Bendis Iron Man

Invincible Iron Man 1-11

It was around issue four that I caught myself thinking, “I love this so much.”  Riri Williams is an absolute delight, and one of Brian Michael Bendis’ finest creations, alongside Miles Morales.  This series is about as fun as it gets, Bendis at his almost-best.  Amanda Armstrong, Mary Jane Watson, and Friday the AI make for a top notch supporting cast.  Really, the action is all secondary to the characters and the things they say to each other.  This is even better than I remember.

Stefano Caselli’s art is equally amazing.  He’s the perfect artist for Riri.  

He's like a fairy godmother.

Another cliche tragedy to motivate our hero, but Bendis makes it work.

This is pure, hysterical grief.  I feel it.

Awesome moment for Amanda.

"Fe-male" made laugh harder than I have in a long time in a comic.

Still a sucker for a good silhouette.

Love this scene.  Pepper and Riri forever.

Not the only time Friday jokes about evil AI...

I don't care, I love that name.

Like Rhodes in the previous series, no way Pepper survives a ninja fight.  I don't buy it.

Bendis is amazing at inserting little character beats like this.

I could write for a hundred years and never come up with this line.

She makes the best Queen of Latveria.

Long may she reign!

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pure joy  (Nice for issue 11.)

Generations: Iron Man and Ironheart 1

Riri travels to the far future, meets Tony Stark, Sorcerer Supreme, and is inspired by all the tech she sees to keep on inventing in the present.  Entirely filler, but Bendis keeps it from the cut pile.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Fine

Invincible Iron Man 593-600

It’s amazing how quickly Bendis plummets from some of his best work to some of his worst.  This is a complete waste of time, as Tony Stark comes back to life and wastes numerous issues lying in a fetal position on the ground.  The Hood shows up at his most annoying, Doctor Doom’s redemption comes to a confusing, anti-climactic ending, Riri joins a half-baked Iron Man squad, and Bendis’ final issue at Marvel ends with a confusing scene in this potential future that he’s periodically visited but never fleshed out across the various titles he’d written over the years.  Oh, and Leonardo da Vinci shows up in a true what the serious fuck moment.

I’d totally cut this if it didn’t link to the Ironheart series.  And it feels wrong to cut the last bit of an otherwise excellent run.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: No

Rating: Boring

Bendis Iron Man

International Iron Man 1-7

Where Tony Stark searches for his biological parents (I still don’t know what that’s all about.  I looked it up, and this is a retcon that’s stuck around even to today.), flashes back to his first love, meets her in the present day (she’s a weapons dealer), and finally meets his mother.  We also find out who his father is.  It’s another testament to Brian Michael Bendis and his storytelling skills.  This flew by, and he manages, in the last two issues, to get me totally invested in the life and future of someone I’d never heard of before.  I’m not sure why this couldn’t have fit into the main title, except that Bendis is just writing too darn fast and needs a parallel title to tell all of his stories.  I’m not complaining, especially if it gets me Alex Maleev art as well.  

Fair point about the bathroom.

Yeah, way to kill a conversation.

Hate the continuity - If he had stealth armor on, no way there's that much contact between body parts.

Maleev draws a fricking adorable baby.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pretty good

Infamous Iron Man 1-12

Doctor Doom continuing that weird-ass time when he was a good guy and nobody believed him.  Here, his mother shows up, the bad guy turns out to be Mephisto, and Doom continues to ruin the life of Dr Amara Perera in what seems like a completely pointless storyline until she ends up pregnant on the very last page.  It all feels pretty aimless, and Bendis finally goes too far with an interminable four page Mephisto monologue that defies all patience and necessity.  Still, the rest of the script (and Maleev art) elevate it a notch.    

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pretty good 

Bendis Iron Man

Invincible Iron Man 1-14

There’s really nothing like Brian Michael Bendis on top of his game.  His writing absolutely sings, and I can lose myself in it for as long as it keeps going.  Pair it with exceptional artists like David Marquez and Mike Deodato and you get pure magic.  I’ll let the comics do the talking:

The Justin Posner colors on Madam Masque's face are on a completely different level.

I mean, look at that!

Love the Thor cameo.

Bendis does a magnificent job with all of the Tony/Amara conversations.

That line would work on me too.

Heh.  Nice button.

I know she mad at him, but daaaammn, that's cold.

The humor is spot on, but there's no way Doom ever talks like this.

It's great for laughs, but this is not Doom.

