Invincible Iron Man #3
This is the Iron Man you’ve been waiting for
Invincible Iron Man #3
July 10th, 2008 - It happens every single time. Batman went through it. Spiderman, Superman, X-Men, the list goes on. The movie happens and the publisher tries to capitalize on it by pumping out more material in hopes that the sudden influx of interest, the new pop culture status of a comic book character, will initiate a mad dash to the local comics shop to grab whatever sits on the shelves. It’s not such a bad idea. But where I’m a little fuzzy on this whole thing is what happens when the prospective customer has just walked out of the theater, noticed a comics shop across the street, walks through the door and arrives at the comics rack and sees five different titles, all with X-Men in the title. Ultimate X-Men, Uncanny X-Men, Astonishing X-Men, Wolverine, the rest of the books that Wolverine is guest appearing in. Which one to choose? (we can debate that later but my money is on Astonishing) I have to imagine that the higher ups at Marvel saw this one coming because Invincible Iron Man was clearly timed to coincide with the movie, made to be readily accessible to a newcomer, and thankfully also very very good.
Now if you’re like me you got into comics in the 90’s. And what you loved was the art. It was a crazy time. Everybody wanted to be the hot artist. And you bought books just because the art looked damned pretty. Needless to say, those times are over. Over because people got bored. Pretty art is great, but that can only take you so far for so long. And fortunately for all of us, story came back. For a moment I need you to forget all about that. Because Salvador Larocca is here in full force. If Matt Fraction leaves the book for greener pastures I will still be ready to check out what’s going on in Iron Man’s world because Salvador Larocca is drawing up a very beautiful world.
Invincible Iron Man sports absolutely stunning covers that scream, “this is a kick ass Iron Man, just like you saw in the movie.” Contrast that with the other Iron Man that would be sitting on the shelf next to it, whose title, “Iron Man: Director of Shield”, clearly communicates that the story is wrapped up in some larger story that an outsider would be unaware of. “Invincible Iron Man” is the title that will pop out to those who need a book free from continuity that they can easily jump into.
There are a lot of themes and ideas that seem to fit the movie like a glove. Here Tony relies heavily on Pepper, his assistant. And in fact some of the best parts of this comic grow out of the sparks between the two characters. These moments were the most human and added the most to Tony Stark as a compelling character. Through Matt Fraction’s deft inner monologue we get that Tony is a genius, but what really makes me continue to look forward to this title is that Tony is also so human. And Pepper is where I see that the most. In fact their relationship in the comic almost reads as a template for a plot thread in Iron Man 2.
Why are there two Iron Man books on the shelf? Because this one is amazing. And why don’t you want more Iron Man?!
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