Invincible Iron Man #32: Review

Sep 2000

Frank Tieri, Alitha Martinez

Story Name:

The Sons of Yinsen Part Two: Gods and Monsters

Review & Comments

Rating:

Invincible Iron Man #32 Review by T Vernon (May 29, 2020)

Comments: Title comes from a famous line from BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN. Wong Chu was introduced, of course, in TALES OF SUSPENSE #39; it was revealed in IRON MAN #267-268 that the baddie was working for the Mandarin and survived the blast at the end of TOS #39 and ended up being transformed into a bug and squished by Mandy; now he’s back and unsquished. The tune Rumiko is dancing to is “The Thong Song” by Sisqo. Tony refers to the cloaking device as becoming “Claude Rains,” star of THE INVISIBLE MAN (1933).

Review: What an ugly cover! Yeah, it’s because of the ugly subject matter not the quality of the art but—ick! Second only to the Slug as “Marvel character we would want never to see naked,” the grotesque Wong-Chu is not only fat and naked, he looks like he’s morphing into bronze scrollwork. Anyway, the story is pretty good too though still exposition heavy and focusing on a very ugly antagonist whose gloating fills several pages. The combat sequences are okay though the religious aspects get a bit goofy. And it ends on the implication that the story arc will continue in the next regular issue.

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Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Invincible Iron Man #32 Synopsis by T Vernon

Aboard the Sons of Yinsen’s huge ship, Sun-Tao explains further to Tony Stark/Iron Man that as he was dying, Professor Yinsen handed over to Sun-Tao his journals containing all his life’s work, including the Iron Man schematics. His host then shows him New Timbetpal, a breathtaking city of technological marvels based on Yinsen’s work. Sun then presents Iron Man to the assembled worshippers as the Chosen One, their promised deliverer. Tony wishes he had called Rumiko…

…who we see dancing in a nightclub and trying to convince her pal Solomon that she isn’t worried about Tony Stark. But when she gets home, she races to her answering machine to find no message from Tony….

Sun-Tao explains to Tony that Wong-Chu survived the explosion Iron Man put him through and is now the most powerful drug lord on the planet, ruling from his remote camp in the jungles of Southeast Asia. They want Iron Man to lead the Sons in an assault on his fortress to capture the baddie and turn him over to an international tribunal for justice. And then the attack begins. The Sons take down the guards, who are drugged into cooperation with Wong-Chu and Iron Man discovers that the people who inhabit the camp have been branded on the face with the villain’s mark. An increased assault on the temple brings them into the presence of Wong-Chu, fat and grotesque, his body half-scarred and seated on a throne of bones. Sun-Tao demands Wong-Chu’s surrender; Wong-Chu shows several hostages ready to be executed by his guards and demands that they surrender. Following Tony’s lead the Sons remove their armor—and Wong-Chu has the hostages killed anyway. The villain then tells Tony the real reason the Sons of Yinsen are there: it isn’t about justice, it’s the fact that Professor Yinsen is still alive and Wong-Chu has him prisoner….

Story concludes in IRON MAN ANNUAL 2000.