Before the review begins, I have to make something clear. I’m not an Iron Man fan. I like the movies, but apart from that I don’t really care much for the character. That’s not to say I don’t like him, but he’s generally too much of a jerk for my tastes. That’s why this is the first Iron Man comic I’ve ever read. It was very good.
Kieron Gillen kicks off his Iron Man run with the return of Extremis – a program that can basically give anyone any kind of superpower they want. Iron Man knows very well what could happen if it falls into the wrong hands, so he springs to action. What follows is a fun little investigation where Iron Man infiltrates a demonstration and fights several Extremis enhanced thugs.
There’s also a lot of exploration in this comic. Iron Man is questioning the nature of the universe after AVX, and this issue introduces that direction without shoving it down our throats. This new direction could provide a fresh new direction for the character and it’s handled very well. Of course, there’s also a bit of womanizing and a cleaver line related to his alcoholism. There’s really not much else to say about this issue without spoiling the fun, but it’s a great read.
The art is alright. Gillen seems to bring the best out of Greg Land, while minimizing his faults. That said, there isn’t all that much variety in facial expressions – Tony Stark has the same grin in nearly all of his panels at the bar. On the plus side, the environmental detail is always good. The city at nighttime looks particularly good. The action scenes look decent and are easy to follow as well. If you despise Greg Land, this issue won’t change your mind. Otherwise, the art is at least passable.
This is a great comic, and it screams of potential for Gillen’s Iron Man run. If you like Iron Man, or are interested in checking him out, this is definitely worth checking out.
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I love Gillen. I really do. I think he’s a fantastic writer. But I had trouble deciding how good he was in this issue, because the art was so unbelievably bad that it actually managed to distract me. Just the scenes with faces. When Tony was in his armour, it looked really good. But a not-insignificant portion took place out of armour, in a bar or the auction. And in those scenes, Land’s art was awful, even by the standards of Greg Land art. He needs to be let go.
Sadly, I just can’t buy this book while Land’s on art. I’m done with him. I can’t take him any more.
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Fair enough.
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