Ultimate Iron-Man II #3 – Review

By Orson Scott Card (writer), Pasqual Ferry (artist), Dean White, Laura Martin, Dave McCaig, Paul Mounts (colorists) VC’s Cory Petit (letterer)

The first two issues of Ultimate Iron-Man were excellent! That said, Iron Man II #3 falls a bit short of expectations. The good build up, action, and intensity that ran through the previous issues are absent from this installment. Instead, we’re a meatier story and some suspense.

In this issue, we learn that Dolores used to have dealings with Stark but was excluded from numerous deals – which has led to him wanting to take out Stark Industries. Dolores wants Tony to deliver him a “robot” (Iron Man) in exchange for the nuke. He also wants Tony on a plane with him, but that isn’t possible (as Tony Stark is the “robot” – duh!). To remedy this, Tony has another one of his scientists use a remote controlled robot inside of the Iron Man. This proves to be a hassle as the remote droid hasn’t been perfected; it has trouble walking correctly.

Dolores is quick to discover that the robot delivered isn’t the same that was seen on the news but Tony lets him know the same software isn’t being used as a safety precaution. He’s also put some safeguards on the robot to prevent civilian casualties. Tony notices that the plane is on course to South America and after formulating some conclusions realizes there may be another nuke.

After a slow start, this issue picked up its pace near the end and really drove the story forward. I feel that there were a some wasted pages; the few comic relief moments didn’t do much for me. But, overall this issue is setting up for either one hell of a big conclusion. I’m eager to see how they wrap this up.  (Grade: B)

– Matt Allen

Ultimate Iron Man II #2 (of 4) – Review

By Orson Scott Card (writer), Pasqual Ferry (artist), Dean White (colorist) VC’s Cory Petit (letterer)

Issue #2 begins with Tony Stark and James Rhodes coming to a decision on which of the foreign men is the real threat. In an odd turn of events the terrorist takes his own life so the two don’t have to make the decision and risk killing the wrong person. After a quick understanding on who is friend or foe, the father tells Tony to check a boulder for unknown reasons. Rhodes cautions him not to do it as it may be a trap, amd it turns out it actually is. Once again, Tony stops another explosion and ends up losing an arm. Showing a side we rarely see, Tony urges Rhodes to get the two civilians away from the carnage.

Tony recovers while investigating a box that survived the explosion. Rhodes jokes that Tony should make his suit out of the same material so he wont end up losing more body parts. As their mission concludes, Tony goes on a hunch that they shouldn’t let the U.S. government pick them up. He radios Stark Industries to pick them up and it turns out that the government was ready blow up the whole site!

Later on, Tony’s advisor, Si Ma, holds a meeting with the two government officials to see how they can cover the story up. The box Tony recovered has documents showing plans of a bomb. He believes whoever left the box there wanted the plans to be found. The two officials act clueless about any such thing. As this is happening Tony’s father gets a visitor who uses a device to control the guards to get them to kill his dad. This is the more sinister part of the issue. Turns out his visitor is one of the guys responsible for Howard Stark’s false imprisonment and is working with the man responsible for the explosion on Stark Industries’ building.

This series is a blast to read! There’s so much plot and double crossing going on and it keeps you wondering what’ll happen next. You have the nuke plans in place, a government conspiracy, and the conspirator of the Stark Industries attack! What’s not to like? Issue #3 is gonna be awesome. (Grade A-)

-Matt Allen