Iron Man (1968 series) #331

Comments: Part three of three parts. Final appearance of Stockpile and its members Calico, Brass, and Joust plus the third Unicorn (who seems to be British by his use of the word “knackered”); Sunstreak will reappear frequently in the SECRET INVASION/DARK REIGN era. Morgan Stark will show up in IRON MAN Vol. 3:1 without any indication of him having been Brass. At the end of the issue readers are directed to AVENGERS #401 and X-MEN (1991) #55 for the Onslaught saga.

Review: The story opens with a semi-helpful three page summary of who is teen Tony Stark and why is he here. Then there's a full page for explaining who Morgan Stark is and why he's here. So with four pages of what feels like wall-to-wall text with drawings stuck in the gaps, it's amazing that the story turned out readable. The new villains are severely short-changed though just variations on what we've seen before (fire person, gun person, giant robot person); Morgan Stark gets a lot of new backstory that will be forgotten five minutes later. The battle is a bit too science-heavy for me but overall, the tale is pretty cool, with Tony finally taking responsibility for everything his older alter ego did, which doesn't seem fair but it's the penultimate issue of a comic book. All this is gone after the next issue.