For Part One of these Iron Man 1970s classics click HERE.
IRON MAN Vol 1 #62 (September 1973)
Title: Whiplash Returns
Villain: Whiplash
Synopsis: We open a few weeks after the end of our previous installment. Tony Stark and Pepper Potts-Hogan have been at the Cincinnati Regional Headquarters of Stark International as part of Tony’s ongoing reorganization of Stark Industries’ projects and mission statement now that he has refused to do any more munition work.
Pepper, still working as Stark’s Executive Assistant, is trying to cope with her husband Harold “Happy” Hogan’s decision that he is through with their marriage since she refuses to leave her career and become a housewife.
Elsewhere in Cincinnati we see Iron Man’s old foe Whiplash, returning after his first clash with Iron Man back in Tales of Suspense #97-99 (January 1968-March 1968). Whiplash is in his secret laboratory in costume, using his high-tech metal whip which can even pierce Iron Man’s armor.
Whiplash is practicing by whipping to pieces steel statues of Iron Man while indulging in a Villain Rant about how he and our armored superhero got separated by chance after their previous battle on the cruise-ship sized seaborne HQ of the Maggia. (Marvel Comics’ fictional version of the Mafia.)
The villain also reflects on the improvements he has since made to his costume’s tech, making it capable of absorbing the energy from Iron Man’s repulsor rays and unleash it back on our hero with the next lash of his whip. Continue reading
THE SECRET OF THE LOCH (1934) – So America gave the world King Kong in 1933, eh? Well, the Empire strikes back! Milton Rosmer directed this neglected British film that was co-written by THE Charles Bennett and edited by THE David Lean. The Loch Ness Monster is featured and is found to be responsible for multiple mysterious deaths around the Loch, though only one on-screen instance of the monster devouring a human occurs in the movie. 
Seymour Hicks stars as Professor Heggie and seems to think he’s still performing in Silent Movies, given his hilarious overacting. Heggie believes in the existence of the Loch Ness Monster but seems even less credible than modern-day people who claim to have spotted the beastie.
Independent Voter site Balladeer’s Blog takes another look at the damage being done by the career criminal Joe Biden. 
ACCOUNT OF AN EXPEDITION TO THE INTERIOR OF NEW HOLLAND (1837) – Written by multiple parties, with Lady Mary Fox, Richard Whateley and Lord Holland the likeliest authors. “New Holland” was an old name for Australia. In 1860 the novel was reissued under the title preface The Southlanders. 
Southland boasts a population of roughly four million and is divided into eleven distinct regions which, though under one overall parliamentary government, enjoy a large amount of internal sovereignty. Some regions are republics and others live under a hereditary monarchy. In several of the republics, however, their chief executive figure is still called a king despite being elected.
TAXIARCHOI – Written by Eupolis, who – along with Aristophanes and Cratinus – was one of the Big Three of Attic Old Comedy. The premise serves as a pointed reminder of the inherent ugliness in all taxation – that the power to impose and collect taxes is, ultimately, backed up by the use of force.
As ever, Balladeer’s Blog would be just fine if both the Democrat and Republican political parties – or the “Royal Houses” as I call them – splintered into multiple smaller parties. Yet, overseas – and for some smug people right here in the U.S. – a certain prejudice is still prevalent. That prejudice is the false notion that Republican voters are “stupid” and Democrat voters are “intelligent.” That notion is absurd even as sweeping generalizations go. 
Independent Voter site Balladeer’s Blog takes another look at the ongoing war that 21st Century Democrats wage on the rest of us. We need Third Parties.
NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME – The last two teams standing in this tournament were the Cinderella 10 seeds – the NORTHWEST FLORIDA STATE RAIDERS – and the top seeded SALT LAKE CITY COLLEGE BRUINS. 
IRON MAN Vol 1 #59 (June 1973) 
SCIENCE FICTION THEATRE (1955-1957) – In Balladeer’s Blog’s Forgotten Television category here’s a look at Science Fiction Theatre, which was a syndicated series that lasted from 1955-1957. The program did 39 episodes in each of its two seasons, however, so there are 78 episodes in its history. Season One was in color, Season Two was in black & white. 
Balladeer's Blog 