Things Are Not Always What You Think They Are

First Look for January 15, 2018

Today’s issue of Star Wars seemed to slow down the pace a bit but it moved things along such that we finally found the Heart of the Mountain. Unfortunately, things are not always what you think they are and it turns out this “heart” might actually be of a being rather than a mountain. Yoda got there though and I’m hoping the pace picks up now that he’s reached that destination. In Tales of Suspense today, we meet Doctor Strange…but he’s not what you expect. This Dr. Strange is a villain and he’s not the master magician we know from the movies. This guy is a scientist determine to take over the world unless Iron Man can stop him. It’s a pretty good issue that lays out the juggling theme of Iron Man having to play so many roles – Iron Man, playboy, scientist, philanthropist, etc. Both these issues seem to have some misdirection as to what I was expecting and it’s good to see that every once in a while.

Star Wars #28

Yoda’s Secret War, Part 3 by Jason Aaron and Salvador Larroca. Published by Marvel Comics, 2017.

Seeking knowledge of the stonepower, Yoda continues on his journey to the Heart of the Mountain. The prisoner he freed from the first group of children has followed but he fears the mountain. So much so that he jumps off the side of it leaving Yoda to travel alone. On and on he goes, now alone, until he finds a cave. A cave that closes after him, but still he must go onward, for days until he comes across another band of warriors. These are adults though, and they appear to be the parents of the children outside. While the children believe they trapped the parents in the mountain, the parents believe they left their children to continue fighting meaningless wars outside. But before they were sent to the mountain, the children branded each of the adults with the mark of the Ancient Ones on their forehead.

Not finding what he was looking for with the parents, Yoda continues on. Until he finds a child with the mark of the Ancient Ones. Garro was thrown down in the mountain because he could not kill in battle. Yoda gives the child food and in exchange, Garro agrees to teach him the secrets of the stonepower. And as Yoda learns from the child, we jump to a later time when Ben Kenobi stops a fight between Greedo and someone with a weak mind…we know this because Ben uses the Force to suggest they get a drink rather than engage in a fight. Witnessing the powers, a stranger with the mark of the Ancient Ones approaches Kenobi and tells him the power will not last. He urges the Jedi to hold fast to his mountain and never leave the caves.

Reading through the story, Luke vaguely recognizes the mark of the Ancient Ones in star charts and heads to the Vagadarr system in hopes this will lead to him being able to save Artoo and Threepio.

Back with Yoda, he is learning the ways of stonepower and as Garro hurls more and more stones at him, Yoda must pull up a shield of rock from the floor of the cave. The hole left behind opens to the what could only be the Heart of the Mountain but he sees it’s not “the Heart” but the heart of some being.

We’re getting close to an answer to this story but it feels like things are moving too slowly. I like that we’re learning more about Yoda and his humble past but the pace is off. The major action actually takes place in the jump to Kenobi, but not much goes on there either. Hopefully things will pick up in the next issue now that we’ve found the heart and with Luke heading to his answer, I’m thinking things will come to a resolution soon.

You can find first looks at other issues in this title linked in my January Reading List.
I rate this issue a C.

Tales of Suspense #41

The Stronghold of Doctor Strange! by Stan Lee, Robert Bernstein, and Jack Kirby. Published by Marvel Comics, 1963.

Iron Man takes on Doctor Strange, but this is the original Dr. Strange, and not the one we all know from the movie. This Strange is also a villain and even starts the issue in prison. To launch his evil plans, he hypnotizes Tony Stark and makes him break him out of lockup. Stark isn’t too pleased with this when he snaps out of it and vows to recapture the scientist. Meanwhile, the doctor gathers the most cunning scientists and power-mad military men on Earth to his stronghold where he issues a demand. As he detonates an S-bomb in outer space, he insists every nation surrender to him or he’ll destroy all life on the planet. Unable to break his defenses above ground, Iron Man swims under the doctor’s island and drills up into his stronghold. Declaring “we’ve all got to go some time”, Stark destroys all energy sources on the island and waits for death – at least he’s stopped the doctor. But Strange’s daughter Carla (who’s horrified of her father’s plans) tosses him a flashlight with the only batteries on the island. He absorbs the power and re-energized, is able to keep the shrapnel from destroying his heart. While he was down though, Doctor Strange escapes to fight another day.

This issue was pretty good but a bit short on content. There’s a bunch of set up where we see the types of things Iron Man and Tony Stark do on a regular basis but then there’s only about 6 pages of the actual plot. While the description of how Tony has to juggle things as playboy, scientist, Iron Man, munitions expert, and charitable fund raiser is pretty good, the battle with Doctor Strange is fairly weak.

You can find first looks at other issues in my Marvel 1963 reading linked in my January Reading List.

I rate this issue a B-.