Invincible Iron Man #22: Review

Nov 1999

Roger Stern, Sean Chen

Story Name:

The Thrill of the Chase! (Eighth Day Part 2)

Review & Comments

Rating:

Invincible Iron Man #22 Review by T Vernon (February 18, 2020)

Comments: First appearance/origin of Decay, Carnivore, Tempest. Colonel Nigel Pigman was introduced in BLACK PANTHER #4 during the Jack Kirby run. The eight mystical entities are Farallah, Cyttorak, Balthakk, Okohn, Raggadorr, Watoomb, Valtorr, and Krakkan, all of whom have probably been invoked by Dr Strange at one time or another. Co-plotted by Kurt Busiek and Roger Stern.

Review: Another nice issue with a lot of action, beginning and ending with Iron Man fighting powerful foes with a flashy entrance by Thor. And we finally learn what’s going on with these Exemplars and for once it is simple enough to make sense viz the Exemplars conquer the world and then fight each other because there can be only one! Shades of THE HIGHLANDER! They’ve got me hooked! Aaaah, I’ll bet the heroes step in and ruin everything by stopping the apocalypse. Spoil sports.

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Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Invincible Iron Man #22 Synopsis by T Vernon

Continued from THOR (1998) #17

At the Temple of Balthaak, Inferno attacks the archaeological party (J. Vernon Mann, Abner Little, Princess Zanda, Count Andreas Zorba) until Iron Man recovers enough to seize her and carry her up into the sky; She throws him off and by her complaints about the cold, Shellhead recognizes her as Samantha McGee, Tony Stark’s hired pilot. She blasts Iron Man hard enough to blow his circuit breakers and jets off to meet the other Exemplars. IM’s system reboots and he contacts the other Avengers; Jarvis fills him in on Thor’s battle with Juggernaut and the appearance of Conquest and Bedlam (THOR (1998 series) #17)….

At a Stark-Fujikawa platform near Tahiti, executive Yoshiro Hachiman is overcome by an odd call and dives into the water where he finds the Temple of Valtorr; touching the Verdant Vial transforms him into the next Exemplar, Decay and he kills everyone on the platform….

In Australia, Game Warden Nicolette Giroux enters a cave where she finds the Waterfall of Watoomb; standing under it turns her into Tempest….

On his way to the action, Iron Man calls Pepper Potts and has her take care of important matters that will have to be postponed. As Tony Stark he arrives back at the archaeological site and they all go to the Andes where fellow Collector Col. Nigel Pigman has discovered a temple and Count Zorba is transformed into Carnivore. Tony dons the armor and battles the new villain while Dr Mann discovers some runes that explain everything that has been going on. Once upon a time, eight great mystical entities entered into the Wager of the Octessence to determine who was greatest: they each created a totem which would transform a human into an Exemplar…. Meanwhile, Tempest and Decay stop by to pick up Carnivore who wants them to wait while he kills Iron Man—but then Thor arrives. Impatient, Tempest tears a chasm in the earth and the two Avengers are swallowed up while the trio of Exemplars take off. Thor and Iron Man bust out but the bad guys are gone. Dr Mann finishes his account: once all eight Exemplars are empowered, they will create a great mystic engine to destroy free will among humanity. They will then divide the Earth into eight parts, one for each of them to rule—and then they will go to war until there is only one left….

Continued in PETER PARKER SPIDER-MAN v.2 #11.

2nd story

“Fast Lane Part 1 of 4: Media Blitz”

Writer: Glenn Herdling. Pencils: Gregg Schigiel. Inks: Richard Case. Colors: Paul Mounts.

Synopsis: An anti-drug public service announcement featuring Spider-Man appearing in several Marvel comics this month.

Story #2