Iron Man rushes to the hospital to be met by police with the news that the gravely ill Happy Hogan has mysteriously disappeared; Shellhead spots a horse’s hoofprint on the window sill and concludes that the Black Knight (flying horse, remember?) has kidnapped Happy. The hero follows a too-obvious trail to an ominous-looking castle several miles away. Wary of the obvious trap, Iron Man cautiously explores the building when he is attacked by the Black Knight—who turns out to be an illusion. When the real Knight appears he zaps the hero with his electronic lance, shorting out Tony’s transistors and putting a strain on his heart. The villain then lifts the fallen hero onto his flying horse and prepares to drop him from a great height. Iron man exerts some of his meager strength to topple them both and uses the last of his power to jet into the nearby river….
Here the comic interrupts the action to show Senator Byrd arriving at Tony Stark’s office and demanding a meeting. When Pepper explains that the boss is away, Byrd reveals his plan to force Stark to turn Iron Man’s secret identity and the technology behind the armor to the public….
Back at the castle, Iron Man drags himself out of the water but sees no sign of his foe. He makes his way into the castle where he finds Happy Hogan; calling the Washington police, the hero drags Happy to the doorway so he can be rescued but then collapses. The police arrive and take Happy away but do not see Iron Man, weak and helpless in the next room. They unwittingly leave the dying Avenger in the dark….
Story #2Where Walks the Sleeper!
Writer:
Stan Lee. Penciler/Inker:
George Tuska. Colorist:
Unknown.
Synopsis
Captain America does what he can to try to stop the first
Sleeper from a rendezvous with the other two, even creating a massive avalanche but nothing stops the rampaging robot. Meanwhile, in the forest, another
Nazi agent awakens the second Sleeper: a giant flying wing that resembles a demonic bat and it takes to the air. Cap arrives in the area in time to spot the flying monster and can barely stand against the updraft it causes along the ground. Cap allows the winds to carry him to the top of the Sleeper where he tries to discover some way to stop it. The two Sleepers meet and the first is drawn upward by a massive magnet and secured to the wing’s underside, where it continues to fire its deadly bolts at the ground. (In another town, the third Nazi agent prepares to awaken the final Sleeper and fulfill the
Red Skull’s plans.)
NATO planes attack the Sleepers and Cap leaps to safety to avoid a missile launch—which fails to hit the Sleepers—and he wonders if anything can stop them.