I am loyal to a lot of things that I know are not particularly good. The Philadelphia 76’ers, The Ramones in their later years, Kevin Smith post-Dogma…well, you get the idea. I still watch Clerks II when it comes on TV, but I am not sure that I would call it vintage Kevin Smith.

I guess I have a similar connection to Iron Man. I have loved the character since I was a kid. I was a little too young to be reading the issues about Tony Stark’s alcoholism, but I worked through it. So if there’s an Iron Man book, I will generally read it, even if it has been below par. Until the current arc, Iron Man had been right around par – decent drama, but nothing compelling.

Dark Reign has changed things dramatically – in a good way. Stark is always best when he is down. He was interesting as a technocrat, but he is compelling as an outcast. Invinsible Iron Man #9 shows the outcast Tony – the superhero at the end of his ropes. He must now find a way to prevent Norman Osborne from gaining control of anything coming from Tony’s databases. He shows in this book that he is willing to do so even at the risk of his own life.

There is an excellent sub-plot involving Maria Hill, who was previously used only as the tightass foil for Tony’s shoot-from-the-hip style. Now Hill realizes that she must join Tony Stark, her one-time adversary, in order to do what is right.

I am quite pleasantly surprised that an Iron Man book could become as fresh and interesting as I find this issue to be. I hope that this is a trend that continues for some time. The art is solid, but unexceptional. Most importantly, it is in no way distracting from the narrative.