Breakout!

Having defeated the Controller in battle, Iron Man lugs his powerless body to Stark International. This is because it is the only facility that can hold the villain until a more permanent solution can be made. Inside one of the buildings he asks Abe Klein to allow him to imprison the Controller in a vat of newly developed super-dense plastic. Although he is not happy with the idea, Abe agrees to it because he his family has suffered greatly at the hands of tyrants the like of the Controller.[1] With the Controller contained, Iron Man returns to his office and changes back into Tony Stark,[2] so he can begin investigating the strange series of accidents that have been happening at the plant lately.[3]

Meanwhile, Scrounger — the Controller’s loyal minion — is hard at work trying to free his masters. With a stack of newly created control discs, he finds able bodied people to make into slaves so that their strength can be fed to his master so he can escape captivity.

As Scrounger carries out this task, Tony meets with Krissy Longfellow, a woman who is applying for the position of executive secretary.[4] Impressed by her straightforward attitude, Tony decides to take her out to lunch to discuss her future employment. By this time, Scrounger has amassed a small army of slaves, giving the Controller enough power to break out of his plastic prison. Hearing the commotion from the Controller’s rampage, Tony excuses himself so he can change into Iron Man and stop the attack.

As Iron Man fights to contain the Controller, Scrounger commandeers a city bus and heads to Ryker’s Island.[5] There, the Controller’s telepathic commands allow one of the captive Blood Brothers to break out of his cell. Scrounger then drives the Blood Brother to Stark International. There, Scrounger announces how his boss wants him to put the last control disc on the Blood Brother. Hearing this, Iron Man swoops down an grabs the control disc and attached it to the alien creature himself. This is because Iron Man knows that the Blood Brothers share a symbiotic link and that the further away they are from one another, the weaker they become. By attaching the control disc to the Blood Brother, it then transfers this weakness to the Controller, causing his exo-skeleton to short out.

However, while Iron Man and the authorities are busy containing the Blood Brother, Scrounger manages to flee the scene with the Controller. He then returns to their original hiding place where the ever faithful Scounger continues to care for his master.

Recurring Characters

Iron Man, Controller, Blood Brother, Abe Klein, Krissy Longfellow, Scrounger

Continuity Notes

1. Here, Abe Klein states that his father had died in a Nazi concentration camp. Due to the Sliding Timescale this will become difficult to reconcile. See below for further details.

2. Tony makes mention that he’s not used to his new armor. He recently upgraded his suit in Iron Man #85, making it more lightweight and able to de-polarize and be worn under his clothes. This has allowed for faster changing but at the expense of durability.

3. Tony specifically mentions a fire that happened last issue. This was set by Harry Key, a private-eye stealing Stark secrets. Iron Man #103-107 reveals that this is part of a larger scheme by Mordecai Midas to seize control of Stark International, making him the richest man in the world.

4. Tony’s previous secretary, Pepper Potts, quit in Iron Man #88 because being associated with Iron Man became too dangerous for her and her husband, Happy Hogan. Iron Man #103 reveals that “Krissy Longfellow” is actually Madame Masque in disguise.

5. The Controller recounts his origins as they were told in Iron Man #12.

Topical References

• Abe Klein’s references to his father dying in the Nazi concentration camps of World War II could be considered a topical reference. See below for details.

Abe Klein’s Wartime Past

In this story, Abe Klein states that his father died in the Nazi concentration camps of World War II. Later, in Iron Man #106 reveals that Abe lived in Poland circa 1939, that he was married and had a daughter. He too ended up in a concentration camp but he lost track of his wife and child. Learning their fate is why Klein later betrays Tony to Mordechai Midas in later issues. Issue #107 reveals that they died sometime prior to 1945. Klein dies in that same issue and further detail about his past is never explored.

As the Sliding Timescale continues to push the Modern Age forward, it becomes increasingly impossible for Klein to have been alive during the war and the Modern Age without some means of extending his lifespan. For such a minor character it seems unlikely that this would be the case.

A review of the most recent Marvel Handbooks finds a mention of Klein in the profile of Mordecai Midas in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #7. It makes reference to how Midas blackmailed Klein with knowledge of his family’s fate, but it does so in a general sense, making no mention of World War II, Poland circa 1939, or the Holocaust.

This would suggest that Marvel takes the stance that Klein’s family history with the Holocaust would be topical in this case. As such we could assume that Abe and his family were victims of some other conflict where acts of genocide were carried out in some point in time. Sadly, when you take a look at post-war history, there is no shortage of genocides to choose from.

From my index’s stand point, I’m choosing to assume that the Klein family was involved in some conflict 30 years prior to this story that involved acts of genocide and concentration camps. Probably a fictional conflict as opposed to a historic one so the character’s past remains “ever green”, much in the same way Vietnam War references have been replaced with the Sin-Cong conflict.