War Machine #10

Is it me, or has it been a long time since the last issue of War Machine came out? In any case, this issue picks up with Norman Osborn having turned the Ultimo robot over to his side by reducing it to the intellect level of a child. Naturally, War Machine can't let such a powerful force of destruction fall into Osborn's hands, so he has his ally the Cybermancer zip away with the child-like machine so that she can teach it some morals. I'm amused at how quickly that element was removed from the story. I think Greg Pak needed to wrap things up for the upcoming cancellation of this title and needed to focus on the more exciting aspects of this story.

This is actually a good thing, since that means more War Machine vs. Norman Osborn. WM takes on Osborn and the two of them have a nice back and forth as the issue goes on as each temporarily gains the upper hand. While Osborn is occupied, WM's allies from the West Coast Avengers each make a mad dash to bring corrupt allies of Osborn's to justice. This was a pretty amusing sequence, from the hot-button issues that Pak chose to highlight to the reaction shot in the White House. Obama seems quite pleased at the Avengers' whirlwind approach to law enforcement. It is clear that Osborn is heading for a fall. He does manage to capture Rhodey, and moves quickly to put War Machine on trial. The final two issues of this series should be pretty cool as Rhodey stands trial for his heavy handed approach throughout this series.

Allan Jefferson returns to handle the art duties, and he does a nice job. He has a habit of drawing lumpy faces (particularly on Rhodes and Osborn) but I really dig his take on Wonder Man. The storytelling is clear and the pencils have a really light line-weight. I bet this was colored straight from pencils.

Fair