Iron Man #11 – Review

By: Kieron Gillen (Writer), Dale Eaglesham (Artist), Guru eFX (Colorist), VC’s Joe Caramagna (Letterer)

Review: I guess I’m not alone in finding video games about as addictive as comic books; if you draw a Venn diagram that converges the two, the crossover segment’s probably pretty damn huge. Recently it’s been fun watching from the sidelines as the fanboys wade in against Microsoft, the XBone’s DRM measures inciting a feverous backlash from a community who, by all accounts, are happy with the way things are. They don’t need these needless alterations screwing up their hobby. Gamers have DRM; comic fans have retcons. And Iron Man totes a retcon so massive that it may see several readers toss their copies to the floor in despair.

In this issue we’re really getting into the meat of Gillen’s The Secret Origin of Tony Stark. The hints have been heavy, but there’s now no getting around it. Tony Stark – heroic Avenger, genius and billionaire party boy – is no ordinary human. Never was. Everything he’s achieved up to this point has been at least partly down to the modifications 451 made to his genetic structure while he was in utero. He used to be the frail mortal who’s tenacity and ingenuity alone allowed him to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Norse Gods and Super-Soldiers… but now he shares that success with the cosmic tampering of 451, the Rigellian Recorder who’s coming to play something of a key role in most of Marvel’s cosmic books.

Iron Man #9 – Review

By: Kieron Gillen (Writer), Dale Eaglesham (Artist), Guru eFX (Colorist), VC’s Joe Caramagna (Letterer)

Review: I’d call this issue a return to form if, as has sadly not been the case, any previously appreciable ‘form’ had yet been enjoyed during Gillen’s Iron Man run. It’s just lacked something. Greg Land’s artwork has been a sticking point for many (though I thought some of the criticism was unnecessarily harsh) but really it’s the stories that have failed to ignite. Unlike, say, Matt Fraction’s one-two punch of opening awesome on Invincible Iron Man (with The Five Nightmares followed sharply by World’s Most Wanted), there’s been nothing so far to convincingly set the series’ tone. When part of a new series sees its main character relocated to Space, yet still fails to achieve distinction? That’s when you know there’s a problem.