Because publishers want you to buy their product every month, comics are typically serial in nature. However, occasionally (and more often nowadays than ever before) publishers launch a comic title that is only meant to last for one issue. While ongoing series often have multiple chances to hook in new readers, the comics highlighted in this ongoing investigations only had One-Shot At Greatness!
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Date: November 2008
Cover Price: $2.99
Writer: Fred Van Lente & M. Blankier
Artist: Juan Santacruz
Pepper Potts’ assistant, Callee, is getting tired of her boss winning Stark’s “Employee of the Month” award so much. So, to put herself in the good graces of the company, she’s set up a situation where she’ll look great. By sending security home early and contacting four super-villains (Blacklash, Jolt, Plantman and Spymaster), she’s engineered a hostile situation which she intends to diffuse. Unfortunately for her, things get a little out of hand and it’s up to Iron Man … and Pepper? … to save the day!
I’m interested in this issue for a number of reasons. First of all, the photo cover and indicia date make me assume that this one-shot was among a number of Iron Man releases that were intended to catch the increased interest in Iron Man due to the release of the first movie.
After getting past that thought, my brain wandered towards the look and choice of the four villains. Jolt‘s presence (as far as I knew she stayed behind on an alternate Earth a while back in an issue of Thunderbolts) and Plantman‘s look (which is drastically different than his appearance in Marvel Next Inhumans title) indicate that this is probably not in-continuity with the mainstream Marvel Universe. Due to the writing presence of Van Lente, I’d assume it to be more linked with the Marvel Adventures line of books.
Finally, Blacklash’s appearance really caught my eye. Here’s the deal: Mark Scarlotti was the original Whiplash (first appearing in Tales of Suspense #97). His costume and weapons were later upgraded by Justin Hammer and he changed his super-villain name to Blacklash. “Wait a minute!” – shout all the Iron Man fans who only know about him through movies. “Isn’t Whiplash really a guy named Ivan Vanko?” And, the answer to that is a very big “no”. Y’see, Anton Vanko (Ivan’s father) is certainly an Iron Man villain but, his alias is really the Crimson Dynamo.
Anyway, back to the actual book in question. The art is a bit unpolished for an Iron Man book but it’s a quick, fun story (although it’s recommended that you check your brain at the door). There’s no way that the four of these villains would have left an unarmed Tony Stark alive as long as they did.
On Ebay: Iron Man | Fred Van Lente