War Machine #6

Greg Pak goes back to the flashbacks with this issue, and I found myself re-engaged in the story. I love the story of Rhodey's childhood, I don't know why. He's such a good guy, and seeing his strong morals come out so fiercely in his childhood, I find myself really liking that aspect of the book more than any other. His Mom is a great character too, with her long-standing sufferance to her son's strong moral code. I'm always pleased when heroes have surviving family members, it makes them feel more real and not quite as "angsty." Rhodes' contingency plan and backup planning is neat, as we see how he asked his Mom to resettle to American Eagle's reservation so that she'd technically be off U.S. soil and he'd have a safe home base. The personal confrontation as Rhodes returns to re-equip himself was well done: Rhodes may make time to rationalize and explain to his mother, but she knows why he really came home.

Rhodey's support team still doesn't interest me that much, I kind of think they drag him down. I will admit it was a neat sequence when American Eagle took them all out so easily. AE's powers have been amped, haven't they? He is a top-level fighter these days and I just don't remember him being that top notch. I don't have a problem with it, he's a great character, but it seems new to me. As for the series going forward, while I'm liking some of the little story bits, I'm not interested in the overall War Machine vs. America plot. I'll pick up next issue since the West Coast Avengers are in it, but after that I'm not sure. Plus I'm worried that War Machine will be attaching himself to more tanks and planes, and that snap-on aspect of his new incarnation seems silly to me.

Allan Jefferson's art is pretty strong, especially in his handling of the armor and the flashback sequences. American Eagle's face seems a little too old and lumpy for the character, but not bad overall.

Fair