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Iron Man #107

Feb 1978

Bill Mantlo, Keith Pollard

Story Name:

And, In the End...

Synopsis

Iron Man #107 synopsis by T Vernon

Rating:

In the battle to regain Stark International, Iron Man is overwhelmed by mechanoids in versions of his own armor. Fearing that his beloved Madame Masque is dead, he unleashes his full fury, obliterating all opponents. Rushing to Whitney’s side, Tony is unaware that Midas is behind him—until he is turned to gold by the villain’s touch. All of his allies are similarly transformed by the hand of Midas. Abe Klein bitterly regrets betraying Tony so as to learn the whereabouts of his wife and daughter, missing since the War. To completely destroy him, Midas reveals that his loved ones are long dead….
An insane Marianne Rodgers arrives at the ruined main gate of the factory, bent on revenge against Tony Stark….
The golden heroes are set up as statues on the façade of Midas International. The effect wears off of Jack of Hearts because of the Zero-Fluid which gives him his powers and he leaps to the attack. The paralyzed Iron Man is toppled and the golden outer shell cracks open and an unharmed Tony crawls out. He assembles a new armor from the scattered pieces on the mechanoids and is ready for battle. Jack crashes into Midas’ throne room but the baddie launches mini-missiles knocking the hero out. Iron Man arrives at this point and he and Midas duel to the finish. Abe Klein, rushing to Shellhead’s aid is mortally wounded by the villain. Just as the antagonists are locked in a stalemate, Marianne arrives and unleashes a psychic attack against Tony; Iron Man ducks and the blast hits Midas, erasing his mind. She breaks down completely and Abe Klein asks Tony’s forgiveness before he dies.

Review / Commentaries

Iron Man #107 Review by T Vernon (September 30, 2014)

Review: Wait up, Iron Man is ready to kill Midas to regain his company? That’s a darker take on Tony than we’ve seen in a while (and it’s still a year or two until “Demon in a Bottle”). The action scenes in this issue are spectacular and they manage to cover the fact that there are too many characters for the story. Plus, we had this long buildup as Marianne Rodgers returns for vengeance against Tony Stark and what happens? She conveniently defeats the bad guy for Shellhead then drops out of the series again. That was a letdown. Otherwise a pretty good issue.

Comments: Part five of six parts (though the first page calls it part six of six). A nice double page presents a review of the Tony Stark-Marianne Rodgers relationship in issues #41-52; she has one final appearance, in AGE OF INNOCENCE #1 in 1998! It is here revealed that it was Midas’ force-field that kept him alive in issue #21, even though it was his mechanical chair (presumably with the force field controls) exploding that apparently killed him. Oh yeah, and the title comes from the Beatles’ song “The End;” presumably “the love you make is equal to the love you take” applies to Tony and Marianne’s past.

> Iron Man comic book info and issue index

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Marvel Iron Man MARK7 Statue ARTFX 1/6 Statue

Holy smokes, Batman!
(The Boy Wonder)

Main/1st Story Full Credits

Bill Mantlo

Keith Pollard

Fred Kida

Francoise Mouly

Keith Pollard (Cover Penciler)
Joe Rubinstein (Cover Inker)

Additional Credits

Letterer: Denise Wohl.
Editor: Archie Goodwin.

All stories. Listed in alphabetical order.

Abe Klein
(Abraham Klein)

Iron Man
(Anthony Stark)

Jack of Hearts
(Jonathan Hart)

Jasper Sitwell

Madame Masque
(Giulietta Nefaria)

Plus: Eddie March, Guardsman (Michael O'Brien), Jean DeWolff, Wraith (Brian DeWolff), Marianne Rodgers, Mordecai Midas.

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