Sorry about this being late. I’ve had a bit of a relapse. Balladeer’s Blog’s look at 1970s Iron Man classics comes to a close with this review of the Return of the Mandarin storyline leading up to the hero’s 100th issue anniversary. For Part One of these Iron Man 1970s classics click HERE.
IRON MAN Vol 1 #95 (February 1977)
Title: Ultimo Unleashed
Villains: Ultimo and the Mandarin
NOTE: We jump ahead to issue #95 from where we left off with issue #81 and the end of the Black Lama storyline. By this point in the 1970s Marvel considered it okay for Tony Stark to go back to selling “defense systems” to the government and the military.
Synopsis: At the Long Island headquarters of Stark International, Iron Man tests his armor’s latest upgrades against an atomic piledriver. Witnessing the test are a few Stark employees, including the blonde Krissy Longfellow, Tony’s newest executive assistant and his replacement for the departed Pepper Potts-Hogan.
The atomic piledriver is destroyed and Iron Man switches back to Tony Stark and dives into his latest office work regarding his company. Soon he winds up pondering Krissy Longfellow’s enigmatic appeal and that leads him to contemplating some of the previous women in his life, like Pepper, the late Janice Cord and Roxie Gilbert, whom he has finally given up pursuing.
His reverie is interrupted by a phone call from Senator Andrew Jackson Hawk in Washington D.C. Hawk informs Tony that he and his committee have frozen all of Stark International’s new defense contracts because of evidence that Tony is selling classified information to the Communist Chinese and the Soviet Union.
NOTE: The “evidence” has all been faked by the Mandarin for reasons that will be made known below. Continue reading
NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME – The 5 seeds – the NEWPORT NEWS APPRENTICE SCHOOL BUILDERS (as in Shipbuilders) – faced the 4th seeded UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI-HAMILTON HARRIERS for the title in the United States Collegiate Athletic Association. 
(NOTE FOR OVERSEAS READERS: “C’mon, man! I heard you liked me” is what Biden allegedly said to the woman who accused him of rape, that’s why “C’mon man!” is so often used.)
ONCE (1973) – Written and directed by Morton Heilig, Once is a 100 minute experimental film with no dialogue, just pantomime performances by the lone three actors. Chris Mitchum of all people portrays Creation, Jim Malinda plays Destruction and Marta Kristen co-stars as Humanity. Some may describe the movie as a Biblical parable but actually it reflects concepts from Zoroastrianism, Iroquois myths and other belief systems in addition to Christianity and Judaism. 
It’s less than two months until the major holiday Frontierado, so here’s a third blog post about Pony Express Riders – April 3rd, 1860 to October 26th, 1861. A few weeks ago came Balladeer’s Blog’s 
CHARLIE CLIFF – The younger of the two Cliff brothers to ride for the Pony Express was born in 1844 in St. Louis County, MO. Sometime in 1852 the family moved to St. Joseph, MO and by May of 1860 Charlie and his older brother Gus were Expressmen, the official title of Pony Express Riders. 
NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME – The SOUTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY FIRE did battle with the LEWIS-CLARK STATE WARRIORS (should be the Explorers) for the NAIA crown. 
IRON MAN Vol 1 #79 (October 1975) 
NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME – The last two teams standing in NJCAA Division One baseball were the CENTRAL ARIZONA COLLEGE VAQUEROS and the COWLEY COLLEGE TIGERS.
THE DEADLY SPAWN (1983) – This film is also known as The Alien’s Deadly Spawn. If you’re into less appreciated splatter flicks this is the movie for you! Diminutive creatures (ignore the poster) from outer space terrorize a neighborhood while literally chewing their way through anything in their way, including human bodies. The gore effects are graphic but not extreme, the acting ranges from awful to average and the creature designs may be cheap but the overall package makes this a cult classic. And watch out for that final stinger! 
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