CREDIT: Marvel Comics
Rating: 4/5 – Everything Old is New Again!
by ComicSpectrum EiC Bob Bretall.
OH NO! The End of the Marvel Universe! At least that’s what the comic book news sites were all abuzz about last May in preparation for Marvel’s Secret Wars event. We got an RIP for the Marvel Universe: 1961-2015…… Except, Not Really.
We got the Secret Wars series, which has so far, been good. But it’s not over yet. And we have the new #1s all starting to hit the stands. Amazing Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, Avengers, Captain America Sam Wilson, Guardians of the Galaxy, Spider-Gwen, and Invincible Iron Man… A bunch new #1s out so far, and they don’t feel significantly different than they did before Secret Wars. But let’s focus on the subject of this review, Iron Man.
Iron Man has a new suit of armor (but when does he NOT?) and we have a focus on playboy billionaire Tony Stark in this issue, but focusing on the characters behind the mask is a hallmark of writer Brian Michael Bendis, so nothing new there. I enjoyed the issue. Artist David Marquez has a very polished style that is a good look for Tony Stark’s world. We’re dealing with a post Secret Wars world, which becomes very clear when we see the last page of the issue, which was very nicely done and intrigued me to see where Bendis is going to go with that. But the comic didn’t read any different to me than any of the numerous soft reboots we’ve seen for the character over the years. The status quo gets shaken up with regularity to facilitate the telling of (hopefully) interesting stories, but the core elements of the character are generally preserved. The one I wish had been tossed in the rubbish-bin of history is the recent ret-con that had Tony as a adopted child of Howard and Maria Stark who was genetically engineered using Kree technology. Oof. I wish I could forget that ever happened, but apparently Marvel wants that one to stick because it’s specifically mentioned here.
All the classic elements of an Iron Man comic are here. Tony being smart, Tony interacting with his digital assistant (Jarvis having been replaced with a holographic girl Friday), Tony on a date, Tony in the armor. Bendis puts them all together and tells an entertaining story that melds the world of the movies together with the classic world of the comics and adds a bit more of a global spin to the book to make it more appealing to an international audience. In the end, I like this a LOT more than the previous volume, “The Superior Iron Man”, and it seems to be off on the right track to be telling some new tales of Tony/Iron Man with a decidedly classic feel to them, but updated just enough to hopefully appeal to a new audience.
Reviewed by: Bob Bretall
(bob@comicspectrum.com)
https://comicspectrum.com/ Covering the full spectrum of comics culture
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I toyed with picking this up. Maybe I should consider it.
I would do so. Like Bob, enjoyed this issue quite a bit.