Baron Brimstone and his Sinister Satan Squad!
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 That one episode of The Avengers has a lot to answer for. | ||||||||||||||||
| "Baron Brimstone and his Sinister Satan Squad!" | ||||||||||||||||
| Publisher | Marvel Comics | |||||||||||||||
| Published in | The Transformers issue 12 issue 13 issue 14 | |||||||||||||||
| First published | 23rd February, 1985 (part 1) 9th March, 1985 (part 2) 23rd March, 1985 (part 3) | |||||||||||||||
| Writer | Tom DeFalco | |||||||||||||||
| Artist | Steve Ditko | |||||||||||||||
| Colours | Bob Sharen | |||||||||||||||
| Letters | D. Albers | |||||||||||||||
| Editor | Denny O'Neil | |||||||||||||||
| Editor-in-chief | Jim Shooter | |||||||||||||||
Machine Man investigates a crime spree caused by a man who claims to be a master sorcerer.
Synopsis
Part 1
Aaron Stack and Eddie Harris are on official Delmar Insurance business, investigating upping the coverage at the prestigious Chem-Solar corporation. As they are shown around by personnel, scientists on a floor above put the Sol-Mac, the corporation's newest development in solar power, through its paces. A portable and highly-amplified microwave transmitter, the Sol-Mac effortlessly pierces a block of reinforced titanium steel.
A puff of smoke heralds the arrival of the mystical Baron Brimstone, who fires apparently magical beams at the scientists with the intent of stealing the Sol-Mac. With the security alarms blaring, employees all over the complex scramble, but Eddie is convinced it's a staged security drill. Aaron knows better, and after a quick chance into Machine Man, he propels himself up the side of the building.
The building's armed guards confront Baron Brimstone but, proclaiming himself immovable and invincible, he summons a bulletproof forcefield and then hits them with a soporific aroma. Machine Man enters through the window and clocks him. The Baron immediately detects that Machine Man is no mere human, but is undeterred, hitting him with a beam that blasts him into a work station. Machine Man makes to throw the desk at him, but Baron Brimstone activates the Sol-Mac, bombarding him with a blast of microwave radiation and shattering his breastplate. The living robot is at his mercy... but Baron Brimstone does not kill unless necessary, instead making to escape with the Sol-Mac in hand – but he leaves Machine Man with the warning not to cross his path again.
Machine Man's auxiliary power system eventually kicks in. With another squad of armed peacekeepers at the door, he is forced to crouch and manoeuvre around on his foot wheels to avoid getting shot in his chest mechanisms.
An arduous swing through the city later and Machine Man is at Gears Garvin's workshop, where the mechanic has fixed up his chest and is covering him with a laser-proof refractory coating. Machine Man expresses his worry about Baron Brimstone – not because of his mysterious powers, but because he is now equipped with the Sol-Mac...
Part 2
Gears reckons he's got the solution somewhere in his incredibly messy living quarters. Eventually, he produces a pair of wedding wings from an aborted engagement – but the solid gold, once flattened, will provide ample insulation against microwaves, and the duo return to the workshop to get Machine Man's brain casing and breastplate protected.
Across town, with the word on the street that a new crime lord needs some muscle, goons gather in a warehouse. Once again, Baron Brimstone appears in a cloud of smoke, declaring his intent to rule the criminal overworld as Satan rules over Hell! The goons, egged on by Duke Dawson, are sceptical to work for anyone who wants to set up a "Satan Squad". Brimstone deters the mob with the help of his lieutenants, loaded gloved pugilist Hammer Harrison and constricting contortionist Snake Marston. The Baron ends this demonstration of their power, offering the goons the choice between joining them or eternal damnation, and the trio vanishes as abruptly as they arrived. Duke Dawson is isn't impressed.
Brimstone, Hammer, and Snake reconvene at the Baron's penthouse, where the vibe is less than harmonious. Hammer is creeped out by Snake, and thinks Brimstone is a cornball, but at least there's a hefty paycheque in it. What the two henchmen agree on is that they are unsure which, if any, of Baron Brimstone's feats are truly otherworldly and which are the product of the advanced technology he wears concealed under his cape... an ambiguity the Baron is happy to propagate.
