Invincible Iron Man #1-3

Bendis always writes a good jerk, so it is not surprising that he’s doing a nice job with Tony Stark. Even in New Avengers, the billionaire was a good fit for Bendis’ talky habits. This title is pretty much the definition of a Bendis book. A thoughtful protagonist who spends more time talking than actually doing things. The use of classic guest-stars (Dr. Strange) and villains (Dr. Doom and Madame Masque) acting in out-of character ways is expected at this point too. The pacing is tremendously slow, again, as is the norm in Bendis’ super-hero work.

In fact, there hasn’t really been a whole lot of story traction accomplished in the first three issues of the book. Iron Man fought Madame Masque once or twice. Talked to Dr. Doom. Talked to Dr. Strange. Went on a date. Not really a whole heck of a lot of plot movement that I’ve been able to discern. And the oddest part is that somehow Marvel decided there was TOO MUCH story for just one Iron Man title. There is a second Bendis Iron Man title on the way. So weird!

And again, just as you’d expect, Bendis’ Iron Man features a fantastic artist that makes all of those weaknesses I listed above seem a whole lot more palatable. David Marquez’ clean-lined art is gorgeous. His Madame Masque redesign is new and dynamic, yet still checks all the required boxes for the character’s visual design. The new Iron Man armor is future-facing and original. I don’t love it as much I did the black and gold suit from the Kieron Gillen’s relaunch, but this is leagues better than the white armor from the Superior run. This series might be slow and verbose, but it sure is gorgeous.

I'm sticking with it for now, mostly for the art, but I'm also holding out that Bendis will ramp up the action too. 

Fair

Avengers: Age of Ultron Movie Review

Well, I remain very impressed by Marvel Studios’ output. Even with a majority of positive reviews, I was a tad concerned about Avengers: Age of Ultron. There were a fair amount of reviewers who said it was overstuffed, full of too many characters and too much action. Worst of all, according to some critics, Age of Ultron ignored the new post-heroic status quo of Tony Stark. Remember at the end of the abysmal Iron Man 3 how Tony blew up his Iron Legion and decided to hook up rather than step up? Heaven forbid that character-destroying moment be ignored! More like “Thank Goodness!”

So with that out of the way, how is the actual movie? It’s good. It is everything we loved about Joss Whedon’s first Avengers film. It is fun and full of character. There are action moments for every single hero and villain. And most importantly, James Spader, like Tom Hiddleston before him, steals the show as the film’s villain.

I’m not a huge James Spader fan. It isn’t that I don’t like him, just that our paths have never really crossed in my extensive media consumption. But man, I’m a fan now. With his voice alone, Spade establishes the playful and malevolent outlook of the MCU’s Ultron. When he’s not on screen, I found myself anticipating the next ridiculous, great line of dialogue Ultron would have for me. A strong antagonist is SO important to a good narrative. And Joss Whedon knows it; he’s had the best two villains in the entire Marvel movie library.

The entire ensemble is excellent, as you’d expect. But Captain America is my favorite, and Chris Evans does a fantastic job in the role once again. Cap is a straight arrow, but man, he backs up his morals with actions. From the opening exchange with Iron Man all the way to Cap’s moral declaration at the close of the movie, Cap is the friggin’ man. One of my favorite things about Marvel movie Cap is the power boost he’s received. Giving him a touch of super-strength really makes his action scenes pop, especially when he takes on Ultron one on one.

I expect the top-notch moments from Thor and Iron Man, so the badass moments from Hawkeye and Black Widow are always a treat. Hawkeye gets a lot of back-story and a good rivalry with the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, while Black Widow continues to do a TON of the heavy lifting in the Marvel U. How is it that I like the Widow so much more in the movies than in the comics? Scarlett Johansson’s Widow has been an integral character in Marvel’s Phase II movies; I can’t wait to see her continue to shape the Marvel U.

All this rambling, and I’m short-changing the Hulk, the Vision, Nick Fury, and Maria Hill, who all get their moments to shine. Surprisingly enough, the Vision was my 7-year-old’s favorite character!

Did you come for the Easter eggs? Again, Marvel knows the score. We get hints of Amadeus Cho, Klaw, and Black Panther. We see Thanos again. There is even the equivalent of the “Cap’s Kooky Quartet” era of Avengers. (For those who don’t know, a bunch of the founders left the team early on in the comic run, leaving Cap, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, and Hawkeye to man the fort.)

So at the end of this one, we’re set up for the next big moments in Marvel movies. We’ve got teases of the upcoming split between Cap and Iron Man for Captain America 3: Civil War. The “Infinity Stones” are out there, with Thanos hot on the trail to create his Infinity Gauntlet. And we’ve got some nice seeds planted for the Black Panther. Plus, a fertile Marvel U ready for more Netflix TV shows.

All in all, I don’t see how Marvel fans can be anything but thrilled. We live in an era where comic panels come to life on the big screen, and look fantastic doing so. There is a moment in the film where Thor, Iron Man, and the Vision are all blasting Ultron with their different energy blasts. All I could think was “my goodness, as a kid I dreamed of getting something like this, and here it is. And there is more to come.”

Avengers: Age of Ultron is an EXCELLENT film. (It ranks right after Guardians and Winter Soldier.)

