The Invincible Iron Man #516 – Review

By: Matt Fraction (writer), Salvador Larroca (art), Frank D’Armata (colors), and Joe Caramagna (letters)

The Story:  Hammer makes being Iron Man impossible; Stane finds himself trapped with his back against the wall; the mole within Stark Resilient is revealed.

The Review:  The sudden resurgence of Matt Fraction’s Invincible Iron Man after Fear Itself has been one of the best things to happen at Marvel.  With the book quietly having returned to its position among the very best books Marvel is currently putting out, I’m glad to see that Fraction’s run will be (likely) ending just as strong as it started.

Once again, when in trouble, we see Tony continue to isolate himself, pushing others away.  In other words, Fraction again manages to make Tony act like a dick while simultaneously having us support him and sympathize.  Much like last month, Fraction again makes Stark look truly helpless when Hammer cuts the cord on the Iron Man; his superheroics are cut short with the glory stolen from him (and he himself powerless to do anything about it), while Cap makes him look like a chump.  Fraction manages to give us a Tony Stark that is vulnerable, losing control of his ability to be a superhero.

Iron Man Legacy #5 – Review

By: Fred van Lente (writer), Steve Kurth (pencils), Allen Martinez (inks), John Rauch & Chris Chuckry (colors) & Dave Lanphear (letters)

The Story: The Big Bad behind the strife in Transia is revealed.  Surprise… It’s Doom.

What’s Good: This issue ends in the initial story arc on Iron Man Legacy and ends it on a positive note.  I have not been a tremendous fan of this series thus far and was concerned about this issue because endings to story arcs are hard: It is a lot easier to plop a lot of cool ideas onto a comic page at the beginning of a story than to do something interesting with them.

So, I was pleasantly surprised at the direction van Lente went with the issue of Tony Stark’s legacy.  Too often we have see his legacy illustrated by out of control Stark-tech falling into the hands of bad people.  Here we see that one of his other legacies is to inspire the inventors of the world to use their talents to create a better world for their peoples.  Thus, I was very happy to see them bring back the Dragana (the handicapped lady engineer from past issues) as a hero with a cool new armor suit that she hopes can become an inspiration to her people.  Actually, the suit is a little more like a mech that she sits inside, but you get the point.

Hulk #17 – Review

By Jeph Loeb (writer), Ian Churchill (artist)

The Story: Red Hulk gets betrayed by his Code Red team, including Thundra.  Thundra betrays the Code Red team for Red Hulk.  Red Hulk tries to kill Red She-Hulk.  Red Hulk decides to not kill Red She-Hulk.  Red Hulk is blind.  Red Hulk is not blind.  Red Hulk is a bad guy.  Red Hulk is now not so much a bad guy.  Oh, and Red Hulk and Thundra go to a barbershop for a haircut, possibly.

What’s Good: Hmm…  Well….  Let’s see…  What’s good, what’s good…  You know, this issue had a very nice variant cover by Ed Mcguinness that makes this look a lot like an issue of X-Force and I’m a big fan of X-Force.  Although, they only show up for three pages toward the end, so it’s actually pretty misleading.  Still, nice cover…

…Okay, yeah, that’s all I’ve got.

What’s Not So Good: A lot of people criticize Jeph Loeb’s Hulk for being the comic book equivalent of a Jerry Bruckheimer or Michael Bay film: light on the plot, heavy on the action.  While it’s a fairly apt assessment, I actually don’t mind that fact.  I’m a believer that you need to have different types of stories out there to service different types of fans.  Often enough, you even must have different types of stories to service the same fan, who might just be in a different mood than the day before.  There are plenty of times when I just want to turn off the ol’ brain and put a stop to the constant solving of mathematical equations and medical breakthroughs that threaten to overwhelm me.  (Okay, what I really want to put a stop to is my constant cataloging of every superhero who’s ever been an Avenger and my inner debate over whether or not Magneto was Xorn or Xorn was Magneto or whatever.  But I digress.)  A good “popcorn comic” like Hulk is just what I need when I want to decompress.  However, this issue ends up really maxing out the dumb on the dumb fun scale.

