Let’s face it – Matt Fraction and Salvador Larocca’s collected run on “Invincible Iron Man” is a powerhouse of a book. It’s easily one of the best runs in comics Marvel has put out in the last five years from start to finish, and it helped make Iron Man a major player in the Marvel Universe once again (well, that and that fancy Hollywood movie, but we all know things work differently in the Real World and the Comic World). Pushing Iron Man fearlessly into the world of tomorrow, the book expanded on the mentality and mythology of Tony Stark as a genius billionaire playboy philanthropist, and it was all very glorious. (And if you’re really interested in some thoughts on the run, I wrote quite a lot right here.)
However, as Marvel NOW! begins to kick off in full throttle, the baton has passed to the incoming of Kieron Gillen and Greg Land. Let’s see how they do.
Written by Kieron Gillen
Illustrated by Greg LandTony Stark–Iron Man: Technological visionary, wealthy playboy, unparalleled engineer, and armored Avenger. His greatest invention becomes his greatest mistake. Iron Man must act fast…and Tony Stark must build faster! The lethal techno virus Extremis is out in the wild and out for grabs to the highest bidder! It’s up to Tony Stark to contain it and that means creating a new suit of armor…NOW!
Imagine a scenario, if you will: you’re a relatively big name band — say, a band like a Maroon 5 — who are embarking on a brand new tour for a new album that has not yet been heard. You’ve got a new style, a brand new sound that’s a step up from your last, and you’re going to try it out on a public that may or may not be ready for it. You’re still going to give it your all, though; to do anything less would be a disservice. The only problem is, the opening band for your new tour is U2 (it’s a fantasy scenario — just go with it), and you have to go on right after they’ve played every single Billboard-charting hit they’ve ever had, and they just brought down the house with a performance of “With or Without You” that left a lot of the audience emotional – tears, cries for an encore, lighters up, you name it. That’s a pretty tough act to follow.
That’s what we’ve got with “Iron Man” #1 by Gillen and Land. Both are big names respectively, but they have the unfortunate position of following a defining run on the title that for many readers, myself included, is the run of the character and the book. The major thing they have going for them is that Marvel NOW! is supposed to afford a new beginning. Since Marvel didn’t take the New 52 route of brand new continuity, it’s the job of Gillen and Land to keep the old readers while enticing the new whilst delivering something completely new, something worthy of the Marvel Revolution. No pressure, right?
Well, the good news is that as far as a first issue goes, “Iron Man” #1 does make for a strong introduction. Everything you would conceivably want in a first issue is present in the book: old names are given again in a way that feels new, past concepts are tweaked for the unfamiliar and delivered for a new purpose. The whole (assumed) point of Marvel NOW! is to create something that’s shiny and new but doesn’t disrespect anything of the old, and this issue does it in spades. Old fans won’t feel cheated by the (otherwise unnecessary) relaunch/renumbering/retitling because this is still very much the same book with a different costume, and new readers shouldn’t feel lost either. “Invincible Iron Man” #1 began as a place for new readers to check out Iron Man’s adventures post-movie, and “Iron Man” #1 somewhat cannibalizes the same mentality and updates it for the purpose of Marvel’s big line-wide relaunch for full effect.
And it’s not surprising why it works, really. Gillen makes a natural follow-up for former writer Matt Fraction; the two have collaborated together closely in the past, from “Uncanny X-Men” to “Thor”/”Journey into Mystery,” so the fact that he seems to seamlessly create a logical continuation of where Fraction left the book isn’t surprising at all. Gillen’s take on Stark meshes Fraction’s work with Downey Jr’s performance well, and while there are some cheesy bits of dialogue (the final line in particular is a bit on the nose) it doesn’t feel like a complete turnaround or abandonment of the work that brought us to this place. There’s even a very specific nod early in the issue towards Fraction and Larocca’s run early-on that’s a big indicator of Gillen’s respect towards what came immediately before, while being played for a pretty quick laugh. So when you take all of that and add to it a big nod to Ellis’ short but important run on the title, we’re ultimately given what looks to be another exciting adventure into the future with Tony Stark.
Continued belowWhat really makes the read interesting is the format of the issue, though. This is the start of an arc, but only in name — this issue is very much a stand alone story from open to close. Granted, that’s the point (and Gillen has said as much in interviews), but the execution of it is rather grand. Where Gillen’s previous books at Marvel were all very arc-based (“Uncanny” and “JIM” being strong indicators of this), “Iron Man” is closer to Hickman’s “F4” in execution; there is a plot that holds everything together, but attention is only given to one element at a time. With this issue it’s the return of Extremis, but next issue will be something totally different with new villains and new problems. It makes for a stronger story overall with the focus razor sharp, and while the first issue does have to play the balancing act of introducing the new just enough to deal with one problem at a time, Gillen does it well enough that never feels like a detriment to convincing readers why his Stark story is worth telling.
However, while the concept and the script works well for the book, the art does not. On the one hand, you might think that Greg Land could conceivably be a good follow-up to Salvador Larocca; both use a photo-realistic style and work with inkers and colorists that give their work a visible gloss. However, Land’s work falls into all the same trappings it always has: everything is incredibly static and a bit shallow. Where Larocca’s work was full of fairly real people that seemed to breathe and act, always remaining energetic, Land plays it as he always does. The characters have awkward smiles and on occasion curiously framed bodies (example here), most of the throwaway characters look cut and paste from previous books and covers he has done and, despite all the action in the book, none of the characters ever seem to actually move. Heck, for the first four pages where we see Tony out of his suit, he seems to have the same frozen smile with his eyes closed for ten near-consecutive panels, his face essentially a Tony Stark mask more than a person’s actual face, and when we flip the page and go to Argentina we’re greeted with a woman on a cellphone who appears to be straight out of a cellphone or jeans advert. Everyone is placed in such specific poses for their given panels that the book goes from a comic full of sequential artwork into a comic that may as well be a series of photos from an unreleased Iron Man fan film.
Granted, on a certain level it actually sort of works. The odd thing about Land’s work here is that it ultimately feels thematically appropriate. Yes, the figures are static and everyone looks plastic, but that is the world Tony Stark the Playboy lives in, and that’s a focal point of the issue; the glitz and the glam of being a rich billionaire out on the town is on full display, and Land certainly plays that aspect up. That doesn’t make the work any better, but sharp writing can carry mediocre art quite easily. So while the art is par for course and essentially interchangeable with most everything Land has done in the past (and wont change resident Land-detractors in any way), it’s clear that Gillen’s story here is written towards Land’s ostensible strengths — whatever you may find those to be.
At the beginning of the book, Tony Stark is having drinks with a nameless woman who is played as infinitely generic. What we see from the interaction at first glance is an inherently handsome and charming man chatting up a ditzy and seemingly stereotypical blonde who is only interested in him for money and appearance, but what we quickly learn is that this is actually a front. She’s not a stereotype, though, and is actually a rather smart individual who is simply playing dumb for her own reasons. That’s basically “Iron Man” #1 in a nutshell: it’s a sharp book and Gillen has planted seeds for what should be a great re-introduction to Tony’s world, despite having an exterior glamour that’s off-putting and facetious. Whether you continue with the title or not, though, if you take the chance on the new “Iron Man” you’ll certainly get a good single comic book experience. Just try not to get too hung up on the art.
Final Verdict: 7.0 – Buy, but you may want to Browse first for yourself