Original Sin: Hulk vs. Iron Man TPB

Mark Waid and Kieron Gillen wrapped up their run on two Marvel icons in a strange way. Departing Hulk and Iron Man, respectively, the last big story by the authors involved tying in to the Marvel crossover Original Sin. Unfortunately, I’d say that my opinion of this series is the same as the runs that these creators had on their books. Good concepts, solid execution, but the story never really hooked me.

The sin that comes to light in this story is that Tony Stark may have tinkered with the original gamma bomb. Was Stark responsible for Bruce Banner becoming the Hulk? (Spoilers: No.) There are some neat narrative tricks here. The best is that Stark can’t remember what he actually did the night before the gamma test because he had been drinking so heavily. So he has to use an assortment of technological aids to try to recreate just what happened all those years ago.

While this is happening, the Hulk is hunting down Tony Stark. It’s always fun seeing Hulk rip through Iron Man armor, and that holds in this collection. I also enjoyed the spin of this being an Extremis-focused Hulk. Thanks to Tony Stark’s brother Arno, Hulk is smart AND angry, which is a bad combination.

I am a bit bummed that Kieron Gillen’s Iron Man run sort of petered out in this tie-in mini-series rather than in the core title. I didn’t collect this as it came out, so it almost seemed like Gillen’s story just faded rather than going out with a bang like it deserved. The Iron Metropolitan city, Arno Stark, the black and gold armor… these are all dangling threads that could have used stronger conclusions.

Mark Bagley is one of the MVPs of the Marvel bullpen, and he pulls his weight again. It’s not a tough sell to draw Hulk fighting different Iron Man suits, but it isn’t guaranteed to look this good. I especially enjoyed seeing Bagley’s take on the black and gold suit. I’ll miss that one, the current white suit just doesn’t do it for me.

This is a FAIR comic. Perfectly fine, but an odd place to tuck away story conclusions that should have gone down in the core titles.

Superior Iron Man #1-3

Listen, I loved Superior Spider-Man as much as the next guy, but I find myself totally disengaged from the idea of seeing it all over again featuring Iron Man.

I was resistant to this relaunch for a few reasons. The main one is pretty shallow: I loved the black and gold Iron Man suit and I’m angry to see it already re-done with this silvery/white look. The dang suit looks like it is unfinished! At least add some red in there so we can get the Silver Centurion look back!

The second reason behind my trepidation for this title is the writer, Tom Taylor. I understand he’s written some DC books in recent years, but since my New 52 purge, I don’t read many DC books anymore. So he’s a totally unknown property for me at the moment.

After three issues, I think my initial assessment is correct. Taylor has some good ideas. Tony Stark is using Extremis as a body-morphing app to the city of San Francisco. The catch? He’s charging quite a bit for it. So much that people are forced to do just about anything to maintain their “perfect self” that Extremis brings about.

Needing a couple heroes to offset the still “Inverted” Iron Man (short version; Tony Stark turned evil in a recent Avengers storyline), Taylor enlists Daredevil and Pepper Potts. DD is living in San Francisco, so he makes sense as a low-powered but moral foil for Stark. Pepper seems to be more of the long-term hope for the book. Pepper is working with an older Iron Man suit to bring Tony back to himself.

If I were a betting man, this is a copy of Tony’s personality from years ago, and he’ll probably end up overwriting “modern” Tony. Long term, this will get him out of all those pesky New Avengers/Illuminati decisions and reset him as a Marvel Cinematic Universe-acting Iron Man. Synergy, people!

Taylor's strongest scene is actually with Daredevil rather than Iron Man. I'm not sure if that is good or bad, but the emotion in the scene as Matt Murdock's Extremis wears off is very moving. 

I’m not tremendously familiar with artist Yildray Cinar either. I’m not sure if it is his pencils or the inkers, but I’m getting a big Nelson vibe from the art (if you remember that other penciller). The characters are all sporting thick eyebrows and very strong facial expressions. The action is laid out nicely too, but man, some color on that suit would sure spice up this comic. I also like Cinar’s She-Hulk, too bad she has such a small part in the book.

This one is FAIR and getting put in the Marvel Unlimited category on my reading list. It is going to take a new suit of armor or a personality fix on Tony Stark to get me back monthly. 

Avengers: Endless Wartime HC

This is perfectly fine for what it is. This is a somber Warren Ellis super-hero comic. With a serious tone, an introspective feel, and a very close to the movie sense of continuity. And it is perfectly fine. I liked the Arctic Harriers as odd mixes between Earth science and Asgardian magic. I especially like the way Ellis pulled the reveal of the strange creatures in the very opening of the book.

I was less enamored with his take on the Avengers. Part of that is due to his tendency to go with movie personalities for some of the main characters. But then, Hawkeye is reduced to a bumbling oaf for the entire book, so the MCU’s take isn’t necessarily the definitive one throughout the book. (Plus, Captain Marvel and Wolverine both appear here while neither has been in the Marvel movies yet.)

This is a one-shot story, but the pacing makes it clear that it shouldn’t be more. Many pages are used with the team in transit from one location to another rather than actually doing things. And while Ellis really tries to imbue the Arctic Harriers with some semblance of a personality, the lack of a true thinking, feeling antagonist keeps my interest lowered too. In my comics, I like to really look forward to the villains getting what they deserve, but I never felt very emotionally involved in the outcome of this conflict.