Loeb’s script seems to be an exercise in stream of consciousness.  Allegiances switch during the course of story for no other discernible reason except that it’s been three pages and we need a twist.  The logic behind the Punisher and Deadpool betraying the Red Hulk are just lazy, and so is the sudden decision behind Rulk’s letting Red She-Hulk live.  I understand that we need to have her stick around because, well, I don’t really know why we need to have her stick around but she has big boobs and she’s red and a hulk so there are reasons.  However, Loeb just, seemingly, arbitrarily changes Rulk’s mind mid-battle.  It’s a clumsy development and, like much of the issue, seems forced and false.

Clumsy is also a great description of Loeb’s ham-handed meta-reference to the rationale behind the Red Hulk’s choice of Code Red team-members.  Just because the writer points out a glaring hole in his plot does not make the plot hole okay.  It’s almost insulting when he then follows this by trying to explain away said plot hole with the sloppiest possible justification I’ve read in a long time.  Basically, the Punisher, Deadpool and Crimson Dynamo were picked to be on the team because they’re a bunch of Yentas.  I wish I was joking.  Speaking of Yentas, when the heck did Elektra become so talkative?  Has Loeb ever read an issue of Daredevil?  I was left with the impression that he simply needed someone to speak certain dialogue and was left with Elektra.  Then again, maybe she was a Skrull.

There’s not much to say about Ian Churchill’s artwork here.  It’s certainly not bad by any stretch, but it never seems to fit the subject matter.  Where artists like Arthur Adams and Ed Mcguinness have managed to channel Loeb’s bigger-than-life characters and events into mouth-watering visuals, Churchill’s cartoony style comes off at odds with the plot. Red Hulk specifically loses much of the weight that made him appear so imposing in previous issues.  Under Churchill’s pencil, the figure almost looks silly.

Conclusion: Look, I know that no writer, no matter what we might think, ever aims to write a bad story.  I do think that a writer has a sense of responsibility to make his plots make sense and work within its established parameters.  Sadly, Hulk #17 does almost none of these things.  Nice variant cover, though…

Grade: F

-Joe Lopez

The Invincible Iron Man #14 (Dark Reign) – Review

By Matt Fraction (Writer), Salvador Larocca (Art), and Frank D’Armata (Colors)

Some Thoughts Before The Review: Invincible Iron Man is written by the Matt Fraction that made me a fan of Matt Fraction.

The Story: With a mind that’s being deleted cell by cell, Tony Stark encounters the Crimson Dynamo and sees an opportunity. Meanwhile, Pepper Potts gets a checkup and then goes back to being a hero. As for Mariah Hill? She’s contacting a certain assassin for some help…

What’s Good and What’s Not So Good: Another month, another very good issue of Invincible Iron Man that strengthens the argument for “World’s Most Wanted” being one of the best things to come out as a result of the Dark Reign period. The story keeps moving along at a pace that feels just right, pausing long enough for characters to make an impression (like Crimson Dynamo for instance) but never long enough to feel like things are starting to drag. While I’m sure some people will scoff at the logistics of Stark’s “delete my brain” plan, it’s difficult to seriously call it boring or unoriginal.

Creatively, Matt Fraction’s character work continues to be the obvious highlight. He handles his cast so well that you can’t help but get drawn into the world of a mentally deteriorating Tony Stark. In particular, I’d even go as far as to say that Pepper’s transformation into a hero is just as compelling as anything that Stark is going through. It’s the use of (and, almost,  the reliance on) the peripheral character that makes the Dark Reign arc of Invincible Iron Man such an effective piece of work.

I have two complaints about the seventh chapter of “World’s Most Wanted.” The first complaint is that once again Larocca’s art hurts the book whenever there isn’t some technology to show off. The second complaint is that the seventh chapter seems to be all about setting up the rest of the arc as opposed to moving things forward. While the plot definitely advances in interesting ways, it’s clear Fraction is saving the bigger stuff for next month.

Conclusion: Sure it’s a bit slow, but Invincible Iron Man #14 is still a clever, intelligent, and compelling slice of entertainment that’s well worth it’s cover price.

Grade: B

-Kyle Posluszny