Here are the rest of my reviews for this weeks biggest Marvel comic books! As I mentioned in Part One where I looked at the new Heroic Age titles, I plan on making these reviews a weekly feature here on CBM and will usually post them all in one article in future! Unfortunately, my copy of Amazing Spider-Man Presents: American Son #1 didnt arrive in time for me to review so I'll be sure to try and include it next time!
Invincible Iron Man #26
Writer: Matt Fraction
Artist: Salvador Larroca
Story: The Hammer Girls unleash Detroit Steel on a world hardly ready for that much metal and chrome, and God help anyone that gets in his way. Tony keeps sifting through the ashes of his old life and tries to rebuild who he is and what he does. Rhodey struggles to be a man of war in a peacetime empire. And, oh yeah -- more of that amazing new suit of armour…
Review: Matt Fraction’s new take on Tony Stark which began with the introduction of the brand new Iron Man armour last month continues to deliver the top quality storytelling that the writer has become known for with this issue. Although it may feel like a bit of a cheat to some having Iron Man lose his memories prior to the events of Civil War, this gives the writer the chance to pen a far more likeable lead character as well as allowing him to tell the interesting story of the former billionaire playboy who had it all but is now having to rebuild everything in his life from the ground up. This issue moves at a fairly slow pace but it’s worth it in the respect that it allows Fraction to set up and develop at least 2 or 3 new storylines that will hopefully continue to take this title in many new and exciting directions. The part of this issue that really stood out for me was a conversation between Stark and Maria Hill in which he recounts his days as an alcoholic and it’s scenes like these that show what a superb hold on the character Fraction has and despite the fact his arcs may read better as a whole, well crafted stories like this one still keep me coming back each month without fail. Salvador Larroca’s art is also as great as ever. His facial work seems to have really improved over the past couple of years and he displays a great range of emotions on their faces, such as in the scene I mentioned above, as well as drawing a truly stunning take on Iron Man’s new armour. I just cant wait to see what else he does with it when we get to see the suit in action! This is a fantastic issue and worth picking up regardless of whether you’ve been reading
Invincible since day one or since the beginning of the Heroic age that started last issue!
Rescue #1
Writer: Kelly Sue DeConnick
Artist: Andrea Mutti
Story: When Tony Stark needed to save Pepper Potts’ life, he gave her the Iron Man treatment -- with a repulsor chest implant and a suit of armour to call her own! Pepper went on to become Rescue, one of the heroes of the fan-favourite, critically acclaimed arc World‘s Most Wanted! Now see one of Rescue’s incredible solo adventures, as Pepper Potts lets loose with her bleeding-edge suit and her astonishing power!
Review: I wasn’t really expecting a lot from this issue but decided to pick it up anyway as I quite enjoyed the new take on Pepper from Matt Fraction’s
Invincible Iron Man. The story itself takes place before the Heroic Age and although it may not be a story that will have any sort of ramifications in that title, it’s still a great read and a really interesting insight into a character that I’ve previously not cared for all that much. The way that DeConnick handles the structure of this issue by using the hallucination (ghost?) of a dead Iron Man supporting character could have easily gone very, very wrong but she handles it perfectly. It allows the writer to give us an interesting look at Pepper’s thoughts and feelings without relying on dozens of thought bubbles and so helps to make them all the more interesting as well as giving us a look back at the relationship between the two which fleshes them both out quite nicely. The action parts of the issue are also very well written with an exciting yet eventually emotional series of scenes that will keep fans of Rescue happy in the respect that we see plenty more of the suit while making it unique enough to distinguish the character from being seeing as nothing more than a female Iron Man. The art in this issue is ok but certainly nothing special. The characters are captured nicely and the action scenes are handled just as well but it’s visually not as exciting as Larroca’s work was while drawing the suit. Even when you don’t compare Mutti’s work to that, it still isn’t that great and the suit often looks very solid and stiff rather with movements that just don’t look that natural. This title is far from an essential purchase for Iron Man fans but if you’re a fan of the character or just want to see a little more of Rescue while she’s absent from the core title, be sure to pick this up!
