I was looking for something else, but stumbled into a couple of issues I hadn't read in some time: Iron Man #275, "Dragon Doom!" Pencils by Paul Ryan, inks by Bob Wiacek, written by John Byrne. (That was the order they usually were presented in their run.)
The Mandarin has taken over a good portion of China, but he's come to realize he's only the pawn of Fin Fang Foom and his alien-dragon comrades. The dragons now want their rings back, and only Iron Man can stop them from taking them and the world. Rhodey is there, but in bad shape; and the Mandarin is a bit mopey over being played. Tony isn't doing much better: his nervous system was deteriorating, and he had to leave the battlefield a previous issue to switch from a remote piloted suit to showing up in person.
Rhodey gets knocked into another timezone, and Tony commandeers and overclocks the Mandarin's rings, causing a sixteen-hour explosion, in which the Mandarin and the dragons disappear. (And Tony comes out with a bleached-white suit of armor...)
I always liked those panels at Marvel, where some big cosmic thing would be going down and various characters like Dr. Strange and Spidey would sense it. The rest of the issue is a sad wrap-up to Tony's visit to China: his doctor, Su Yin (yet another Dr. Love-Interest...) was forced to lie to him, and his condition is hopeless. Tony tries to get Yin to run away with him; but relents after meeting her husband.
But...but where are his awesome purple pants?
ReplyDeleteI had probably the 1st 2 issues, no just the 1st, but never finished the set. Byrne's run wasn't bad, and even though I'd have liked to have seen him handle the art, Paul Ryan did an okay job for the time.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes indeed, where are the pants? Maybe he was on the way to get them from the big and tall store, but forgot and got in the middle of this mess instead.