Invincible Iron Man Vol. 1: The Five Nightmares Premiere HC – Review

By Matt Fraction (writer), Salvador Larroca (artist), Frank D’Armata & Stephane Peru (colorists)

To understand the future of Marvel Comics, pay close attention to its B list titles because it’s there that the next generation of writers are quietly honing their craft and building huge excitement on books that aren’t otherwise getting a lot of attention right now. At the forefront of this movement is Matt Fraction, whose delightfully mad imagination and talent for dialogue have improved nearly every title he’s worked on, from Punisher to Iron Fist and Uncanny X-Men to Thor.  As good as these titles have been, even they pale in comparison to what I would argue is Fraction’s finest Marvel work to date: The Invincible Iron Man.

In this first collecton, “The Five Nightmares” establishes Tony Stark’s role in the world following the events of Civil War and redefines his character in a way I was genuinely surprised to sympathize with and root for. Here, Stark is seemingly the pinnacle of human achievement.  Hyper-intelligent, unimaginably wealthy, a captain of industry, director of S.H.I.E.L.D, and a superhero, he is a man who in all areas of life works hard to do the right thing and leave the world in better shape than he found it.  Tony is also a man plagued with doubts and insecurities, fearing that despite his advantage in life, he will still be inadequate to tackle the threats of the 21st Century. His fears are made manifest in Ezekiel Stane, the son of Stark’s old enemy Obadiah.  Younger, smarter, and infinitely more dangerous, Ezekiel has found a way to integrate Iron Man technology into his body and use it against Tony to pursue his vendetta.

To accompany Fraction’s stories, the talents of Larroca, D’Armata, and Peru suitably fit the project.  Their combination of art and color is sleek, polished, and streamlined, perfectly capturing Stark’s technology-driven world of espionage and sci-fi villainy. I was greatly impressed with this collection and hope it’s the first in a long and successful run for the character.  Not to be missed!

Grade: A

-Tony Rakittke

The Incredible Hercules #114 – Review

By Greg Pak & Fred Van Lente (writers) Khoi Pham (pencils) Paul Neary (inks) Stephane Peru (colors)

Let me start off by saying that The Incredible Hercules is a book I never look forward to reading. I never go, “Oh wow, Hercules is coming out next week – I better pick that up! I can’t wait to read it!” I just don’t. It’s Hercules, after all. I mean, who cares, right?

As much as I could care less for this book, it never fails to entertain me. Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente are doing very much what Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction have done on Iron Fist – they’ve taken a second tier character and expanded upon their character’s mythos while throwing in jaw-dropping action scenes. The similarities, however, end there. Whereas Iron Fist is a very serious story, Hercules is full of hilarious dialogue and crazy antics. Why I don’t look forward to reading this book is beyond me.

Hercules is on a rampage thanks to the Hydra blood he was hit with by Ares. The Avengers are scattered about, unable to contain him – only the Black Widow is left in the area (that’s what you get when you punch Ares into the next county). She uses her ingenuity to not only snap Hercules out of his drunken craze, but she also manages to knock out Amadeus Cho.  Unfortunately, she nearly kills his coyote pup and this brings out a side of Cho that we’ve never seen before. Cho is now at a crossroad in his life and I’m rooting for him to not go down the wrong path. As silly as this book is, things just got really serious.

Khoi Pham is insanely talented and his supporting art team of Paul Neary and Stephane Peru do a great job of bringing his work to life. If you’re not picking up Incredible Hercules for the story, you should be picking it up for the art. Either way, it’s a win-win situation for all. Buy this book. Support it. It deserves to stick around. (Grade: A-)

– J. Montes

The Punisher: Force of Nature #1 (One-Shot) – Review

By Duane Swierczynski (writer), Michel Lacomb (art), Stephane Peru (colors)

When I first glanced at the cover I thought this was going to be some weird Punisher versus Moby Dick tale. As beautiful as the cover is, my interest immediately waned.

Thankfully, I was wrong. Set in Garth Ennis’ insane Marvel Max corner of the universe, this one-shot features the cold, ruthless, and gratuitous version of the Punisher that we all love. Clocking in at 35 pages, this story features Frank Castle toying with a trio of two-bit criminals as he tries to get to foil the plans of the bigger fish in the game – the Russians. What’s funny about these lowlifes is one of them is so cocky that he actually names his own yacht after himself!

The Punisher sinks their new yacht and puts some of his own goodies in with their life raft. What follows is a slow, sad series of events as the three criminals struggle to survive aboard their life raft. As hours and days pass, the criminals’ begin to lose any hope of being rescued. Then, paranoia and despair set in. The Punisher watches this all unfold from afar, taking pleasure in their misery.

Interestingly enough, the Punisher takes a secondary role in this book. Sure, he facilitates all the mayhem, but this story is really about the criminals’ struggle to survive out at sea. It’s obvious that these criminals will die, that’s just the Punisher’s way, but how they arrive at their demise is what makes this such a well crafted story. Great artwork by Michel Lacomb compliments this story. My only complaint is the $4.99 price tag – ouch. (Grade: B)

– J. Montes