Mike McKone’s art is beautiful, as always. I love his use of the black and gold Iron Man armor (an armor that I’m already missing in the newer comics). I also like the cool confidence that Carol Danvers exhibits in every panel. She feels like almost an equal to Captain America, which is saying something for a team that loves Cap as much as the Avengers do.

This is a FAIR Avengers story. It wouldn’t be the first I’d recommend for folks who want a great taste of what the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes can offer, but it is a fine supplemental tale told for the movie-watching “civilian” audience.

Avengers & X-Men: Axis #1

I’m sort of conflicted on this one. There are a lot of good things about Rick Remender’s massive crossover, but there are some fairly glaring problems too.

First of all, this really feels like an epic Marvel crossover. This story clearly picks up after months of Uncanny Avengers issues, but I’d hope that the context is enough to catch everyone up on what is happening. (I read this with my 9-year old and she picked it up OK.) There are numerous great moments scattered through the book; from the use of Plantman (looking way more plant-y than I remember) all the way the surprise ending. Along the way, Remender has a great moment between the Summers brothers and a wonderful, timely arrival from the X-Men. Actually, that X-Men moment really struck me at how perfect that Uncanny line-up has always been. With Colossus, Storm, and especially Nightcrawler, man, that team just looks like it belongs front and center in the Marvel U.

I appreciate the use of Scarlet Witch and Rogue as such central characters, but man, having both them fail to fight off Red Onslaught’s power does make them seem a bit weak. Scarlet Witch in particular came off as too big of a threat to be walking around. After House of M and “No More Mutants,” maybe she shouldn’t just be walking around with her powers any more after all. Rogue comes off a tad better, especially after the talking up she gets from Professor X. I understand why Remender held off from explaining her current Wonder Man situation too; there were enough status quo changes in the book already!

Now for main problem. The smart-ass quipping. Remender does a great job with Iron Man. Iron Man is supposed to be clever, overconfident, and somewhat jokey. The character sounds like he could have Robert Downey Jr. inside that armor. And Hawkeye has always had that sarcastic tone too. But Vision? Odinson/Thor? The new Captain America? Every single one of them sounds the same, smarting off and being smart asses. It is hard to hear different voices for the Avengers when they are all this…sit-comy.

That said, I LOVED Red Onslaught’s dialogue. He used “scum” and “trash” enough to really have me hankering for a beat down. I can’t wait for him to get what he deserves! Remender also does a wonderful job with Magneto. Magneto calls someone a “cur,” instantly proving Mags’ superiority on the battlefield. Ahab gets some great smack talk in too. Remender is pretty great at getting the reader anxious to see the villains get served.

Adam Kubert has a big order here. There are a TON of heroes involved, and they all look pretty great. I mentioned how dynamic the X-Men looked, but the Avengers are just as nicely done. I’m a bit confused on a few things (doesn’t Thor have one arm?) but they are minor. I LOVE the look and feel of Red Onslaught. He dominates every page he appears on, as an event-central villain should. The design on the surprise foes at the close of the issue seem to have a nice, sleek look too. It’s too bad Kubert can’t do a book regularly any more.

This is a GOOD event that feels like the high-octane battles I remember from my youth. Remender has always channeled the 80’s in a good way, and he’s still doing so here. 

Uncanny Avengers #22

On first read, I really didn’t care for this comic. This has been many, many years coming. In some ways, Rick Remender planted the seeds for this story back in his Uncanny X-Force run years ago. After finishing the book for the first time, I was very disappointed that there was too much happening in one issue.

First, the introduction of Immortus’ Infinity Watch is so rushed that we barely get time to do more than see them. The characters are not well defined, and their impact on the overall story is quite limited due to their page count. I think I can recognize that they just add to the “feel” of the book through their appearance; this must be important if a whole other team shows up to help, right?

My second disappointment was the ease with which Sunfire and Havok took out the Apocalypse Twins. After reigning over the book as the top villains for over a year, they are dispatched in half a page because the story was coming to a close. It wasn’t very dramatic and even if Sunfire’s powers were amped up, it shouldn’t have been so easy to take out two supposed A-level villains.

I also feel that while Remender made every effort to get the reader to buy into the classic love affair between Havok and Wasp, I just never felt it. Their time together was in an alternate future that has since been erased. A future that some team members remember while others forget. It is too confusing to buy in to the emotions too strongly. I will say that Havok’s dialogue about his lost daughter Katie does ring true and does make the final battle with Kang seem a bit more personal. I’m still not sure how Havok punching Kang took out the A-level villain, but it did look cool and Kang had some fantastic smack talk.

I think Remender does a better job with the fallout of the long campaign than the execution. Multiple characters are left in an interesting place going forward.

SPOILERS AHOY!

The Sentry is resurrected and now thinks of himself as the guardian of humanity. You know he will pop up again, but will it be to help or cause trouble?

Rogue still has her energy absorption powers, I think, but more importantly, she seems to have bonded with Wonder Man. Only she can hear his voice, not a good thing for someone with her history with Ms. Marvel. I wonder if this is a way to re-set Rogue back to her best power set of strength, flight, and invulnerability.

Havok is sporting a melted face; at the least he’s going to need a new mask!

