Tag: iron man

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Marvel Masterworks: The Invincible Iron Man Volume Four

This is a review of Marvel Masterworks Invincible Iron Man Volume Four. You can read my reviews of the first three volumes here, here, and here. This volume is written by Stan Lee and drawn by the great Gene Colan, who also drew Tomb of Dracula. Mr. Colan’s Iron Man is dynamic – twisting, contorting, always in action.

Thus far, Iron Man has been an on/off title to read. The main culprit is the writing, which can be kindly described as inconsistent. Nonstop action is great, but the plots need to make sense. The writing has a slapdash quality that I don’t like, such as when Iron Man leaves the widget he needs to defeat the Titanium Man on his coffee table because it slipped his mind. Series regular Happy Hogan retrieves the widget, only to be mortally injured, which leads to Happy’s transformation into a monstrous etc., etc., etc. This is known as plotting on the fly, aka making it up as you go along.

Happily, the writing in this volume is better. When Archie Goodwin takes over scribing duties – which seems like it might be a few issues before he’s credited – the plots get tighter. Yes, dumb cliffhangers still abound, but that is part of the joy of reading superhero comics. The Grey Gargoyle throws a petrified Iron Man off the roof, but lucky for him, there’s a handy truck full of sand nearby to fall on.

The villains in this volume are better. Unlike Mr. Doll (featured in Volume One), they look like real threats. Look at Titanium Man! He’s scary! Look at the Grey Gargoyle! He’s mean! There’s also Whiplash, who has a, uh, steel whip. Let’s not forget ultra-secret organizations Maggia and AIM, bent on world domination. Also: Madame Masque, minus the mask.

Series regulars Happy (chauffer) and Pepper (secretary) get written out of the book for reasons I don’t understand. I think it might have to do with Happy knowing that Tony is Iron Man. Instead of fridging him, the writers allow him to elope with Pepper. They are replaced by SHIELD agent Jasper Sitwell, the most annoying man in the universe. Sitwell debuts by trying to blow Tony Stark’s head off his shoulders, although that’s not how he frames it. Overall, this volume shows a lot of improvement from the last. Recommended for Iron Man fans and lovers of superhero comics!

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Marvel Masterworks: The Invincible Iron Man Volume Three

This is a review of Marvel Masterworks: The Invincible Iron Man Vol. 3. Note: this volume contains Iron Man and Captain America stories, but I only read the Iron Man material. You can peruse my reviews of the first two volumes here and here.

Iron Man is Tony Stark, multi-millionaire. Tony makes weapons for SHIELD and the U.S. Defense Department. Since he hails from the Marvel Universe, there’s a catch. Stark’s heart was damaged in Vietnam, and now he’s living on borrowed time. The only thing keeping him alive is the plate welded onto his chest, which he must charge whenever there’s an emergency or a supervillain appears.

The art – mostly by Don Heck and Gene Colan – is good. The stories are – well, they’re a mixed bag. No more Mr. Doll, which is a shame. Instead we have The Titanium Man, a big burly Russian who builds a big burly green suit of armor. TM challenges Iron Man to a battle royale, mano a mano, East vs. West – just like that exciting Rocky movie, which I’ve never seen! (Confession: I’ve never seen any of the Rocky movies).

Iron Man triumphs, but only after his chauffer Happy Hogan is almost killed bringing Shell-Head the MacGuffin, an object so integral to Tony’s battle with Titanium Man that he left it behind on his coffee table. Luckily, Happy is saved by the Enervator, which has the unfortunate side-effect of transforming him into an enormous hulking freak of nature. Hey, it happens.

After that, warlord and racist caricature The Mandarin stops by to test his enormous android, Ultimo, against Iron Man. And then the Sub-Mariner attacks! Lots of action, no let up. The problem being, the stories all start to blend together. There are a few points during the Sub-Mariner storyline where the creators forget their own plot points and contradict themselves, but I’d have trouble remembering it all also.

Iron Man started out as a propaganda war comic, and this volume possesses some of these elements. Stark’s main antagonist is Senator Byrd, a dedicated public servant who manages to shut down Stark Enterprises, because reasons. Actually, Byrd’s reasons aren’t bad – Mark Millar’s Civil War, penned decades later, riffs off this.

Nowadays, Iron Man is viewed as a semi-problematic character, depending on who writes him. He’s a millionaire. When you look up ‘capitalist’ in the dictionary there’s a picture of him next to the Monopoly guy. He’s good looking and assumedly gets all the sex he wants. He’s had substance abuse issues with alcohol and he’s the main villain in the first Civil War.

If you’re an Iron Man fan or completist, you might like this.

