Issue 169: Blackout! // Iron Man: Reforging a Hero
Welcome to April of 1983, where the American space shuttle Challenger makes its first flight into space. While the Challenger would eventually launch into tragedy, it was the sign of more change for the 1980s, with the first space walk of the new era of exploration also happening. It was also time for the last domino to fall that would trigger the biggest change in a Marvel comic in over a decade.
Blackout is by Denny O’Neil, Luke McDonnell, Steve Mithcell, Rick Parker, and Bob Sharen.
Our day begins with Iron Man himself ramming through every single alcohol advertising billboard on the upper west side of Manhattan. As one tends to do when furiously drunk.
Tony moves on to Times Square, which has dozens of ads for adult entertainments in 1983. For those who don’t know, or aren’t old enough to remember, Times Square was not always the family entertainment hub of New York City. In fact, during the 1970s and 1980s, the entire area was filled with advertisements for low delights, and many streets that led into the square were filled with adult entertainment stores and strip clubs.
Plans during the late-80s were put into play, with the final culmination coming in the mid-90s under the watchful eye of then-sane-person-and-mayor Rudy Gulianni. Seedy shops were evicted and abandoned buildings were claimed under eminent domain, and the entire area was basically gentrified into the massive shopping center that we know and see idealized today.
Needless to say, Tony striking down advertisements for booze is unusual for the character, but he would have had plenty of targets.
In fact, many civilians notice that Tony isn’t exactly in the wrong. Sure, he’s making a mess, but those same advertisements are viewed by a few people as eyesores and ugly. It’s not like he has the right to do this, frankly, but the average Marvel universe civilian finds it hard to argue with it. Even Daredevil has to admit that Iron Man must be in the right.
Tony spins into his apartment building after a long day’s work of smashing up legal advertising through the front window, keeping his identity as secret as usual. Pouring a glass of fine wine for himself, Tony remarks that Indries and Stane are full of crap, and Tony’s got nothing to worry about. And then passes out in a lounge chair while watching television, in full armor.
He wakes up to the nightly news reporting on his antics earlier and a massive hangover. Tony doesn’t remember doing a damned thing, hollering at the television like it can hear him.
Again, this is a fantastic look at how alcohol can really mess a person up. While Tony seems in full control of his mind while inebriated, it’s become clear he was operating a multi-million dollar machine of war while blackout drunk. Tony is in freefall, and there doesn’t seem to be a parachute or anyone coming to his rescue anytime soon.
Meanwhile, a new villain has their sights on Stark International. Demanding revenge for his embarrassing defeat at the hands of Spider-Man and Iron Man in the pages of Marvel Team-Up issue 110, the villainous Magma has a plan to wipe out Tony Stark! This plan involves a massive spider-robot that shoots magma, which we will see later on.
Luckily, everyone’s favorite air-chauffeur James Rhodes has made it back to America. He lands the stolen jet from the last issue at the airfield of Stark International, and is dismayed to find out Tony is off the wagon once more. No one seems to be concerned that Rhodey was kidnapped, nearly poisoned by spiders, and kidnapped again… which is rather disconcerting for the kind of workplace Tony Stark has been fostering. Yes, it’s the 80s, which is all about what you can get for yourself and screw everyone else… but you would think that people would care about someone as gregarious as Rhodey.
Ok, Tony cares, at least! Not wasting any time, Tony offers Rhodey a drink. After all, it’s something to celebrate, since Tony’s life has gone down the drain so fast. In fact, he’ll drink Rhodey’s share too!
This issue alone is a fantastic look at how an alcoholic can justify anything being a good reason for a drink. A good job busting up advertisements in public illegally? Time for a drink. My company is crashing around my ears? Time for a drink. I saw something on TV that made me mad? Time for a drink.
Unfortunately, trouble is rearing its ugly head, as Magma is now making his way to Stark International via the surrounding suburbs. Tony runs off, claiming he’ll go find Iron Man, and suits up in a solid execution of the process… while claiming that even Rhodey is somehow disapproving of him now.
But no one frowns at Iron Man! Unless they’re Machine Man, or they own a billboard on Manhattan island. Tony streaks out to intercept Magma’s massive mechanical monstrosity, and it looks like Magma is a perfectly sane and rational villain.
So, I got curious as to what the ideas of this Magma were. His first appearance was in Marvel Team-Up issue 110, from October 1981.
Marvel Team-Up issue 110: Magma Force! October 1981. Plot and Breakdowns by Herb Trimpe. Script by David Michelinie. Finishes by Mike Esposito. Letters by Diana Albers. Color by Bob Sharen.
Known originally as Jonathan Darque, Magma once owned a major mining company. He developed ways to mine more efficiently, and used these means to help during the energy crisis the country had recently overcome. However, he couldn’t avoid protesters, who he claimed were ungrateful despite the fact that Darque Mining would strip-mine the surface of the Earth and left nothing worthwhile in its wake. Which is a justifiable objection to strip mining if done irresponsibly.
But the problem is the protestors also drove his wife’s SUV off the road at one of his mining sites, and multiple class action lawsuits forced his company to close down. This was obviously all society’s fault, and he became a supervillain with minions and massive machines that can move the Earth. Magma has somehow made a machine that can predict, and cause, Earthquakes. In fact…
Yes.
The massive, devastating eruption of Mount St. Helens from May 18th, 1980 is now canonically a crime caused by a villain in the Marvel Universe. Magma has a body count of 57 humans, caused over $1.1 billion dollars in property damage (circa 1980), and caused volcanic ash related destruction in 11 US states and 5 Canadian provinces. This is treated with remarkably less weight than you would imagine.
