As the story open, a crowd watches
aghast as Iron Man races to catch a sabotaged rocket as it plunges
toward the Earth. Why? For that we go back two weeks to the Soviet
Union….
Russian leader Nikita Khrushchev visits
his greatest expert on electricity, Professor Anton Vanko, and
demands to see the arrogant scientist’s latest work. Vanko dons a
heavy electric suit which makes him look like a human dynamo and
begins his demonstration. The cynical Vanko terrorizes his leader
with a robot double of Iron Man before using his electrical devices
to cause the machine to short-circuit and explode. He follows this up
by sending a remote-controlled tank against his boss and destroys
that while gloating over Khrushchev’s fear. The impressed leader
orders his minion to go to America and wreck Tony Stark’s projects
and destroy Iron Man (while secretly plotting to have Vanko executed
on his return)….
So today, Tony Stark is at his main
testing ground for the launch of a manned missile. Tony makes his
excuses and returns as Iron Man to observe the test. Hidden in the
nearby woods, though, is the Crimson Dynamo, who uses his electrical
powers to short the rocket’s circuits, causing it to plummet to the
ground. Iron Man launches himself into the air and grasps the nose of
the ship slowing its descent and cushioning its crash with his own
body. Shocked at Iron Man’s superior power, the Crimson Dynamo
changes his strategy and begins sabotaging Stark plants all over the
country. The result is that the military threatens to cancel his
contracts and on Capitol Hill Congressmen are even beginning to
wonder whether Stark is a Communist agent, destroying his own
facilities on orders from Moscow. Tony feels helpless to prevent
this—unless the mysterious enemy slips up. Or, more conveniently to
the comic book, chooses to take on Iron Man now. The Crimson Dynamo
invades the Stark lab in Flushing and Tony is there to meet him as
Iron Man. The hero sets up a force field rendering him impervious to
the villain’s powers. Tony tricks Vanko into bragging about his
vendetta against Tony Stark and records it as evidence of his
(Tony’s) innocence. Iron Man then rips up several trees and pens
his enemy inside, then scoops him up and threatens to drop him in a
lake unless he surrenders. Iron Man then plays a recording he faked a
few minutes ago in which he imitated the voice of the Soviet leader
ordering Vanko’s execution. Realizing he has been tricked, Vanko
accepts Iron Man’s offer to come work for Tony Stark, responding
with inside info on a Russian spy ring in the US.
Meanwhile, back in Moscow, Nikita
Khrushchev is throwing a fit at this latest news….
“The Utopia”
Writer: Unknown.
Artist: Michelle Wright.
Synopsis: Two
friends, Bob and Fred, meet each year at the Utopia restaurant, each trying to
impress the other with fanciful tales of success. Bob has a dream in which he
is taken to a branch of the Utopia in the sky where he is turned away for his
lies and pretensions. Awakening, he meets with Fred who confesses he had the
same dream; they reveal that they are only ordinary working men and for their
honesty and humility, they are admitted to the Utopia in the sky!
“The Gargoyles”
Writer: Stan Lee.
Art: Steve Ditko. Colors: ? Letters: Ray Holloway.
Synopsis: An
explorer in Africa theorizes that native gargoyle-like carvings are based on a
real tribe. He stumbles upon their hidden village but is chased off and
narrowly escapes. Back in the States, he consults a folklorist who convinces
him the experience was all in his imagination—but the folklorist is really one
of the gargoyles!
“Mr. Flubb’s
Flashlight”
Writer: Stan Lee. Art:
Sol Brodsky. Colors: ? Letters: Sam Rosen.
Synopsis: Lazy and
stupid news reporter Fenwick Flubb is at the docks when he sees a man fall into
the river; with a minimum of effort, he pulls the man out and the man offers
him a flashlight as a reward for saving his life. Flubb sneers at the man’s
claims that it is valuable and refuses it. Then we learn that the man is an
alien visitor and the flashlight a device for instantaneous space travel!