Sojourners Through Space!

An investigation into how the Growing Man attacked Stark International has led Iron Man and Jack or Hearts to a strange metallic egg on the Moon.[1] Entering the egg, the pair find themselves teleported aboard a Rigelian spacecraft. The Rigelian leader, an alien named Arcturus, orders his men to subdue them. When their weapons and traps have no effect on either intruder, the Rigelians activate the Punisher, a robot once used by Galactus to try and stop them.[2] The Punisher is far too fast and powerful for either man to stop and after they have been defeated, Arcturus stuns the two humans with a mental bolt. He explains that his crew found and stole both the Punisher and the Growing Man in order to use them to help conquer the world called Wundagore II.[3]

Meanwhile, back on Earth’s moon, the Russian heroes Darkstar, Vanguard, and the Crimson Dynamo are contacted by their superiors back on Earth for a status update. They explain how they found a giant metallic egg on the moon and that the Americans Iron Man and Jack of Hearts vanished when they went in to investigate it. The Russian government informs them that since the egg poses a threat to the entire Earth, they are allying with SHIELD and a mission under the command of Tony Stark is now en rout to join them. On Earth, Stark International is already working on the equipment needed. Madame Masque muses that Jasper Sitwell is completely fooled by the Life Model Decoy of Tony Stark that she has been controlling behind the scenes, while the real Tony — as Iron Man — is still in space. Hearing of Iron Man’s sudden disappearance, Whitney Frost fears that Tony may have been lost in space.

Back aboard the Rigellian ship, Iron Man and Jack of Hearts are subjected to body scans that reveal the secrets of Tony’s armor and Jack’s Zero Energy powers. Impressed by Jack’s power, they probe his mind and learn he got his powers by being exposed to a new energy source called Zero Fluid.[4] As Arcturus and his team of scientists try to figure out a way to use this knowledge to their advantage, their ship is suddenly attacked. This knocks Iron Man and Jack free from the scanner. Having deemed the two Earthlings as no longer a threat, Arcturus orders his men to battle stations. Iron Man knows of the Rigellians from Thor, and knows that they are planet colonizers and doesn’t understand why Arcturus and his crew are seeking to colonize Wundagore II since his people have recently found a new world.[5]

Arcturus explains that their fleed was separated from the rest of the Rigellians and so they sought their own world to colonize. However, they have found opposition from the inhabitances of Wundagore II. Pulling up the attack on a view screen, Iron Man and Jack are shocked to see that they are under attack by an army of New Men, the so-called Knights of Wundagore.

Recurring Characters

Iron Man, Jack of Hearts, Arcturus, XJ-17, Punisher, Madame Masque, Jasper Sitwell, Crimson Dynamo, Vanguard, Darkstar, SHIELD, Knights of Wundagore

Continuity Notes

1. Growing Man attacked Stark International in Iron Man #108. Iron Man and Jack went to the moon last issue.

2. Iron Man recounts how this robot once fought the Fantastic Four. That was back in Fantastic Four #49.

3. Here it is stated that the Growing Man and Punisher were plundered following their last appearances in Avengers #69 and Fantastic Four #175 respectively.

4. This is a brief recounting of Jack’s origins from Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #23.

5. The Rigellian’s homeworld was destroyed by the Black Stars, forcing them to abandon it. See Thor #218-220. News of the Rigellians finding a new homeworld was imparted to Thor by the Recorder in Thor #256.

Topical References

• This story has a lot of dated Cold War references that should be considered topical. Particularly the Russian space program being referred to as the Kosmicheskaya programma, aka the CCCP. This program was dissolved following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 and has since been replaced with Roscosmos State Corporation for Space Activities or Roscosmos for short.

• Tony Stark makes a comment how their co-operation with the Russians is a huge step for Dentente. This was a term used to describe attempts by the United States and the USSR to ease tensions during the Cold War. This began in 1971 between Richard Nixon and Leonid Brezhnev. The ground that was made during the subsequent Salt talks were undone following the election of Ronald Regan who fucked it all up, extending the Cold War a lot longer than it needed to be.