Invincible Iron Man #271: Review

Aug 1991

John Byrne, Paul Ryan

Story Name:

Dragon Flame

Review & Comments

Rating:

Invincible Iron Man #271 Review by T Vernon (April 10, 2018)

Comments: Issues #269-271 are a lead-in to “The Dragon Seed Saga.” in issues #272-275. Rhodey quotes HAMLET, “Goodnight sweet prince” when he thinks he has defeated FFF.

Review: Iron Man versus Fin Fang Foom! What else could we ask for? And remember, despite the dragon's having been overused in the comics, this was the first meeting with Iron Man and so has the freshness such an encounter should have. It's cool, it's exciting, and we know Chen Hsu is up to some deviltry the Mandarin knows nothing of. Meanwhile, the Black Widow is opening up the next can of worms for the series. More to come!

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Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Invincible Iron Man #271 Synopsis by T Vernon

Iron Man (James Rhodes) finds himself in deadly combat with the huge dragon Fin Fang Foom, and he's losing. Meanwhile, Tony Stark awakens and learns that Rhodey has taken his place and gone out to fight the enemy; he is summoned to his appointment with Dr Su Yin....

Trapped and taunted by his massive foe, Iron Rhodey unleashes a pair of hyperwave generators which induce some serious headaches in FFF, long enough for Rhodey to escape from its clutches. This only makes FFF madder, though. The Mandarin watches, not liking the idea of another to fight his battles for him.. The inscrutable Chen Hsu has his own interests, plotting to betray Mandy and the entire human race. Chen mentally contacts Wu Pong, a fellow ancient dragon in human disguise, to let him know the time of Abandoning is at hand....

Unable to succeed with a direct attack, Iron Man tries something indirect: he digs a massive trench in the ground and taunts FFF until he chases him. He then trips the giant dragon so that he falls in the trench then blasts the surrounding mountains, burying the monster....

Dr Su Yin does a full examination of Tony Stark and reports to her superior that she doesn't know if she can help him. Her supervisor suggests she lie to him until they have no more need of Iron Man....

At a late hour in a New York City bar, Black Widow meets with an old comrade Alexi Alexivitch and confesses her concern over Oktober, a sleeper agent unheard of for many years, planted in the US defense network to trigger a nuclear attack. Alexi Alexivitch assumes that the Oktober plan has been long abandoned; Natasha can't be sure and looks to stop Oktober....

Iron Man waits ten minutes to make sure Fin Fang Foom is dead; as he walks away, the dragons stirs then erupts from the ground. Shellhead attacks—and FFF bats him away, then pounds him into the ground. With Iron Man dead, Mandarin and Chen Hsu move on to their next matter....