Comic Browser:

Iron Man #253

Feb 1990

Danny Fingeroth, Gene Colan

Story Name:

Laughing All the Way to the Graveyard

Synopsis

Iron Man #253 synopsis by T Vernon

Rating:

A roller coaster flies off its track at a carnival. Fortunately, Iron Man is on hand to rescued the endangered rider. Unfortunately he sets the car back on the track incorrectly and has to save everybody again. Embarrassed by his mistake, he returns to the jet where Rhodey is taking him to...

...a comedy club where Tony gets a kick out of insult comic Joey Cosmatos making fun of Tony's wealth and womanizing. After the show we discover that Joey was Tony's buddy at M.I.T who left school and abandoned science to support his family; a single father, the only thing he is proud of is his daughter Nicole. Now Joey needs one million dollars but Tony won't give it to him without an explanation. Tony throws him out...but over the next few days, follows him as Iron Man. Joey is accosted by green-clad villains; Shellhead goes to Joey's defense—and then we learn that bad guys are holding Nicole for ransom....

After learning the truth, Tony gives Joey the ransom money, promising not to interfere. Joey heads to a meeting with a mobster named Desmond. The villain returns Nicole but refuses to hand over a mysterious second object he has. Desmond has his men put Joey on stage and if he can make them laugh, he and Nicole may live to see the morning. He does but the villain refuses to let him go. Suddenly Tony Stark enters with a bag containing another million bucks and an offer to be hostage instead. The case explodes with a tear gas bomb and Tony quickly dons his armor in the confusion. But Desmond has a ringer: a henchman named Slagmire who wears a set of armor similar to Iron Monger's; it is the creation of Joey Cosmatos and the ensuing fight is grim. Slagmire has more punching power than Tony but Iron Man manages to use his tractor beam to pull his foe into an energy shield, knocking him out. Rhodey arrives to help round up the hoods....

The next day, Joey explains how he modified the stolen plans for Iron Monger and how it was stolen from him by the baddies. Tony offers him a job at Stark Enterprises but Joey turns it down, planning to go on stage in a comedy team with his smart-mouthed daughter.

Review / Commentaries

Iron Man #253 Review by T Vernon (December 5, 2017)

Comments: Title is a play on the saying “laughing all the way to the bank,” meaning making a lot of money easily. Sole appearances of Joey Cosmatos, Desmond, and Slagmire. One of the letters on the letters page is from Scott Tipton, future comic book writer and author of the Comics 101 column. Annual 11 follows this issue.

Review: A nice little human interest story; it keeps things fresh to have a one-shot story feature a new or little-known character, also letting us see the hero from another perspective. Unfortunately, this doesn't really give us anything new about Tony Stark and it's a bit too plot-heavy to properly showcase Joey Cosmatos. The best it can do is to provide a different context for the action, including having two metal men biff each other for a few pages. As for the art, this isn't Gene Colan's best work by far but it's better than Herb Trimpe's stuff in the two previous issues.

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Main/1st Story Full Credits

Danny Fingeroth

Gene Colan

Paul Becton

John Byrne (Cover Penciler)
John Byrne (Cover Inker)

Additional Credits

Letterer: Janice Chiang.
Editor: Howard Mackie.

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Iron Man
(Anthony Stark)

James Rhodes
(Rhodey)

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