Kill Me or Cure Me: Difference between revisions
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|next=Baron Brimstone and his Sinister Satan Squad!
|image=Kill Me or Cure Me.jpg
|caption=I'm feeling so much better. And I can make you strong.
|title=Kill Me or Cure Me
|publisher=[[Marvel Comics]]
|published in=[[The Transformers issue 10|''The Transformers'' issue 10]]<br>[[The Transformers issue 11|issue 11]]
|date=[[26 January|26th January]], 1985 (part 1)<br>[[9 February|9th February]], 1985 (part 2)
|writer=[[Tom DeFalco]]
|artist=[[Steve Ditko]]
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Monday morning, and [[Machine Man|Aaron Stack]] and [[Peter Spaulding]] are getting ready to head out for work. Despite Peter finding Aaron's mechanical side a bit much first thing in the day, they elect to share a cab downtown after Aaron puts on his face.
At [[Delmar Insurance]], [[Eddie Harris]] gossips with [[Maggie Jones]] as Aaron walks through, saying the company's top investigator is highly impersonal and working at a rate that makes them look bad. The two jokers are chided by [[Pamela Quinn]] that they should spend less time at the water cooler themselves, and
Across town, at the [[Alternative Resources Centre]], the rueful [[Ion|Dr. Voletta Todd]] is also facing gossip, as a pair of [[sexist lab technicians]] struggle to reconcile her accomplishments in hydrogen fusion with her good looks. In her private lab, Dr Todd considers her year-long failure to produce an unlimited, clean energy source from ionised gas. In her overtired state, she makes a mistake that causes a power overload, and as the other scientists scramble to evacuate, she is hit by a barrage of electro-magnetic energies.
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He enters the burning building thanks to his flame-resistant body and gravity negation and finds two technicians trapped under a heavy beam. Machine Man detaches one leg to serve as a fulcrum, allowing him to rescue the technicians – though they are less than grateful at the attempt, causing Machine Man to briefly reflect on the xenophobia of humans before returning to the lab.
Machine Man uses the monitors on his finger sensors to search the many rooms of the complex. He detects a scrambled reading from a laboratory, but has no
Machine Man insists that the process could be reversible but, sensing he is not human himself, Dr Todd goes berserk, randomly blasting bolts of electro-magnetic energy around the room. Dodging the blasts, Machine Man attempts to contain her under a sheet of computer insulation, but as a gas, she seeps out form underneath it. One last blast causes the floor to cave in, trapping Machine Man, and the Dr Todd creature escapes, trying to find somewhere to gather her scattered thoughts.
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===Part 2===
Machine Man careens through the sky, his internal fail-safes deactivating all non-essential power – such as his gravity negation! Twisting and turning, he shifts his trajectory from populated streets to an auto yard where he lands less than gracefully. The proprietor, mechanic [[Gears Garvin|Oswald F. Garvin, alias "Gears"]], is confused by his new visitor. Despite Machine Man's protestations, Gears reckons he can repair him with tools he has on hand – and he proves it by fixing up his arm like new, impressing Machine Man! Gears doesn't have the necessary parts to fix his legs, but he has the next best thing, turning Machine Man into a highly-manoeuvrable unicycle!
In the meantime, Dr Todd – or "Ion", as the press have christened her – has spent torturous hours trying to recreate her human features, though they quickly fade as her concentration lapses. Seeking death or a cure, she heads to the [[New York City|Baxter Building]], headquarters of the [[Fantastic Four]]! Her violent entrance to [[Mister Fantastic|Reed Richards]]' lab sets off an alarm, disturbing the [[Human Torch]] and the strawberry-scented, bubble-bathin' [[Thing]]. The Torch finds his fireballs are ineffective against Ion, and she buries the Thing by electromagnetising the lab's computer equipment into a pile.
Machine Man, who has been monitoring police bands for Ion activity, tracks her to the Baxter Building, where the Human Torch attacks him as another intruder. Time is short to save Dr Todd, so Machine Man lowers the temperature of his hand to absolute zero in order to incapacitate the Human Torch. Ion seizes the moment to escape, and without her magnetic field, the Thing frees himself and confronts Machine Man, who abruptly trips the idol of millions and exits.
At street level, Ion leaves a trail of destruction, searching for someone to put her out of her misery. Machine Man taps into the power source of a street lamp and zaps her, disrupting her magnetic field. Wounded, she flees into a nearby meat market. Machine Man is at a disadvantage in these close quarters, especially when Ion uses her magnetism to spin him around at speed. He strains himself into the meat locker. Ion changes her priorities, putting Machine Man's destruction at the top of her list – but she is shocked to see her human body reforming in front of her eyes. Machine Man has lured her into the refrigerator, as he suspected she would be affected by the change of temperature. Now a normal human, Dr Todd is easily subdued. Machine Man reflects on how they were both outsiders in a world of conformity – but perhaps Dr Todd may someday be cured, yet he...
Some time later, Reed and [[Invisible Girl|Sue]] finish their shopping trip and meet the Human Torch and the Thing at the meat market. Johnny explains that Machine Man was gone by the time they arrived, but he had left instructions to keep Dr Todd in cryogenics until the Fantastic Four could develop a cure for her condition. Sue pities the poor woman, but Thing encourages her to save it for Machine Man by the time he gets through with him.
Meanwhile, Machine Man heads back to Gears Garvin's repair shop, wondering what other surprises fate has in store for him.
==Featured characters==
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'''Ion:''' "'''''IIYEE!''''' I sense you are a machine -- what would a thing of metal and wire know of compassion?"<br>
'''Machine Man:''' "Plenty -- but this is hardly a time to debate the issue!"
"Super-heroes are an extremely paranoid group."
:—'''Machine Man'''{{'}}s thoughts on the "Let's You and Him Fight" trope.
"Now I ask ya... is this any way ta treat the idol of millions?"
:—The '''Thing''', not realising he isn't in a ''Fantastic Four'' book.
"Sorry, but no one thought to include "cringing" on my basic program!"
:–'''Machine Man''' is too based to fear Ion's threats.
'''Ion:''' "We are both creations of technology, robot. Yet, even though you are an inhuman, grotesque mockery of life -- you are far less of a horror than I! For that I hate you most of all!"<br>
'''Machine Man:''' "Somehow, I'm not flattered!"
==Notes==
{{MarvelWiki|Machine_Man_Vol_1_15|Kill Me or Cure Me}}
===Original printing===
*''Machine Man'' (vol 1) issue
This was [[Tom DeFalco]]'s first issue penning ''Machine Man''. The credits are drawn into the opening splash page, appearing on diegetic pieces of rubble. DeFalco brings with him a Silver Age-style ''in medias res'' action teaser to open each story.
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