Tales of Suspense #43

 "Follow me, puny surface man!"

This may, in some ways, be an utterly unremarkable issue. There's still no real supporting cast. The antagonist. Queen Kala of the Netherworld, may not quite be a one-off but she's hardly a major recurring villain. And Tony Stark basically gets out of his quandary by tricking Kala into giving him a laboratory, privacy, and unlimited resources so he can sneakily make a new Iron Man suit- in short, a retread of the origin story.

Plus , again, we have little attention being given to overall continuity, showing that, still, despite the crossovers there's no real conception of a consistent shared universe. The "Netherlanders" (Secretly Dutch? They're certainly below sea level,) are yet another underground civilisation, and they're descended from Atlanteans. So, yeah, I'm sure Mole Man, Tyrannus and indeed the Sub-Mariner might have something to say about that.

Yet, despite its flaws and contemporary quirks (Tony exploits the misogyny of Kala's right hand man! She kindly shows him around before carrying out her plan! Bringing to the surface turns her, conveniently, into an "old hag" so invading the surface wouldn't be viable. Even more conveniently, the effect is reversible!), this is very fun and engaging. But at this point we really, really need a supporting cast and some solid recurring baddies. 

Tales of Suspense #42

 "By Lenin's beard! What a fairy tale!"

Yep, it's Russian communists. Again. Three stories in and no sign of any supporting cast for Iron Man, or recurring villains. Just generic aliens and communists. And... these stories really aren't any good.

The plot here is completely forgettable. A one-off communist functionary, the Red Barbarian, is an impatient tyrant who makes David Brent seem like an excellent boss, shooting his underlings dead at the slightest hint of failure. And an over-confident master of disguise, the Actor, is undone by his own arrogant hubris in his attempt to steal Tony Stark's latest invention. It's just rubbish. 

The direction of this title seems worrying. These early stories are surprisingly different to the Iron Man we'll come to know- Shellhead (a term not yet coined) is often referred to as a "knight in shining armour". Everything the armour seems to do is because of transistors. Iron Man works as an FBI agent.

I'll admit to one little moment of amusement as Iron Man disrupts communist spy ring via magnetic stuff performed by his "transistor-powered device but it doesn't affect his armour because... well, technobabble. But right now Iron Man is most certainly a bottom tier title. I hope it improves soon.

Tales of Suspense #41

 "Above all else I crave my daughter's love and affection! I must make up for all the years I've neglected her while I devoted myself to a fantastic life of crime!"

As soon as I read the above quote I obviously knew exactly what thus week's antagonist's Achilles' heel would turn out to be. Basically, though, said baddie is basically an over-the-top Bond villain type or, rather, a Dr. Evil type in how over the top he is, with his desire to take over the world, amusedly hanging out under a force field with his fellow evil geniuses as the nations of the world uselessly hurl loads of atom bombs at it. Ah, wasn't the atomic age lovely?

This is, of course, the first appearance of Doctor Strange... but not that one. Rather, it's the name of this rather hilarious, bonkers new baddie, whose failure to return is likely due to the fact that his name will soon be hijacked by a certain character whom, I suspect, we'll be meeting very soon indeed. 

Still, this is a fun little story, and it's fun seeing all those little Iron Man tropes and so forth develop in these early stories. Here, for example, we get the first mention of Stark Industries, and the first time Stark uses an attache case to carry his armour around. There's also, yet again, a bit of exposition at the start to explain the basis premise, in which it's really emphasised that Tony is not merely a scientific genius but a scientific polymath across various fields.

And... yeah, he also goes to absurdly extreme and expensive lengths to entertain sick kids. But I suppose Tony must be able to afford it. This issue may not try to be big or clever, but it certainly is enormous fun. 

Tales of Suspense #39

 "Have you never seen an Iron Man before?"

At last we get Iron Man- it really does feel as though it's been forever. Now we just need the X-Men, Doctor Strange, Daredevil, and the Silver Age debut of Captain America, and the main initial Marvel cast will be more or less assembled. 

It's basically the well-known origin story here, but interesting to read this story on its own terms as opposed to the origin of a well-established character. Tony Stark's face is not quite yet recognisable. And the character... it's a brave move to make Stark a glamorous playboy, a "millionaire bachelor", and an inventor of weaponry for the US government- hardly an underdog. But this, of course, is why he must be cursed with the shrapnel close to his heart, forcing him to wear an iron breastplate in order to stay alive. 

It's all very of its time, though- South Vietnam, in the years before the draft. The art is, at times, well, more than verging on racist caricature. And it feels at times as though every other word is "transistor". But this, as an origin, is simple yet solid, and it's already clear that this is an idea with potential.

There's a later short story about Vikings on a desert island, part of the Order only because of references to Odin, that is entertaining enough for what it is. But I'm curious to see the first steps of Iron Man as a character now we've established the origin...