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Marvel Masterworks Iron Man Volume Two

This is a review of Marvel Masterworks: Iron Man Volume Two. I expected nothing from this graphic novel. That’s because the first volume – read my review here – was a mish-mash of bad art, clichés, propaganda, and poorly developed characters.

I am happy to report that the series finds its legs in the second volume. We have the usual Marvel love triangle, this being between Tony Stark, Pepper Potts (secretary), and Happy Hogan (chauffer). We have the introduction of Marvel mainstays The Black Widow and Hawkeye, as villains. The Black Widow is a Russian spy and Hawkeye is her boy toy.

I like the characterization of Hawkeye, here. Think Captain America, without Cap’s brains and sterling moral compass. In the Black Widow’s first appearance, she’s teamed with another spy named Boris (the Black Widow’s first name is Natasha). Since I watched Rocky & Bullwinkle as a kid, I found this very funny but YMMV.

We also have our first Iron Man multi-issue storyline. If you read my review of the first volume, you’ll know that Tony Stark has shrapnel in his chest and the only thing keeping him alive is his chest plate. When Tony’s heart problems worsen, he can’t take off his Iron Man armor, and his employees/only friends Happy & Pepper begin to suspect Iron Man of doing away with him!

I should mention my favorite scene of this volume. Tony invents an anti-gravity machine, but doesn’t recall exactly how he did it. When the Black Widow visits, Tony knows she’s a Russian spy, but little Tony makes him demonstrate the anti-gravity device in an effort to impress her. Thus, it is the Black Widow and not Mr. Doll or Jack Frost who comes closest to ending Iron Man’s life. Instead of putting a bullet through Tony’s head, Natasha merely gasses him and steals the device. It’s a lot of fun watching his increasingly frantic efforts to get it back.

There’s also the time Tony leaves the briefcase with his Iron Man armor behind. The armor is stolen, and Tony must use his ugly old golden armor to fight the interloper, who goes crazy during the course of their battle. Instead of telling the world that Tony Stark is Iron Man, he tells everyone that he’s Iron Man. Whew, that’s a lucky one!

Stark is written as being careless at best, unreliable at worst. I am unsure if the word ‘narcissist’ was used much back then, but it describes Tony to a tee. He’s a self-centered workaholic who is obsessed with money and has no real relationships to speak of. Maybe it’s because he’s living on borrowed time, or maybe it’s just the way he is.

A decent volume, especially if you like Iron Man!

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Marvel Masterworks Iron Man Vol. 1

This is a review of Marvel Masterworks: Iron Man Volume One. Tony Stark is a millionaire industrialist who designs weapons for the U.S. military. Some of his ideas might seem stupid to me (roller skates that allow troops to travel at 60 m.p.h.), but I’m not a genius like him.

Tony is touring Vietnam (1963, during the Vietnam War) when he’s hit by a landmine. The shrapnel penetrates his chest and injures his heart. He only has days to live, but that’s not a problem to a doer like Tony! He and another scientist design a suit of armor that also acts as a pacemaker under the not-so-watchful eye of the warlord who takes them prisoner. The less said about the warlord, the better. Suffice it to say he’s an offensive racial stereotype. Anyway, the chest plate acts as a pacemaker and the armor enables Tony to escape from the warlord. Thus, Iron Man is born!

I am unsure if anyone who made these comics is still alive…so let’s start with the positives. The twelve-page format works well (the page number is expanded in later issues). The stories are big, loud, dumb, and pretty entertaining. In one episode, Iron Man fights alongside Cleopatra, Queen of the Nile!  Iron Man’s villain gallery is goofy, mostly in a good way – Jack Frost, the Crimson Dynamo, The Melter. The standout is Mr. Doll, who shapes a lump of clay into effigies of his enemies, which he then squeezes. Mr. Doll was originally called Mr. Pain, but the Comics Code Authority wouldn’t stand for that!

The stories aren’t as well-written as other Marvel stories of that time period. Character development is minimal, and the stories are bare-bones basic. Things perk up when we meet two supporting cast members, Happy Hogan and Pepper Potts. Happy is a never-been prizefighter who acts as Tony’s chauffer. Pepper is Tony’s secretary. Happy and Pepper’s banter is entertaining in that they seem quite sincere in loathing each other. We never meet Tony’s parents, and as far as I can tell he has no friends, so he’s not living a very balanced life!

The beginning of this series is overtly political. Many of Tony’s enemies are communists, aka commies, aka Reds (the writers’ words, not mine). Stan Lee expresses regret for this in the introduction to this volume, which is interesting. I think he’s saying he regrets spreading propaganda, which World War II comics were.

Anyway, this volume was worth the ninety-nine cents I paid for it. It’s not perfect, but you can’t hit a home run every time!