Iron Man #219
Ghost Story
Tony Stark has decided to go jogging on the beach to get some exercise while listening to his secretary’s notes on an up-and-coming company called Accutech. From what he hears on the report, Tony is convinced that acquiring the company could make Stark Enterprises a lot of money. Soon, Jim Rhodes arrives in Tony’s private helicopter to pick him up and fly him to Accutech for a meeting to buy the company. The chopper is built with a showering facility so Stark can freshen up and get changed without returning home.
However, when they arrive at Accutech, they see that a brushfire is rapidly approaching the building. Fire crews are on the scene evacuating the building as they cannot contain the blaze. Seeing his potential investment about to go up in smoke, Tony changes into Iron Man and uses his repulsors to dig a firebreak to hold the flames back. He then races to a nearby airfield and takes a tanker truck full of fire retardant and sprays it over the blaze. This diminishes the flames enough that fire crews can move in and put out the remaining flames.
Making another quick change, Tony Stark meets with the owner of Accutech who is grateful for Iron Man’s rescue. Tony then sits in on a presentation of Accutech’s new prototype generator that gets energy from beta particles. While the device is incredibly expensive to build at this present time, they are hoping to get investors who can help them improve on the technology and lower the cost of production over time. Tony finds this invention very impressive and is surprised that nobody other Roxxon has bid on the company. He is told that they turned down the Roxxon bid due to their questionable ethics and everyone else has been scared away from investing because of a series of string of bad luck.
However, one employee, Abe Zimmer, believes that these were intentional acts of sabotage caused by a corporate boogeyman called the Ghost, who can walk through walls. Abe insists that one night, while working late, he saw the Ghost himself. The owner of the company brushes this off and assures Tony that Zimmer is out of his mind and will be forced to retire soon. Still, despite all of this, Tony wants to take a chance with Accutech and tells them he’ll be back to sign the necessary paperwork to buy the company.
Tony then returns to Stark Enterprises and is upset that the his front office is a zoo of people once again. He loses his temper with his secretary and tells her to get his act together, but feels bad because she is trying her best despite being out of her depth. He is also concerned about what he heard during his trip to Accutech since he’ll be sinking all of his available money in this new venture and he could potentially lose everything.[1]
Later that evening, Abe Zimmer is working again late again when someone hacks into his computer and sends him a warning that talking about the Ghost may soon result in him becoming one.
The following morning, Tony Stark goes to the Bank of California to take out a loan to help buy Accutech. The bank manager tells him that the loan was approved and since he’s putting all of his money on this purchase, she suggest that she pay when they go out for lunch. When Tony later shows up to sign the paperwork, its just as an invisible entity begins trashing one of the Accutech labs. When security sets off the alarm, Tony asks for a private place to call for help but instead changes into Iron Man to face whatever is threatening the lab. There he comes face-to-face with the Ghost, a saboteur who lives up to his name due to his ability to turn invisible and intangible. However, Iron Man discovers that his opponent can only use one ability or the other, not both.
Iron Man is able to pinpoint his enemy’s location by keying in his armor to the sound of the Ghost’s heartbeat. Realizing he can’t shake off Iron Man, the Ghost then tries to flee by passing through the walls of each room. Iron Man smashes through them in order to not lose ground. However, the Ghost manages to throw Iron Man off by ducking into the employee locker room and planting an explosive that mimics his heartbeat. Thinking his foe has hidden in a locker, Iron Man falls for the trap and it literally blows up in his face.
Iron Man picks up the trail in the manufacturing wing, however all the machines are on making tracking the Ghost’s heartbeat difficult. As Iron Man begins shutting down the machines but it is taking too long. Changing tactics, Iron Man unleashes a sonic blast that causes the Ghost enough pain to lose concentration and become visible again. This is just as security is arriving on the scene. Seeing an out, the Ghost tosses a grenade at the guards, forcing Iron Man to use his body to shield them from the blast. In the aftermath of the battle, Iron Man thanks Abe Zimmer for tipping him off to the ghost and assures him that he’ll won’t be forced to retire from his job once the company is owned by Stark Enterprises. This allows the Ghost to escape, however he leaves a message on a nearby computer screen: Due to Iron Man’s interference in his acts of sabotage, the Ghost has vowed to kill his employer, Tony Stark.
Recurring Characters
Iron Man, Ghost, Jim Rhodes, Atha Williams, Bert Hindel, Abe Zimmer
Continuity Notes
Tony is having problems locating someone to replace her current secretary, although who he’s looking for is not named here. He is searching for Bambi Arbogast, his former secretary at Stark International. Bambi worked for Tony from Iron Man #118 until the company was bought by Obadiah Stane in issue #173, Bambi quit the next issue. Arbogast will finally be tracked down and hired back on in Iron Man #222.
Topical References
Tony is wearing an extremely 80’s tank top advertising the Forbe’s 500 list. This should be considered topical since Forbe’s is a real world publication.
While out on his jog, Tony listens to a dictation from his secretary on a device that is depicted as a miniature tape player that uses double sided tapes that need to be manually flipped over. This should be considered topical because — as innovative as that sounded in 1987 — its basically a tiny tape recorder and that type of technology is now obsolete. In a world where audio can be recorded digitally, the need to flip a tape is not longer a thing.
Jim has some candy machine woes: He really wants a Zagnut bar but can’t find one and settles for a Milky Way. This should be considered topical because these are real world products.
Abraham Zimmer is depicted smoking a cigarette inside the office. This should be considered topical as indoor smoking was banned in all indoor workplaces in the state of California back in 1995.