Sunfire died and returned in the same issue! Only now he’s a faceless mass of cosmic fire in human form, a true atomic knight. I hope that he gets back in his costume; I still say it is one of the best in all of comics.

The other Horsemen of Death, Daken and Grim Reaper, are returned to life too. Did Banshee make it? I can only hope. Remender put just about all the toys back where he found them at the close of this arc.

I haven’t mentioned the art yet, because while I may have had reservations about some of the story choices, the art is simply gorgeous. Daniel Acuna is one of my top favorites, and he lives up to that ranking in this issue. The battles are tremendous. The costumes and redesigns are top notch; classic and modern at the same time. Acuna actually makes the new Cap suit look good! And the emotion! The series of panels as Havok steels himself to take on Kang is a classic of comic-book acting. In this issue, Acuna proves he is a top talent.

So overall, this wasn’t quite worth the multiple year build up, but it still ranks as a GOOD comic. 

Iron Man: Rings of the Mandarin (#23-28)

In the end, I find Kieron Gillen's run on Iron Man to be a frustrating one. Gillen clearly has some fantastic ideas for the character. The run is full of unique, new obstacles for Tony Stark to overcome. The opening arc showed all sorts of potential, especially when dealing with magic as technology.

Gillen went back to the well for this final arc. The Mandarin's rings have always been alien tech, but they blended suprisingly well into a story that featured Malekith the Dark Elf. Malekith's faerie world proved fertile ground, as a souped-up, magically augmented Iron Man armor really made these conflicts stand out. And after seeing Stark struggle for so long, Gillen did a great job of turning things around just a few issues in to this storyline. With Dark Angel and Arno Stark's help, Iron Man was ready for just about every contingency. The three person think-tank was a great storyline, especially when Dark Angel became Stark's personal Oracle. (If DC isn't going to use the concept, why not let Marvel use it?)

After dealing with Malekith for a few issues, Iron Man takes on the remaining ringbearers as the story wraps up. While there are definitely times where the story starts to feel a bit Green Lantern-ish, with different colored rings tossing around different colored creations. I almost think this was on purpose, though, because the story quickly moves past the device. The driving force (for me) was the unique, interesting personalities exhibited by each of the rings. Instead of brainless tech, each ring has a personality and regularly attempts boardroom style meetings to hash things among peers. What a concept!

The Liar ringbearer was Pepper Potts' fiance, but man, I can't even remember the guy's name (and I read the issue last week). It sure feels to me like that storyline got rushed when Gillen exited the title. The dude was introduced and turned so fast, he didn't have time to make that much of an impression.

The art was consistent through this entire arc. Joe Bennett and Luke Ross made seamless transitions as they traded off artistic chores, and their complimentary styles meant that I barely noticed the artistic switches. (I've noticed this about Ross before, he's a chameleon). I love that Arno Stark is wearing a modern, black and gold suit that is CLEARLY telegraphing Iron Man 2020's gear-shouldered armor. We all know where this story is going, and it is great seeing the seeds planted.

So Gillen's run. Entertaining. Enjoyable. But I can't help but feel that there was some sort of disconnect between the dynamic ideas and the somewhat meandering feel of the monthly books. Perhaps some stories were padded? In any case, I will continue following Gillen to his next Marvel book (let's cross our fingers for those Dr. Strange rumors).

This book ended up being GOOD, but man, I think it was almost EXCELLENT.

Iron Man: Iron Metropolitan

Time for a sublist check-up! I'll be going through my sublist and posting my thoughts about my regular, monthly purchases and how safe they are to stay on my list.

First up, Iron Man!

This is a title that I really want to like, but I’m afraid that Kieron Gillen’s story just isn’t doing it for me. As I’ve said in the past, there are some fantastic story elements going on; I love the inclusion of Tony’s brother Arno Stark. Readers in the know realize that Arno is destined to become Iron Man 2020 (an 80’s villain with a distinctive look). One of the newer issues even had Arno controlling a massive suit of armor complete with the gear-shaped shoulder pads, Iron Man 2020’s most distinctive feature.

I also really love Gillen’s use of the Mandarin’s rings. Instead of a bunch of focuses for one character, Gillen has given each ring sentience and a personality. One of my favorite recent scenes was the virtual meeting where the rings met and discussed their current hosts. This leads to a bit of a “Green Lantern” vibe as the different rings seek out personalities that mesh well with the ring’s characteristics, but it does make for some nice visuals.

I also appreciate that even when a recent issue tied in to the totally uninteresting Inhumanity, Gillen still delivered a book that focused on its regular ongoing story and didn’t lose focus.

So in a book with all these positives, why am I not more engaged? I’m not sure. I think the pacing is off. It seems like not a whole lot has changed or developed since we first saw Tony and Arno decide to partner up. The whole Mandarin City story ended up being a six-issue exercise in wheel-spinning.

I wanted Iron Man to get back to more Earth-bound stories, and Gillen delivered that. Now I wonder if I need an issue or two of “classic” Iron Man style stories. The first 5 issues of this volume are still my favorite; done-in-one issues with classic (or classic feeling) villains made the book feel like it was moving along. Maybe we could get some Spymaster? Or a Stane or a Hammer? I’ve already forgotten the names of the ring bearers who plagued Iron Man during this story.

