Iron Man #120-128

Iron Man #120-128

Originally released in 1979

Written by David Michelinie (#120-128) and Bob Layton (#120, 123, 125, 127-128)

Art by John Romita Jr. (#120-121, 123-128), Carmine Infantino (#122)

This group of issues covers the famous "Demon in a Bottle" storyline, and somehow, I've never read that one. As a result, I'm not sure what tone this will have, and whether it will be a low point for the character or end on a feeling of hope as Tony manages to keep his personal demons at bay.

Tony Stark has been having a rough couple of days - in addition to the struggles that you'd expect Iron Man to have, he found out that SHIELD is secretly trying to buy a controlling interest in Stark International.  The plane that he's flying in is nearly taken down by an airborne tank, which causes the plane to land in the ocean with Iron Man keeping it from being a crash landing. He discovers that the military is using an isolated island to bury nuclear waste.

Namor is trying to keep an old man named Hiram Dobbs imprisoned on that island, and he doesn't take kindly to the presence of US military.  At least, that's what the military tells Iron Man - once he's out of earshot, it's clear that the island is hiding some kind of darker secret.

Meanwhile, industrialist Justin Hammer seems to be manipulating Iron Man's armour somehow, trying to kill him in subtle ways like opening up parts of his armour while he's underwater.  I don't know much about the character outside of the MCU version, but he's very different - much more serious, and he looks less like Sam Rockwell and more like Peter Cushing from the time that he played Grand Moff Tarkin in Star Wars.

Once they talk things out, Iron Man and Namor realize that they've been tricked.  As Jim Rhodes and socialite Bethany Cabe discover when they go to investigate the downed plane that Tony was on, the people that Iron Man met weren't US military at all, but representatives of the Roxxon corporation.

The island has a deposit of Vibranium on it that Roxxon wants, and Dobbs is the only person who was living on this island; he saved Namor's life, so Namor is duty-bound to help him. Given that it's two of the mightiest people on Earth against ordinary soldiers, Iron Man and Namor wipe the floor with Roxxon's forces quickly, though Roxxon manages to find a way to avoid being implicated in the ordeal.

As Tony flies back to the mainland, he flashes back to his earliest days as Iron Man, with issue 122 more or less retelling his origin story with new art. (Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, and Don Heck are all credited for the original comic) I'm not sure if John Romita Junior wasn't available that month, or if the creators felt that audiences could use a recap of Iron Man's life before this new story arc.

Once he's back in America, Tony takes Bethany, who's one of his new security guards, out for dinner as a way of saying thanks for her help.  Bethany doesn't approve of Iron Man - for someone who's supposed to be Tony Stark's personal bodyguard, he's never near Tony when danger strikes.  This brings the two of them into conflict - Tony has the highest opinion of Iron Man, for reasons that are obvious to us but baffle Bethany.

Their date is interrupted by a trio of Iron Man villains trying to rob the casino - Blizzard, Whiplash, and the Melter.  As Iron Man fends them off with Bethany's help, they mention that their employer, Hammer, doesn't want Iron Man to be badly injured.  Iron Man doesn't react to that at all, and it seems like he has no idea who Justin Hammer is.

Tony doesn't have much time to think about this, as Iron Man is called upon to represent Stark International at the United Nations, where the ambassador of Carnelia wants to make a deal with Stark International; he's a big fan of Iron Man, and opening the nation up to the west would be a huge diplomatic accomplishment.

Michelinie and Romita do a great job at fleshing out these smaller parts and making them feel like people.  It makes it all the more tragic when Justin Hammer takes control of Tony's armour during a photo session, activating the repulsor blaster and killing the ambassador in front of hundreds of witnesses.

Due to his heroic actions, Iron Man is given leniency; he has to turn his armour in rather than face jail time or a trial, and he doesn't even have to do it in person, with Tony Stark graciously volunteering to drop the armour off. (after he stripped it of its electronic components)  This infuriates Bethany since she feels like Iron Man is getting off with a slap on the wrist, driving a deeper rift between her and Tony, who lashes out at her.

Tony's been drinking throughout the story, but he shows up to work the next morning a mess.  Still, he's trying to be productive in spite of that - the Avengers have to temporarily dismiss Iron Man while the charges are being investigated (as Iron Man knows that someone else took control of his armour), but Tony visits Captain America to get a crash course in martial arts training.

With the help of Scott Lang, Tony is able to find out that Justin Hammer is targeting Stark International, along with where Hammer is located.  Rhodey flies him out to Monaco, where he tries to gather information only for the two of them to be attacked and Tony is eventually captured.

Tony is taken to Justin Hammer's house, where Hammer naturally takes this moment to explain the details of his evil plan - after finding a way to get around the security on the Iron Man armour and control it, Justin Hammer used it to discredit Stark International because that company won out on the Carnelian contract over one of his companies.

Tony tries to escape, only to discover that Hammer's apparent home is in the middle of the ocean.  While Hammer is meeting with Blizzard, Whiplash, and the Melter, Tony manages to break out from the room that he's being held in, destroy the computer that was used to control his actions, and get to his back-up armour in his suitcase.  Meanwhile, Hammer calls in almost a dozen supervillains who he has as back-up - none of them are particularly noteworthy, but it shows how prepared he is.

Iron Man faces off against this small army of supervillains in issue 127, defeating them effortlessly and gaining the evidence that he needs to clear his name.  However, that doesn't spare him from the court of public opinion - people just saw him kill a man on TV, and even small children are scared of him when he's wearing his armour.  His actions even cause Jarvis to resign, which makes him realize how much he's been ruining his own life.

This leads to issue 128, which has a cover that represents the storyline as a whole.

The opening page does a pretty good job with summing up Tony's state of mind in one image:

Reflecting on his problems, Tony makes a decision to change his ways. Not to give up drinking, but rather, to give up his civilian life as Tony Stark.

Considering that he's still drunk when acting on this, it goes about as well as you'd expect.  Trying to help with a train derailment that the authorities were in the middle of fixing leads to a chlorine gas leak that requires everyone within a five mile radius to be evacuated.

Frustrated that neither of his double lives are working out for him, Tony heads back to his apartment to drink, only to be stopped by Bethany. (thankfully, he changed out of the Iron Man suit first, or else that would have made the conversation much worse)  Bethany was married to a man who went through similar issues, taking a bunch of pills that ultimately caused him to get into a fatal car accident.  Bethany didn't act back then when she should have, and she doesn't want Tony to kill himself with booze like her husband did with pills.

The scene of Tony breaking down and asking for help, finally letting someone into his world, is a powerful one.  It might not be the end of Tony's problems, or his struggles with alcoholism, but at the very least, he's taking steps to solve them.

Unfortunately, his resolve is tested when Jarvis was forced to sell his two shares of Stark International stock due to his mother's failing health, and the shady business that he sold them through handed those stocks over to SHIELD. Fighting seemingly every urge in his body, he puts the lid on the bottle and resolves to restore Stark International's good name and fight to get his company back.

Issue 128 was definitely the highlight of this storyline, and it acted extremely well as a stand-alone story to the point where I could have just read it on its own for today, though it helped to see what brought Tony to this point. It was really moving, seeing Tony let down his literal and figurative armour and open up to someone after spending most of his time as Iron Man putting barriers around himself.  While I likely haven't read many Iron Man stories relative to the amount that he's been in, I can see why this is considered one of the most memorable for the character.