Sub-Plot Interruptus

One of the fun aspects of superhero comics has always been the "shared universe" concept of different heroes existing in the same world, with stories from one title acknowledged in or even affecting the stories other titles.

Most of the time this intertwined hero community works smoothly...but sometimes...well, the phrase "the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray" comes to mind.  Occasionally, for whatever reason, writers and editors of different titles get their wires crossed, resulting in some endearingly goofy glitches in continuity.

I came across a great example of this yesterday, as I read through a 1972 issue of Iron-Man I picked up on Friday.  The story opens with Iron-Man near defeat at the hands of a robot sent by a mysterious manipulator named Mr. Kline, who's scheming from the shadows had become an ongoing sub-plot in the title.  After the robot is defeated by Iron-Man, Mr. Kline himself is shown brooding in a darkened control room somewhere, continuing to plot the downfall of Iron-Man.  One problem, though.  Check out the editor's note on the bottom of the panel (from Stan the Man himself!):

Well, then....I guess that's the end of this particular sub-plot, huh? Obviously, someone dropped the ball on the Mr. Kline resolution and, instead of coming up with some kind of elaborate explanation, Stan simply declared the guy dead and moved on.

Mr. Kline...we hardly knew ye!

Comments

[Rich]

Ha! I wonder how people/kids reacted at the time. Sure does deflate the story you're in the middle of reading.

[Mark Engblom]

Yeah, especially since Mr. Kline is almost constantly referred to in the opening pages of the story. When I came across this panel, I laughed out loud at the obvious gaff someone must have made at the time.

[Shar]

Hi, Mark!

This was a syoryline that involved several issues of DD (circa #78-#84) and Iron Man (circa #41-#45). At the time, Gerry Conway was writing both books but(reportedly) the storyline was so disliked by readers of both books that this prompted the decision to end it abruptly (in the DD book cited in the footnote).

[Mark Engblom]

Hey, Shar...thanks for the background info on the Mr. Kline storyline! That's hilarious that the storyline was abruptly yanked by (presumably) Stan Lee. It almost makes me want to track down that issue of Daredevil to see how the "kill order" was carried out (that Stan....such a Godfather figure).

[Hube]

Going purely by memory here ... would that have been issue #44 and the android was the "Night Phantom"? Oh, wait, if this a recap that'd make this issue #45. Right?

[Hube]

Ironic that I've been combing through early IM issues again, lately. Check out my blog for the crazy ads I've been dissecting of late!

[Mark Engblom]

Bingo! Issue #45 it was! VERY good, Hube!

Oh, and I enjoyed those ads you found in the Iron-Man comics. Those old ads are an endless source of fascination and amusement.

[Shar]

Hube: Mark beat me to it, but yes, it was the Night Phantom android/robot. Like Mark said, you have a great memory!

Mark: the Stan Lee-Godfather connection is more apt than you might think! Check out the Roy Thomas interview of Stan that appeared in Comic Book Artist #2- -the two talk about the fact that Mario Puzo tried to write a comics script for Marvel, back in the mid-60s...Puzo was not yet a well-known novelist and needed some extra cash. The outcome? Puzo said it was too difficult--"in the time it would take me to do this (write a comics script), I could write a novel!"

[Mark Engblom]

Ah, that's right! I'd forgotten about the Puzo connection.

..and Puzo got to write comics afterall....sorta. Remember he was tapped to write the screenplay for Superman: The Movie? Turned out what he wrote was pretty awful....so maybe it WAS too difficult for him afterall.