“Yesterday’s” Comic> Iron Man #273

“Mess with my little brother, will you?”

Iron Man #273

Marvel (October, 1991)

Odd thing about the credits for this issue; Byrne is listed AFTER the inker instead of the first credit.

Around China people are turning, or rather REturning into dragons and heading off. Natasha tries to recruit Captain America and She-Hulk to look into the matter. However, Tony’s telepresence armor is barely handling Fing Fang Foom when the Mandarin stops verbally sparing with Rhodey actually in another Iron Man armor and joins the fray. Overwhelmed, it appears Tony sends the suit running but whatever he’s planning doesn’t matter when the dragons arrive!

What they got right: I like the idea of dragons hiding out among humans. That could be a story idea itself. Not having been around for the previous issues I don’t know why Mandarin is teaming with Foom or why Rhodey is back in an Iron Man armor but it’s good to see him back.

What they got wrong: If I recall correctly from what I’ve heard (Hube can correct me if he reads this), the telepresence armor is due to Tony having nerve damage. If I’m right…really, Byrne? I guess Tony damaged was just the in-thing so the alcoholism had someone to play with? Yes, he originally had a damaged heart and after he fixed that they paralyzed him for a while. This is not Tony’s defining trait anymore so can we please stop giving him medical problems? No? We’ll see this again every decade? Crud!

Recommendation: Whatever problem I have with the telepresence armor (I don’t care for the wired on the arms either, and its missing some of the thing that made the other armors cool) there is an interesting idea at least. Whether it pays off will have to be found out by people who have the whole “Dragon Seed Saga” storyline, but it’s worth a look at for the concept at least.