Stone Cold!

While investigating the disappearance of her friend, Marcy Pearson has uncovered that popular sculptor Paul St. Pierre is actually the criminal known as the Grey Gargoyle and that he has been using his powers to turn women into the sculptures that he sells. However, before she can warn anybody, the Gargoyle turns her into stone. He then resume his guise of Paul St. Pierre and rejoins the party being held in his honor.

Also attending the party is Marcy’s employer Tony Stark and his date for the evening, Rae LaCoste. They have had an enjoyable time and thank St. Pierre for hosting the party before calling it the night.

The following morning, Jim Rhodes arrives at Tony’s mansion and is unimpressed to see that Tony is spending more time with Kathy Dare a young woman who is just a little too into Tony. Asking to speak to Tony privately, Jim expresses his concerns about Marcy, who he discovered has gone missing while looking for her friend. While Jim heads to San Diego to look for her Tony also wants to look into Paul St. Pierre since he can’t shake the feeling that they have met before.[1] When Tony returns to Kathy Dare, she notes that Jim doesn’t like her very much, but Tony figures he’ll get use to her soon enough. Kathy hopes so, ominously stating that jealousy can get ugly.

Meanwhile, in San Diego, Paul St. Pierrie — aka Paul Duval, aka the Grey Gargoyle — has decided that it is time to abandon his latest scheme after Marcy Pearson uncovered the truth about him.[2] He hires a moving truck to empty out his mansion, including Marcy Pearson who is still trapped in statue form.

Nearby, Jim Rhodes arrives at the Pearson home to speak with Marcy’s parents. He is surprised to learn that the Pearson’s are white and that Marcy is their adopted daughter. Marcy came by the night of her disappearance to get a change of clothes but they have no idea where she went or why. Allowed to look in Marcy’s old bedroom, Jim finds a crumpled up advertisement about the Paul St. Pierre party that was held on the night she went missing.

Back in Los Angeles, Tony Stark has Abe Zimmer look up all records on Paul St. Pierre. Abe discovers that there was no record of St. Pierre anywhere until a few months ago, as though he didn’t exist before that. This troubles Tony and he decides to take a sliver of the St. Pierre statue that was gifted to him by Rae LaCost the day before. He is surprised to discover that the “stone” is actually organic. Suddenly, the statue turns into a real life woman. This allows Tony to finally put two-and-two together and realize that Paul St. Pierre is actually the Grey Gargoyle and that he has been using a chemical coating to keep people trapped in stone beyond the usually one hour limit.

Meanwhile, Paul St. Pierre is making a public appearance to unveil a new endowment for the arts created in his name. It’s here that Jim Rhodes confronts St. Pierre with a gun and demands to know where Marcy is. With his cover blown, “St. Pierre” transforms into the Grey Gargoyle and turns Jim’s gun into stone. He then tries to shatter Marcy’s statue. Luckily, Iron Man catches it in time and sets it down gently. Iron Man then battles the Grey Gargoyle, however has to let the villain escape when the Gargoyle turns a ship to stone, forcing Iron Man to save the passengers from drowning.

In the aftermath of the battle, the Grey Gargoyle’s victims are freed from their prisons. Relieved to be free after her ordeal, Marcy looks forward to spending the night with Jim.

Recurring Characters

Iron Man, Grey Gargoyle, Jim Rhodes, Bambi Arbogast, Rae LaCoste, Kathy Dare, Abe Zimmer, Marcy Pearson

Continuity Notes

1. That’s because Paul St. Pierre is actually the Grey Gargoyle. Tony has fought him as Iron Man on a number of occasions in Tales of Suspense #95-96 and Avengers #190-191.

2. The Grey Gargoyle recounts how he originally used his powers to try and unlock the key to immortality. Duval thought he could achieve this by stealing Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir. It went about as well as you’d think. See Journey into Mystery #107.