After last issue's fun mid-air action sequence between Tony and the Living Laser, you'd probably expect Matt Fraction to slow things down for this issue. Well you'd be right.
I've been enjoying Matt Fraction's Iron Man run ever since he pitted Tony against the son of Iron Monger, so I know what I'm getting into with a book like this. Its a slow, decompressed, and character driven kind of book. Having said that, this issue has some great stuff.
First we get Tony in his weird liquid metal Iron Man suit being carted into a hospital, which is a great image that is well rendered by Salvador Larroca. Since Tony's body is powered by his repulsor, the defibrillators they intend to use on him will actually kill him. This leads to Tony using his suit to escape from the doctors and flee, which puts the police on him and puts him in a bad light in the media.
I've been reading this series long enough to know that Fraction is not looking to give Tony a good time. Everything always seems to just be working against him, and this issue is no different. As much as I enjoyed the witty banter between Tony and the cop looking to arrest him, I can't help but ask the obvious; does Tony really need to run away? Couldn't he just explain that he was attacked and that he was going to die if he hadn't stopped the doctors? Oh well.
There's also some great Mandarin stuff in here as well. Ezekial Stane isn't too happy about his working conditions, but the Mandarin puts him in his place. This issue does a great job of showing off the Mandarin's menace. All the people working for him are scared to do anything against him, and when Stane tries to, the Mandarin just fries him with his rings (not killing him just messing with his head). By the way, Mandarin telling Ezekial that he always thought Obidiah was "simply stupid" was awesome. Also I'm intrigued to know exactly what Mandarin's plan is; the Hammer sisters are shown plotting and I'm curious to see where they fit in with all this.
Of course, Fraction also does what he does best on this book, give us great supporting character moments. The supporting cast is one of my favorite things about this series. Its always a joy to watch them interact and come up with new tech for Stark Resilient to produce. Its made all the more interesting knowing one of them is really Spymaster.
Overall, this is another great addition to the series. It won't convert anyone who doesn't already like it, but really, why wouldn't you like it?
8.5/10