- Title: Iron Man #1
- Comic Vine: link
- Writer: Kieron Gillen
- Artist: Greg Land
Reacting to the success (at least in terms of the money raked in) of DC Comics’ New 52, Marvel moves forward with their own soft-reboot of several characters and titles starting with Iron Man. This new version, written by Kieron Gillen, is certainly meant to appeal to the fans of the current Iron Man movie franchise. Not only does it (not so subtley) introduce one of the big pieces to the upcoming movie but it gives us the Tony/Pepper relationship from the first two films that most mainstream fans are familiar and most comfortable with.
As first issues go Iron Man #1 is actually pretty good. I’m not sure it’s good enough to justify multiple issues a month at $41 (issue two hits stores in two weeks), but I’ll admit I did enjoy this issue. Gillen doesn’t quite have Stark’s voice right but the story plays out well even for those jumping on with the character after a long absence from regularly reading his title (like me). I was also pleasantly surprised by the art of Greg Land. Sure, the woman look porny as hell (it is a Greg Land comic), but I actually really like the look of his version of Iron Man’s current armor.
The main crux of the story, after Tony stops hitting on random blonde bimbo #873, centers around the death of Maya Hansen, the creator of the Extremis Enhanciles2 (super-tough androids that breathe fire), and the threat of her technology once again released into the world. The popularity of the original Extremis storyline mixed with how neatly it ties into Marvel’s film properties certainly makes sense why it was chosen.
The issue doesn’t do much to sell me on the new and improved Marvel Universe that Marvel Now! represents, but it certainly doesn’t turn me off from other new titles either. I haven’t been a regular Iron Man reader in years, but I might stick around (at least for a little while) to see what the House of Ideas has in mind for Old Shellhead. Worth a look.
[Marvel, $3.99]
1. In fact I’m pretty sure nothing is that doesn’t star Catman, Usagi Yojimbo, Captain Carrot, or all three.
2. For DC fans – think early versions of Amazo, but nowhere near as cool.