Tony Stark is surprised when his major
steel supplier, Charleton Carter, suddenly cancels his contract with
Stark. Tony drives out to Carter’s cliffside castle (!) to see him
about the matter; as he pulls up, he spies a sinister horned figure
lurking about and dons his Iron Man armor to investigate. From the
balcony he watches as the villain, Mr. Doll, threatens Carter with a
wax figure bearing Carter’s face. Iron Man learns that Doll has
somehow forced Carter to sign over all his wealth to the baddie. Iron
Man confronts Doll and the villain alters the face on the wax doll to
resemble the hero—and a little squeeze causes Iron Man to suffer
severe pain. Attempting to escape causes Iron Man to topple from the
balcony and fall into the river, crawling out some distance away.
Tony must now rush back to the lab to recharge his armor, and while
there he designs a new, lighter, more advanced armor to replace the
clunky gold one he has been using.
Meanwhile, the police have reasoned
(correctly) that Tony Stark will be the next target on Mr. Doll’s
victims list and assign him a bodyguard. To allow him to get away to
change into Iron Man, Tony persuades the police guard to let him take
Pepper into a private room to ask her for a date. Pepper,
unfortunately, takes him seriously and is mortified when Tony
explains it’s all a ruse (and acts like she already knew this) to
sneak away through a secret door, while Pepper keeps the guard
distracted with a one-sided conversation. (What the guard will be
thinking if they don’t come out for hours is not specified.) The
new and improved Iron Man dismisses the guards (he’s recognized as
the real thing by his voice) just as Mr. Doll pays a call at the
factory. Doll uses his magic doll to force Iron Man to drive everyone
out, and then watch as he alters the face to resemble Tony Stark to
torture the millionaire industrialist. It takes all of Tony’s will
power to hide his pain so as not to give away his Iron Man identity.
The villain orders Iron Man out of the room, and he manages to make
his way to the lab, where he risks his life by disconnecting his
chest plate—but it will deaden his nerves so that he feels no pain
as he devises a weapon against his foe. Emerging to confront Mr.
Doll, Iron Man whips out a miniature force beam and uses it to alter
the features of the voodoo doll to resemble Doll (or at least his
horned headdress). Startled, Doll drops the doll—and is knocked
unconscious when it hits the floor. Iron Man turns the villain over
to the police and changes back to Tony Stark. Then Happy reminds him
that he left Pepper locked in a small room and when they release her,
the pert secretary is hardly amused….
“The Pact”
Writer: Unknown.
Artist: Joe Maneely.
Synopsis: An
author writing a book on witchcraft is visited by a man claiming to be the
Devil and showing him how the author’s ancestor made a pact with him and was
burned at the stake; the author thinks it was a dream until he sees the Devil’s
footprints in the snow!
“Kraddak”
Writer: Larry
Lieber. Plot: Stan Lee. Pencils: Larry Lieber. Inks: George Roussos. Colors: ?
Letters: Artie Simek.
Synopsis: A wicked
mine owner meets an alien visitor named Kraddak who informs him that he will be
killed by a fall on Sunday afternoon. At the predicted time, the bad guy goes
down into the lowest mine and lies on the ground so he cannot fall—and then a
huge rock falls on him!