Joe Bennett’s art has been fine, but not anything breathtaking. The GL-style pencils I mentioned above looked perfectly normal, since Bennett pretty much epitomizes the current DCU house style. I wish I loved the art more, especially since I like this current black and gold armor so much.

I’m keeping this on the sublist for now, but man, this FAIR comic is on the lower tier of my sublist for sure. 

SAFE (for now)

Iron Man 2.0 v1: Palmer Addley is Dead TPB

What an odd trade. This clearly wasn’t written for the collected format. Nick Spencer spends the first few issues setting up James Rhodes’ new status quo. After the War Machine armor fails him in the field, Rhodes becomes Iron Man 2.0, and gets a gig with the military again. He’s “on loan” to a General so that the military doesn’t use someone else. Rhodes has a team of intelligence contractors, but throughout this trade they don’t get to do much more than fill in the background. They are too vanilla to make an impression.

Spencer clearly likes his “Palmer Addley is dead” through line, the phrase comes up at least once an issue for the first half of the book. And Addley has some potential. His creations are being used in “real world” type terrorist attacks, very much in the vein of Matt Fractions early Iron Man work with Ezekiel Stane. The neatest bit is when Spencer spends an entire issue revealing a bit (but not too much) about Addley through archived interviews. This is an interesting baddie!

Too bad he disappears halfway through the book. In a jarring change in tone, the book suddenly becomes a Fear Itself tie in. Titania and Absorbing Man do a quick walk on to pick up a hammer before wandering out of the book; I assume their story is resolved elsewhere.

Then, Iron Man 2.0 is teleported with Iron Fist and the other Deadly Weapons to stop a spiritual jailbreak from the Eighth City. Oh, and while they are there, they meet up with the Monkey King.

… I’m sorry, what? How in the world do these stories fit together? This is one of those times where having your main character voice the same confusion just makes things worse. When Rhodes says “I hate magic. Why am I here?” and stuff like that, I had to agree with him. This is a story for a different character. The collection ends with Dr. Strange talking about the magical entity that possessed Iron Fist. In an Iron Man comic?

Barry Kitson is the first credited artist on the cover, but it sure doesn’t seem like he did a whole lot of this. I love his art, but there aren’t a lot of pages boasting his tight pencils. He’s joined by a legion of fill-in artists, too many to list here. The drastic change in artistic tone, along with the jarring shift in plot from military industrial complex to magic makes this feel like a book that had no direction.

I still love James Rhodes. But I liked him as War Machine. Or maybe Iron Patriot. I think Iron Man 2.0 is insulting. I’ll keep waiting for a book that handles Rhodey with respect and a clear direction. This book is another in a long line of EVIL War Machine comics. 

Iron Man: The Secret Origin of Tony Stark

I knew it. There was no way that Kieron Gillen could have originally been planning on this Guardians of the Galaxy, evil robot 451 kick for Iron Man. It never felt quite right. I loved the first five issues, but since then, I’ve been disconnected from this volume of Iron Man. I’m hopeful that my feelings will change now that the story is getting a pretty radical shift in direction.

SPOILERS BELOW

So Tony Stark is adopted. The evil robot 451 meddled with Howard and Maria Stark’s child, and when Howard tried to negate that meddling, he paralyzed his own son. In order to hide the fact that their son wasn’t exactly what 451 wanted, they adopted Tony. That means that the REAL Stark son has been sitting in a hospital waiting to hear that he can come back into the world. This is a status-quo changing event, and I think it could add a lot to the Iron Man mythos. Especially considering who the other Stark is…

Arno Stark. The evil Iron Man of 2020. Only 7 years away from us now, Kieron Gillen gets to play with some fantastic Marvel continuity and bring Arno into the real Marvel U. Will he be a villain? Will he be a hero? I don’t think any of us can know for sure, but it is going to be fun to find out.

It’s an odd situation. I certainly haven’t loved the last 10 issues of Iron Man. This whole space storyline has felt like a bad fit for the comic. But it may end up being worth it in exchange for this exciting new status quo.

So the last few issues? EVIL. But my excitement for the next issue? GOOD

Iron Man 3 Review

Hey, I can actually see the other armors!

In some cases, better late than never does not apply.

I’ll start with the good stuff. Robert Downey Jr. was great as always, and I really liked Gwyneth Paltrow’s Pepper Potts getting a little bit of time in the suit. We didn’t get Rescue, but at least Potts got to be heroic. I actually liked a lot of the banter in Shane Black’s version of a super-hero film. The small asides, the depth of character given to throwaway thugs, I appreciated those small touches.

But that brings me to my first complaint. The level of bad guy didn’t increase enough! We had tons of small-time gun-toting crooks hanging around in Miami, with no backup from their hot compadres. Why not put a couple melting dudes in the compound too, doesn’t that make sense? Why leave them all at the oil rig?

And why, oh why, with the width and depth of the Marvel Universe available to you, would you have an army of guys WITH THE SAME UNDEFINABLE POWERS? Can they all breathe fire, or was Killian special? Why in the world would they give Pepper Potts the Extremis upgrade but not give it to Maya Hansen; she freaking invented it! How did they actually kill Killian? Didn’t they just blow him up repeatedly? He kept coming back until his lines in the script ran out, I guess.

