Synopsis
Iron Man (1968 series) #130 synopsis by
T Vernon
Rating:
On a visit to Hong Kong, an ebullient Iron Man swoops over the city, testing out his armor on his way to an emergency meeting at his local office. As Tony Stark, he learns that weird phenomena have been plaguing the computer lab and four scientists have been killed. Tony investigates and sees a glowing green fireball burn another staff member to death; the creature morphs into a green dragon and a security guard sacrifices his life to allow Tony to escape. Tony instantly switches into his Iron Man armor and blasts the beast with repulsor rays; it does no good. Shellhead allows himself to be swallowed by the dragon and explodes it from inside; the green glowing stuff reforms and retreats….
Tony then studies personnel records to find anyone on staff with an occult background; he spots Soo Lin Chu as the obvious suspect and confronts her. She reveals that the monster’s first victim was her fiancé Bernard Roberts. Soo Lin explains that Bernard, careless of safety protocols, absorbed a deadly amount of radiation and blamed Stark International for his predicament. She takes Tony to her grandfather, a mystic who reveals that Bernard was interested in conjuring up a demon called the All-Devourer; the lives of seven victims must be sacrificed to enable it to return to this plane. The demon chose Bernard as the first and now it needs but one more. A water elemental, servant of the All-Devourer (and looking like a giant frog) attacks Tony and the Chus; Grandfather is able to freeze the monster magically and Tony shatters it with a blow from a stick….
Tony brings Grandfather Chu and Soo Lin to the computer lab so that the aged mystic can perform a rite of exorcism, while Iron Man battles more of the demon’s servants. It turns out however that the All-Devourer was summoned by Bernard entering the invocation into the computer. The demon forms in the air; Iron Man battles it until Soo Lin can key the exorcism spell into the database. Once that is done, the monster vanishes back to its own realm….