IRON MAN vol. 3 #81 (425 - labelled, but really 426)
(July 2004) "Baptism of Fire" -- The Deep End, part 3.
Cover art: Adi Granov.
Script: John Jackson Miller.
Art: Philip Tan.
The first few pages of this ish are devoted to the "origin" of the woman known as "Vitriol." Looks as if she gained her "powers" via a highly polluted river in Spain on her 22nd birthday. Cut to the present: Vitriol proceeds to hammer Iron Man, her metal-dissolving napalm-like substance dismantling Shellhead's armor like candle wax! Eventually, IM and several of his American army colleagues are taken captive. However, General Singleton arrives (he barely survives an attack by the "Ishtar-ists") and calls the Pentagon for the "guy who works at DARPA." He states "This is an Iron Man kind of problem! We need somebody with a similar skill set!" Keep this in mind, folks. Meanwhile, Vitriol lectures a captive Iron Man on what she's up to, more or less, as she also further dissolves his armor. An armorless Stark is then tossed into a holding pen with other captive Americans, but they soon plan their escape. Looks like they're gonna make it, but ... they're suddenly surrounded by troops loyal to Vitriol! But then -- these troops are zapped by an energy blast! Who...?? It looks like a variant of the Iron Man armor, but the helmet of the newly arrived "savior" slides back to reveal ... Carl Walker, aka Force!! And he's highly pissed off at Tony Stark! Whaaa --??
OK, looks like I was way off on my guess that the mystery dude was Firebrand. The question is, why was I so far off? What did Tony Stark do to tick off Walker (aka Clay Wilson -- remember?)? The last Iron Fans saw, Walker was deeply indebted to Stark for rescuing him from the clutches of Justin Hammer (see IM #223-224). Stark gave him a new identity and a job at a Stark subsidiary. Walker even wore several suits of IM armor in defense of Stark and Stark Enterprises (the Stealth Armor in IM #244 against the Fixer, and the Classic Red and Gold Armor in IM #300 against Ultimo). Now I'm sure JJ Miller will not let us down in offering a good explanation to just what ails Walker, given Miller's excellent grasp of IM history! Miller also excels at history in this ish, offering balanced takes on American history with regards to Iraq, and detailing just why Vitriol is so angry. Nicely done! Tan's Iron Man once again is quite tasteful, but his average folk are just dismal. Here's hoping a Force-IM battle will ensue so we don't have to look at Tan's average folk too much! Error note: The issue is mistakenly numbered 425, just like last issue.
Hube's Recommendation: 2 repulsors!