Pepper's armor as it should be

Why have Killian form Advanced Idea Mechanics (AIM) if not one yellow beekeeper suit is even hinted at? Why use it at all? Roxxon got thrown in here too, but just as fan service.

And the Extremis powers. What the heck do they even do? Regeneration, obviously, but why are people blowing up? Was that on purpose? It seemed like the explosions were caused by people not handling their Extremis upgrades correctly, so how could the “Mandarin” be predicting certain numbers of attacks? Why did Rhodey mention that there were more attacks than what the public knew about? Is the “Mandarin” only announcing some of them on TV?

The Iron Patriot. UGH. The armor looked great, and the banter about the War Machine vs. Iron Patriot branding was consistently amusing. But the Iron Patriot never got to do anything. Don Cheadle spent the film flying to the wrong place or retreating. Why even put him in the movie? When you’ve got a character with an auto-cannon on his shoulders, I want to see it shoot! I want to see Don Cheadle rip into some bad guys as a SUPER HERO! Not as a generic action movie hero. This complaint applies to RDJr too, but he at least spends some time in the Mark 42 armor. (Too bad he doesn’t carry a cell phone, though.)

Iron Man, is that you?

The armor. Why bother to create an army of toyetic Iron Man armors with great names if you aren’t even going to show them? I’d say there were only three sets of armor that got screen time where you could clearly see the suit. I saw the Mark 42 silly flying armor, the Avengers armor, and the Igor suit that held up the collapsing building at the oil rig. Don’t put all those suits in, tease us with how cool they could be, then BLOW THEM UP.

In a world that clearly, clearly needs Iron Man, I think it is a bit selfish of Tony Stark to blow up all his suits. Hell, you know Happy Hogan would wear one (he was another bright spot in this film). Pepper Potts shouldn’t have been riding him either. That fireworks display made both characters seem petulant and self-indulgent.

Now that is the Mandarin!

Now it is time for the biggie. The moment where the movie crashed from a B down to my final grade of a D (it did continue to get worse, though). The Mandarin. How the heck do you take a historied, awesome character with a fantastic look and power set, and turn him into a silly actor? Listen, I understand Mandarin has some confusing history and origins, but clearly Black could have chosen one or made up his own. Now I’m heartbroken that he actually wore his rings in the commercial, because it means that really was Marvel’s attempt to bring the character to the screen. Ben Kingsley could have had a great take on him, but instead we get a mockery of the classic villain. The Batman Begins Ra’s Al Ghul trick is one thing, this is just insulting.

So yeah, this is the first time since Thomas Jane’s Punisher that I was considering walking out of the theater. I actually thought my time would be better going to sleep. I shouldn’t have stayed for the bonus scene, either. I want to be excited about the next movie, not just given a throwaway scene.

Iron Man 3 is proof that Comics are EVIL. 

Guardians of the Galaxy #2

Is it wrong that I don’t want this comic to be good? I was seriously in love with Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning’s run on Guardians a few years ago, so hearing that Marvel was going to “fix” the book by putting a top-tier creative team on it always sounded a bit frustrating. That book was fantastic BEFORE! It didn't need fixing! 

So I sort of hoped I’d hate this book so that I could stay annoyed.

But for good or ill, we’ve got “good” Bendis on this one! There is no doubt this is the middle of a storyline, but Bendis uses the chance to give us some time with every active member of the Guardians. We see the determination of Gamorra and Drax (and their connection is a nice moment). Star Lord is sort of a smarty pants and a good sarcastic leader. Iron Man is the newbie Earthling trying to prove his worth on a new team. Its fun seeing Stark like this, explaining decisions and tech to the Guardians rather than being the boss of the Avengers. 

Of course, Stark also badmouths Captain Britain, which certainly doesn’t seem very nice. Who’s going to write the scene fixing that line of dialogue? It would have been Christos Gage, but now my money’s on Kieron Gillen.

So the Guardians are all pretty cool. Except for one who is simply awesome. Rocket Raccoon! He takes such joy in his work that it is infectious to the reader. And his repeated line after taking out Badoon bozos is wonderful. Rocket is the man.

It’s too bad that Steve McNiven has to draw so many talking heads scenes involving the heads of Marvel’s space races. He’s so good action and aerial combat; I would have dug even more of it. The Badoon are a bit on the generic side, but McNiven’s design on their ships and armor actually covers up that issue. And with Rocket's kill rate, Bendis can't be expected to create new named baddies all the time! 

Plus, Rocket Raccoon is cute.

Good

Iron Man #8

I swear, this armor is not growing on me. I love the black and gold “Mainframe” design in the Avengers title, so being reminded of this starburst… ugh. Just not for me.

So Kieron Gillen sure loves his evil robots, doesn’t he? There are two in this issue alone! Death’s Head and Recorder 451 are different types of baddies, but they are both robots. Death’s Head doesn’t quite look like himself, but he does sound right. I’m glad the character seems to be getting so much use these days. What happens to him after the Celestials attack, though? I’m sure he survives…

This little three parter, the “Godkiller” was really more about setting up Recorder 451. He has some dialogue about setting everything up so that he could arrange the Celestial slaughter of the alien Voldi. I certainly hope the upcoming “Secret Origin of Tony Stark” isn’t tied to 451. I can’t be the only one who’s having a hard time seeing Iron Man with all these ties to outer space.

