Invincible Iron Man #108: Review

Mar 1978

Bill Mantlo, Carmine Infantino

Story Name:

Growing Pains!

Review & Comments

Rating:

Invincible Iron Man #108 Review by T Vernon (October 7, 2014)

Review: DC legend Carmine Infantino jumps over to pencil for Marvel! His crisp, clean artwork made him my favorite Batman artist and his work on the Flash and Adam Strange are what got me into comics many (many) years ago. His style here is a bit more shaded, giving it a slightly grittier look that suits a tale that centers on wreckage. The plot is more creative than we deserved, seeing that the villain is a one-dimensional monster with a single superpower. And while we know the gold-plated heroes are going to survive, Mantlo keeps us in suspense. Now if Tony can only learn to chill out….

Comments: Part six of six parts, though it’s really more of an epilogue. The Growing Man previously appeared in THOR #140 and AVENGERS #69. Tony lists those who know his secret identity: Thor, Whitney Frost/Madame Masque, Happy and Pepper Hogan, and Michael O’Brien; the editor adds two Tony doesn’t know about, the Wraith and Commander Kraken.

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Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Invincible Iron Man #108 Synopsis by T Vernon

Midas has been defeated but Iron Man’s allies have been turned to gold! Shellhead and Jack of Hearts rush them to Hank Pym/Yellowjacket for a cure. Hank plans to use the bio-ray restorer (never tested on humans) powered by the Enervator (which turns people into freaks). Tony spends a whole page blaming himself for what happened to his friends until Hank tells him to knock it off and he storms out to his office where he resumes the self-pity. Turns out Hank was covering up his own uncertainty about the procedure. Anyway, workmen trying to clean up the rubble discover a foot long golden capsule; throwing away causes the Growing Man inside to pop out and enlarge; his mission: to find his master Kang the Conqueror. Iron Man hears the guards’ gunfire and takes on the monster but every time he hits his foe, the Growing Man grows larger (hence the name). Growing Man invades Hank’s lab but Shellhead manages to drive him away—with predictable results. Grown to giant-size, the monster rips out the Enervator as the power source he desires. Shellhead rips open the back of GM’s head, hooks his wires up to the enervator and uses the machine to drain all of the giant’s energy, sending it into the bio-ray. Result: his pals are successfully restored to life. Tony and Whitney hug. Awww.