And Magma’s ideas, so far as I can tell, are: “screw the environment, I want to make progress.”
Boy, this guy and Elon Musk have a lot of similarities.
Back in our current story, Magma blasts Tony with molten rock. Since Iron Man’s armor can sustain a lot of heat, this does no damage. But Tony is drunk beyond most common human tolerances, and he’s swatted aside quite easily. Magma also figures it’s time to crush the man within the armor by stepping on the armor and increasing the pressure, and Tony’s starting to panic. He realizes that there’s at least a dozen ways out of “being crushed underfoot.” However, he’s too drunk to think of any, and blames the armor.
Tony is able to escape by the skin of his iron-clad pants, and figures his armor is dangerously low on power. He finds Rhodey, and the two of them come to the Stark International’s fusion lab. Tony brushes off a new kid who’s been angling for a job named Morley Erwin, and Rhodey notices how… drunk Tony is. He calls it rude, but this is Rhodey. He’s being nice to his boss.
Tony plugs in one of his power pods to the fusion plant, and tries to recharge his armor.
And drops all of Stark International into darkness. Tony claims he forgot that the older armor he’s wearing can’t handle such an insane charge of energy… but this last summer has given me plenty of experience with blowing a breaker. Either way, Tony has messed up something fierce, and Magma is going to have zero resistance when he arrives to wreck shop. Realizing he’s screwed up badly, Iron Man asks Rhodey to come with him, and takes him to Tony Stark’s private sanctuary.
Again, Luke McDonnell and the rest of the art crew have utterly nailed the art for this issue. Tony Stark is somewhere between drunk and hung over, and is physically and emotionally miserable. Rhodey isn’t shocked that his boss’ super-secret bodyguard who keeps showing up wherever Tony Stark goes is actually Tony Stark. This really hints that Rhodey’s known since at least The Invincible Iron Man 163, where Tony just threw on his armor and tossed open the hatch of his plane in mid-flight.
The Invincible Iron Man issue 163: Knight’s Errand!. October 1982. Denny O’Neil, Luke McDonnell, Steve Mitchell, Bob Sharen, and Rick Parker.
Tony figures now that, rather than recharging his armor, he needs to fortify his insides. Downing whiskey this time, Rhodey isn’t convinced.
Meanwhile, Magma starts ripping into Stark International. With the power out, it’s down to Tony’s personal security force to use handguns and rifles against the mech. It’s bullet resistant, so this goes about as well as a flyswatter against a bald eagle. And now Tony Stark is out cold.
James Rhodes is a good man, though, and he’s realized that someone has to protect Stark International. So he does the one thing fans in 1983 didn’t expect.
James Rhodes is going to become Iron Man. And The Invincible Iron Man is never going to be quite the same again.
There were no letters published for this issue, as Dennis O’Neil would use the extra page for cramming in as much plot as he could for future issues. However, we have some Bullpen Bulletins from the day!
Jim Shooter is back again, and he’s been asked to explain Jim Shooter’s Laws that were name dropped forever ago in an earlier column. It’s actually a fascinating look at the time, and something that could be almost used today:
No one works for free. If you do a job that is not your own, they will pay you the rate owed.
A creator’s time is valuable. If wasted, they are paid for it.
All creative people are treated and paid fairly. There is no caste system, and no “deserved” work.
All mail must be opened and read by the addressee.
Mail from fans and readers must be treated with interest and respect.
Interaction with fans should be done in person as often as possible.
There are no laws limiting creativity. If it works, it works.
Sure, it’s not perfect. And number 6 has somewhat backfired for some creators with the advent of social media. But it’s a nice ideal to strive for overall, and it’s something I find myself respecting Jim Shooter for.
In something that completely blindsided me, however, is BLiP!
BLiP is Marvel’s ill-fated attempt to cash-in on the video game craze that was rushing through the nation. The first issue is basically this weird amalgamation of celebrity gossip around video games and tips for said video games.
For example, we have Bruce Boxleitner and David Wallace being quizzed about their favorite video games. As it turns out, Bruce got to play a lot of games while on the set of TRON, as Disney had a small arcade at the studio during the filming of the movie. He got hooked, and claims it helped him visualize the world of TRON while it was nothing more than ill-fitting jumpsuits and blue screens.
Also, another thing that had me gobsmacked was that Twin Galaxies has its own section.
To make a long story short, a group of friends in Iowa started keeping track of high scores in video games. It started at the Twin Galaxies Entertainment Center, and that eventually became the main group keeping track of high scores and records in arcade games. They’ve recently hit a ton of controversy thanks to Todd Rogers and Billy Mitchell being alleged lying cheaters about their high scores.
Our lawyers have requested we say alleged because Rogers and Mitchell are very litigious-happy.The magazine also had dad jokes crammed across the pages, basic reviews and previews of upcoming games, and even upcoming news announcements. They even report on what is now considered downloadable content, way back in 1983.
Also, the first-ever comics featuring Nintendo’s famous Mario Mario and Donkey Kong!
It was filled with jokes about the game, as well as hints and ticks about the game. In a way, it was a predecessor to Nintendo Power’s early feature Howard and Nester. The comic also ended hinting that Kong, Mario, and Pauline are in a throupple. Wow.
BLiP only lasted seven issues, going down the drain around the peak of the North American video game crash of 1983. Very likely, it was expected that the declining sales and low reputation of most arcades was what caused Marvel to cancel the magazine. However, it’s still a fascinating look at the 80s pop culture, and I don’t think it can be understated that this is also Nintendo’s first-ever comic of Mario!
Next time, we’re going to see the first time James Rhodes takes command of the Iron Man armor! Join us for “And Who Shall Clothe Himself in Iron!”
