Machine Man #17

Name: Machine Man #17
Brand: Marvel
Availability: InStock

Oct 1980 · Marvel · 0.50 USD

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“Arms and the Robot”

★ 1st appearance — Sunset Bain

About this Issue

Machine Man #17 delivers the first appearance of Sunset Bain — operating here under her armored alter ego Madame Menace — making it the debut of one of Marvel's most durable tech-villain archetypes: the ruthless corporate arms dealer who runs a spotless public empire while secretly supplying high-tech weapons to the criminal underworld. The character's dual identity planted a conceptual seed that grew across four decades of Marvel continuity, eventually making her a central antagonist in Iron Man, Spider-Man, War Machine, and Iron Man 2020 storylines. The issue also represents a significant narrative beat for Machine Man himself: stripped of an arm in the previous issue, Aaron Stack is forced to confront the fact that his own body parts are commercially valuable, a thematically charged situation that deepens the series' running meditation on machine identity and exploitation. That single story hook — a villain trying to reverse-engineer and mass-produce a living android — remains one of the sharper sci-fi concepts in the title's brief run.

writer Tom DeFalco · artist, inker Steve Ditko · colorist Nel Yomtov · letterer Peter Kirch · cover Rich Buckler, Al Milgrom

ComicBooks.com Value

Our Model is In Beta

Raw (Fine) $3

CGC 9.8 · 7 in census $100*

CGC 9.6 · 4 in census $30

CGC 9.4 · 2 in census $20*

CGC 9.2 · 1 in census $20*

CGC 9.0 · 1 in census $20*

* estimate — limited direct-sales data at this grade

Our model’s value — refined as new sales data arrives · CGC census counts shown where available

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CGC 9.6 ▾ $93.99–$125 2 listings

CGC 9.6 $93.99 CGC 9.6 $125

Raw — NM- ▾ $12–$14 2 listings

NM- $12 NM- $14

Raw — VF/NM ▾ $9.99–$12 3 listings

VF/NM $9.99 VF/NM $12 VF/NM $12

Raw — VF+ ▾ $7–$15 3 listings

VF+ $7 VF+ $10 VF+ $15

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VF $3.57 VF $3.9 VF $7.98 VF $9.98

Raw — FN+ $12.57 1 listing

Raw — FN ▾ $0.99–$7.99 3 listings

FN $0.99 FN $7.1 FN $7.99

Raw / ungraded ▾ $2.08–$25 26 listings

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Machine Man (1979) (Steve Ditko Scripts) #17 $6.93

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History

Issue #17 was part of the final five-issue stretch of the original Machine Man series, written by Tom DeFalco — then early in his Marvel career — and pencilled and inked by Steve Ditko, under the editorial direction of Denny O'Neil, with Jim Shooter serving as editor-in-chief. DeFalco has described in interviews how O'Neil recruited him to write the book and how Ditko, who had already been drawing the series under Marv Wolfman, agreed to stay on only after reviewing DeFalco's first plot. The cover was provided by Rich Buckler and Al Milgrom rather than Ditko, a common arrangement on the late-series issues. The series would be cancelled just two issues later with #19 (February 1981), making this issue part of the title's swan song — and the creative conditions of a book winding down, handed off between writers, are the backdrop against which Sunset Bain was born.

Trivia · 8 facts

First appearance of Madame Menace (Sunset Bain), created by writer Tom DeFalco and artist Steve Ditko; cover-dated October 1980, released July 1, 1980.
The story's title is 'Arms and the Robot'; the cover tagline reads 'Madame Menace — She'll Tear You Apart!'
The plot follows directly from Machine Man #16: Machine Man lost his left arm fighting Baron Brimstone and the Satan Squad; a thief named Krager sells the inert limb to Madame Menace, who plans to reverse-engineer it and mass-produce a robot army.
Sunset Bain's dual identity — respectable tech CEO by day, black-market arms dealer (Madame Menace) by night — includes a retconned backstory in which she seduced Tony Stark at MIT to steal Stark Industries security codes, providing the foundation for her long-running rivalry with Iron Man.
Interior art by Steve Ditko (pencils and inks); cover by Rich Buckler and Al Milgrom; colors by Nel Yomtov; letters by Peter Kirch; edited by Denny O'Neil.
Madame Menace / Sunset Bain went on to appear across more than three decades of Marvel titles including Ghost Rider, Iron Man, Web of Spider-Man, Solo Avengers, Spider-Man, Taskmaster, Punisher War Journal, Tony Stark: Iron Man, and the Iron Man 2020 event (2020).
The issue has been reprinted in Machine Man by Kirby & Ditko: The Complete Collection (Marvel, 2016) and in the French edition Machine Man le robot vivant (Panini France, 2017); portions were also reprinted in Marvel UK's The Transformers #15–17 (April–May 1985).
Sunset Bain received a formal handbook entry in All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #1 (2006), confirming her status as an established part of Marvel's reference canon.