Ultimate Comics Avengers 2 #2
Writer: Mark Millar
Artist: Lenil Francis Yu
Story: The Avengers have their first mission: track and neutralize the Ghost Rider for good. But they need one more recruit to help them do the job…and he’s not so cooperative. How do you put down a Hulk? Chuck a few tons of metal at him! War Machine and the newest Hulk go head-to-head and it gets explosive!
Review: If you pick up this title expecting the same lengthy and more politically charged script that Millar’s previous
Ultimates and
Ultimates 2 had then you may be left feeling more than a little disappointed here. Instead, the writer uses this action packed issue, like the last one, to continue to slowly put the black ops team together and in that respect it work brilliantly. Last month focused on Ultimate Punisher while this time we’re introduced to the first Hulk which in itself is a very interesting and unique idea especially when we see his relationship with a younger Bruce Banner. There may not be a lot of substance on offer here but goddamn it if it isn’t a hell of a lot of fun! This really is classic Millar with the Hulk spouting off lines like, “I couldn’t give a rats arse, mate. Give me another week and I’ll build another crime empire” and this sort of dialogue between him and War Machine makes for a fantastic read. The short bookends of the issue also serve to do their job and the cliff-hanger which features a classic Marvel hero is probably the most excited I’ve ever been to see the character (who’ll be a villain in this series) and has me on the edge of my seat in preparation for #3! Lenil Francis Yu’s art is simply awesome and surpasses his recent work on
New Avengers and
Secret Invasion. His style is perfectly suited to an action orientated issue like this one and he makes sure that you feel every blow between the two characters with a double page spread in the middle of the issue that is nothing short of breathtaking. This is the only Ultimate title I buy and that’s solely down to the brilliant creative team. If you missed the first volume of this series, don’t worry as this second volume is extremely accessible and just an all round great read that is the comic book equivalent of a brilliant, summer blockbuster!
X-Men Legacy #236
Writer: Mike Carey
Artist: Greg Land
Story: Bastion’s plan comes to fruition as an impenetrable dome makes the Bay Area a prison. It’s bad enough for the millions of humans, but it’s even worse for the 98% of the world’s mutants who live there.
Review: We’re now past the halfway point and
Second Coming is beginning to feel like it’s being stretched a little too far. It’s not that this issue isn’t good. In fact there are several moments in this issue that easily surpass what we’ve so far seen in the X-Men’s core title,
Uncanny. The problem is that at this point with another 6 issues left, it’s hard to tell what the point of all this is. We know that Bastion wants to kill Hope along with the rest of the mutant race but this crossover was hyped up to be a lot more than just that and although there have been a lot of memorable moments so far, it’s just that at this point they need to start, well, getting to the point! However, this issue is hopefully the start of that as Bastion’s plan finally begins to come to fruition. There are some really interesting character moments here that Mike Carey writes very well including some great scenes between Cable and Hope that serve to make their relationship even more interesting and fleshes out her character nicely. The surprise arrival of another superhero team was an unexpected treat (although makes it a little hard to work out when this story is actually taking place) and I’m hoping this wont be just a one off appearance as their presence here makes perfect sense. The art is the one thing about this issue that is near flawless. Greg Land keeps his panels fairly clear and simple making the action scenes easy to follow but also exciting. The only thing that I would fault is the way he draws some of the characters faces and how they sometimes look completely different panel to panel. Far from a big deal though. Overall, this is a solid enough issue but is let down by being part of a bloated middle section of a crossover that is starting to feel a little too long. Although it may seem like a lot happens, very little actually does and it’s only the first and last few pages as well as one or two in-between that actually feel like they have any sort of significance.
Thanks for reading! Don't forget to check back at the same time next week when I'll be reviewing
Amazing Spider-Man #632,
Secret Avengers #1,
Thunderbolts #144 and more!