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Iron Man 258 #1: Review

Jul 2013
David Michelinie, Bob Layton

Story Name:

The Thought That Killed

Review & Comments

Rating:
4.5 stars

Iron Man 258 #1 Review by (April 15, 2022)
Comments: Plotted by Bob Layton and David Michelinie. This alternate reality has been designated Earth-13793. The original Armor Wars ran in issues #225-232; Tony had the microchip installed in issues #242-248, the later surgery revealing the mutated chip was in #256.

Review: Rob Johnson gives a precis on the origin of this miniseries as part of his comments on IRON MAN #258: shorter version: Michelinie and Layton present how they would have continued the series had their run not ended with issue #250, having Tony’s microchip becoming an evil digital Tony and Rae Lacoste being revealed to be Madame Masque. It’s an odd decision, especially seeing as how this comes thirteen years later when the original story is no longer fresh in anyone’s mind, except the most fanatical of Shellhead supporters. It is a pretty cool tale, reminding us of one of the greatest eras of this comic’s run and the creative team responsible. A Stark invention going sentient and turning evil is not a very original idea but the test of a great writer and artist is to make it exciting anyway and Michelinie and Layton do a very good job.





 

Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Iron Man 258 #1 Synopsis by T Vernon
As part of his recuperation regimen, Iron Man flies around the desert, destroying sand dunes and cacti; returning to the office, Mrs. Arbogast informs him that Dr. Erica Sondheim is waiting to see him. So Tony talks to his doctor, who reveals that during his back surgery she found a biomass which may be a mutated version of the biochip she had earlier used to repair his broken back. Tony’s girlfriend Rae Lacoste arrives with flowers for Tony so he sends Erica off while he makes kissy face with Rae. They are interrupted by James Rhodes and Rae has to go back to work as Oprah’s in town. Tony tells Rhodey that he suspects the biomass was reactivated by the nanites Justin Hammer had injected into him as part of the Armor Wars story arc, which could mean trouble if they are back….

A short distance away, Rae Lacoste reports to Justin Hammer that they are picking up the transmissions from Stark’s bio-lab. The scientists try to scan the biomass and it goes crazy, sending a message to Stark Security to kill Tony Stark. Suppression Drones begin hunting Tony and shooting at him and the human guards can’t override the system. Tony has to evade them and fight back, eventually decoying them with a fuel truck which explodes. Rhodey hears the explosion and comes running, picking Tony up in a helicopter but the autopilot takes over and tries to throw Tony off. Rhodey gets him to the top of the administration building where he runs in and dons the Iron Man armor, returning to rescue Rhodey from the crashing copter. Shellhead destroys the rest of the drones and deduces that the biomass is to blame. He heads to Erica Sondheim’s office where she tries to bring her findings up on the computer but she is electrocuted instead and the face of a digital Tony Stark appears on the screen proclaiming itself the Tony Stark that should have been….



Bob Layton
Bob Layton
Chris Sotomayor
Dave Ross (Cover Penciler)
Tom Palmer (Cover Inker)
Chris Sotomayor (Cover Colorist)
Layouts: Dave Ross. Letterer: Dave Lanphear.
Editor: Justin Gabrie. Editor-in-chief: Axel Alonso.

Characters

Listed in Alphabetical Order.

Iron Man
Iron Man

(Tony Stark)
James Rhodes
James Rhodes

(Rhodey)

Plus: Erica Sondheim, Justin Hammer, Mrs. Arbogast, Rae LaCoste.

> Iron Man 258: Book info and issue index

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