Over the weeks that follow, Baron Brimstone leads Hammer, Snake, and the Satan Squad in a spree of thefts centred around components of the Sol-Mac, which he plans to mass-produce and get rich from. At Delmar, Aaron acts even more distant than usual, as noted by Eddie and Maggie Jones, as if the Baron Brimstone investigation affected him personally. The only colleague Aaron has time for is the sweet and thoughtful Pamela Quinn, who presents him with the schematics of the Sol-Mac, courtesy of a few favours called in by Byron J. Benjamin. As Aaron cross-references the components of the Sol-Mac against the thefts committed by the Satan Squad, beginning to understand the bigger picture, Pamela receives a call from a contact and hurries out of the office.
In a dark alley, Pamela makes a rendezvous with Duke Dawson, who wants cash for information. Before he can reveal Brimstone's "head trip" of a next job, he is grabbed by Snake, who crushes him to death. Pamela is knocked out by Hammer, who decides that the Baron may want to bring her in for questioning...
Meanwhile, Machine Man is connecting to Compucord, calculating Baron Brimstone's next move. To mass produce the Sol-Mac, he must first need a vast amount of gold for use as shielding. But most gold reserves are heavily guarded, leaving only one source of gold a likely target... the famed golden bell at the cathedral of St. Gabriella of the Highlands!
As Machine Man skates to the scene, he sees the Satan Squad on the bell tower, preparing to take the bell into a waiting helicopter. Though he does not understand the display of opulence at the cathedral when many in the world go hungry, he is determined that Baron Brimstone not be allowed to carry out his plans. But the Satan Squad was warned about his possible intervention – and Snake and Hammer are ready to take him down!
Part 3
Snake quickly grabs Machine Man and starts to crush him, so Machine Man disengages his waist couplings and whirls his upper body with such rapidity that Snake is thrown off, taking the other henchmen down with him. Hammer gets the drop on Machine Man, punching him with his steel fists so far that he is launched onto the roof of the next building over. Refusing to become a punching bag, Machine Man rips off the nearest chimney and places it over Hammer, trapping him.
Baron Brimstone yells down from the helicopter that he had underestimated Machine Man's capacity to derail his schemes, but he has one last trick up his sleeve... driven to desperation, he pushes the captive Pamela from the chopper!
In a matter of seconds, Machine Man detaches his left arm and programs it to wrap around Pamela and negate gravity, lowering her gently to the ground. With his other arm he grabs the winch from the helicopter and swings up, bursting through the copter's hull. Brimstone sics more henchmen on him, but Machine Man makes short work of them. In response, Brimstone activates the Sol-Mac, and Machine Man is bombarded by microwave energy. Straining through the barrage, painful despite his gold shielding, Machine Man punches his extended arm through the helicopter's hull and uses his finger sensors to detect the craft's battery. He and the helicopter become one big circuit, and he uses the battery power to electrocute the entire thing, shocking the Baron into unconsciousness.
Machine Man ruminates on whether Brimstone was truly a sorcerer or an elaborate showman. In the moments that pass, he dismantles the Sol-Mac and transfers the helicopter to a police pilot. He departs for ground level to check up on Pamela, whom he feels strangely concerned for and protective of... but he finds no time to address his confusing emotions, as he cannot establish radio contact with his detached arm, concluding that it has been stolen from the immediate vicinity!
Featured characters
| Regular cast | Antagonists | Incidentals |
|---|---|---|
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Delmar Insurance |
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Quotes
"One should never assume anything... except the inevitability of petty annoyances! Hi! I'm here to aggravate you!"
- —Machine Man's latest battle cry.
"[...M]urder is the last resort of fools and desperate men... and Baron Brimstone is neither!"
- –A man's gotta have a code, even Baron Brimstone.
Gears Garvin: "Don't tell me ya believe in magic?"
