Iron Man #53
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeIron Man #53 is the first appearance of the Black Lama — a robed, interdimensional schemer who would spend the next several years as one of Iron Man's most persistent antagonists, culminating in the extended 'War of the Super-Villains' storyline that ran through issues #69–81. The issue also delivers the origin and death of Raga, Son of Fire in a single tale, a compressed Bronze Age storytelling move that was rare even by the standards of the era. Its significance stems less from any single moment than from the long narrative thread it planted: the Black Lama's true identity as an alternate-dimensional counterpart of then-president Gerald Ford, a satirical payoff that wouldn't arrive for years, made this issue the quiet opening move of a slow-burn mystery threading through Friedrich's entire Iron Man run. As one of the earliest issues of that run, it also marks the editorial pivot point at which Iron Man's solo title became the seedbed for Marvel's most ambitious early Bronze Age cosmic storytelling.
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Writer Mike Friedrich had just made the jump from DC to Marvel when he took over as Iron Man's regular scripter beginning with issue #48 in mid-1972, scripting nearly every issue straight through #81. Issue #53 falls near the start of that sustained run, with Friedrich working alongside primary penciler George Tuska and a young Jim Starlin — who contributed a handful of interior pages — under editor-in-chief Roy Thomas. The cover was penciled by Gil Kane and inked by Frank Giacoia, a pairing that gave the book a stronger visual identity than the interiors sometimes managed. The Black Lama was created by Friedrich and Tuska, introduced here as a deliberately opaque manipulator whose true nature Friedrich clearly intended to develop across many future issues.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of the Black Lama (King Jerald of Earth-7511), the villain whose identity as an alternate-dimensional counterpart of Gerald Ford would not be revealed until Iron Man #80.
- Concludes the two-part Raga, Son of Fire arc begun in Iron Man #52; Raga's origin is revealed in flashback and the character dies in this issue — his sole story in Marvel continuity.
- Written by Mike Friedrich, penciled primarily by George Tuska with additional pages by Jim Starlin, inked by Vince Colletta, lettered by Artie Simek, with a cover by Gil Kane and Frank Giacoia.
- Published with a December 1972 cover date (on-sale August 29, 1972); edited by Roy Thomas, then Marvel's Editor-in-Chief.
- The Black Lama returned in Iron Man #69–81 as the 'mastermind' behind the War of the Super-Villains, a storyline in which he pitted costumed criminals against one another for possession of a Golden Globe of Power.
- A British edition (UK price variant) was published simultaneously, identical in content to the US edition.
- The issue has been reprinted in Essential Iron Man Vol. 4 (2010) and Iron Man Epic Collection Vol. 5: Battle Royal (2022).
- Story title: 'Fate Is the Black Lama!' — part two of two, set in the Santa Monica Mountains of California.
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Reprints
Reprinted in Strange #49 (1974), Essential Iron Man #4 (2010), Marvel Masterworks: The Invincible Iron Man #8 (2013), Iron Man Epic Collection #5 (2022), The Invincible Iron Man Omnibus #3 (2024), Άιρον Μαν [Iron Man] #1
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