The Invincible Iron Man (1968) #121

We've recently had a Defenders reunion theme and a solo series theme to the posts added to this blog.

The next one will be a "part 2" theme in which we're going to move forward with stories reviewed earlier this year. We already kind of did that with the Namor series from the 1990s so this will be a natural transition.

We begin with Iron Man #121 which sports an April 1979 cover date. Issue #120 was reviewed here.

Iron Man was drowning at the conclusion of #120 as a result of someone taking over his armour remotely. Of course, no honourable ally, or even opponent, will be harmed when the Avenging Son is around!

His bedside manner kind of sucks, mind you.

Once threats are out of the way, Namor explains that he was defending the old dude on the island (Hiram Dobbs) from the military because Dobbs had saved his life. Namor had come across toxic waste and in burying it, took ill from being exposed to it.

That's because they're not military but actually employees of Roxxon Oil. Roxxon found vibranium (the rare metal which made Wakanda wealthy, I believe) on the island and intend to acquire it no matter what. And so the heroes team-up to stop them.

There's some pretty good stuff in this story. Iron Man's involvement was the result of a completely insane coincidence and Namor's...Well, his was too, actually. He just happened to be swimming in the very spot where vibranium had recently been found. But the story did feed off his dislike for humans and added to his reasons for feeling that way so it's a good addition to the collection.

It seems that Namor appears in the following issue as well although it might just be during the first few pages as he departs the scene. We'll look into that and if his presence is more substantial, we'll have more Invincible Iron Man here before long.