Neat! Shockwave! I do love it when Matt Fraction puts in classic foes. The three leads each move along nicely here. Stark is on the run and scavenging parts at a tech fair. After a nerd rats him out he ends up having to go up against Shockwave in a pretty neat confrontation. Fraction is able to give us a real personality for Shockwave in just a few pages, quite the accomplishment. Don't think I haven't noticed the parallels between Stark's current lifestyle and how Elijah Stane functioned in the opening arc. I figure Stark will comment on it soon, but he's living that kid's life on the run now, isn't he?
Pepper Potts is going along to get along with Osborn and HAMMER, but Osborn isn't making it easy. Not a lot changes from last issue, other than Potts is supposedly allowed to go free, but there are a few neat reveals. Osborn tells Potts that without Stark's repulsor tech, he can't get the armory of Iron Men working. That's a neat bit that makes a lot of sense. It had been bothering me that Stark would leave those behind. It also seems that Fraction is pulling Madame Masque out of her flunky role from Bendis' New Avengers and setting her up as the more calculating Whitney Frost that we know and love. I'm looking forward to seeing how that works out.
Maria Hill accomplishes quite a bit in her few pages. Her legendary stubborness isn't a new thing. While the Controller attemps to take her over, her flashbacks to other difficult circumstances gives her the motivation to throw off his control disc. Has anyone else successfully done that? Hill is a pretty likable protagonist, she gets her job done, complaining the whole time.
Salvador LaRocca's art seemed better than usual this month. Shockwave's redesign looked great, the Controller looked like a threatening ape-man, and Madame Masques' body language oozed personality. This was a strong issue of a great series.
Excellent
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