I don’t think Greg Land likes drawing backgrounds. During the gladiator scenes, the crowd is made up of weird morphs that almost look humanoid or plain brown dirt. I found myself a bit confused during the fight, too. Is Death’s Head actually connecting when he’s tossing those statues at Tony Stark? I’d think that would kill an unarmored guy, right? So he’s missing and Stark is rolling out of the way? I’m missing something. His work on the main figures is usually better. I don’t like the armor, but it is striking. I’m pretty sure the Celestials proportions are off, but I do like seeing them. Land does a nice job with the Kirby designs.

Average

Avengers #9

This has been quite the meandering story since the relaunch. Jonathan Hickman clearly has a greater plan in mind, and parts of the book are done quite well, but I’m just not in love with the book.

Last month we saw our first Star Brand & Night Mask vs. the Avengers battle. There is a follow-up in this issue too, but that isn’t the high point of the issue. This battle has a lot more splash pages and “snapshots” rather than a combat narrative. That keeps it from getting as exciting as it could be. I think the intent is to put the focus on Night Mask’s narrative rather than the fisticuffs, and I’ve made my feelings clear about that in the past. Again, I like the use of Star Brand as a reluctant powerhouse, and seeing the main Avengers try to deal with him with some respect is a strong moment.

My favorite part of the issue involves Ex Nihilo, Abyss, and the New Universe characters on Mars. The book opens with Ex Nihilo explaining some of his greater plans for the Earth. Now, once again, there is a lot of talk about broken tools and cosmic manipulation that doesn’t make a lot of sense, but at least his dialogue gives a clear villain. This guy has a master plan that he’s working towards, and even if no one but Hickman exactly understands it, at least we have someone to root against.

The legion-approach to the team is entertaining, and I still like that graphic that opens each issue, but man, some of the team members are getting lost in the shuffle. There are just too many people on this team. I’d say this book stars Cap, Iron Man, Hulk, Captain Marvel, and Thor, with everyone else relegated to backup status or less. Cannonball, Sunspot, and Spider-Man are barely even there. As I stated before, I still don’t even understand what Captain Universe is doing there.

The art is pretty nice, with Star Brand in particular sticking out. He’s obviously a scrawny nerd blessed with incredible power. His posture and look reinforce the dialogue, he’s clearly quick to anger and somewhat volatile, but he definitely has a conscience. Dustin Weaver’s work on the big names is really impressive. His handle on Iron Man’s black and gold armor is great, I hope it is sticking around and not being replaced by the sunburst/Guardians armor. As I said before, Weaver is one of the few who seems to excel drawing the current Captain Marvel suit.

Fair

New Avengers #5

Until the final page of this issue, this comic is all talking. The story of cosmic destruction and universal balance could literally star any scientist type characters. Iron Man doesn’t need his armor until the last page.

I mean, I know New Avengers is going to have a more cerebral tone than Avengers, but man! Terrax the Tamer is in this issue, and he spends pages and pages talking! Terrax! Best of all, it isn’t even really Terrax; rather it is an alternate reality version of the character.

Hickman seems to have a great grasp on the core cast. I dig the way he writes Black Panther as an ever-ready bad ass. Tony Stark has that right level of arrogance, and Reed Richards thinks he’s the boss even in a room full of leaders. Dr. Strange’s mystic tomes and interactions with Wong seem dead on also.

But the whole alternate Earth conflict, complete with ominous Galactus in the distance is so abstract. There is no villain in the book so far, so all of this is just sort of happening. As I said in yesterday’s review, I might just be a simpleton, but I don’t come to comics for man vs. nature battles. I want a villain! I’m sure Hickman has one, but we should know more about Black Swan and her motivations than we do right now. I think it is a question of pacing more than anything else, perhaps in a trade these answers will come out right away.

Steve Epting draws such cool looking super-heroes, it makes me sad that they spend so much time talking. It seems obvious to me; Tony Stark in space is not as cool as Iron Man in space. Thankfully, T’Challa is rocking his Black Panther costume all the time, so there is always one cool costume hanging around. Dr. Strange wears his a lot too, actually. I like Epting’s Beast more than the version in the X-books; he’s got a bit more of the class ape-face.

Fair

Avengers #7

Ugh. Cap's new helmet is awful!

I think Jonathan Hickman’s take on the Avengers might be the most cerebral approach I’ve seen. I find myself absolutely loving some of the issues, but then there are issues where I finish the book and I feel like I didn’t quite get my $3.99 worth.

This issue contains two recap/title pages and 5 pages featuring alien strangeness. That only leaves about 15 pages for the actual Avengers, but they aren’t even the focus of most of those pages. Instead, we are seeing potential matches with the Star Brand. Now Hickman’s little trick with the Star Brand is a pretty good one, and it sets things up nicely for next issue, but the cost is an issue where the Avengers don’t do a whole lot. I’m sure this type of thing reads much better in trade, but when I’m anxiously awaiting an Avengers fix, this doesn’t quite scratch the itch.

Dustin Weaver is back on art, and I remain impressed. He is one of the few artists who really sold me on the current Captain Marvel costume; his Carol Danvers looks like a daring leader type (which is how she’s supposed to look). There are a fair amount of panels with no background, but then the detail in others is wonderful, so that’s a wash. I’m not sold on the Nightmask redesign yet either. A bit too post-modern for my sensibilities. I like that collar on the original design!

