The thing about evil is that it is very good at hiding itself. It can slither, it can slide, it can worm its way into people's hearts, minds, and souls. It can disguise itself as something perfectly innocent and harmless. The same is true in a superhero universe. What seems normal and harmless can actually be quite insidious. It's just made a bit more over the top thanks to things like superpowers being added to the mix.
The comic we're looking at here is an example of that phenomenon. So, for my first review of 2025, this is Iron Man #235!
The cover is a Bob Layton and Jackson Guice piece. It's pretty neat. It gives me the vibe of a Silver Age-era Marvel cover. Naturally, you have Iron Man front and center. It is his book, after all. The comic promises an assault on Stark Enterprises, with Jim Rhodes ready for war, and Marcy Pearson in a typical "damsel-in-distress" pose, which...doesn't really fit her. And there's the strange brunet man in the blue suit, the cover revealing his name is Paul St. Pierre, and there is a mystery around him. Read thsi book to find out!
"Epitaph in Grey"
Writers: David Michelinie, Bob Layton
Penciler: Jackson Guice
Inker: Bob Layton
Colorist: Bob Sharen
Letterer: Janice Chiang
Editor: Howard Mackie
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco
The story begins with a date. But not just any date. Tony Stark doesn't have some random debutante on his arm. Instead, the man who is going out is James "Rhodey" Rhodes, aka the War Machine. Who's he out on a date with? The lovely Marcy Pearson, of course!
Pearson first appeared in Iron Man #217 (January 1987), and at this time, she worked at Tony Stark's California-based company Stark Enterprises as its Public Relations Chief. The two had just seen a statue created by a French sculptor named Paul St. Pierre. Marcy is in awe of the statue, how realistic it is and all that. Rhodes is more...uninterested for lack of a better word. He's not anti-art nor is he a hater of it or anything like that. It's just he feels life should be lived, not taken pictures of. I can imagine Rhodes not keeping scrapbooks.
Anyway, Rhodes has to go fly Tony Stark to a party in San Diego tomorrow night. He wants to invite Marcy. She's happy to come along, as it turns out that San Diego was her old hometown. She grew up there, even got her first work as a reporter there. She then notices another of St. Pierre's statues, and it gives her the chills.
Why? Well, it greatly resembled an old friend of hers named Cinda Kendrick. The look of horror on the statue's face did not help.
Page 127, Panels 4-5
Elsewhere, another one of St. Pierre's creations has gotten into the home of Rae LaCoste. First appearing in Iron Man #223 (July 1987), she was a hairdresser that was Tony's main squeeze at the time. Fun fact, David Michelinie and Bob Layton had originally planned for her to take of the villainous mantle of Madame Masque, as well as be revealed to be the ex-wife of Scott Lang/Ant-Man.
LaCoste has become a bit of a fan of St. Pierre's work, having several of his statues in her home. Tony Stark is also there. He finds St. Pierre's choice of subject matter a bit disturbing, even though he does respect the man's talent. LaCoste wants to attend a party St. Pierre is throwing, and she wants Tony to be her plus one. He's all for it. Rhodes comes by in a helicopter to pick him up. As the two fly off, Tony checks in on his business. His secretary, Bami Arbogast, fills him in on some messages. One notable one is from a Ms. Kathleen Dare. Stark had dinner with her the night before, and she's been calling. Six times, in fact. Yeah, that's not creepy.
They arrive at his home, and Kathy has driven up. She is real happy to see Tony.
Page 131, Panel 6
I'm with Rhodes on this. A present arrives for Tony.
Page 132, Panel 5
Kathy is not happy to learn that LaCoste gave Tony this statue. She storms out, Rhodes thinking she needs a spanking. I think she needs psychotherapy, but that's just me. Night falls over Southern California. At her home, the gears in Marcy Pearson's brain are still working. She still has her old reporter's instincts, and they're telling her that there was more to that statue than meets the eye. She had been calling Cinda but never got any answer from her. She calls her old workplace, and she's told Cinda vanished some weeks ago. This was strange for her.
The next day, Tony is at work...well, both as Tony Stark and as Iron Man. He's helping test out his company's defenses. He manages to overcome these new defenses, but he's still impressed. He wanted them beefed up after the company was attacked in Iron Man #223, and boy were they beefed up. He heads up to the penthouse and finds Rhodes there, looking worried. Marcy's taken emergency leave. Tony thinks she has her reasons. After all, even in a superhero universe, family emergencies are a thing.
In actuality, Marcy's headed to San Diego to look for her friend Cinda. She finds Cinda's bungalow empty. She then notices a tape of Julio Iglesias's music on a shelf. Marcy finds it strange as Cinda couldn't stand his music.
A suspicious Marcy plays the tape, revealing that it was actually Cinda citing her notes on St. Pierre. She was investigating the man, believing he was connected to a string of disappearances. A dozen young women had vanished over the last few weeks, and St. Pierre's statues matched their faces perfectly, like he had terrorized them and murdered them to get inspiration for his art. Cinda herself vanished after planning to set herself up with him to get proof.
That night, the party at St. Pierre's place is on.
You know, I wonder if REO Speedwagon will be there. They're a bunch of party animals, if Jesse "The Body" Ventura is accurate.
Stark and LaCoste have arrived and so has Cindy. She sneaks towards the studio outside St. Pierre's home, and finds something shocking.
Page 144, Panel 1
The studio has nothing in it. No modeling stand, no clay, no tools, nothing to indicate he ever sculpted anything. In fact, the amount of dust indicates that this place has not been used in years.
She ends up being caught by St. Pierre himself. He starts to remove his glove, revealing that it's gray, the flesh being more...like stone.
Page 144, Panel 1
To her horror, the man approaches her, his skin also becoming like gray stone. Yup, Mr. Pierre is in secret an old villain, one who has tangled with Tony's Avenger buddy Thor as well as helped siege the Avengers Mansion recently. Paul St. Pierre is really Paul Pierre Duval, the French villain known...as the Grey Gargoyle, and he intends to make Marcy into his latest stone masterpiece.
This comic was really good. But then again, I think the 80s were a rather underrated era for Iron Man's book. Duval's scheme sounds like something out of a horror movie, a crazed madman turning terrified women into stone. What I especially liked about this issue is that it explored a bit of Marcy Pearson's past. It helps make her more of a three-dimensional character and not just someone for Jim Rhodes or Tony Stark to talk to. And it manages to underline that the Grey Gargoyle can be a terrifying and monstrous villain.
An underrated era of a book also has, in my opinion, an underrated art team. Guice and Layton turn in some fantastic work for this one. It has great storytelling and is very detailed.
If you want to read this story for yourself, I recommend tracking down the 2022 trade paperback Iron Man Epic Collection Vol. 14: Return of the Ghost. Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, show it off! Take care of yourselves and each other! See you next time!
