Latest acquisition for my comic collection. Picked this up at the Comic Book Cafe...for more info on the Comic Book Cafe goto
http://www.saycheesepizza.com/
"The Origin of the Mandarin!"
Continuing from last issue... Iron Man is the prisoner of his arch-foe the Mandarin, who has decided to tell his life story to his greatest foe before destroying him forever.
Explaining that his family directly descends from Genghis Khan, he was the child of a Chinese man and a Caucasian woman. His father dying shortly after his birth, he was left in the care of his father's sister, who was jealous of her brother's wealth. She decided to raise the boy to hate the world, and so the child that became the Mandarin became a bitter and angry person, especially when the Chinese army took away their home and riches. Wandering alone, the Mandarin decided to travel into the Valley of the Spirits, a sacred place all feared.
Finding the remains of a long dead dragon, the Mandarin stumbled upon an ancient space ship belonging to the Axonn-Karr, a dragon like race that came to Earth centuries ago. Using their technology to increase his knowledge, he took the power source of the ship and converted it into his ten power rings and used their power to establish his kingdom.
Finishing his story, the Mandarin then explains the device that Iron Man is strapped too will spin Iron Man to death, while he initiates his next plan: having built a rocket for the Chinese government, the Mandarin plans to initiate World War 3 and then take over the world in its aftermath. Telling all this, the Mandarin leaves Iron Man to perish.
Breaking loose of the Mandarin's trap, Iron Man then stops the rocket from hitting it's target by redirecting it back at the Chinese military, leaving them to believe that the Mandarin had betrayed them. Fleeing, the Mandarin is stopped by Iron Man and the two end up in a pitched battle until the Chinese military can track their location, forcing the Mandarin and Iron Man to flee their separate ways. Iron Man later catches a ride home aboard a US Air Force jet.
"Break-Out in Cell Block 10!"
Putting on a demonstration of his acrobatic abilities for the warden of a prison, Captain America soon finds out that it's all a trap and that the warden and his staff have actually been locked up in cell block 10 and the inmates have taken their place. Stealing Captain America's shield and locking him up with the warden, Captain America breaks out of his cell and fights off the prisoners who are trying to use it to open the magnetically sealed front gate of the prison.
Defeating the break-outs leader, Cap takes back his shield and the warden and his guards take back control of the prison. Later Captain America explains that the crooks were probably trying to use his shield to open the door because it once had magnetic devices built into it they figured might be able to open the door, but that these devices he had recently removed them from his shield. Asking what the code word to open the door was, he's told "Captain America."
This is the back cover of the recently released Captain America vs. The Red Skull graphic novel.
