About Scott Cederlund
Location: Bartlett, IL
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As Iron Man,
All jets ablaze,
He fights and smite’n
With repulsor rays!
So how do you celebrate opening a movie that makes over $100,000,000 domestically in it’s first weekend? Well, if you’re a comic publisher, the answer seems easy; you publish a second series with a new #1 issue. This time around, Iron Man gets the obligatory second title, The Invincible Iron Man, harnessing the talents of Matt Fraction and Salvador Larroca.
The book opens in an African nation where technology like cell phones with built-in camera are still new and exotic. Adimu Chiume and her friends share the thrill of a brand new phone just as three boys exit a car and blow up, taking the girls and a large chuck of the street with them. Welcome to 21st century terrorism. Meanwhile, Tony Stark is helping repair a space shuttle and trying to bed a more-than-willing supermodel before SHIELD can track him down and report the suicide bombing. Thinking that the bombing was caused by an armor like his, Stark takes it personally and wants to lead the team that tracks down the bomber’s bosses.
Fraction has an interesting take on Stark in this book-- he is a man who lives in constant fear of a great many things. Yet unlike most of us, Tony Stark has the money, ingenuity and heroism to take on his fears and overcome them. That doesn’t mean that those fears are gone; they’re just dealt with. Whether it’s taking a drink or having his technology falling into the wrong hand, Stark is a man who is constantly reminded of his own failures and fears. These are the things that he has to live with and try to overcome. Often writers will focus on one failure or another of Stark’s but Fraction tackles them all head on at once. Through the narration where Stark recounts his fears, Fraction also shows how Stark’s brain works. It’s constantly in motion and never stops. This book is full of Stark’s thoughts, continually moving and calculating what he needs to do. It’s almost dizzying how much text is in this issue. Fraction is not writing in any stripped down style here.
The problem with this issue is that after the movie successfully portrays the humor and wit of Tony Stark, Fraction’s script comes off as very dry and emotionless. Even where Fraction manages to get some humor into the book (watch out for Pepper Potts and her frugal fashion sense and keen spelling abilities,) it comes off as forced and artificial, rather than natural. It’s not that it’s bad; it’s just that it’s not as much fun as the movie that’s out right now. And that’s probably not a fair comparison to either Fraction or Larroca but let’s face it, if it wasn’t for the movie, would Marvel really be gambling on putting out another new title right now?
With that, Marvel is probably missing a big opportunity right now by not making this more like the movie. Understandably they have to tie this book into current continuity so that means that Tony Stark is the head of SHIELD, gets little time to be a millionaire playboy, to tinker around on cars and cool tech and doesn’t get to have a drink in his hand most of the time and be cleverer and glibber than most of us get to be. Tony has real responsibilities that you didn’t have to see in the movie. If someone who’s seen the movie wants to go out and get an Iron Man comic, they’ll find a #1 here that features a character that has more responsibilities and little of the joy or fun.
Invincible Iron Man #1
“The Five Nightmares Part 1: Armageddon Days”
Written by: Matt Fraction
Penciled by: Salvador Larroca
Colored by: Frank D’Armata & Stephan Peru
Lettered by: Chris Eliopoulos
While I like your review a lot, I think that it’s a little unfair in the sense that it’s being compared to the film. I know that this is supposed to be a bit of a tie-in marketing scheme like Marvel did last summer with Spidey and the “Back in Black” arcs, but with a writer like Fraction, I was glad that it wasn’t quite so happy-go-lucky as the film was. This is Tony Stark with his current responsibilities. It has nothing to do with the film. I think if fans are looking for a more colorful and fun take on Iron Man, they’ll be more likely to gravitate to Favreau and Granov’s Iron Man: Viva Las Vegas. That’s fun.
Maybe it’s unfair but it’s the nature of the timing to make that comparison. And really, would this book have existed without the movie?