Vegas Bleeds Neon, Part 1

Stark Enterprises is going through a huge slump after. While Tony has been able to weather these problems, but the old tricks aren’t working this time around. Tony is desperate to talk to someone. However, Rumiko has walked out on him and Happy and Pepper need some time alone.[1] Tony decides to fall back on the old reliable, changing into Iron Man and beating up some crooks.

However, before he can suit up, the phone rings. It’s a call from a private investigator named Saige Kaufman, a private investigator who sent him a Howard Hughes design. Tony Stark is a collector of memorabilia once belonging to the eccentric businessman and she wanted him to authenticate the design. It is some kind of cell diagram drawn up like it is made up of electric components. He’d need to see the original, but he’s quite sure that it is authentic.

Saige explains that she is investigating the disappearance of Mo Stanton. She found the design in his abandoned car. She mentions that she used to work for Stark Enterprises’ Los Angeles office in network security. She used a former connection to get the design to Tony Stark. She explains that Mo Stanton was a high-roller in Las Vegas who wrote books about conspiracy theories and the paranormal. The Howard Hughes design may have been research for a new book he was working on. She was hoping Tony could help her on this case. To sweeten the request, she notes that Tony has to go before a Senate Sub-Committee in a few weeks. Saige happens to be an old family friend of Senator Cullison and knows how to faness her.

This is the type of distraction that Tony was looking for and agrees to come out and help her with the case. To get into the mood, Tony pulls out his 1957 Ford Thunderbird and drives down to Las Vegas. He has also gotten all of Mo Stanton’s books to get an idea of who he is. Looking at the photo of Stanton, Tony envies how carefree the missing writer looks.

Soon, Tony is checking into a hotel, the Big V, which is owned by another Howard Hughes enthusiast, Marc Vicus. A bit of an eccentric himself, Vicus has been difficult to get a meeting with. Tony understand how difficult it is, considering the last time he met Vicus was when his father, Howard Stark, dragged him out to Vegas to meet him when he was only eleven years old.[2] They soon head up to Tony’s room so he can examine the original Hughes diagram. He confirms its authenticity. Tony then offers to assist Saige further into her investigation since this is probably some kind of crime, something he also has to have experience with.

Based on her investigation, Kaufman was able to determine that Mo was last seeing baccarat at a high rollers table before he disappeared. Over the past few weeks, a number of people have been kidnapped and robbed after playing high roller baccarat tables at various casinos along the Vegas Strip. This sounds like a good lead to follow, so the two dress up to the nines and go down to the Big V’s baccarat tables. Tony plays the table intending to show off how much money he has while Saige keeps an eye out on anyone who might be taking notice. Tony ends up intentionally losing thousands of dollars in order to catch the eye of somebody.

Sure enough, when they get out on the strip, a van pulls up in front of Tony and Saige. The side door opens and a man with a shotgun orders Stark to get in or he’ll shoot. As the van speeds off, Tony asks his kidnappers if they captured Mo Stanton.

Not wanting to lose Tony, Saige pulls a gun from her purse. She’s a crack shot and manages to shoot the two kidnappers in the back seat in the back of the head, killing them both. This allows Tony to get hold of their shotgun and orders the driver to stop. The driver panics and almost crashes into a decorative fountain in front of a major casino before he stops. Tony then questions him about Mo Stanton. The driver knows who he is talking about, but at the time they were just casing places and hadn’t gotten to kidnapping people yet. This is confirmed when the police arrive and tell Saige and Tony that the van was stolen in Northern California on the day that Mo went missing. Saige needs to take the rest of the night off because she had never killed anyone before and needs to process what she had done.

The following evening, Saige no longer feels bad about taking lives given the rap sheets on the men she shot the night before. However, she decided not to tell her parents since they have been trying to convince her the life of a private detective is too dangerous. She explains that her father is from old Jewish money and her mother from old WASP money.[3] After living a comfortable life with the network security job, she decided to follow her black-sheep uncle’s career path and become a private investigator. She apologizes for dragging Tony into the public spotlight the night before while he was trying to be on vacation. Stark tells her not to worry about it, incidentally, last night’s episode caused Stark Enterprise stock to bump up by 5%.

The subject then turns to Howard Hughes himself, whom Saige decided to look into. She found his later life, where he lived in isolation out of fear of germs and taxes was disgusting. Tony explains his fascination with Hughes, an inventor himself, because of all the unresolved connections to Richard Nixon, the Watergate Scandal, and the CIA. However, as fascinating as Hughes was, they know that this is a red herring in their investigation. Since their only clue remains the Big V baccarat table. However, this time around, Tony plays to win and begins cleaning up. After winning millions of dollars, security alerts Marcus Vicus of Stark’s winning. Vicus finds this interesting and tells his head of security to try and keep Stark playing at the casino.

