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Appearing in "The Icy Fingers of Jack Frost!"

Reprint of the 1st story from
Tales of Suspense #45

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Synopsis for "The Icy Fingers of Jack Frost!"

Reprint of the 1st story from
Tales of Suspense #45

As Iron Man whizzes down the highway at high speeds using his jet-skates, he draws the attention of a pair of traffic police, who try to chase him down. He arrives at his sports car further down the road and and changes into Anthony Stark. Stark arrives at the speedway just in time to climb behind the wheel of "The Stark Special" and begin the race. Some time into the race, he feels his heart seize up on him, causing him to spin the car out of control and crash. As the car bursts into flame, Stark finds that he is trapped and cannot move. A bystander braves the flames and pulls him out of the wreckage and drags him to safety. Stark begs the man to quickly take him to his hotel room and not ask any questions. The man agrees and they take off in his car.

At the hotel, Stark plugs his chest plate into a wall outlet, which begins to stimulate his heart back to normal function. He remembers the man who rescued him and decides to offer him a handsome reward. That man, Happy Hogan, is a retired boxer who rips up Stark's check for $50,000, stating that he would prefer a steady job with three weeks vacation and a pension plan. Stark in turn offers him a position as his chauffeur, which Hogan eagerly accepts. They head over to Stark's main office in Flushing, New York, where he introduces Hogan to his secretary, Pepper Potts. The bickering between Pepper and Happy begins almost immediately! Although they bicker, Hogan confesses an attraction to Pepper, who rebuffs him saying she's saving herself to be the future Mrs. Tony Stark.

Stark excuses himself and goes to his private office to test out his Iron Man armor. He goes through checks on a few of his latest innovations, when suddenly an alarm goes off. As Iron Man, he immediately heads to the basement where he discovers one of his employees, Professor Gregor Shapanka, trying to break into a vault. Shapanka fires a gun at the approaching hero, to no avail. Iron Man apprehends Shapanka and shoves him into the vault, closing it securely behind him. A few minutes later, Tony Stark arrives with armed guards, and explains that he's letting Shapanka go free because of the brilliant work he had done in the past. Since he can no longer trust Shapanka with the vital secret projects that Stark Industries is involved in, Stark fires him. As Shapanka is being escorted away, he insults Stark, who makes a comment warning him to leave now before he "gets cold feet." This comment makes Shapanka laugh out loud and thank Stark for helping him mentally "connect the dots" on a solution to his money problems. Thinking Shapanka "nuttier than a fruit cake," he is set free.

Weeks later, Shapanka is working in his private laboratory. He has developed a process to prolong human life by freezing a person within a block of ice. Using Stark's comment for inspiration, he develops a special freezing suit that lowers his body temperature without placing him within a block of ice. The suit also gives him the ability to freeze objects near him. A week later, Shapanka walks into a bank wearing his new "ice suit" and encases the armed guards and customers within blocks of ice. He robs the bank vault and then saunters outside, icing up nearby policemen (and the bullets they are shooting at him). The newspaper headlines scream about the new threat of "Jack Frost." Enjoying his newfound power and fame, Shapanka decides to make his next move against Tony Stark.

Covered in ice, the newly anointed Jack Frost walks into Stark Industries' main office and encounters armed guards, who open fire at him. Nearby, Pepper Potts uses the telephone to warn Stark that that Jack Frost is breaking in. In his office, Stark quickly changes into Iron Man. Meanwhile, Happy Hogan rushes in Pepper's office and picks up one of the fallen guard's rifles. As he races inside Stark's office to check on his boss, he is frozen solid by Jack Frost. Iron Man immediately recognizes Jack Frost's voice as Shapanka's. He triggers a trap door to open beneath Jack Frost's feet, but he grabs hold of the side of the door and uses his ice powers to climb out. Iron Man then uses a heat ray from his chest plate to melt Jack Frost's icy coating, stalling him long enough to assemble a miniature transistorized furnace from his utility belt. Placed on the ground, the furnace emanates a heat wave that disables Jack Frost's powers and melts all of the ice that he has generated. As the defeated Jack Frost is arrested, Happy Hogan is left to ponder whether he's given up prize-fighting for the wrong vocation!

Solicit Synopsis

Reprinting Tales of Suspense (1959) Vol 1 45

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