Written by Matt Fraction
Illustrated by Salvador LaroccaFEAR ITSELF TIE-IN
Tony finishes his work in Svartalfheim and must make the ultimate leap of faith to finish the job — and try to get back to Earth in time to save it! Meanwhile Rescue has to deal with Hammer Industries’ Detroit Steel Corps and the monstrous Grey Gargoyle in the ruins of Paris…
The writer of Fear Itself continues to write the only tie-in that effectively “matters” as we come into the latest Invincible Iron Man, one of the best comics that Marvel has.
Er — did I hype the book up a bit too much there?
Let’s figure that out after the cut.
All things considered? Iron Man is barely a player in Fear Itself. Ok, sure, he’s part of the Trinity, and he’s a main Avenger. All that is still true. Think about what Fear Itself really is, though: it’s an event starring Thor, then it’s an event starring Captain America, and then it’s an event starring everyone as they fight a giant world encompassing snake. Or, put more bluntly — it’s a book to entice fans of the movie Thor, followed by a book to entice fans of the movie Captain America: The First Avenger, and it ends as a book to make people excited to see The Avengers. I’m not trying to insinuate anything here; this is actual quotable truth. It’s the same reason there is a The Mighty Thor comic and it’s the same reason there is also a relaunched Captain America book.
Iron Man already had his movie, though. In fact, he had two movies. So what is Fraction to do about Iron Man while we spend all this time with a soldier and a God? Give him his own solo side-story. Duh.
To put it simply, Iron Man’s role in the main Fear Itself book has been severely disappointing. I understand why one would expand a story beyond the confines of one title if given the opportunity, but I never enjoy it too much anyway. If you read Fear Itself by itself, Iron Man seems severely lacking. But if you read Invincible Iron Man, then you get to see a really poignant story about a man who loses everything in a rather heartbreaking way. Given Fraction’s history of addiction, having Fraction let Marvel’s longest running AA enthusiast sacrifice it all was a really pure way for Fraction to express the gravity of the situation. It’s that uneven balance, though, of Iron Man’s story in his main title verse his story in this one that makes me raise an eyebrow at the general execution of it all.
Then again, I suppose it’s a bit more forgivable when the book is this good. Fraction is doing a lot of different work with the Asgardian lore he is in charge of; we’ve got the more classical take on mythology in the Mighty Thor, and then we have the technoview of Iron Man. Fraction doesn’t write any Marvel character as well as he writes Iron Man, so having us see replayed scenes of Fear Itself from the viewpoint of Tony is the equivalent of a behind the scenes peek at the book. While the story does to a small extent feel like moving Tony from Point A to Point C with an interesting B in the middle, when you take into consideration how little Iron Man has done in the main Fear Itself title it all generally makes sense.
The only major downfall of the title is the story with Pepper Potts, and that feels like a catch-22. On the one hand, giving Pepper Potts a story on her own in this title would’ve been a great idea, provided that Iron Man didn’t get a story. Pepper Potts as Rescue is awesome, and the idea of her battling against Sasha and the Detroit Steels in Paris is a nice way to flesh out that corner of Fear Itself’s world. Since Iron Man still gets his own story, though, it doesn’t feel like we need a Pepper Potts story here, because now it seems the only inherent point of it is to show of Grey Gargoyle, who had as much to do as an Avatar of Fear as Attuma did. Pepper Potts should have gotten to take over the whole title, or been given a spin-off to let Iron Man get his scene time. Splitting the book between the two doesn’t work as well as it should.
Continued belowThough, that being said? The “I. Can wait.” bit was quite excellent.
But just as this is Fraction’s best written title, it is made so by the presence of Salvador Larocca. Larocca is an artist whose work has greatly evolved over time and whose work is greatly enhanced by the color work of Frank D’Armatta, as one of the most realistic titles on the market. The book opens with Tony battling against a mysterious liquid-esque foe, and Larocca and D’Armatta combine to make it actually look fluid. It’s smooth, it shines, and it looks like the reflective entity it is designed to be. Every positive comment that could’ve ever been said about the quality of Larocca’s work has been said, and has been said on this very site, so I don’t think it should really surprise anyone at all that this book continues to look absolutely wonderful. It’s not perfect throughout; there is a scene in which Odin and Thor arrive and Thor looks like he’s spent too much time in the banquet halls in the initial panel. But one flub doesn’t take away from an otherwise gorgeous title.
Invincible Iron Man is still going strong, and has been going strong throughout all of Fear Itself. It’s a shame that circumstance basically gave Fraction no other option but to put Iron Man’s story elsewhere, but it has oddly worked out for the best. While Fraction gets to play with all the toys in the toy box in the main Fear Itself title, he gets to play with the best toy, the toy he plays the best with, in that toy’s home turf with Larocca and D’Armatta to make it all look pretty. All odd descriptors aside, I don’t think you can really ask for more.
(Ok, well, you could, but don’t be sassy.)
Final Verdict: 8.0 – Buy
