Invincible Iron Man #24: Review

Apr 1970

Archie Goodwin, Johnny Craig

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Story Name:

My Son, the Minotaur

Review & Comments

Rating:

Invincible Iron Man #24 Review by T Vernon (January 29, 2013)

Review: An interesting one-shot tale that carries echoes of Beauty and the Beast (and a bit of BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN), with a sympathetic monster and a mad bad scientist—not to mention a “beauty” whose face is bandaged! Johnny Craig gives a cinematic feel to the story with his series of small, sometimes silent, panels. The only debit is the sometimes silly-looking Minotaur which threatens to throw the story off the rails but doesn’t overwhelm it.

Comments: First, last, and (probably) only appearance of the Minotaur and his father. A character called the Minotaur appeared in MARVEL YEAR-IN-REVIEW 1992 but there’s nothing to indicate it is Miklos Vryolak.

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Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Invincible Iron Man #24 Synopsis by T Vernon

Madame Masque, having leaped overboard from a boat into the Aegean Sea in issue #19, is lying unconscious in a cave near Crete. She is having a dream that Tony Stark and Jasper Sitwell are fighting over her and she awakens to the sight of a monstrous face…. Weeks’ later, her golden mask turns up on the collectors market where it is recovered by SHIELD and turned over to Jasper Sitwell…. Meanwhile, Tony Stark is in Monte Carlo but the society life is not enough to allow him to forget Janice Cord (killed in issue #22). He returns to his room and sees a familiar golden mask. Greeting her as Whitney, Tony discovers it is Jasper, using a ruse to confirm that a) Whitney Frost is alive, b) is Madame Masque, and c) Tony knew she was alive and didn’t tell Jasper. Torn between love and duty, Jasper vows to find Whitney…. On the island, Whitney is a guest in the clifftop mansion of Dr Vryolak who tells her his revolutionary method of plastic surgery can repair her face. But as he leaves and descends into his underground lab, we learn he has a secret: his son Miklos has the head of a bull—a Minotaur out of Greek myth—mutated as a result of his father’s use of an ancient cure for a modern disease. Periodically the old man sends out his monstrous offspring to terrorize local fishing villages and collect tribute as a means of funding his experiments—raids that the embittered Miklos uses to work off his bitter rage at his gruesome appearance. His real goal is to transform Whitney into another Minotaur, a mate for Miklos…. Tony Stark, searching for Madame Masque arrives on the island and, changing to Iron Man, flies along the coasts for any sign of the missing woman. He comes upon the Minotaur burning a village and swoops down to engage the monster in battle. Low on power, the hero finds his foe almost overwhelming but manages finally to knock him down. As he turns to deal with the fire, the Minotaur recovers and delivers a beating until Iron Man sprays an anti-fire chemical in his face. Miklos hurls the Avenger into the flames (which recharge his power by means of his thermocouple) and swims off. Iron Man chooses to deal with the fire rather than pursue…. Back at the mansion, Dr Vryolak offers Whitney a drug as part of the treatment; she becomes suspicious and refuses. The mad scientist goes into a rant about his plans for her so she overpowers him—but Miklos arrives at that moment—and so does Jasper Sitwell. A fight breaks out in the crowded room and Jasper is overcome by Miklos who carries Whitney down to the underground lab. Meanwhile, Iron Man, following the tides, arrives in a grotto where his amplifier picks up the villain’s voice. Using his diamond-edged drill to cut through the labyrinth and enter the lab. There, at full power he is able to face the Minotaur on his own terms. As they are engaged, Vryolak seeks to inject the mutating serum into Whitney but Jasper arrives and shoots the hypo out of his hand. The cave ceiling is collapsing from the damage inflicted during the fight and Iron Man is holding it in place so the others can get to safety. Vryolak sees this as the opportunity for Miklos and him to escape with their prisoner but the Minotaur refuses. Miklos holds the column in place so the other three may escape, explaining to his father that Jasper’s love for the disfigured Whitney gave her hope—hope which was denied him by his wicked father who filled him only with hate. So Miklos allows the cavern to collapse burying the two of them alive. Outside, Iron Man tends to the unconscious Jasper while Madame Masque dons her golden mask and takes her leave, filled with hope once more….

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