Soon, Tony is approached by Gerald Fleury, the Big V’s floor manager. Fleury gives the hard sell to get Tony to stay longer. Stark tries to use this to parlay a meeting with Vicus, but is told that he is in the middle of an important business deal. Seeing that they won’t take no for an answer, Tony accepts the offer because they were so insistent.

Later that evening, Tony goes up to his comped room for the night. Before going to bed for the night he sets up a sophisticated series of security measures — a necessity since Tony revealed his identity to the public.[4] After Tony has gone to sleep, a strange organic compound drips from the thermostat and lands on the briefcase containing his Iron Man armor. This substance then begins filling and fusing to the armor, animating it. The creature then ambushes Tony in his sleep. Stark tries to fight back, but the creature controlling his armor grabs him by the throat and pins him to the wall….

Recurring Characters

Iron Man, Saige Kaufman, Marcus Vicus, Gerald Fleury

Continuity Notes

1. Tony’s business slump comes after Tony was implicated as part of a conspiracy to blow up the Chinese Embassy in Washington, DC. This was a frame job orchestrated by an overzealous follower of Temugin, as seen in Iron Man (vol. 3) #65-69. In the aftermath of this incident, Rumiko walked out on Tony because he was ignoring her. Happy and Pepper have left to deal with their marital problems that have been lurking around since issue #54.

2. Tony refers to Howard Stark as his father, unaware of the fact that he is actually adopted. Tony will not learn the truth until Iron Man (vol. 5) #17. His biological parents are Amanda Armstrong and a man known only as Jude, as revealed in International Iron Man #7.

3. Here, Stark comments that he wouldn’t know which of his parents would be overprotective knowing what he does as Iron Man since his parents died years before. As told in Iron Man #288, Howard and Maria Stark are believed to have died in a car accident. S.H.I.E.L.D. #5 suggests that this accident was faked but as of this writing (April, 2023) this has yet to be independently verified.

4. Tony Stark had just recently revealed his identity to the public in Iron Man (vol. 3) #55.

Topical References

• Tony is depicted being interviewed by journalist Maria Bartiromo. This should be considered a topical reference as this is a real world person.

• This story centers around memorabilia that once belong to Howard Hughes. Hughes was a business magnate that was also a record-setting pilot, film star, and engineer. He was one of the most influential people of his time. Later on in life, he moved to Las Vegas and revitalized the city. In his later life he became an eccentric recluse until his death in 1975. As he is a historically significant individual and the story focuses on his legacy, references to him in this story should be considered factual.

• Paige Kaufman is said to have faxed Tony a copy of a Howard Hughes design. This story was written during a period where fax machines were still commonly used in society. While they are still around (mostly at government agencies and doctors offices), they have fallen out of common use. This should be considered a topical reference since most people would have sent the image via e-mail or through a text.

• Tony is depicted driving a 1957 Ford Thunderbird into Las Vegas. This is an intentional choice. The vehicle is commonly associated with gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson, particularly his 1971 book Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream, which was adapted into a film in 1998. Since this is an intentional choice of a classic car, something that wealthy people collect, this wouldn’t be considered a topical reference.

• Tony is depicted staying at the Imperial Palace hotel and casino. This should be considered a topical reference as this casino cased operations in 2011. It has since been replaced with the Linq.

• Other casinos mentioned in this story are the MGM Grant Casino and the Billagio. This should be considered topical as these are real world casinos and could go out of business or change owner and/or their name at sometime in the future.

• There are billboards advertising Las Vegas regular acts:

  • Siegfried & Roy: An animal taming act that had been performing in Las Vegas since the late 1960s. The show came to an abrupt end in 2003 after Roy was maimed by a tiger. The two men have since died in 2020 and 2021 respectively.

  • John Denver: Was an American musician. It’s an odd choice to use in this story since Denver died in 1997.

  • Dolly Parton: A famous female country-western singer whose career started in 1956. As I write this (April, 2023), Parton is 77 years old, she’s not going to be around for much longer.

• When going to the baccarat table, Tony Stark is reminded of the Dr. No, the 1962 James Bond film based on the 1958 novel of the same name. It’s known for the iconic scene where James Bond (played by actor Sean Connery) sits down at a baccarat table and delivers the character’s iconic introduction. As this is a classic film and an iconic scene, as such this wouldn’t be considered a topical reference.

• The artist draws a version of Sean Connery as he looked when he played James Bond in Dr. No. This is an homage to the scene, so obviously this is a topical reference, particularly since Connery died in 2020.

• Tony loses a hundred grand in short order at the baccarat table. Later he ends up winning 2.7 million. Adjusting for inflation this would be closer to 163 thousand dollars and 4.4 million in 2023 money.

• A reporter from the Las Vegas Sun tries to get a statement from Tony. This should be considered a topical reference as this is a real world newspaper.

• Saige states that she watched the Biography episode about Howard Hughes. This should be considered topical as this is a real world television series.