Invincible Iron Man #104: Review

Nov 1977

Bill Mantlo, George Tuska

Story Name:

Triad!

Review & Comments

Rating:

Invincible Iron Man #104 Review by T Vernon (September 8, 2014)

Review: Two people with metal face coverings kissing? Bet the Marvel staff had a lot of fun with that one. Anyway, the story boasts a weird love triangle. I mean of course Tony, Whitney, and Stark International. Really, Tony’s big motivation is getting his company back from Midas, romance is just a side issue. Meanwhile, jealousy turns the clean-cut company man Jasper into a superagent, holding his own against Iron Man himself. The issue is a lot of fun and ends with the promise of a psycho ex-girlfriend arriving. Maybe Marianne and Jasper will find each other on the rebound!

Comments: Part two of six parts. Harry Key makes his final appearance—as a corpse. Here’s an odd detail: Madame Masque dreams of Midas in his exoskeleton—but she couldn’t have seen it as she was with Midas only a few minutes last issue before taking off with Iron Man and he wasn’t wearing it; here I thought Marianne Rodgers was the psychic one. The letters page presents a single letter from one Stephan Guarr on the direction the series should be going in; very thoughtful, with an equally considerate response from the editor.

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Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Invincible Iron Man #104 Synopsis by T Vernon

Iron Man confronts Midas, who dons an exoskeleton to allow him to raise his bulk and also endows him with the power to turn anything he touches to gold, like his Classical namesake. He seizes the hero and indeed transforms him into gold and proceeds to smash him to pieces with his enhanced strength. The end of the series? No, a nightmare of Madame Masque’s as she spent the night in Tony Stark’s mansion. Whitney offers Tony her love and support but that isn’t enough—he must regain his factory at all costs. After he leaves Masque is confronted by Jasper Sitwell, her ex-lover who followed them to the mansion. He is now jealous of her relationship with Iron Man….
Back at Stark International, Midas fires all of the employees, replacing them with robots, and creates an Iron Man army out of all of Tony’s stolen armors….
The police investigate the mysterious death of Harry Key and Detective Michael O’Brien decides to don the Guardsman armor once more….
When Iron Man returns to the Mansion, Jasper confronts him and Madame Masque; the jealous lover unleashes an electric cable and explosive darts on the hero. Jasper’s irrational anger and training allow him to get the best of the wary hero in a chase around the mansion. He challenges Iron Man to fight for Whitney but the woman herself tells him it’s over and that she chooses to be with Iron Man. The dejected Jasper walks away….
Epilogue 1: Jack of Hearts ponders what to do to help Iron Man defeat Midas….
Epilogue 2: Marianne Rodgers, newly released from an asylum, is offered a lift by a kindly motorist; she mistakes him for Tony and wipes his brain….