Busiek Iron Man, Mage, Runaways

Starting with more new comics!  I’m very much a fan of doing these, they’re great for breaking up the monotony of reading the same title for days on end.

Mage: The Hero Denied 7

I don’t care about the broad strokes of this title.  The plot is only marginally interesting to me. After the wonderful Matt Wagner art, it’s the little things that make this a fun title to read.  In this issue, it’s the purples of the rose gardens and the splatters of yellow along the trail. It’s the red caps shooting a magical cannon out the back door of a yellow school bus.  And most of all, it’s seeing how Kevin Matchstick is going to deal with threats to his family after demonstrating how they’ve become his entire life since the previous series.

Runaways 7

I continue to love this comic, especially when Rainbow Rowell focuses on the characters more than any kind of external threat.  Gert’s body image issues, Victor’s lack-of-body issues, Nico’s infatuation with Karolina, and Chase’s new-found sense of responsibility are all so much fun to read.  And best of all, Molly loves school and her BFF! Her joy is my joy, and my enjoyment of this issue shot down any concerns I had that my sleepiness was affecting my low opinion of Iron Man.  

I can’t believe that “Legal Adoption” is a valid spell, but I’m so happy that it is.  

Chase's smile is so dopey!

Iron Man 7-16

Was Kurt Busiek writing Astro City during this time period?  Because between Iron Man and Avengers, he was not at his best over at Marvel.  Checking...Yes, he was. And in fact, wrote Astro City ½ in the same span, only one of my top 5 comics issues ever.  So what happened with Iron Man?

Everything is just so meh.  Tony’s challenges fail to create any tension or sense of danger.  By the end of the night, I pushed through a few extra issues just so that I wouldn’t have to read them tomorrow.  And while George Perez is good enough to keep Busiek’s Avengers in my collection, Sean Chen, while pretty good, can’t do the same for these issues of Iron Man.  I’ll keep the issues from yesterday for nostalgia’s sake, but none of today’s are making the cut.

Regret buying? No

Would buy again? No

Would read again? No

Rating: Boring