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Iron Man #174

Sep 1983
Dennis O'Neil, Luke McDonnell

Iron Man #174 cover

Story Name:

Armor Chase

Synopsis

Iron Man #174 synopsis by T Vernon
Rating: 4.5 stars
Obadiah Stane, new owner of Stark International, demands that Iron Man remove and hand over the armor which is company property. James Rhodes refuses and flies off, crashing through Stane's window. Mrs. Arbogast then tenders her resignation as well....
In a SHIELD Helicarrier high above, Nick Fury is informed of Stane's takeover of Stark and calls Jasper Sitwell....
Rhodey, as Iron Man, stops by Tony Stark's private lab to collect some personal items; he is attacked by the Knight, one of Stane's living Chessmen. Realizing the Knight is there to prevent him from removing other Iron Man armors, Shellhead takes on the villain but finds his opponent too swift and powerful for him, so he jets off to get advice from Morley Erwin. Two Stark employees see him flee and decide that maybe Stane won't be so bad a boss....
Mrs Arbogast scolds Vic Martinelli for remaining with the company but Vic has too few options and must stay with Stane....
As Stane's men try to defeat the lock on the lab, Nick Fury dispatches Jasper Sitwell with Weapon S, a photon disruptor, to get the armors first. Yvette Avril resigns from the company. And what of Tony Stark? He's in an unfamiliar place, sinking into despair....
Morley Erwin has Iron Man take the mechanical mole to burrow into the lab from beneath. Iron Man reaches the lab just as Stane's men open the door and the Knight flies in. Then Weapon S causes a blackout in the area so Shellhead and his foe battle in darkness. Rhodey radios Erwin to go to the backup plan, triggering the remote control units to allow the armors to fly away by themselves. Weapon S burns itself out, Fury dispatches agents to retrieve the armors wherever they come down. Iron Man burns the plans for the armors to keep the Knight from taking them to Stane. Shellhead wrecks the Knight's lance and horse and, the sides now being equal, he punches out his opponent. He drops the unconscious Knight on Stane's desk and departs....
Rhodey is contacted by Nick Fury who informs him that the armors went down in international waters—where SHIELD can legally claim them; Iron Man vows that is not going to happen....


 

Review / Commentaries

Iron Man #174 Review by (February 15, 2016)
Comments: Part one of two parts. The Knight was previously seen in issues #163 and 167. Vic Martinelli's checkered past was revealed in issue #147. Title is a play on the title of a 1970s film THE PAPER CHASE about Harvard Law School.

Review: Another winning issue centers on the ownership of the other Iron Man armors, but we also see the personal consequences of Stane's takeover: staff quitting, Vic Martinelli unable to resign, a pair of staffers who think the defeat of Iron Man is a sign to remain—that last one sheds an unfamiliar light on Stark: is there a lot of resentment among the staff over Shellhead? Never thought about it much. The unsung art team of Luke McDonnell and Sam de la Rosa do a terrific job of translating the story into visual terms: The intercutting of Rhodey versus Stane, both Iron Man/Knight battles, the cinematic movement of Yvette Avril's resignation, even having the panels shrink as Tony sinks into despair, all make for one exciting issue.


> Iron Man comic book info and issue index

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Iron Man #174 cover

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Main/1st Story Full Credits

Luke McDonnell
Sam Delarosa
Bob Sharen
Luke McDonnell (Cover Penciler)
Steve Mitchell (Cover Inker)


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