Invincible Iron Man #46: Review

Nov 2001

Frank Tieri, Keron Grant

Story Name:

The Frankenstein Syndrome

Synopsis

Invincible Iron Man #46 Synopsis by T Vernon

The Sons of Yinsen arrive in the United States in their huge aircraft….

Tony Stark is back in control of his company and he is informed by Hank Pym that his artificial heart seems to be evolving. Happy Hogan and Pepper Potts tell Tony there is no legal recourse for regaining the Stark-Fujikawa company and they fill him in on the Church of Yinsen, the trendy new celebrity religion brought to America by the Sons of Yinsen. Jocasta alerts Tony to an attack at Askew Electronics and Iron Man flies over to investigate and discovers he is facing the sentient armor which he deactivated and buried himself (issue #30); Jocasta is so panicked at the sight of the thing that she signs off. Iron Man fights his ex-armor and discovers it has been upgraded. The battle spills out into the skies above the city and Shellhead defeats his opponent with clever use of tech. He unmasks the armor as Sun Tao, formerly of the Sons of Yinsen, now delusional and muttering about “the Great Devil.” Askew CEO Callista Hancock tells Iron Man all of their new SKIN liquid metal is gone and Sun Tao doesn’t have it….

Examination shows that Sun Tao’s mind is gone and the armor is not the same one that was sentient but a copy. An alarm alerts Tony that the Church of Yinsen has come to visit him…and each member is wearing a duplicate of the armor. Their leader is the sentient armor and contains the brain of Professor Yinsen. Yinsen explains that Sun Tao has gone mad and they want him back—for his own safety, of course. Iron Man is suspicious and refuses to hand him over…so Yinsen orders the Sons to attack….

Characters: Iron Man, Pepper Potts, Happy Hogan, Hank Pym, Jocasta

Villains: Iron Man Armor, Sons of Yinsen

“Long Time Gone”

Synopsis: Reprinted from IRON MAN (Vol. 1) #78.

“The Use of Deadly Force”

Synopsis: Reprinted from IRON MAN (Vol. 1) #140.

“The Caribbean Connection”

Synopsis: Reprinted from IRON MAN (Vol. 1) #141.

Story #2

Long Time Gone

Writer: Bill Mantlo. Penciler: George Tuska. Inker: Vince Colletta. Colorist: Phil Rachelson. Letterer: John Costanza.

Synopsis

By None

Story #3

The Use of Deadly Force!

Penciler: Bob Layton. Inker: Bob Layton. Letterer: John Costanza.

Synopsis

By None

Story #4

The Caribbean Connection

Inker: Bob Layton. Letterer: John Costanza.

Synopsis

By None

Review / Commentaries

Rating:

Invincible Iron Man #46 Review by T Vernon (September 19, 2020)

Comments: The Sons of Yinsen previously appeared in issue #31-32 and the 2000 Annual; the sentient armor is from issues #26-30. Colors by Edgar Tadeo and Avalon.

Review: An extra-large mostly reprint issue? I’m not sure why they chose the fill-in Vietnam story (very good) and the two-part modern pirate tale (okay) to fill out this special issue but it’s what we’ve got. The original tale brings back the Sons of Yinsen, good guys last time but now plotting world domination via technocracy. And the sentient armor is back as well, though not so creepy as to stalk Tony like a spurned lover. The art is improving, or at least it doesn’t show so much when it’s two Iron Men fighting one another

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