Invincible Iron Man #210: Review

Sep 1986

Danny Fingeroth, M. D. Bright

Story Name:

Happy's Story

Review & Comments

Rating:

Invincible Iron Man #210 Review by T Vernon (December 5, 2016)

Comments: This is the original Spymaster, introduced in IRON MAN #33; it is the the third one to take the name that Happy Hogan will die trying to stop in IRON MAN (2005 series) #13—proving Pepper was right all along. And how does Jake don his Spymaster costume in the twenty seconds it takes Iron Man to arrive? And why would he waste those precious seconds? It's a comic book, okay?

Review: A tongue-in-cheek cover with a less-than-impressed villain facing Happy Hogan promises something offbeat...and delivers. A heavily character-based piece on a former regular who hasn't been around for some time. It gives great insight into who Happy is and why that will be his downfall some day. The chief problem with the issue is the form: a lot of small panels clogged with dialogue may give us the rich psychological stuff but ends up shortchanging the visuals and making the comic a chore to read. Ugh.

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Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Invincible Iron Man #210 Synopsis by T Vernon

Happy Hogan, now a boxing manager in Cleveland, is in financial straits and wants to call Tony Stark for help; wife Pepper wants to keep as far from Tony's dangerous life as possible. Pepper walks out and Happy calls Tony who offers to send him a blank check. Happy, relieved, can go on with promoting his new discovery, Jake Jordan, an up-and-coming young boxer. Happy tells Jake about the good old days with Tony Stark and promises to introduce him if they ever get to LA....

Soon, Happy brings Jake to L.A. for a fight and Tony and Rhodey are there at ringside. Jake wins and the four pals celebrate, ending up at Tony's mansion where he offers accommodations to Happy and Jake. Happy is still hurting from having to take money from Tony and is angered when Tony observes that Jake seems to take sadistic pleasure in beating his opponents....

Later, Happy can't sleep and he heads down to Tony's lab to apologize but finds Jake there, photographing top-secret Stark plans. Jake reveals that he is the Spymaster and has been hired by A.I.M. to steal the plans for Tony's space station; Jake also threatens Pepper and the kids with reprisal if Happy says a word to Tony so he returns to bed fighting with his conscience. Spymaster accidentally trips an alarm and Iron Man appears on the scene, only to be surprised at how effective A.I.M.s latest weaponry is at troubling him. A set of proton-energized electromagnets pins Shellhead to the wall just as Happy arrives. Realizing he must save his friend, Happy starts fighting with the young athletic villain and, when things look bad for the baddie, he shoots Happy. The fight has given Iron Man time to get loose from the magnets and he clobbers Spymaster....

Pepper comes to visit Happy in the hospital where she runs into Tony. He promises the best care but Pepper is bitter because again Happy was nearly killed for being Tony's friend—and that one day he will die trying to help Tony. Pepper tells him that if he is truly their friend he will stay out of their lives...so Tony leaves without seeing Happy....

Story #2