The Man Who Could Walk Through Walls
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 Kitty Pryde he ain't. | ||||||||||||||||
| The Man Who Could Walk Through Walls | ||||||||||||||||
| Publisher | Marvel Comics | |||||||||||||||
| Published in | The Transformers issue 8 issue 9 | |||||||||||||||
| First published | 29th December, 1984 (part 1) 12th January, 1985 (part 2) | |||||||||||||||
| Writer | Marv Wolfman | |||||||||||||||
| Artist | Steve Ditko | |||||||||||||||
| Colorist | R. Slifer | |||||||||||||||
| Letterer | John Costanza | |||||||||||||||
| Editor | Marv Wolfman | |||||||||||||||
| Consulting editor | Jim Shooter | |||||||||||||||
Machine Man is framed by two of Brickman's goons and their especially dense slave.
Synopsis
Part 1
In tonight's news: Machine Man has heroically prevented a school bus full of children from crashing into the ocean after a bridge collapse. Senator Miles Brickman, hearing the report, is positively seething about it. He rants to his goons, Fred Greenfield and Archie Goldsmith, that every good deed Machine Man commits threatens his anti-Machine Man presidential campaign platform. Fred suggests that they could tie him to employment, and though Brickman dismisses it at first, he eventually cottons on to the idea of Machine Man representing automation, putting Joe Public out of work... and takes credit for the idea, sending the lads home for the day on the orders they find a new smear campaign for the next morning.
Archie invites Fred to dinner with him and his brother, Dr. Hiram R. Goldsmith. Stopping by at "Ham"'s lab, they find him at a critical stage of his latest experiment. His test subject, the down on his luck Barry Witherspoon, tries to console his family that things'll be fine, but his wife, Gloria, tearfully takes the kids away from watching their father become a lab rat. Hiram preps Witherspoon for the experiment, which is intended to siphon excess mass from other dimensions and saturate a human being with it, thus increasing their density. The experiment is too successful, and the lab is wrecked around the screaming figure of Witherspoon – and when the energy subsides, he blankly turns and walks through the wall as if it were paper!
An injured Hiram gives a set of sonic amplifiers to Archie and Fred, who were safe behind a radiation shield, telling them the apparatus is the only way to cut through Witherspoon's newfound density to communicate. The goons catch up with Witherspoon, and order him to stop. Archie realises that they can command the entranced Witherspoon with the amplifiers, but Fred realises that this could be the answer to discrediting Machine Man on Brickman's orders...
Elsewhere, Machine Man is helping to repair the bridge, though Peter encourages him to take it slowly for the benefit of the assembled press and paparazzi. A journo asks Peter if this display is in response to Brickman's campaign, which Peter readily admits – because Brickman's accusations are ridiculous, as a living robot doesn't need to take jobs from people. TV reporter Dorothy Mayson argues that Machine Man is right now taking a job from a derrick operator, and that with a hundred Machine Men, there'd be thousands fewer employees in construction. As Mrs Mayson storms away and the press disperses, Machine Man laments that it is not yet time for man and machine to live together... and he already has a job to get to.
As Aaron arrives at work, he is pounced upon by Maggie Jones, demanding a kiss. Aaron effortlessly strands her on top of a high filing cabinet, just as wiseacre Eddie Harris is wandering by. The furious Maggie declares war on Mr High and Mighty Aaron Stack.
That night, on Wall Street, Witherspoon forces his way through a wall, heading for a vault – dressed as Machine Man! The guards fire on him, but his density has rendered him immune to bullets, and he easily knocks them out. Soon, he has returned to Archie and Fred with a bag full of cash, and the two goons decide to try and make it without Brickman.
About an hour later, Aaron gets a call from Peter, who tells him to brace himself and put on the TV. Mrs Mayson is reporting live from the scene with one of the guards attacked by Witherspoon, who identifies the thief as Machine Man, "who else?" Peter leaves the phone off the hook to answer a knock at the door, where he finds two of New York's finest with a warrant for Machine Man's arrest, and since Peter isn't providing his whereabouts, his arrest too! Machine Man makes to go on patrol to stop this miscarriage of justice, but spies Maggie surveilling his apartment, so he takes off from the roof.
