Comic Browser:

Iron Man #286

Nov 1992

Len Kaminski, Kev Hopgood

Story Name:

Dust to Dust

Synopsis

Iron Man #286 synopsis by T Vernon

Rating:

In the new silver Iron Man armor, James Rhodes has defeated Spymaster and his gang but then a quartet of West Coast Avengers arrives—Hawkeye, Wasp, Doctor Pym, and Living Lightning—and confronts the unfamiliar armored figure, intending to take him down. Rhodey tries to explain but they won't listen (knowing that Iron Man was Tony Stark and he's dead). Hank Pym scatters some Pym Particles on Rhodey who shrinks to insect-size and Living Lightning blasts him through a wall and into the alley. As Iron Man battles the Avengers outside, Spymaster regains consciousness and revives his henchmen Beetle, Blacklash, and Blizzard, who get the drop on the heroes. Finally Rhodey convinces Wasp that he's a good guy and she restores him to his full size. As they whomp on the bad guys, Kathy Dare, standing several yards away and unable to live without Tony Stark, shoots herself in the head. Rhodey is shocked and upset—and thinks he sees Tony Stark in the crowd, but decides its just his imagination. Meanwhile, the Avengers have shrunk and bagged the bad guys....

Later, Rae Lacoste visits Rhodey in his office to invite him to dinner....

Elsewhere, Abe Zimmer shows Erica Sondheim that he has detected brain activity in the frozen Tony Stark. We see that Tony is recalling his childhood, when his alcoholic father's drastic mood swings taught the boy to hide his emotions and find solace in something he could order, learning to construct his own world....

Elsewhere, Tony's long forgotten cousin Morgan Stark plots to seize everything Tony had....

Review / Commentaries

Iron Man #286 Review by T Vernon (August 7, 2018)

Comments: Part two of two parts. Title comes from the Anglican Church's funeral service (see previous issue). Rae Lacoste mentions being saved by Iron Man but I didn't see her in the previous issues or earlier in this one. Maria Stark's favorite tune is the old standard “As Time Goes By.” First appearance of Morgan Stark since issue #18 in 1969; did you miss him?

Review: The usual unfamiliar heroes battle each other trope occupies the first half of the issue; this sort of thing has been overdone but the bit with the Pym Particles is a nice touch. The more shocking moment comes with Kathy Dare's suicide, a fierce conclusion to a subplot that hadn't been mentioned in a while—and, dramatic though it was, I wonder why new writer Len Kaminski included it, as no one would have noticed if she had just been forgotten. Another key point is Kaminski's exploration of Tony's miserable childhood, which dovetails nicely with the later discovery that Tony was adopted (the hoops a writer has to jump through for a retcon! Whew!). This adds another layer to an already conflicted hero and makes the comic richer.

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Iron Studios Hawkeye Statuette BDS Art Scale 1/10 Clint Barton 19 cm

Holy smokes, Batman!
(The Boy Wonder)

Main/1st Story Full Credits

Len Kaminski

Kev Hopgood

Mike DeCarlo

Ariane Lenshoek

Kev Hopgood (Cover Penciler)

Additional Credits

Letterer: Michael Heisler.
Editor: Nel Yomtov. Editor-in-chief: Tom DeFalco.

All stories. Listed in alphabetical order.

Abe Zimmer
(Abraham Zimmer)

Blizzard

Doctor Pym
(Henry Pym)

Hawkeye
(Clinton Barton)

Tony Stark

Wasp
(Janet Van Dyne)

West Coast Avengers

Plus: Beetle (Abner Jenkins), Blacklash, Erica Sondheim, Iron Man (James Rhodes), Kathy Dare, Living Lightning (Miguel Santos), Morgan Stark, Mrs. Arbogast, Rae LaCoste, Spymaster (Nathan Lemon).

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