The "Demon" arc in Invincible Iron Man has teased the attack of several of Iron Man's old foes, but I didn't expect to see them attack so soon!
Part Two of the "Demon" arc consists of Tony meeting with the employees of Stark Resilient,Pepper butting heads with Cabe, and Iron Man trying to survive an attack from the Living Laser. The last issue of this series hinted that we would see several of Stark's oldest enemies banding together under the Mandarin to take down Iron Man, but, knowing how Matt Fraction writes, I was expecting this issue to be slow build up to the eventual confrontation with the Mandarin. Surprisingly, this issue features a pretty cool battle with the Living Laser, and still manages to fit in tons of other content.
One of the things I've loved about Fraction's Iron Man is that Fraction has managed to write great character bits, great villain plots, great action set-pieces, and great business oriented Stark stuff while maintaining a great balance of all these elements. This issue is a perfect example of how Fraction does it.
We get some great character stuff with Pepper Potts as she tries to deal with Cabe, the Head of Security at Stark Resilient, as well as a confrontational Board of Directors. The way she handles both situations is very indicative of her character. There's also a bit of character stuff for Tony as well; we can see that he is struggling to hold it together following his drinking during Fear Itself.
The meeting with the employees of Stark Resilient at the beginning of the issue is a great corporate scene, and I love me some corporate stuff in Invincible Iron Man. All the while, Fraction reminds us that there is a traitor in Tony's fold, who is soon to make his move. There's also a scene showing that Lt. Johnson is still alive and remembers being Detroit Steel, but Sasha Hammer is poised to become the new Detroit Steel. Its great because I know that all these plot points will converge soon, and I can't wait to see what happens when they do.
The issue has a lot of great things, but the highlight is the airborne fight between Iron Man and the Living Laser. The Laser literally comes out of nowhere, and I found myself just as surprised as Tony was about the attack. The art for the Laser really works; he is quite literally a living laser and appears as a bright neon streak flying across the sky who will suddenly ram Tony.
The fight actually has a surprising ending and a great cliffhanger; one of those cliffhangers where you know the hero will save himself, but you can't wait to find out how. The idea that the Mandarin turns all of his lackeys into suicide bombs is frightening and true to the character of the Mandarin; it gives me more faith that Fraction understands him.
My main complaint with the last issue was the somewhat annoying little elf sidekick, but he's almost entirely absent from this issue, and it is a vast improvement.
Overall, this issue isn't perfect, but it's pretty damn close.
9.5/10