Iron Man #197: Call Him... Thundersword!

Writer: Denny O'Neil
Penciler: Rich Buckler

I thought, on the cover above, that those were mirrors that Iron Man was maybe flashing out a message in morse code on. In fact, he's firing his repulsors. I would be so dead in that fight. "Is that an S? YURRGHH."

In something of a sequel to Secret Wars II #1, Thundersword, now without a hyphen (hence the story's title I guess), escapes from police custody again and once more causes chaos. All that remorse he seemed to be going through upon his arrest seems kinda shallow now.

Dual costumes seem to have been a hot idea at Marvel in 1985. While Spider-Man was randomly wearing either one of his two outfits, this issue features two Iron Men – Tony Stark and James Rhodes – splitting-up to battle different villains in their different duds. That Stark winds-up producing part of a third outfit for the final showdown just seems like one-upmanship.

Though this is a good episode, I do have a beef with it being billed as a Secret Wars II crossover. The Beyonder's not in it, so unless something here becomes relevant later on in that series, all this really tells us is what Iron Man and Thundersword did next.

Nice picture of Captain America on the cover though.