Machine Man: "Are you kidding? I have enough trouble believing in flesh-covered people... with blood and veins, instead of circuits!"
"I ain't all that big on book knowledge. Matter'a fact, I don't understand how most things work... I just kind'a fuss with'em till they start hummin' again..."
- —A look into the philosophy of Gears Garvin.
"Are you Dawson?"
"Nah! I'm just a guy who gets off on dark alleys!"
- —Pamela encounters a sarcastic Dawson.
"No earthly prison could ever hold me, but I choose to avoid capture. Thus, to assure my escape, I am driven... to desperation!"
- —Baron Brimstone's code breaks.
Baron Brimstone: "Still you torment me, you overconfident fool! Don't you ever give up?"
Machine Man: "Never! I'm very success-oriented!"
"You think it's easy for a machine to make jokes? When was the last time your toaster cracked a funny?"
- —Machine Man wants you to know he puts effort into his banter.
Notes
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Original printing
- Machine Man (vol 1) issue 16, August 1980
The final narration box suggests that the subsequent story was originally meant to be named "Macabre Means Murder!".
Crazy credits
The credits box of this issue reads:
A journey into far-out fantasy by:
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This begins a run of crazy credit boxes across the next few Machine Man stories.
Edits
- Pages 1-2 and 5 of part 1 are printed in black and white.
- Bob Sharen's "colors" credit is changed to "colours", necessitating re-lettering the rest of that line of text.
- On page 2 of part 1, "solar-fueled" is changed to "solar-fuelled". On the next page, "clamor" becomes "clamour", and on the final page, "smoldering" becomes "smouldering".
- Pages 1-2 and 5 of part 2 are printed in black and white.
- Pages 1-2 of part 3 are printed in black and white.
Artwork and technical errors
- U.S. English spellings to slip through include "materializes", "stabilizers", "specialized", "artifacts", "colorful" and "computerized" (both in the same sentence), "marvelous", "mechanized", "belabor", and "transfering".
- The scientists refer to the Sol-Mac as "their newest most, astounding development", misplacing a comma.
- "What manner of mortal are you!" yells Baron Brimstone, with an exclamation mark instead of a question mark.
- Machine Man refers to his "auxilary power system"; this should read "auxiliary".
- In something of a disconnect between writing and artwork, Gears refers to having welded Aaron's chest shut while still holding a welding torch to his internal cavity.
- There's an unnecessary comma in Brimstone's speech bubble where he refers to Snake Marston's "slithering, body".
- A speech bubble where Eddie says Aaron ignores everyone except Pamela Quinn is misattributed to Aaron himself.
- The next panel misspells "excellent" as "excelent".
- "Misshapened" isn't a word, but "misshaped" and "misshapen" both are.
- Snake Marston warns Machine Man that "Not even your human strength can break my grasp!" That should probably read something like "inhuman strength".
- Machine Man detaches his left arm to save Pamela. On the helicopter, he punches his right first through the hull... but it is his left hand that probes around for the copter's power source.
Continuity errors
- In another change since Tom DeFalco started writing the book, Compucord is now in the basement of Delmar, rather than on the eighth floor.
Continuity notes
- The story begins in May, and weeks pass while Baron Brimstone conducts his crime spree. The final scene of the story follows directly into the start of "Arms and the Robot!".
- Machine Man refers to being "hunted, hounded, and hated since the first day of [his] creation".
Real-life references
- Baron Brimstone calls himself a "master of the mystic arts", a title typically reserved for Dr. Strange.
- Brimstone refers to Machine Man as being "no man born of woman!", almost certainly a paraphrase of a line from William Shakespeare's Macbeth.
- A roller disco is a dance club where patrons wear roller skates. The trend reached its peak in the U.S. in 1980, when this story was first published – but arrived in the UK in 1984, making it a more timely reference than one might expect.
- Duke Dawson refers to Brimstone as a "third-rate Dracula".
- When Machine Man confronts the Satan Squad at the cathedral, one goon is glad that they weren't caught by Spider-Man.
- Hammer Harrison calls Machine Man an overrated Tinker toy.
