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Iron Man: Kiss And Kill #1: Review

Aug 2010

Joe Ahearne, Brian Ching

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Story Name:

Iron Widow

Review & Comments

Rating:

Iron Man: Kiss And Kill #1 Review by T Vernon (August 13, 2022)

Comments: First story: Tale is set between IRON MAN (2008 series) #25 and 26, as per the Marvel Chronology Project. Second story: Set early in the Extremis era (IRON MAN 2005 series). Only appearance of Glitch as of 2022. Issue includes a portrait of Black Widow holding a snow globe containing Iron Man and Wolverine by Stephanie Hans.

Review: Black Widow story is a decent spy story with the oddball introduction of a time-travel armor as the McGuffin this time. A bit of art trouble as Black Widow and Sunset Bain look too much alike, with their outfits the only reliable way to tell them apart. The “kiss” from the collection title plays an interesting part as it’s not romantic but a method of survival. Clever.

Wolverine story has an interesting guest star, the one-shot villain Glitch, and a classy looking Logan in a fancy suit. Sebastian Shaw makes a nice villain as he doesn’t usually show up in Iron Man’s world, though their verbal sparring gets a bit silly. The art is a bit rough, as everyone has a square head and jutting chin, except for Glitch. She was cute and her return would be welcome.

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Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Iron Man: Kiss And Kill #1 Synopsis by T Vernon

Story starts with an action scene: Iron Man shooting through the sky at a dangerous height and Black Widow clinging to him and trying to kiss him….

Story proper begins five weeks earlier when Tony Stark calls in Black Widow to help him recover a top secret Cold War armor that has been stolen and is now in a lab in Georgia (the former Soviet Republic, not the American state). As only Tony can access the armor and fly it out before the enemy cracks the encryption, Natasha has Tony made over to pass for a Russian scientist (with some snide input from Pepper Potts). He goes to the Georgian illegal arms factory and meets Dr Tessa Nubin and romances her to gain access to the stolen armor. But Nubin reveals herself to be Sunset Bain and Tony is captured, which was her plan all along. Using a disc stolen from the Controller, Bain immobilizes Tony and places him in the armor, making him into a guided missile. Black Widow invades the facility to save him and ends up battling Sunset Bain wearing a Crimson Dynamo armor. Iron Man is launched and Natasha gets herself on board, clinging to the armor and pressing her mouth against the helmet’s mouth so she can breathe in the rarified atmosphere. Tony recognizes the target as Avengers Mansion—in the past. The armor is a temporal one, idea stolen from Doctor Doom and he is going to destroy the Avengers at their beginning. Nat forces a pill into Tony’s mouth with hers, triggering a heart attack that cancels the neural connection and forces the armor to reboot with Tony back in charge. They swoop through the mansion, surprising Thor, Hulk, Ant-Man, Wasp…and the original Iron Man. The armor is then sent back into the future to land outside the ruins of the present mansion; Nat performs CPR to revive Tony and all is well….

2nd story:- Glitch!

Writer: Karl Kesel. Art: Eric Nguyen. Colors: Andy Troy.

An intruder breaks into Stark Industries and escapes security only to run into Iron Man himself. She is a teen girl calling herself Glitch—and she shorts out Shellhead’s armor with a touch and gets away with an important prototype….

Wolverine comes to visit Tony Stark as he has crossed paths with Glitch, a mutant with no knowledge of her life before a year ago and curious about her parentage. Logan has traced her to the Hellfire Club and she is likely working for Sebastian Shaw. Tony agrees to team up and he suggests going through the front door, as he is member of the Club…

…and so they are welcomed by Shaw, including Logan in an expensive suit. Tony brings up the matter of the stolen solar generator and Shaw admits that his company is also developing one. They are being watched by Club security and Glitch. Tony leaves Shaw with a warning to return the prototype or else. Then it all turns to chaos as Glitch, working with Logan who was to distract Shaw with Tony Stark, while she tried to steal what Shaw had promised her but had tried to withhold: information about her family. As Wolverine battles the guards, Tony find he cannot summon his Iron Man armor because of a frequency scrambler installed in the Club. So he socks Shaw which is a mistake because of his mutant ability to grow stronger from any force used against him. Tony is captured and Logan held at bay as Glitch is brought in by the guards. Then Logan gives the girl the opportunity to short out the scrambler, Tony’s armor comes to him and he beats up Shaw and the guards. Shaw sets the self-destruct timer and the heroes escape just in time. Glitch reveals that she also stole Shaw’s prototype but Iron Man destroys it without looking at it. Glitch goes off in search of her family, using the records filched from the Club genealogy files. Iron Man and Wolverine fight over Logan’s playing of Tony and issues of trust are aired and they part on uneasy terms….

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