Iron Man (1968 series) #73

Review: Nice wrap-up to the Marty March/hidden city story which up till now has only been a subplot behind bigger adventures. The plot moves at such a rapid clip that one doesn’t notice that the opening explosion has nothing to do with the rest of the issue and is never referred to again. And a recurring theme of this era surfaces again, as Tony agonizes over his role in the Vietnam War as he finds his own weapons turned against him. Arvell Jones and Keith Pollard take over the art chores with this issue and while their layouts are nice, something seems a bit off in the way the figures are drawn and it is occasionally distracting. The most surprising aspect of the tale is a few adult references in the story: Pepper refers to the semi-pornographic parody Naked Came the Stranger, and the guard gives a clear indication he’s planning to rape Roxie; right there the issue is lifted out of the “All-Ages” category. Very strange for Marvel to go PG all of a sudden.

Comments: Based on an idea by Tom Orzechowski. Final appearance of Marty March (introduced in #69). Tony Stark’s brief appearance in GIANT-SIZE MAN-THING #2 takes place immediately before this issue.

Iron Man spends a lot of time off-and-on in Vietnam in his own series and in Avengers around this time. The Official Index gives a chronology, mostly based on references in the comics themselves. He'd already been there with the Avengers in Av#123-124 to investigate Libra's claims about Mantis' true origins. After some more Avengering with Captain Marvel and Thanos, Iron Man goes to Vietnam in IM#68 to help Roxanne look for Marty, but he leaves her to go fight Mandarin and Yellow Claw in #69-71. Then he goes back to the US to look after business and gets involved in (among others) Av#126, GSAv#1, Av#127&FF#150 and the start of the Celestial Madonna story in Av#128-129&GSAV#2. The he returns to Vietnam with the Avengers and Mantis in Av#130 to research *her* version of her past, where they meet Crimson Dynamo and pals. Then it's back home for IM#72. Then back to Vietnam for this issue and Crimson Dynamo again, to track down Roxie who he seemed to have forgotten about. Once there he links up with the Avengers and Mantis again, who are still searching for evidence of Mantis' past, leading to the bulk of the Celestial Madonna story in Av#131-132&GSAV#3&Av#133-135&GSAv#4, set in Vietnam (with a long side trip through Limbo and time). Crimson Dynamo's trio show up again in GSAv#4. Then it's back to the US again for IM#74, but which has Crimson Dynamo and gang getting arrested in Vietnam.