The Invincible Iron ManVol 1: The Five Nightmares
Written by Matt Fraction
Art by Salvador Larroca
2009
Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
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The Invincible Iron ManVol 2: World's Most Wanted Book 1
Written by Matt Fraction
Art by Salvador Larroca
2009
Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
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The Invincible Iron ManVol 3: World's Most Wanted Book 2
Written by Matt Fraction
Art by Salvador Larroca
2010
Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
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The Invincible Iron ManVol 4: Stark Disassembled
Written by Matt Fraction
Art by Salvador Larroca
2011
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The Invincible Iron ManVol 5: Stark Resilient Book 1
Written by Matt Fraction
Art by Salvador Larroca
2011
Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
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The Invincible Iron ManVol 6: Stark Resilient Book 2
Written by Matt Fraction
Art by Salvador Larroca
2011
Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
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Vol 7: My Monsters
Written by Matt Fraction
Art by Salvador Larroca
2011
Available now from Islington Libraries
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Vol 8: Unfixable
Written by Matt Fraction
Art by Salvador Larroca
2012
Available now from Islington Libraries
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The best way I can put it - is that: if all the other mainstream Marvel/DC superhero comics out there are like a can of coke (but coke that's gone a little flat and that tastes a little bit too sweet and is just a little bit too warm) then Matt Fraction and Salvador Larroca's The Invincible Iron Man is a freshly poured glass of lemonade: cool, clear and refreshing. Yes - it's still very much a canned drink with all sorts of artificial flavourings and preservatives (in this case: the need to cross over with all the big Marvel events and also fit itself into the all powerful continuity etc): but - damnit - it's a really good canned drink and one that's going to leave you feeling enlivened and reinvigorated rather than feeling like a tooth slowly being worn away [1]: put it this way: I would happily put it up there with Bendis's run on Daredevil (which most of you should know is high praise indeed [2]).
A big part of the the charm of these books comes from Mr Iron Man himself. As most of the world has figured out by now (thanks to the movies) Tony Stark is a smarmy prick: and therein lies his considerable appeal. By now I'm sure that all of you already knows that he was originally created by Stan Lee in response to a dare to create a superhero who represented the exact opposite of everything the sixties free-love and peace-out counter-culture [3] stood for: which is why he's a product of the military: in fact no less than a weapons dealer, an unabashed capitalist [4], obscenely wealthy, a serial monogamist and (oh boy) un-apologetically arrogant forget Bizzaro: Tony Stark is the exact opposite of Superman. And yet (yep) still despite (because of?) all that - he was still somehow - a hero - and one that the kids (who should have hated him) embraced with open arms.
One of the reasons I like Iron Man is that (compared to most over superheroes) he's inescapably modern with all his gleaming technological gadgetry stuff and I can totally buy the idea of a committed crime-fighting multi-billionaire wanting to be ostentatious rather than skulking around in caves and hiding in the dark (sorry Bruce). Matt Fraction understands all this - and it's why The Invincible Iron Man is such an exciting and enlivening read. Following one from the events of the Marvel Civil War and beginning in pretty hardcore fashion with brutal terrorist attacks in Africa: this is a mainstream superpowered comic book that feels limitless in it's reach and doesn't mind taking the time to make sure when things explode and people start beating each other up - you know the reason why. With artwork from Salvador Larroca that's sleek and glossy in all the right ways and some jaw-dropping framing (there's a great moment in the first book where he's suspended around the Earth that just looks - well super great and exciting and cool: that stuck with me for days afterwards as a perfect little portrait of calm) it's always propulsive and always ready to good one step beyond. It won't change your world - but with writing that takes in multiple chess, brain-wipes and the solution to the worldwide decline of fossil fuels (woo) - it will entertain.
(Oh - and (brief side-note) in case you wondering (and it was driving me a little crazy for a while trying to place him) Salvador Larroca's Tony Stark isn't based on Robert Downey, Jr but Lost's Josh Holloway (I was so pleased when I worked that one out). Now - if only I could work out who his Pepper Potts is based on... [5])
And obviously having a great main character will only take you so far: and if it was just about the Iron Man appeal then every comic with his name on it would be worth a read [6]: so I should say that the main power of the book comes from the snappy and charming conversational style put together by Matt Fraction. Most superhero comics that I've read make me feel like I'm being shouted at from several directions at once. Reading The Invincible Iron Man on the other hand: is like being chatted up in a high-class restaurant. Yeah. There's still explosions and bad guys and all the action stuff: but it's played more like a seduction than a frenzied wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am ravishing.
I should say that yeah - it's not perfect. And here and there you can very much see the seams and feel them give way (The whole World's Most Wanted storyline in particular starts to fall apart if you pick it and hold it up to the light: but then it's whole The Fugitive meets Flowers for Algernon is such a blast that it seems churlish to complain that it's leaps in logic are a bit of a stretch too far) and at points it would be way smarter if it didn't have to make such a big deal of showing us how smart it's being (if that makes sense? [7]).
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[1] That's a reference that everyone can get - right?
[2] And for those of you that don't know: hell: what are you waiting for? Go out there and read it.
[3] Apparently back then it was mainly the hippies who were buying all the comics. And - well hell: track down any vintage Jack Kirby comic with all it's talk of cosmic trips and interstellar mind-bending adventures and it's not hard (at all) to see why.
[4] At one point in the first book the bad guy calls Stark a "Capitalist Warmonger" - and well (and this is a big part of what makes Iron Man so much fun for me): he's got a really good point - Tony Stark is a capitalist warmonger. And even tho I'm a good, nice, liberal, tree-hugging, do-gooder (well - at least I try to be): and yeah - I think war is bad and peace is good: it's still super super fun following the adventures of someone who's coming from the opposite side of that. I mean: you don't have to agree with everything a person is to be able to root for them - right? (Because otherwises the only person you'd ever be able to root for is yourself: and god that would be just awful).
[5] Oh boy: got it. It's a (very young) Nicole Kidman. Ha. YES.
[6] Spoiler alert: in my time (for my sins) I have read quite a few Iron Man comics and let me tell you something: pretty much all the rest of them are absolutely dire.
[7] Case in point: "Stane had exploited all of my weaknesses and thought I was off the board permanently. That's a deliberate metaphor on my part - Stane was obessed with chess." (all this overlaid over an image of Stane playing chess): I mean - I dunno - maybe I'm being a little bit too tough on a comic that's target audience is probably twelve-year olds: but I just think that things would have been a tad more classy if it didn't have to point out that it was utilizing a damn chess metaphor.
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Links: The Hurting Article: The Tao of Iron Man, The Hurting Article on The Mandarin as Iron Man's Arch-Nemesis, HearWax Article Iron Man 101: Who He Is and Why He’s Awesome, Collected Editions Review of The Five Nightmares, The M0vie Blog Review of Vol 1, Are You A Serious Comic Book Reader Review of Vol 4, Sean T Collins Review of Invincible Iron Man #1-4 / #8 / #19.
Further reading: Iron Man: Extremis, Ultimate Comics: Iron Man: Armor Wars, Civil War, Secret Invasion, Daredevil (2001 - 2006), The Avengers: The Avengers (2011 - 2012).
All comments welcome.
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