IRON MAN ANNUAL #3 (1976)
by Steve Gerber & Sal Buscema
cover by Rich Buckler & Frank Giacoia
Continuing my mini-retrospective on Molecule Man, we follow up Marvel Two-In-One #1 with a second round against Man-Thing. And Iron Man for some reason.
Tony Stark was into renewable energies way before anyone else.
I’m not entirely sure whether Man-Thing still had a series at the time… his publishing history is all over the place. But it does work as an advertisement for his adventures, because honestly this sounds awesome!
Man-Thing then stumbles upon a bunch of kids playing next to his swamp. One of them is the kid who was given Molecule Man’s wand by the Thing in the previous story.
Weirdly enough, the kid with the wand plays almost no role in the story. It’s actually “Iron Girl” Cynthia who gets the spotlight.
Here’s the problem with Man-Thing: even when he plays the hero, he’s TERRIFYING.
Well it’s a problem for the characters, but it does make the story more complex.
And then the girl drowns in the swamp! Things definitely took a serious turn.
It would seem that things become weird again when Iron Man is attacked by smiley faces…
…but once again the absurd leads to the mundane tragedy. It can be very jarring, but I think Gerber is one of the writers who manages to pull it off.
And now, ladies and gentlemen, is when the story goes completely bonkers.
Because Cynthia is reborn from Man-Thing’s swamp, except she’s not Cynthia anymore… in fact, according to the narration, she “assumes the stance of a full-grown male”. Which according to the artwork means she’s standing up?
Yeah it’s… a bit weird. This is not really Cynthia and it’s not really Molecule Man.
This is not Molecule Man possessing Cynthia. The two have actually merged into the stupidly named Molecule Person.
We interrupt this supervillain origin to bring you Iron Man running his car into Man-Thing, because that’s hilarious!
Back to Molecule Person, who turns into a surprisingly muscular bully.
See, this is why you should be at least 18 before being given godlike powers.
Molecule Man is not a big fan of Molecule Person.
He’s fighting for control over this body. Of interest for this mini-retrospective is the fact that Molecule Man is said to have channeled his essence into the wand… except it was actually his son who died in the previous story, so perhaps this is actually the son trying to possess Cynthia?
Except once Molecule Man returns for good he’ll to it through the wand, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Also note the shout-out to the swamp monster Glob. He plays no role in the story, but Gerber thought it would be nice to mention it.
Iron Man is hopelessly outmatched by Molecule Person: the only reason he’s not turned into jelly the instant he shows up is that Cynthia is actually managing to hold back Molecule Man.
Instead of fighting Iron Man directly, Molecule Person animates a giant skeleton. As you do.
Perhaps because she’s seeing her personal hero, Cynthia briefly returns to her original form.
But it’s only for a couple of panels, because Molecule Man takes charge (speaking in an extremely stereotypical manner, I have to say).
Then Man-Thing intervenes, doing his contractually obligated “whoever knows fear” scene.
This causes Molecule Person to drop the wand, returning everything and everyone to normal.
You would think this would signal the end of the story, but MOLECULE SNAKE!!!
Sadly, the fight against Molecule Snake doesn’t last for long.
In a surprising twist, this was actually a ploy by Molecule Man to possess Iron Man’s body.
You would think this would lead to Iron Man rejecting the possession through sheer force of will… but Gerber takes a more unexpected route, and Man-Thing saves the day!
The problem is that Molecule Man still needs a mind to possess in order to take control of the body… and Man-Thing doesn’t HAVE a brain.
And so we end with Man-Thing returning to his swamp with the wand, and Iron Man wondering what the heck just happened.
Which is a frequent reaction to anyone involved in a Man-Thing story.
Historical significance: 0/10
Ultimately ignored by mostly everyone. Kind of a shame because Cynthia did have some potential to be re-used as, say, a member or an enemy of the Young Avengers or something.
Silver Age-ness: 6/10
Molecule Person and Molecule Snake, anyone?
Does it stand the test of time? 7/10
This was a lot better than I remembered. Molecule Man is kind of wasted as a character, but the story is surprisingly good! While I don’t particularly care for using him as the generic evil sorcerer type, the psychological battle with Cynthia is interesting and more nuanced than it might seem.
The horror aspect is well done, which is kind of a given with Man-Thing around. And while I’m not the biggest Sal Buscema fan, he does have his moments here.
Other than Molecule Man being generic, the only weak point of the story is Iron Man himself… this is more of a Man-Thing story with Iron Man showing up, so he doesn’t get to do a lot.
Still, as much as I don’t like the body-swapping era for Molecule Man, this is probably the most solidly written story so far.