Iron Man: Viva Las Vegas #2 – Review

By Jon Favreau (Writer) and Adi Granov (Artist)

Eye candy, pure and simple. As flashy, beautiful, and spiritually empty as the town it’s named for, Iron Man: Viva Las Vegas left me briefly exhilarated, slightly nauseous, noticeably poorer, only partially satisfied, and certain I’d be coming back for more.

In this issue, we are reintroduced to Elsa Bloodstone who, like any other self-respecting archeologist, dresses in skin-tight clothes and keeps her shirt unbuttoned down to her navel. She suggests to Tony that perhaps the giant mystical lizard she dragged out of its curse-laden tomb might have had something to do with the plague of lizards they experienced last issue. So they do the logical thing: change Elsa into a different skin-tight outfit and wait for a crowd to arrive before investigating. The giant lizard turns out to be none other than Fin Fang Foom and, well, if a giant lizard came to life in front of a crowded casino and didn’t start crushing buildings and tearing down roller coasters, we’d all be disappointed, wouldn’t we?

Fin Fang Foom, you may recall, was last seen in Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E., bemoaning his visible lack of genitalia. Since then he seems to have overcompensated with a ton of plastic surgery. The new and improved Fin Fang Foom is constructed from an alloy of titanium and pure coolness, has more fins than a shark frenzy, and is probably in negotiations for his own maquette at this very moment.

Granov’s art is, as always, gorgeous. Favreau’s dialogue is, for the most part, clever. Sure, there are panels where he clearly just jotted something off to fill up the empty space, but you don’t buy a book like this for the prose.

So, is this book worth your hard-earned cash? Will the next two issues pay off, or will they be as stupid as you might expect of a book that features a character named Fin Fang Foom? Hey, buddy, this is Vegas. You pays your money, and you takes your chances. (Grade: B)

– Andrew C. Murphy

Iron Man #25 – Review

By Daniel & Charles Knauf (writers), Rob De La Torre (art), Dean White (color art)

At $3.99 this one’s meaty! I don’t just mean the page count, but the story as well. After dragging its feet in the mud for the past three to four months, issue #25 delivers some payoffs. The whole creative team is in top form this month – needless to say, I’m impressed.

I love the new direction they’ve taken with Mandarin. Much like what Ed Brubaker has done with the Red Skull, Daniel and Charles Knauf have made Mandarin more of a calculating villain with the foresight to challenge anyone in his path. Instead of being just plain evil, he’s more of an insane person who sees the world from a warped perspective. Like I said, this issue’s meaty. That means you’ll be doing a lot of reading. It’s not all meaningless dialogue either, everything finally comes together this story as Tony Stark connects the dots. Personally, I would have loved to have seen this story wrapped up this issue, but I can hang for one more.

The bonus stuff we get at the end of the issue is a nice touch, but not necessarily needed. We get a fun trip down memory lane as Bob Layton discusses the past revisions of Iron Man’s suits. Then there’s an excellent reprinting of Iron Man’s first appearace from Tales of Suspense #39 – always a gem. Lastly, we’re treated to a preview of Iron Man: Viva Las Begas #1 by Jon Favreau and Adi Granov! Sure, this issue’s a bit more expensive, but I think the bonuses justify the extra dollar. Plus it’s issue #25. Did you expect anything less from a milestone issue? (Grade: B)

– J. Montes