Same with Tony.  He's talking like Peter Parker here.

Still, I'll take the mischaracterization for this classic moment.

Marquez's MJ is SO cute.

I'd wondered where Pepper had gone.

Speaking of MJ, I love this Ross cover from a house ad in one of these issues.  So Romita-esque.

By the way, Riri debuts here.  Deodato draws her hair perfectly.

Issue 14 is just one long conversation between Tony and Carol.

It's just about perfect.

Of course, you need to read Civil War II to find out what happens.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Really good (Pretty good for 6-13, the Techno Golem isn’t that compelling of a villain.)

Fraction Iron Man

Invincible Iron Man 516-527

Tony’s master plan to defeat the Mandarin comes to fruition.  It’s not really a master plan so much as “some of the pieces that he put into place happen to work out while he makes up a lot of it on the fly.”  The JARVIS AI that’s built into the Rescue armor turns out to be evil.  Rhodey plays at being Iron Man for a while.  Mandarin dies off page at the hands of Ezekiel Stane, a completely ignominious ending for a decades-old Marvel villain.  

It’s still all very entertaining, and it’s impressive that Matt Fraction was able to implement his entire grand vision for Tony Stark over this five year epic (and with Salvador Larroca as his partner for the whole run!).  The second half doesn’t measure up to the first, but overall, I’m really glad that I own this run.  I think that if it all burned down, I’d only buy up to issue 33, but I’m not sure if I wouldn’t get the rest for completionist’s sake.  

Up next is Brian Michael Bendis’ take on Tony!

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice

Fraction Iron Man

Invincible Iron Man 504-509

The Fear Itself tie-in.  (Matt Fraction also wrote the main event title.)  Unsurprisingly, my complaint with this story mirrors that of the parent comic; this is an incomplete arc that doesn’t work without reading the other, and that annoys me.  

Anyway, Tony fights the souped-up Grey Gargoyle, then gets drunk in order to gain access to the forges of Svartalfheim and forge Asgardian superweapons to win the day.  It’s not bad, but lacks the drama of Fraction’s better Iron Man arcs.  Also, it’s sad to see Stark lose his sobriety, even if it is for a good cause.  

It's always the sword that works after all else fails...

I really like Larroca on this title, but sometimes he pulls out a stinker.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice

Invincible Iron Man 510-515

News of Tony’s drunken piloting of the Iron Man suit goes public, and Tony is forced to give control up to the Hammers.  But he realizes that the Mandarin and Ezekiel Stane are behind it all, and he already has a counterattack in mind…

A lot of set up here, and the only thing keeping all of Tony’s losing from being intolerable to read is the knowledge that he knows what he’s doing.  

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice

Fraction Iron Man

Invincible Iron Man Annual 1

The Mandarin kidnaps a famed movie director to film his biopic.  It’s a clever way for Matt Fraction to tell the Mandarin’s origin story, but all it reveals is that the Mandarin is a blowhard with a fragile ego and the power to enable his bullying ways.  While the craft of the issue is impressive, the story is infuriating in the “I hate it when the bullies win” kind of manner.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Fine

Invincible Iron Man 500-503, 500.1

The quality of the Fraction/Larroca collaboration takes a turn for the worse as Marvel returns to the title’s legacy numbering.  Doctor Octopus kidnaps Tony and expects a cure for his terminal illness.  (I presume this leads to Superior Spider-Man.)  Tony can’t deliver, Doc Ock gets a boost to his ego, and Pepper Potts fights Sandman and Electro.  It feels as pointless as issue 500, which has Tony’s descendants working to destroy his uber-powerful death machines.  It’s all very so-so, and I hope I’m not just saying that because I’m very sleepy right now.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Fine

Invincible Iron Man

Invincible Iron Man 25-33

The Resilient story arc.  With Stark Industries dismantled, Tony starts up Stark Resilient, aiming to distribute his repulsor technology to the world as the alternative energy source.  (It’s very WildCATS 3.0 in that way.)  In his way are the daughter and granddaughter of Justin Hammer.  Lots of Iron Man 2 in here.  

It’s also the continuation of Matt Fraction and Salvador Larroca’s excellent Iron Man run.  This is top notch stuff.  I love the elevation of Pepper Potts to co-star, she brings a wonderful balance to Tony’s over the top personality.  

Great colors, I presume by Frank D'Armata

Same here.

This is a Superman shot if there ever was one.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Good