Friday, August 07, 2026

The title makes it seem like Cribs, but for the Hulk.

Also, this was an unexpected reprint, as the regular creative team apparently missed deadline, so I'm saving this post for the next time I miss deadline! From 1975, Iron Man #76, reprinting 1969's Iron Man #9, "...There Lives a Green Goliath" Written by Archie Goodwin, pencils by George Tuska, inks by Johnny Craig.
A mysterious delivery is made to an Asian woman and a hooded, angry-sounding character: from the color scheme I'm guessing the Mandarin, but we'll see. The box contains an antique armor, but what's inside the armor is the real prize: the Hulk? Shipped like he was from Temu, yet. Meanwhile, Tony Stark had repaired his armor, after a fight with the Gladiator; but not his reputation, as he had to duck out to change, and to current love interest Janice Cord it had looked like he deserted her. She still kinda likes Tony, as he was trying to buy her dad's company, but would like some explanation. Which she doesn't get, as the Hulk smashes in looking for Tony--wait, not for Tony, but for Janice! (Tony earlier uses his "fusion ray" to repair his armor, which is like using a taser to iron your pants. Still, good on Tony for repairing a suit, as nowadays it feels like armors are one-use only.)



Switching into his armor, Iron Man gives chase, but can't figure out why the Hulk would attack like that, or how the usually stupid (at the time) brute was more clever and more cruel now. He gets his answer later, when the fight rolls into an electrical plant's generators, and the Hulk is zapped and revealed as a robot. But who would build something like that, and why? Watching from afar, the bad guy unmasks, and it's the Mandarin, with a mask on underneath his hood. Literally feels like a hat on a hat there. Still, Mandy is pleased to learn more of Iron Man's vulnerabilities. 
Marvel would eventually stop doing reprints to cover books that missed deadline, and instead have editors commission and bank away "fill-in" issues as replacements. Tom Brevoort has a solid guide of them! But, this issue could've been the first time some readers saw Janice Cord, and they might have wondered what happened to her...nothing good, no. Tony isn't the kiss-of-death that dating Matt Murdock is, but he's in the running.

1 comment:

  1. Mr. Morbid12:44 PM

    For some reason I thought she was the chick who shot Tony, forcing him to use a computer chip system to fix his spine, which led to Armor Wars 2, but no that was definitely someone else. After looking her up, Janice just seemed to have a hard life all the way around.

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