IRON MAN #26
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Size: pages
Price: 2.99
This review contains spoilers, click here to read
This might not be the exact version of Iron Man that I love most, he's currently busy over in Ultimate Human written by Warren Ellis, but damn if this doesn't manage to be a great book regardless. This Tony Stark is haunted by the demons of his past and the ghosts of those who have died because of his decisions, both figuratively and as we discovered last issue. Like all the best Iron Man stories he's stripped of his support network, and its just a genius in a tin platted armoured suit against some super powered threat.
And what a threat. I never really liked the Mandarin. He was born of a culturally insensitive age and until now never really managed to merge into the twentieth century. Shed of his embarrasing yellow peril aspects, and updated he's meanacing and can rightfully take his place beside Doctor Doom and Magneto as one of the big bad heavies in the Marvel Universe. He's dangerous, powerful and smart. Maybe even smarter than Stark, and that's the best kind of foe for Iron Man.
As ohcaroline mentioned in her review we end with another page that's supposed to lead us to believe that Iron Man and Tony Stark are no more. It's becoming a bit of a one trick pony for the title, but it's one flaw in an otherwise excellent book.
To those who say that because Iron Man is an important player in the wider Marvel U, that this title "doesn't matter" I must admit I'm confused. Did Captain America not matter just because he was appearing in New Avengers and Civil War? Does Amazing Spider-Man not matter because Marvel's never going to kill Spider-Man?
Art: 3 - Good
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Great review —
"Captain America" is actually a perfect counterexample to show how this title doesn’t matter. When the decision was made to kill Steve Rogers, it was originally suggested that he should die in Civil War. Brubaker nixed the idea, arguing persuasively that an even that significant had to happen in the solo book. Although Cap 25 is tangentially related to "Civil War" and new avengers, the main events happen in the solo book.
When Tony Stark became director of SHIELD, we saw that for the first time in Civil War, which was basically an Avengers title. If he gets fired from SHIELD, it’s going to be part of "Secret Invasion," which is basically an Avengers title; and dollars to donuts we’ll see it there first (same if he dies or is revealed to be a skrull). Tony’s continuity is being driven by forces outside his solo title. The chance of anything happening in this book being reflected in the larger Marvel U. is almost nil.
Likewise, since it’s not being read as widely as "Mighty Avengers" or "Captain America" are — or as "Civil War" and "Illuminati" were — the popular perception of the character is going to come from those titles, not this one.
None of that is a slam against the book; it reads nicely as a self-contained story that fits into the gaps of continuity. But even as an Iron Man fan, I basically see this book as an afterthought. When I think of 616 -Tony Stark, I think of all of those other titles before I think about this one.
I’d disagree. I think there’s still a chance that something big might happen here, though possibly not until the end of Secret Invasion. Remember that the Extremis powers upgrade Tony got was in the solo title, and that’s affected his character a great deal. Obviously in the middle of a major to-do crossover nothing major will happen to him in his own book, but that’s fairly standard for everyone’s solo books.
The Extremis upgrade was written by Warren Ellis.
Charles and Daniel Knauf = not Warren Ellis. Again, I don’t mean any insult the solo title, I just don’t see it having any impact on continuity. The fact that they’re launching a second solo title to coincide with the movie release seems to reinforce that.