How to Mistreat Your Employees

cover art by John Romita, Jr.
with inks by Bob Layton

I had dropped Marvel superhero books completely by 1986, when a poorly written, multi-title crossover called Mutant Massacre made it clear that (for my sensibilities, at least) reading them simply wasn't going to be fun anymore. Besides, I resented being forced to buy muliple titles to follow along with just one storyline.

But in the half-decade before that, Marvel still had its high points. For instance, writer David Michelinie was always a reliable source for entertaining superhero stories. A few years ago, I reviewed a two-part Avengers tale from 1980, written by Michelinie, that I enjoyed enormously.

Michelinie's strongest run as a writer is arguable his work on Iron Man, fleshing out Tony Stark's character, introducing now-classic supporting characters like James Rhodes, and consistently gave us strong plots with great action sequences.

Iron Man #149 (August 1981) was co-plotted by Michelinie and artist Bob Layton, with Michelinie writing the finished script. John Romita, Jr. did the breakdowns and Layton did the finished art.

It begins with Iron Man rather easily putting down some pirates who were trying to hijack one of Tony Stark's cargo ships. Iron Man showed up because radio communications with the ship were being blocked, so the Avenger is also bringing word that the ship is to turn around without delivering its cargo.

What follows is an example of how well Michelinie had defined Tony Stark's character. The ship was recalled because it was carrying high-tech equipment bound for Latvaria. At the time, Doctor Doom had been overthrown as that country's ruler, but Tony still had the country on a "no-sell" list because there was no guarentee that it wouldn't be misused. In fact, Doom (who was still living in his Latvarian castle) is the buyer of the equipment. Tony then fires the executive who improperly made the sale. The dialogue, though, makes it clear that Tony isn't just being a jerk boss, but reacting appropriately to someone who messed up big time.

This is nicely counterpointed by a scene with Doctor Doom. Doom's been time traveling to study magic with past masters (for reasons not yet explained). He needs to go farther back in time and needed the circuits he was buying from Stark to do so. When he learns the sale was cancelled, he reacts by threatening the life of his assistant for "allowing this to happen."

Both Doom and Tony can be tough bosses, but Tony is expecting his people to act with reasonable moral responsibility, while Doom acts with almost capricious cruelity. This will have consequences.

By the way, in a nice call back to previous Marvel continuity, Doom's current assistant is the brother of a previous assistant--killed by Doom back in Fantastic Four #87.

Well, if Doom can't get the circuits he needs fairly, he'll gladly use foul means. Tony knows this, of course, but a couple of mercenaries in a Doom-designed death vehicle still manage to get away with the the circuits after a brief fight with Iron Man.

Tony personally travels to Latvaria to get he circuits back. As Iron Man, he fights his way into Doom's castle, eventually confronting the villain. A brief discussion devolves into another fight which...

... ends when the bitter and hate-filled assistant sends both of them back into time, then smashes the controls to ensure that they can never come back.

This really is a strong story. The Romita/Layton art is great, helping to tell the story in a straightforward manner and providing us with a series of well-choreographed, exciting action scenes. The counter-point between Tony and Doom as authority figures in a really nice touch.

But where do the two reluctant time travelers end up? We'll find out next week.