Graphic by Chad Bowers
From the desk of Brian Salvatore, friend to all the Jews:
L’chaim! The Multiversity Comics staff is a multicultural bunch, and wanted to spread around the holiday cheer to our chosen brethren with our new series: Multiversity Lights the Menorah!
Each night, at sundown, we will light a candle on the Menorah and tell a tale of a story, creator’s run, or general theme in comics that, much like the oil that lasted eight nights for the Israelites, went on for far longer than any of us could have expected. Spinning the dreidel tonight is David Harper, who will be telling the tale of Matt Fraction, and his propensity for story arcs that, too, are miraculous in their length, specifically the “World’s Most Wanted” arc from Invincible Iron Man.
So, grab the shammus and light the fifth candle, David!
Click here to relight the fourth candle, or the third candle, or the second candle, or the first candle.
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| Series editor Brian wants this shirt. |
Matt Fraction is without a doubt a really, really talented guy. Whether you’re talking something like his creator-owned series Casanova or B-list superhero team book The Order, the guy’s got a gift for creating snappy, forward thinking comic books.
Perhaps his biggest success in terms of mainstream superhero comics is his work on Invincible Iron Man, as Fraction and his artist of choice Salvador Larocca paired together to be a perfect fit for futurist Tony Stark, his company Stark Resilient, and his high tech superhero alter ego. The guy has put together some out and out stellar work.
Maybe his best arc on that book was the one titled “World’s Most Wanted,” an arc that found Tony on the run from Norman Osborne to prevent the villain from acquiring the list of superhero secret identities for the purposes of evil, as bad guys are apt to do. Fraction creates some brilliant sci-fi ideas in this story, having Tony upload a “virus” of sorts into his own brain to remove that sensitive info and having his girl friday Pepper Potts reboot – quite literally – with an older back-up copy with the help of a few heroes (while Ghost tries to take him out). It’s often exciting, inventive, and beautifully drawn, with it perhaps acting as the peak of Fraction’s run.
Matt Fraction also loves decompressed storytelling.
I remember when I started reading the arc, I was beyond pumped about it. The ideas were amazing, but then it just kept going. And going. And going.
What felt like a six to eight issue arc ended up being twelve, and ended up making me hope with every fiber of my being that the next issue might be the last one.
The thing about decompressed storytelling is it can be an absolute joy at times (for example, Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch’s The Authority run). But in some books, it just feels like it drags the story out far too much. At some points, “World’s Most Wanted” felt like the former, especially towards the beginning, rich with character work and memorable moments. But by the second half, I was just hoping that the dream robot monsters that were haunting Tony during his vegetative state would either successfully kill Tony or me. Either or.
I bet if I went back and read this arc in trade, I’d love it way more. I already really enjoyed it, but with the arc taking a whole year to wrap up in issue form, the sense of urgency was removed and eventually made it feel like a nightmare that would never end, like the ones that wouldn’t leave Tony alone during his coma.
Continued below |
| Mr. “IF to IM” with Multiversity EIC Matt. |