In Midtown, Witherspoon breaks into the Tower Jewelry Store, swiping valuables from the display cases while Archie and Fred wait in a getaway van. From the air, Machine Man detects the high frequency of the sonic amplifiers. He attacks his criminal doppelganger, but is surprised that the human is not only shrugging off his super strength, he's not even responding to thirty thousand volts of electricity... nor is he speaking or responding naturally. Witherspoon gets the better of him, as his gyro and gravity centres are affected by the wail of the amplifiers, and the crooks escape with their loot. Shortly, the cops arrive, responding to the jeweller's silent burglar alarms. Machine Man is there at the crime scene, dead to rights!
Part 2
Protesting his innocence, Machine Man takes flight, the cops' guns unable to stop him.
Brickman is laughing in his office, showing his gathered supporters (including Mrs Mayson) the latest news broadcast, which implicates Machine Man in the robbery. Brickman is convinced that, as long as the public thinks Machine Man is guilty of something, that makes him a hero... but one of his supporters thinks the senator has gone too far, and quietly leaves the party.
On a rooftop, Machine Man is recuperating and navel-gazing, wondering if a life of persecution and fugitivity is what his father envisioned for him. Spying Maggie still waiting outside his apartment, Machine Man flies to the prison where Peter is being held, to talk to his wrongfully imprisoned friend. By coincidence, Mrs Mayson is there, interviewing the warden. On her way out, she spots Machine Man at Peter's cell window and snaps a photo.
The next morning, Aaron is alarmed at the Daily Bugle's lead story, featuring Mrs Mayson's photo. Deciding enough is enough, he brushes off Maggie again and arrives at the prison as Machine Man, surrendering himself into custody. Thinking the heat is off now that Machine Man is behind bars, Fred and Archie send Witherspoon in for one last heist. Of course, the phony Machine Man is caught on the security cameras, convincing the police that Aaron and Peter are innocent and allowing them to go free.
In their hideout, Fred tries to convince Archie to continue their crime spree, but Archie wants out. The hospitalised Hiram will be recovering soon, and will reveal all to the police... but Fred implies he put a permanent silence to Ham, and sets Witherspoon on Archie!
Soon enough, Archie has fled, forcing his way into Peter's apartment for Machine Man's help. Witherspoon is close behind, and the two Machine Men fight, but Aaron struggles to hit Witherspoon with enough force to injure him. The impersonator smashes him through the window, but Machine Man cancels his gravity, and Witherspoon falls down... through the sidewalk and into the sewer!
Following him underground, Machine Man is surprised that Witherspoon has apparently lost interest, and is returning to his masters. Machine Man figures out that Witherspoon's blank expression and slow reaction time are indications that he's being controlled... and, as he detects the high pitch frequency and the two surface near the van from the jewellery heist, he reckons he knows how and by whom!
Realising they've been tailed, Fred sics Witherspoon on Machine Man. His density and weight nearly overcomes Machine Man, who thinks quickly and snatches the sonic amplifier, calling Witherspoon off. He grabs Fred with a telescopic arm, and the goon squeals that he did all of it for Brickman.
The next day, the senator gets a grilling at a press conference, though according to him, Archie is only implicating Fred. Brickman's motives are far nobler than greed: he wants to destroy Machine Man to prevent unemployment, and the taking of food and money from the great American public. As the crowd cheers, he remarks to his staffers that this spin has put him on track for the White House.
Meanwhile, Aaron has called in a favour with Dr Broadhurst, who reverses the mass transferral process on Witherspoon and brings him back to his senses. Machine Man discusses with Peter and the doc that, with Fred behind bars and Archie singing like a canary to the district attorney, it's a happy enough ending. And as he watches his doppelganger reunite with his loving wife and children, he solemnly wonders, "What else could anyone want?"
Featured characters
| Regular cast | Antagonists | Incidentals |
|---|---|---|
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Delmar Insurance |
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Quotes
"Archie, something tells me the senator is a loony bird."
- —Fred has no job satisfaction.
"I'm afraid, Miss Jones, that your romantic endeavours do not interest me in the slightest... I suggest the next time you feel the need to kiss someone... try Eddie!"
