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Iron Man #163

Oct 1982
Dennis O'Neil, Luke McDonnell

Iron Man #163 cover

Story Name:

Knight's Errand

Synopsis

Iron Man #163 synopsis by T Vernon
Rating: 3.5 stars
Iron Man fights a fire at Stark International caused by an employee under the hypnotic control of Tattoo’s headphones (see last issue). He then spies a woman whose car was crushed by a falling bit of machinery; her rushes her to the emergency room. The next day, as Tony Stark he visits her in the hospital; she introduces herself as Indres Moomji a scientist who was touring the plant. Tony is smitten….
Tony and Rhodey fly to New Mexico to question Aloysius Lafferty, the guy who made the bomb used by Tattoo. Elsewhere, a mysterious chess player dispatches an agent called the Knight, an armored and masked figure astride a jet-powered mechanical steed. The Knight assaults the engine on Tony’s plane and disappears; as Iron Man our hero can do an emergency repair in midair and the craft makes it to its destination. In New Mexico, Iron Man heads out to see the bomb-maker while the Knight arrives at Tony’s hotel; finding him absent the Knight proceeds to Lafferty’s desert workshop. While Iron Man is trying to get Lafferty to give up his employer’s name, the Knight comes barging in and there is a battle in the sky. To our hero’s surprise, the Knight is much faster than he can keep up with; Iron Man deduces that the Knight must zero in on a large object to maintain his speed—so Shellhead tricks his foe into crashing into a shed full of explosives. Blinded by the ensuing explosion, the Knight is now easily clobbered by Iron Man. Tony heads back to New York and Indres while the mysterious chess master prepares his next gambit….


 

Review / Commentaries

Iron Man #163 Review by (November 30, 2015)
Comments: Part one of three parts. First (hidden) appearance of Obadiah Stane and openly for the Chessmen, setting up a loose arc that will run though issue #200. Also the first appearance of Indres Moomji. Stane’s chessboard on the final page appears to have at least nine rows of squares.

Review: Another abrupt ending with just a little box marked “End” in the corner of the final panel, I wonder why? Anyway, this story isn’t bad, it’s just that the Knight, with his floating hobbyhorse and grumpy face mask, looks a bit silly. And again, our hero goes somewhere as Tony Stark and adventures as Iron Man; Rhodey at least should make the connection especially when Tony leaves the plane behind his back. One cool touch: Lafferty offers Iron Man a drink and Shellhead slaps the bottle out of his hand, an action that has a more complex emotion behind it than is obvious to the bad guy. .

Iron Man #163 Review by (November 30, 2015)
It's a big coincidence if the name Aloysius Lafferty isn't a tip of the hat to Raphael Aloysius Lafferty the writer of Tall Tales usually filed under Science Fiction or Fantasy.


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Iron Man #163 cover

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Main/1st Story Full Credits

Luke McDonnell
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Bob Sharen
Jim Starlin (Cover Penciler)
Jim Starlin (Cover Inker)


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