part “Mandarin knows Tony’s secret identity” tale (which actually anticipates the classic Daredevil “Born Again” arc)—but if you’re going to do it, a robot Hulk is the way to go.

Comments: Part one of a three-part story.

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Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Invincible Iron Man #9 Synopsis by T Vernon

Late one dark and rainy night, movers deliver a large, heavy crate to a Manhattan antiques shop. It is received by Mei Ling, a beautiful Chinese woman in traditional dress; the movers are scared away by her companion, a sinister hooded man. After they are gone, the man breaks open the crate with a karate chop to reveal a huge jade statue—but beneath the jade trappings lies something greener and meaner: the Incredible Hulk!
At his lab, Tony Stark is repairing and testing the Iron Man armor (damaged in his fight with the Gladiator in issues #7-8) to bring it back up to speed. Tony then gets a call from Vincent Sandhurst, lawyer to Janice Cord, to set up a meeting for Tony to buy out her father’s company. [We also learn that Sandhurst has an ulterior motive in pushing through this sale, which is not in his client’s best interest.]
At the antiques shop, the hooded figure is putting the Hulk through a gauntlet of tests to ensure he is suffering no ill effects from being in suspended animation. Mei Ling brings news that Tony Stark and Janice Cord will be meeting that evening, so the villain dispatches the Hulk on his mission. The Green Giant crashes the meeting, knocks Tony and Sandhurst out of the way and carries off Janice. Tony quickly dons his Iron Man armor and pursues Hulk over the rooftops. They scuffle in mid-air, with Iron Man barely surviving the malfunctioning of his jet boots. And Janice realizes that she is bait in a trap for the Armored Avenger. Hulk leads his prey to a warehouse where he beats down his foe and sets an elaborate explosive trap. After the detonation Hulk carries Janice off to a power plant but Iron Man manages to escape and follows, confused at his enemy’s being more cunning and cruel than usual. Inside the plant there is a battle of skill versus brawn, which ends with the Hulk falling into the plant’s generators. He emerges a broken, collapsing machine—this Hulk was a robot duplicate. Meanwhile, the hooded villain has learned what he wanted to know: Tony Stark always vanishes just before Iron Man appears, proving they are one and the same! And the bad guy unmasks to reveal—the Mandarin!

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