- —I wouldn't, Aaron.
"He could have gone through the door!"
- —Peter's apartment is a rental!
Notes
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Original printing
- Machine Man (vol 1) issue 14, April 1980
This was Marv Wolfman's final issue of Machine Man, likely as a result of his departure to DC.
Edits
- Pages 1-4 and 8-9 of part 1 are printed in black and white.
- On page 6, "endeavors" is changed to "endeavours".
- A "DON'T MISS NEXT ISSUE!" caption box is added to the final page of part 1.
- Pages 1-2 and 5-7 of part 2 are printed in black and white.
- Brickman lists his political rivals as "Carter and Kennedy and the others" – the "Carter and" is removed from the UK printing.
- On page 2 of part 2, "candor" is (very poorly) edited to "candour". On page 5, "humor" is similarly edited to "humour", shifting the next word, "Peter", along a little.
Artwork and technical errors
- For the first time in a TFUK Machine Man strip, no effort is made to change the colorist credit to "colourist".
- A lot of U.S. spellings slip through in this story, including "theorized", "re-energizing", "aluminum", "jewelry", "transistorized", "analyzation"... and, ah, "mommy".
- In the first panel of Mrs Mayson, her left shoulder is coloured fleshy like her hand, instead of the orange of her top.
- One of the guards on Wall Street has hair in an unusual shade of green and an uncoloured face.
- Panels on the last page of part 1 featuring both Machine Men colour them in different shades of maroon – apart from one panel where they start to blend in to each other.
- The jeweller's robbed by Witherspoon is referred to once as "Tower's Jewelry Store", once as "Towers Jewelry Store" (sans apostrophe), and once as part of the phrase "the Tower Jewelry robbery".
- Shortly before Archie tries to call it quits, one of Fred's speech bubbles is attributed to the comatose Witherspoon.
- Something's screwy with this exchange:
- Fred: "No he won't, Archie... and perhaps I can now clearly see who my enemies truly are."
- Archie: "What? You killed Ham? You're crazy, Fred. You've let this madness go to your head."
- Fred: "Perhaps I have, Archie... and perhaps I can now clearly see who my enemies truly are. It was nice knowing you, Archie!"
- "You've been proven innocent," reads the final speech bubble, attributed to Machine Man. Either he's referring to himself in the second person, or that line should have gone to Peter, or he's saying Peter is proven innocent, when the only thing he was guilty of was obstruction of justice compared to, say, robbing multiple vaults.
Continuity errors
Continuity notes
- Fred and Archie do not appear to be the same two goons who accompanied Brickman in "Byte of the Binary Bug!".
- It hasn't been made explicit until now that Aaron has his own apartment, having only been seen waking up in Peter's apartment the previous story.
- Either Fred and Archie and/or Witherspoon and/or Mrs Mayson are doing a lot of commuting between Washington, D.C. and NYC, or Brickman is operating from a New York campaign office instead of the one seen in "Byte of the Binary Bug!".
- It's Dr Broadhurst! In the TFUK printing, there was no indication that Machine Man had kept in touch with the X project creator since "Introducing Machine Man", but in the full story it was adapted from, "Renewal!",
Broadhurst performed emergency surgery on him to save his life at Peter's behest.
Real-life references
- Brickman lists his political opponents as Carter (in the U.S. printing) and Kennedy, presumably Jimmy and Ted. In its original publication, this was in reference to the 1980 presidential election, during which Carter was the incumbent and Kennedy was a frontrunner for democratic nomination. The re-publication of the story makes the nearest election the 1984 one, for which Carter was not running, hence his removal from the TFUK printing... but then again, neither was Kennedy.
- Incidentally, Brickman's vague wording here and a reference merely to "his party" in "Alone Against Alpha Flight!" make it ambiguous as to which party he represents. It could be that Carter and Kennedy were merely rivals for the nomination... but let's be real, Brickman's probably from the other lot.
- Rejecting Maggie, Aaron says he was with Jackie Onassis.
Other notes
- Adding density to a person from another dimension isn't so far-fetched in a universe with mass displacement,
huh?
