Invincible Iron Man #19

Matt Fraction didn't end World's Most Wanted the way I thought he would, but he did bring the whole thing to a close in a very dramatic fashion. The pacing in a complex, long story like this can be very difficult, so I'm happy with how Fraction brought every storyline to a head at once. He gave us a decent resolution and still provided a nice lead in to the next arc.

Agent Hill and Black Widow put aside their differences and re-acquire the Stark disk from early in the storyline. I've got to figure it is a backup of Stark's mind or something, right? A great part of this showdown was Maria Hill giving orders to her old troops who went over to Hammer. The better part is that they go along with it.

Pepper Potts has he revenge too. She and JARVIS manage to sabotage just about every piece of Stark Tech that Osborn had appropriated. Potts then made sure to broadcast Norman Osborn beating the crap out of Tony Stark on live TV, with Tony not even putting up a fight.

Stark's resolution is bittersweet. He "won," sure, but there is nothing left of the guy. It was awful watching him try to muster up the smarts to make some kind of comeback at Osborn, but there just wasn't enough left of Stark to make it work. I love how this beating will probably pull the public back to Stark's corner.

The most surprising and touching (for me) ending was Agent Walsh. This guy is a Hammer agent who has been conflicted about helping Osborn take out Stark since the story started. Well it turns out Walsh finally did the right thing and was trying to help Stark get away. It's a nice moment of "bravery" from a chubby analyst. I love seeing that type of loyalty from Stark's ex-employees.

Salvador La Rocca has been kicking butt on this title since issue 1. This is no exception. The battle of the Iron Men looked great, but La Rocca can nail the emotional beats too. This was a great comic. And I can't wait to see Thor next issue.

Excellent