“The Invincible Iron Man” #504 is one of those book with the huge “Fear Itself” strip across the top quarter of the cover attaching itself to this year’s major Marvel event. And while it’s central story revolves around “Fear Itself”, it’s also a strong stand-alone Iron Man issue.

Simply put, Matt Fraction writes a great Iron Man. Tony Stark flies off to Paris to investigate one of the impact sites of the falling hammers. The book features a great appearance by The Grey Gargoyle, continued tension between Pepper and Tony, and some top notch action. Fraction really makes this into an event tie-in that actually carries weight and doesn’t seem to be milking “Fear Itself”.

Larroca’s art is solid. His character interaction panels are nice but he really shines with his beautifully drawn action sequences. Larroca’s Iron Man has a slick, polished look to him and the action panels carry a lot of pop. Larroca’s characters can occasionally be inconsistent but here he is in good form.

Don’t let the “Fear Itself” banner fool you in one of two ways. First, this isn’t an issue that you must get to understand the event. But it does feel relevent and is quite entertaining. Second, don’t let the banner fool you into thinking this is just a cheap throw away, cash-in issue. This book uses “Fear Itself” well while also serving as a good regular issue in Fraction’s Iron Man run. It’s also a good issue to jump onboard for comic fans who haven’t been following the solid series.