Invincible Iron Man #92: Review

Nov 1976

Gerry Conway, George Tuska

Story Name:

Burn, Hero--Burn!

Review & Comments

Rating:

Invincible Iron Man #92 Review by T Vernon (June 10, 2014)

Review: I’ve always like the Melter; he had a simple gimmick and it worked well against his chosen nemesis, a dude with a metal suit and really, Tony Stark had reason to be afraid of this guy. Don’t know why everyone else hated him; maybe because his gimmick was too simple, leaving no room for any complex character development. Case in point: this issue where for some unexplained reason he cracks up at the end when he sees two Iron Men. Hmm, that came out of nowhere. My biggest quibble is with how easily he robbed the military convoy; what happened to all the soldiers guarding the nuclear weapon? Melter jumps out, melts several vehicles; when Shellhead arrives there are no soldiers anywhere to be seen. Wouldn’t they have had a hundred guards watching this thing? Where did they all go? Surely it would take only a handful of guys to distract the baddie and shoot him down? Guess they had to make him more formidable as though having a melting ray wasn’t threatening enough for a hero wrapped in metal. Oh well. Best part: the cool montage style page showing Iron Man’s armor being destroyed piece by piece at the bridge confrontation. See? Cooler than everybody thinks.

Comments: Story takes place immediately after GIANT-SIZE AVENGERS #6. Melter was last seen in issue #72 and will return in DEFENDERS #64 and IRON MAN #123-127. When Tony ponders who the saboteur could be he thinks of Mandarin and Midas; why Midas? He was never a major threat and he (apparently) perished in issue #19—seven years earlier.

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Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Invincible Iron Man #92 Synopsis by T Vernon

Responding to a warning of sabotage at the Stark plant, Iron Man is caught in an explosion after the building has been evacuated. The armor is giving off a great deal of heat, suggesting his thermocouple is not working. While brooding over the identity of the saboteur, Tony Stark gets a call from his secretary Krissy Longfellow and Abe Klein; they were following up accusations that Stark’s rocket-pack design was stolen from another company—and it looks to be true. On the way back to the office, Krissy and Abe are stuck behind a military convoy. As they cross the Brooklyn Bridge, the army vehicles come under fire from a deadly melting ray which also causes Abe to wreck his car. Tony hears this from the other end of the phone and speeds to the crash site as Iron Man. As he gets closer he is confronted by his old enemy the Melter who quickly zaps the hero with his improved melting blasts. Taken by surprise, Iron Man finds his armor being melted beyond repair; the villain knocks him into the river and makes off with his prize. Tony removes the ruined armor and is picked up by a passing boat with the story that he fell overboard during a party on his yacht….
Elsewhere, Harry Key returns to Michael O’Brien with industrial secrets stolen from Stark but O’Brien clobbers him since what he really wants is proof that Iron Man murdered his brother Kevin (issue #46).
At the Melter’s hideaway, the villain gloats over his success in stealing a prototype nuclear weapon from the army and he calls a general to demand a six-million-dollar ransom for its return. Suddenly, the old Iron Man—the huge clunky yellow one—crashes down the door to challenge Melter. The villain promptly lets loose with this beam and destroys his foe—which turns out to be a robot. This distraction allows the real Iron Man to sneak up on him and destroy his melting ray weapon. Shellhead then slugs the Melter but he hits too hard, sending the villain through a window into the river below. Oops.