A lot of people like to complain about how Dark Reign forces
changes to be made in their favorite books which hurt the overall
stories being told. In fact sometimes I am one of those people, but one
book that has vastly improved since and partly because of Dark Reign is
Invincible Iron Man. Norman Osborn taking control of the Marvel
Universe has given Matt Fraction the chance to craft an excitingly
original Iron Man story with a villain on par with the brilliant Mr.
Tony Stark.

Before getting into anything else however I need to
take a second to mention how the art in this book has improved. In
earlier issues I would sometimes cringe looking at the faces of
characters who looked like a shiny photo-referenced train wreck.
Thankfully things have improved greatly, just take a look at the first
page of the issue and then compare it to an issue from six or eight
months ago. Now I no longer need to hope that Tony is in costume the
entire issue to have any hope of enjoying the art.

Storywise
Fraction starts exactly where he left us off last issue with Tony and
Pepper staring each other down. From their later interactions we get
the best glimpse yet into what kind of impact Tony’s mind erasing
mission is having on him, and these scenes are wonderful. We also catch
up with Maria who has finally found Black Widow, and who could complain
about watching these two chase each other around. After only seeing
Maria for about one page last issue it is nice to have her plot thread
once again take up a good chunk of the issue.

Lastly, and this
is something this book has done better than any other in recent months,
Fraction leaves you begging to be able to read the next issue
immediately. It says a lot that I almost enjoyed this more than a
Morrison/Quitely comic that also was released this week.