Average

Avengers Assemble Annual #1

It makes me sad that this is the last “clean-up” job Christos Gage has assigned for Marvel at the moment. He’s been a favorite of mine for years. Few people are as good as Gage at wandering around the Marvel U explaining away uncharacteristic actions and editing gaps. (In fact, I think Kieron Gillen is the only current writer who comes close.)

This annual focuses on Vision and his lack of use in any of the core Avengers titles in Marvel Now. Viz had a big return at the start of AvX, but he’s nowhere to be found on the current teams. Gage explains that by playing Vision up against the Sunturion, a great, obscure Iron Man villain with his own personal identification issues. This is classic storytelling, comparing and contrasting your lead against a guy in similar circumstances who makes different choices. While Captain Marvel, Iron Man, Giant Man and Quicksilver appear, they are all there to accent the focus on Vision. Gage uses Quicksilver the most effectively, not surprising after he wrote him so well in Avengers Academy.

But even that clean-up isn’t enough for Gage. He also explains how the Avengers let the Vision’s robotic body sit in a box for years after Scarlet Witch destroyed him in Avengers Disassembled. Giant Man and Iron Man explain away their inaction with different reasons, but both work effectively at giving the Avengers an out on why they would sort of forget about their friend during the Bendis era of Avengers.

Man, thinking about it, it really bums me out that Gage doesn’t have any Marvel work coming up. He does important work, Marvel! You need to get him on a supporting X-book, STAT!

Tomm Coker handles the art, and he’s looking a lot more computer-y than he used to. He’s got a very Renato Arlem-look going on. That’s not a bad thing; I really like his Captain Marvel (especially her helmet) and his black-and-gold Iron Man. I sort of wish he’d left the original Sunturion design alone, cause that was a great-looking Bob Layton costume, but the new one is fine too.

Good

New Avengers #3

It is going to be hard to talk about this issue of New Avengers without mentioning a pretty big spoiler. I have a definite opinion on the “big” event of the issue, including the callback to Identity Crisis and my problems with heroes acting like this. I’m not sure I agree with Jonathan Hickman that out of all the “leader” types in the Marvel U, only Cap is a straight arrow.

Plenty of other stuff happens leading up to the big moment. Beast is recruited into the Illuminati, taking the place of the deceased Professor X. Beast is a good fit, and he adds some nice color to the panels. His redesign is not that jarring when drawn by Steve Epting.

Black Panther is still a mover and shaker in this title, but this is a lot more of an ensemble book than the first issue. I hoped for more of a focus on T’Challa, but perhaps that is not meant to be. I can hope though; Epting’s Panther is a revelation, and I’d love to see him in more action!

Action is a key point for me in a lot of Hickman’s stories. It seems like Hickman has a fair amount of action, but it never has the same weight as in other comics. I mean, this issue has a reformed Infinity Gauntlet repel the invasion of an alternate Earth. That’s big time! But it feels like it just sort of happens in a detached way, something I’ve found in other Hickman work.

Epting brings a lot of style to the proceedings, but I think the clinical approach of the leads is wasting his talents. Sooner or later, Epting needs to be able to cut loose and draw some people punching.

But that shocking ending kept me thinking about this book for awhile. That deserves a bump in the rating.

Good

Avengers #3

Ah, here comes the action! I’ve read enough of Jonathan Hickman’s work to realize he works better in trade than in floppy, and that seems to be holding true here, also. The last issue was a tad slight on combat, but Hickman more than makes up for it here. 

Cap comes back with the Avengers army to take on the cosmic baddies threatening the Earth. Those villains may have cleaned up against the core team, but when Falcon, Shang Chi, and Captain Universe come calling, things go down quite differently. 

This book has a big cast, so I appreciate how Hickman takes the time to introduce the main players through the dialogue. Some folks like Cannonball, Sunspot, and Shang Chi get shortchanged on intros, but they get their moments. Sunspot is still a flirt, and Shang Chi kicks so much butt, I can’t believe he’s never been an Avenger.

The new guys get some spotlight too. Hyperion takes on the Hulk and more than holds his own. I’m totally confused on which Hyperion this is, of course, but I assume that will be handled. The new Smasher is also very helpful in laying out her backstory through her confident battlefield chatter.

I will say that this lineup is so huge, that it is a good thing the book is scheduled to come out quicker than normal. There are simply too many people on the team for everyone to have a chance to shine. 

Captain Universe (too bad it isn’t Monica Rambea like people hoped!) saves the day, and many of the Avengers help. But folks like Spider-Woman, Hawkeye, Black Widow, and more don’t really have a lot to do. Splitting the team should help with that.

Jerome Opena gets to do some costume redesign in this first arc. Falcon’s new suit is a nice mix of modern and classic. He’s clearly recognizable, but in a cutting edge suit. I like Opena’s take on Captain Marvel, too, Carol Danvers’ current look is hard to pull off, but Opena seems to have it. Manifold’s glowing costume is really neat, and I like Shang Chi’s new duds too. 

I’m less impressed with the generic suits Cannonball and Sunspot are sporting. I THINK the intent is to harken back to the original New Mutant costumes of simple yellow and black, but the matching, simple look seems out of place on the Avengers.

Good