Black Widow meets with a
band of Russian mobsters by literally dropping into their open car from above. They
offer Natasha her mother’s diary, offering to tell her of the family she never
knew. But it’s a trap, as she realizes at the last minute, leaping from the car
as the seat she was occupying is riddled with bullets. She confronts the
gunman, a huge armored killer called Vindiktor, part of a group of patriots out
to assassinate the Black Widow for defecting. As she nabs the diary, the
Vindiktor reveals a burned face, while claiming to be her brother, persecuted
for his class and forced into a life of crime while she led the life of a
crimefighter in America. Nat leads the armored giant on a chase to the top of a
water tower, only for his weight to plunge him to his death. Natasha escapes
and finally looks in the diary to find it blank, a fake used as bait for their
trap….
“Limited Intellect!” 3/5
Writer: Bernie Wrightson.
Art: Bernie Wrightson. Letters: Bernie Wrightson.
Synopsis: Hulk fights a
T. Rex then a giant scorpion and then a huge dragon which he slays with a magic
sword. He then makes his way into a hospital room where a man suffering from
total body paralysis spends all of his time recording his memories onto a combination
EEG/VCR that has gone on the blink—but he can’t make Hulk understand because of
his limited intellect. Hulk sizes up the situation and slaps the TV on the side
which makes the picture come in more clearly. The old man thanks him; Hulk
replies, “Limited intellect.”
“A Man’s Reach…!” 3/5
Writer: Steve Ditko, Len
Wein. Plot: Steve Ditko. Art: Steve Ditko. Letters: Michael Higgins.
Synopsis: Pepper Potts
and Happy Hogan arrive at the warehouse lab of Dr. Andre Armond for a meeting
with Tony Stark only to find the place has been taken over by crooks led by a
hooded man. The scientist is unconscious as his assistant Morris has betrayed
the boss and is stealing the plans for a disruptor. The superpowered henchman
Longarm, so called because of his mechanical arms stolen from Doc Ock’s lab,
overpowers Happy and they kidnap Pepper. Iron Man is elsewhere, stopping a gang
of hijackers but one shoots Shellhead with a ray that disrupts his armor,
causing several malfunctions. Back at the office, Tony is called by Happy
telling him what happened and is worried that Armond’s invention could be a
weapon to defeat Iron Man. Happy locates the villains’ hideout and Iron Man
goes over to rescue Pepper but he is caught and shot with the Disruptor which
causes his armor to seize up. While Longarm is beating him, Tony reroutes his
circuits and everything is working smoothly again and he beats up Longarm while
Happy takes down the normal hoods but the hooded leader gets away….
Later at the office, a
group of important clients stops by and Pepper recognizes one man’s voice as
that of the masked leader. He is captured so Tony and Happy go out to celebrate
while Pepper chooses to stay and get caught up on her workload….
“Devils & Angels” 4/5
Writer: Ron Marz. Art: Brian
Stelfreeze. Letters: ?
Synopsis: Perched atop a
cathedral by a cemetery, Daredevil watches an old man stand before the building
and remonstrate with God about taking away his friends, his wife, his health,
and his eyesight, ending by breaking up his white cane and asking to die.
Daredevil descends and tells the man that God has a purpose, that he is not
alone, a lesson he himself has learned. The man looks for his white cane so DD
hands him his and offers to help him home….
Pin-Ups:
The Punisher by Rodolpho
Damaggio (frontispiece)
Frankenstein vs. Wolfman
by Tom Grindberg
Thor by Cam Smith
Wolverine by Joe Bennett
(back cover)