Wizard Iron Man #1: Review

Jan 2000
Joe Quesada, Alitha Martinez

Story Name:

Amour in armour

Review & Comments

Rating:
4 stars

Wizard Iron Man #1 Review by (April 17, 2020)
This is really an #½.

Rodney Ramos helps Mark Nelson with the inking.

This Wizard issue occurs between #25 and #26 of the main run. It titles itself as a prelude to the Mask In The Iron Man arc (#26-30) but it's more an opening move in the Sons Of Yinsen story (#31-32) and Annual 2000.
SKIN technology is mentioned in #26 but isn't used for a new IM armour until #42-49, and has nothing to do with the sentient armour in #26-30.
But the Sons Of Yinsen *do* appear here.

Yokozuna is not a person's name but the the title of the highest level of sumo wrestler. It seems they Sons are seeking either Wong-Chu or am accomplice of his, but this won't be followed up until #31.





 

Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Wizard Iron Man #1 Synopsis by Rob Johnson
Tony Stark has come on a motorbike to a public garden in Kyoto, Japan to see Rumiko Fujikawa to persuade her that he's not the coward she thinks he is (after he 'ran away' and 'let' Iron Man and Rumiko handle things in a volcanic eruption in #4 and against Ultimo (#23-25)). She's cold towards him but he melts her with a kiss. She then takes his bike with him on the pillion for a hair-raising ride to a company called Askew-Tronics.

Inside he's introduced to her friend Professor Jennifer Smith who tells him about SKIN (Synth-Kinetic Interfacing Nanofluid). The company have created strands of synthetic DNA and a chemical to fuel them but the result isn't yet strong enough to operate as a nano-machine. She's hoping she can persuade Tony to consult with them. Tony is interested in its potential use as liquid information, a digital fluid. It also has possible uses in Iron Man's armour.

Suddenly an explosion hits the room. Prof Smith leads everyone to evacuation tubes. Tony makes sure everyone else is out but the ceiling falls on him before he can follow. He manages to remotely activate a package on the motorcycle outside, where other shots are hitting the street. The package flies away just before the bike gets totalled. It enters the damaged building and blasts the debris off Tony. And then it expands to enclose him in the Iron Man armour.

The Golden Avenger flies out to see a flying craft in the elaborately twisted shape of an oriental dragon. And it is surrounded by a lot of copies of his original bulky yellow armour, all shooting repulsor rays at targets on the ground. A loud voice from the dragon says they are the Sons Of Yinsen and demands that a prisoner of war, the yokozuna, be handed over. Tony of course recognises the name Yinsen as the scientist who helped him create the 1st IM armour when they were captives of Wong-Chu. He scans 1 of the suits and finds it identical to that design, but operated remotely.

However they are no match for his modern armour and weaponry. He blasts some from the sky and prepares to deal with the falling debris. But the dragon-craft beats him to it, showing that these 'terrorists' are unusually concerned about sparing human lives. But then the foe tries another tactic. The remaining 'old Iron Men' cluster closely round him in a ball trying to crush him. He responds with an EMP, but these suits are obviously shielded against that. He reasons that to achieve that they must be totally airtight. Then he kicks a boot free and jets the whole ball into space where air trapped inside them causes them to explode.

Leaving their bits to burn up on re-entry Iron Man heads back to Kyoto and finds the dragon-ship gone. On the way he searches the Internet but finds no mentions of Sons Of Yinsen. He returns to Askew and is relieved to discover Rumiko and the others all safe. But she of course is worried about Tony Stark. He enters the ruined building, exits his armour and puts it on remote control. Thus he appears next carrying himself to hospital.

It turns out that Tony has been relating this adventure to his holographic psychiatrist Jocasta. Tony has provided the hologram with an obviously unreal head but a sexy female body. He assures her that it's to put *both* of them at ease. She responds that his 2 favourite things were always women and machines. And he tells her Rumiko has already agreed to a date.



Alitha Martinez
Mark Nelson
Tom Smith
Joe Quesada (Cover Penciler)
Joe Quesada (Cover Inker)
Tom Smith (Cover Colorist)
Letterer: Richard Starkings.
Editor: Bobbie Chase. Editor-in-chief: Bob Harras.

Characters

Listed in Alphabetical Order.

Iron Man
Iron Man

(Tony Stark)

Plus: Jocasta (Jocasta Pym), Rumiko Fujikawa, Sons of Yinsen.

> Wizard Iron Man: Book info and issue index

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