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Iron Man Annual #10: Review

Sep 1989
David Michelinie, Paul Smith

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Story Name:

Atlantis Attacks, Chapter 2: Two If By Sea

Review & Comments

Rating:
2.5 stars

Iron Man Annual #10 Review by (September 5, 2017)
Comments: First annual to feature multiple stories that connect with other titles' annuals. Main story falls between IRON MAN issues #245 and 246. Next annual: 1990. a) Story incorrectly says that it continues in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL #23, which is actually Chapter 4. The Albrook Air Force Base was a real Air Force base at this time; b) By some oddity in the scheduling process, the Inoshiro Kondo story was published in MARVEL SUPER-HEROES (1990 series) #15, four years after this annual appeared. Irina Tarasova is never seen, only heard; c) I have no idea what that title refers to, unless it's some oblique reference to the film MOMMIE DEAREST. And inker “Don Ald” must be a pseudonym but I can't identify the person behind the name.

Review: A mediocre issue with mediocre art from a time when Marvel had come down in the world. The lead story and the Andromeda tale come off the best. “Can You Top This” is particularly annoying (wait, why is the alien Space Phantom hanging around a bar with a bunch of human losers? Why are Communist agents Half-Face and Irina Tarasova hanging around an American dive bar?) and the punchline isn't funny.





 

Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Iron Man Annual #10 Synopsis by T Vernon
Story continues from SILVER SURFER ANNUAL #2.

Lord Ghaur of the Deviants comes to Atlantis proposing an Alliance with Attuma and his forces. Ghaur explains that reassembling the Serpent Crown will allow the elder god Set to return to Earth, conquer it and turn it over to them to rule for him. Attuma likes this idea....

Off the California coast, Iron Man is underwater, tracking two Maggia mini-subs which are in turn following a surface ship. By chance, Namor the Sub-Mariner approaches the surface ship questing for the spawn of his late wife Marrina. The ship's crew panics on seeing him and reveal themselves to be Hydra., firing upon Namor. Shellhead joins Namor in defeating the villains who choose self-destruction over capture....

Later, Namor visits Tony Stark at his California offices where they discover the ship had a Panamanian registry. Iron Man and Subby head down to Panama to check it out. Shellhead investigates the shipping company and discovers it is owned by Hydra who have just shipped a cargo of a highly-addictive designer drug to New York City. Iron Man intercepts the Hydra ship at the Panama Canal and Namor sees that Attuma has been smuggling his warriors through the Canal beneath the ships. Iron Man does battle with the Lemurians while Namor heads off to stop the Hydra ship. Attuma orders the Omega rocket be fired and Iron Man intercepts it, suffering the full effects of the blast. Just in time, the US Air Force arrives so IM goes off to check on Subby. Just as he arrives, the Hydra ship self-destructs with Namor on board; Shellhead's sensors can't pick up any readings that would indicate the Namor survived. He vows to uncover the Hydra-Maggia connection so that Namor's death will not have been in vain (which takes place back in his own book).

Story continues in X-MEN ANNUAL #13.

Characters: Iron Man (Tony Stark), James Rhodes, Mrs Arbogast, Sub-Mariner.

Villains: Attuma, Ghaur, Hydra, Krang, Llyra, Maggia

“Can You Top This?”

Writer: David Wohl. Pencils: Multiple. Inks: Multiple. Colors: ?

Synopsis: A bunch of bad guys are sitting around in a bar, exchanging stories about their fateful encounters with Iron Man. Each tale is shown by a full page pin-up by a well-known artist—Jackson Guice, Gene Colan, John Byrne, Keith Pollard, and Bob Layton. The villains are Half-Face (TALES OF SUSPENSE #92-94), the Space Phantom (AVENGERS #2), Inoshiro Kondo (MARVEL SUPER-HEROES (1990 series) #15), Irina Tarasova (IRON MAN #218), Beetle/Blizzard/Blacklash (IM #223-224), Crimson Dynamo (IM #229), ending with an account by a woman whom Shellhead talked out of suicide. When Iron Man walks in, the baddies all run off.

Characters: Iron Man (TS)

Villains: Half-Face; Space Phantom; Beetle; Blacklash (Mark Scarlotti); Blizzard (Donnie Gill); Crimson Dynamo

“There are No Wire Hangers Underwater”

Writer: Fabian Nicieza. Pencils: Don Perlin. Inks: Don Ald. Colors: T. Fine

Synopsis: Hearing reports that Namor may have been killed in Panama, Andromeda returns to Atlantis where she is halted by guards who try to arrest her. She fights them but is stopped by Colonel Dakkor who is sympathetic to her. She reveals that she has come to end this war between Atlantis and the surface world. She confronts the usurper Attuma and during their duel she reveals that she is his daughter. This just enrages Attuma even more and she escapes with a vow to overthrow him. Dakkor joins her in her mission.

Story continues in X-FACTOR ANNUAL #4.

Characters: Andromeda

Villains: Attuma

“Iron Man Portfolio”

Synopsis: Full-page portraits of Iron Man characters: Iron Man by Jackson Guice and Bob Layton; A group portrait of Iron Man and Stark Enterprises supporting cast by Guice and Layton; A group shot of various armors by Layton; Iron Man and Tony Stark together by Layton; Iron Man, Rhodey, Bethany Cabe, and the Gray Gargoyle by Guice and Layton; Iron Man vs the Ghost by Guice and Layton; Iron Man by Layton.

“The Saga of the Serpent Crown: Blood Feud”

Writer: Peter Sanderson. Pencils: Mark Bagley. Inks: Keith Williams. Colors: Marc Siry

Synopsis: Story continues from SILVER SURFER ANNUAL #2

In prehistoric times, the world was ruled by dinosaurs and Set fed on their violent energies; Gaea decided that the future lay with mammals and shifted evolution in their favor. Set responded by compelling the dinosaurs to kill all the mammals. When Set tried to kill Gaea with a demonic dinosaur, she summoned her son Atum, God of the Sun to fight for her. Atum defeated the demon and he absorbed its powers to become Demogorge the God-Eater. He battled Set but with every head he lost, two grew in its place. This cataclysmic war of the gods killed all the dinosaurs and Set retreated to his own dimension. Atum resumed his true form and returned to the sun and Set remained the enemy of mammals and, later, humanity.

Story continues in X-MEN ANNUAL #13.

Characters: Atum, Gaea, Watcher

Villains: Set


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Barberoids 1 cover original artwork on ebay

Paul Smith
Mike Gustovich
Bob Layton (Cover Penciler)
Bob Layton (Cover Inker)

Editor: Howard Mackie.

Characters

Listed in Alphabetical Order.

Iron Man
Iron Man

(Tony Stark)
James Rhodes
James Rhodes

(Rhodey)

Plus: Ghaur, Llyra, Maggia, Mrs. Arbogast.

> Iron Man Annual: Book info and issue index

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