Jolted by Jack O'Lantern!: Difference between revisions
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==Synopsis==
===Part 1===
[[Machine Man]] returns to the workshop of [[Gears Garvin]], his humanised face still disfigured following [[Alone Against Alpha Flight!|his encounter]] with [[Madam Menace]] and [[Alpha Flight]]. Though Gears' speciality is the inside of machines, he reckons he can fix up the face with some fibreglass and putty, but it'll take a few hours. Aaron dons his hat and coat to get some fresh air, and [[Peter Spaulding]] offers to join him, but he is rebuffed. The worried Peter tells Gears that he hasn't seen Aaron so anxious and withdrawn. As Aaron walks, he considers how his upbringing by Dr. [[Abel Stack]] prevented him from facing the fate of the [[X-35|fifty other robots in the X series]]; without the watchful eye of his programmer, will Aaron too succumb to vengeful violence as a result of his
Across town, in a run-down athletic centre, [[Geoff Peckman]] complains to his fellow gangsters that their boss hasn't sent them on a caper in months, and they can't keep spinning their wheels with readiness drills. They are interrupted by the sudden arrival of the blood-curdling [[Jack O'Lantern]]. The fright-faced fiend hazes his new recruits by baiting them into all fighting him at once, but his pogo-platform, gas grenades, and lack of a sense of fair play see the men overcome. Having shown them who's boss, Jack O'Lantern begins to tell of a new scheme that will make them millions...
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===Part 2===
Suspecting foul play, Aaron discreetly negates gravity and dives into the upper reaches of a nearby tree to change into Machine Man. Peckman begins to leave the scene, so Machine Man magnetises his hand to the roof of the gangster's car and tails him by being dragged along like a kite. Peckman drives to the athletic centre and presents his photos to Jack O'Lantern, who congratulates his reconnaissance.
Observing the scene through a skylight, Machine Man is keen avoid action, lest he be agitated into once again losing control. Before he can contact the authorities, the roof gives way under his vast weight, and he drops into the gym below. Jack O'Lantern gives his men the order to kill him. Though under attack by athletics equipment, Machine Man tries to keep his temper by ending the battle efficiently, wrapping up his foes in a gym mat.
Jack O'Lantern is impressed by the interloper's win over his brutal henchmen. Though he craves the excitement of taking on such a formidable foe, he has a standing appointment at the super-embassy that evening. Jack bounces around on his pogo-platform and gets the drop on Machine Man with his wrist-blaster, throwing the living robot through the wall into a changing room.
Caught off guard by the strength of his attacker, Machine Man takes a moment to monitor himself and keep calm... but, catching his reflection in a mirror, he realises that his face has once again been damaged in battle. He feels the tension build within him, and the desire to go berserk. It is only through sheer force of willpower that he remains in control of his temper.
Machine Man returns to find that Jack O'Lantern and his men have fled. Despite catching sight of an escaping truck, he is unable to trace it. The robot's woes are many: a terrorist with unknown plans for the super-embassy, a face that can't be fixed in time for its grand opening, and the threat of bloodthirsty blackouts still with an undetermined cause...
===Part 3===
===Part 4===
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(Computerization has made astounding advances since the days when I was but a gleam in my programmer's eye!)
:—'''Aaron''' takes a tour of the super-embassy.
"He'll never realize he's dragging a non-paying passenger! Of course, it'll be instant embarrassment if he drives into an underpass with a low clearance!"
:—'''Machine Man''', while negating gravity high above Peckman's car.
==Notes==
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===Continuity errors===
*Aaron refers to Dr. Abel Stack formally and in a detached way, when "[[Introducing Machine Man]]" made it clear he referred to him in familial, paternal terms.
*If the computer system of the super-embassy monitors "every square inch of the grounds", exactly ''how'' far away did Aaron have to go before he could safely change into Machine Man?
*And not to be Cinemasins, but neither Peckman nor any onlookers ever noticed Machine Man floating above his car?
*When Machine Man collapses through the roof of the athletics centre, he gives his weight as 850 pounds. That's only ten percent of the weight he claimed to have in "[[Alone Against Alpha Flight!]]" which was 8501 pounds!
*Aaron concludes that his cerebral cortex is failing; Gears takes a look and discovers that the damage sustained to his head in "Alone Against Alpha Flight!" has been causing his raging blackouts. After Gears fixes him up, Aaron has a new lease on life... despite a) the attribution of his berserker periods to the damage to his head completely ignores the underlying possibility that his X series programming may one day cause him to go mad and b) the fact that he had a whole number of hot-tempered freakouts in "[[Where Walk the Gods!]]" and "[[Arms and the Robot!]]", both of which predate the dings to his bonce!
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**The artwork in these illustrations borrows heavily from {{Marvel|2001,_A_Space_Odyssey_Vol_2_8|''2001'' issue 8;}} the first illustration references artwork of a soldier with a flamethrower and of [[X-35]]'s death, and the second references the panel of Abel removing the explosive, rather than Ditko's rendition of the same scene from "Introducing Machine Man".
*Aaron was nearly introduced to [[Brock Jones]] back in "[[Byte of the Binary Bug!]]" before being interrupted.
*Machine Man hides his civilian clothes in the hollow sections of his legs, as established in "[[Baron Brimstone and his Sinister Satan Squad!]]".
*When Aaron is late contacting Peter, Gears suggests that he might have been grabbed by some hobgoblins, which is pretty funny given Jack O'Lantern's {{Marvel|Jason_Macendale_Jr._(Earth-616)|later criminal career.}}
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