Creative Team:
Writer: Matt Fraction
Artist: Salvador Larroca
Colorist: Frank D’Armata
Issue Rating:
Story: 8/10
Art: 8/10
Overall: 8/10
Issue Developments:
As Starkdynamics Tower in Taipei is blown up by the suicide bombers from last issue Tony Stark is able to put on his Iron Man armor with the help of the Extremis virus and make his escape before the building comes down. In the aftermath Tony looks for survivors specifically for Pepper Potts. After Finding Pepper and taking her to the hospital Tony finds out that she was injured by some shrapnel in her chest and will need the same arc reactor he was implanted with back in the day to save her life.
Another survivor of the explosion is Ezekiel Stane who planned the whole suicide bombing. He survived the explosiong by infusing himself with his organic tech that he has been working on. He leaves the hospital he was taken to destroying it on his way out and leaves with his girlfriend Sasha.
We then see that Tony is re-telling his history with Obidiah Stane, Ezekiel’s dad, to Maria Hill and some SHIELD agents while he is going back to the destroyed Stark Tower in Taipei. When Iron Man arrives to the scene of the explosion and finds some evidence he is faced with some Chinese robot cops that resemble the mechas from the Gundam series. Iron Man analyzes the machines and finds out they are controlled from some fat geeks in their basement so he just decides to destroy them since there are no humans inside the robots.
Back at Pepper’s hospital room we find out the operation was a success and Pepper is now implanted with the arc reactor.
The issue ends with Ezekiel Stane finishing his own armor in preparation to fight Tony.
Review:
Three issues in and Fraction has now convinced me to keep this title on my monthly pull list. Fraction is the first writer post-Civil War to find a balance between Tony the billionaire playboy and Tony the Director of Shield. Since Civil War most writers like Bendis and JMS have portrayed as a deuche that is now just some government crony. While I enjoyed the Knaufs run on the other Iron Man title the one criticism I have for their run is that they only presented Tony as working strictly at SHIELD and never got to see Tony’s billionaire side which is a curcial element to Tony’s character.
I know this is a small tibit but I like that Fraction had Tony use the Extremis virus to put on his suit and make his escape. This was actually the first time in these three issues that Tony actually utilized Tony’s new ability. It almost seemed that Fraction forgot this power up Tony receive and was ready to ignore it. But I am glad that Tony continues to use this new power because it really makes Tony one of the strongest characters in the Marvel Universe.
I kind of wonder were Fraction will be taking this new development with Pepper now having the same arc reactor Tony used to use. The obvious direction is that Pepper will be receiving her own Iron Man (or Woman) suit. If it is I hope Fraction does it in a way that feels organic and builds for the next couple story arcs and doesn’t just make it feel forced.
One of the reasons I like Bucky being Captain America is that it felt natural for him to take up the mantle because Brubaker build up Bucky over time before taking the mantle. So one of the test for Fraction on this title will be how he is able to build on this new development with Pepper.
Now before I get to Ezekiel Stane I liked that Fraction was able to inform the reader of Tony’s past with Obidiah. It helps a reader, like me, who did not read Iron Man when he fought the original Stane and getting this brief history helps come up to date with why Ezekiel hates Tony.
Now to Ezekiel I actually am starting to like, or hate in this case,the new villain Fraction has created. I like that will Tony has focused on making ihis tach completly inorganic Ezekiel has made his tech organic. It nice difference that feels different than the usual were villains take some Stark Tech and create their own derivation of the iron Man costume. By having this new organic tech Fraction has created a device for not only this sotryline but also for future storylines down the line using this new organic tech.
The one thing that I would like Fraction to do is use more of Iron Man’s supportingg characters than just Maria Hill and Pepper Potts because it will add more depth to this title. But this is only a minor complaint considering this is only the third issue of this new title.
Larroca provided some great art in The Invincible Iron Man #3. I like the difference he made in Ezekiel’s armor with its dark brown and white color sheme. It’s a nice little deviation from Iron Man’s red and gold color sheme.
Overall: This was another good issue of The Invincible Iron Man and has convinced me to keep this title on my permminent pull list. So if your an Iron Man fan or a person looking to get into Iron Man than this is definently a title I recommend picking up.