For today’s comic book review, i read the Iron Man story from Tales Of Suspense #46.  this  is the 8th time iron man graced the pages of that comic book, but the first time his foe is another like himself, a human with a technologically enhanced suit.

The story starts off behind the iron curtain, as Professor Vanko  better known as The Crimson Dynamo Demonstrates his latest developments to Nikita Khrushchev. After this demonstration he is sent off to sabotage Tony Stark’s plants and to destroy Iron Man.   Can Tony Stark or Iron Man get to the bottom of this before  The Crimson Dynamo ruins him and his business? or is bankruptcy in the future for the brilliant weapons developer.

Story

Historic Perspective: Cold war Nemesis.

It is worth pointing out, that it was a year before this issue, that  the United States faced one of its toughest moments of the cold war,  I have already talked about the Cuban Missile Crisis in an earlier review, but it is worth reminding the reader of this, because by now the image of Nikita Khrushchev would be clear to about every person who would have picked up this issue in 1963.

The use of real nemesis can sometimes be greater than any the comic book world could make up.  The Crimson Dynamo proves to be a real foe, but Khrushchev is the ongoing threat that it becomes clear Iron Man will be dealing with, just as the US was really dealing with in the cold war.

We have seen almost every hero I have reviewed for deal with Communist threats, but perhaps none falls into that world more than Iron Man.

Stories Timeless nature.

While some aspects of the story, do not stand the test of time; a kid today would not get the same sence of threat or understanding that a kid then would have,  I do feel that the story withstand the test of time quite well, even if it serves best as an echo of the american psyche of the time. even if only from a pop culture, fantasy standpoint.

Artwork

I can say nothing bad about how Don Heck handled this Comic book story, I feel the way he put this art to paper was second to none,  proving more than enough detail  for the reader to feel like they are witnessing the story.

his design choices for the Crimson Dynamo are quite great,  a suited nemesis that is as much unlike iron man as he is like him.

In fact in this issue you see more panels featuring The Crimson Dynamo then you see with Tony Stark dressed as iron man.  offering us plenty of views of our first armored foe.

But this issue does offer us plenty of clippings of Tony Stark, Happy Hogan and Pepper Potts as Tony tries to get to the bottom of the ongoing sabotage at his plants before he goes out of business.  and I feel this issue builds upon the appearance of our two new supporting characters as much as it does Tony Stark. Don Heck was beginning to help define there mannerisms and their appearance as much as their personality.

Originality & Continuity

There has been several stories that have had remarkable similarities to this one reviewed already, but how could there not be, communist plots against the american super hero’s and scientific minds makes for a great story as well as being topical to the day.

what this story does well is build upon what was laid out in the prior issue and the ones before, firmly building into the ongoing Iron Man stories the supporting cast.

Characters & Development

Happy Hogan and Pepper Potts

In this issue we have a lot of development for the supporting cast that was just added the prior month. In that issue we seen the beginning of their bickering relationship with each other, but in this issue the writers chose to build upon that. This issue also does a lot to cement their loyalty to Tony Stark.