Invincible Iron Man, Vol. 4: Stark Disassembled
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The World’s Most Wanted is now the World’s Most Shattered… Tony’s closest friends and lovers have gathered to try and help the man rebuild his shattered consciousness, body, life and legacy…but when Tony gets the call, does he WANT to come back? CAN he…even with Dr. Weird, Master of the Mystic Arts, bridging the gap between the two worlds? And you didn’t reflect the terrible guys were going to just sit back and let Tony rest and recuperate, did you? COLLECTING: Invincible Iron Man #20-24
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The events leading up to this Iron Man collection would lead one to judge that the Mighty Thor is somehow involved in the choice in whether to help resuscitate Tony Stark. And if you buy the book, there is Thor, splashed all over the entire back take in, deep in thought of what to do with this man who violated his genetic code some time ago (see Marvel Civil War).
As a replacement for, nearly the entire book takes place inside Tony’s skull. Memories and opinion with himself. There’s some clean scenes with Pepper and Maria Hill comparing notes (!), but there is next to nothing happening in this volume at all. The book ends with Tony Stark waking up with some memory lapses, such as what he did during the Marvel Civil War.
With the preceding volume leaving Stark’s life in the hands of Doctor Blake, aka Thor, I had hoped we would have had a fantastic adventure in Valhalla for Iron Man, where Thor tests him as a hero, and whether he still qualifies as one. No time for that tale, let’s have the espionage character ‘Ghost’ run around phone lines. Far more exciting! Wanted to see Tony talk to the newly-alive Steve Rogers, aka Captain America? You wasted your money if you looked for it here!
Be wary of Matt Fraction’s work in the future. His job here was to stretch out Stark’s recovery, fitting the demand of some corporate memo, but darn poor storytelling. Do accountants write Marvel’s tale arcs, now? My advice is to wait for the next book to come out, which hopefully will do a better job exploring Tony Stark’s real life dilemmas, and not trapping him (and the reader) in pointless dreams for 5 issues.
Reader’s Rating: 2 / 5
this one isn’t for the kids and that ain’t due to graphic content. the slow pacing in vol 4 is a huge risk for what’s been a very marketable series. it works fantastic as long as it stays in reality. tony’s last recording & pepper’s debate are fantastic pieces of writing that do fantastic things for the characters. in the hands of a lesser creative team this should cause a revolt and possibly a series cancel. 4+ straight pages of a single talking and barely moving head is really dicey for this business, but works perfectly here and i give props to the team for pulling this incredible feat off. the time inside tony’s psyche but is more cliched fluff than substance and goes on forever. for all the time they spend in his head i don’t know or care for tony’s character any more or less as a result. i was really a small excited to get know his parents some, but for all the time that they are in frame i only get the vaguest sense that they had a dually positive and negative impact in his life. what parents can’t you say that about?
there are some fantastic moments that will last in your memory for a while. it’s fantastic to see the avenger’s trinity coming together for their prodigal brother. dr. weird is fantastic (once again, only in reality though). there are additional goodies i’ll let you learn.
get this if your a fan of the series. otherwise there are much better entry points into this fantastic run by fraction & larroca.
Reader’s Rating: 3 / 5
Fantastic Book!! not as fantastic as Vol3 but fantastic tale, as permanently Stark had a backup plot from the start. The book was a head of state edition which is pretty sweet considering how its value could go up in a few years if i hadn’t opened it. The edges were slighlty wrinkled despite the plastic and intense packaging. But fantastic buy considering i saved about $10 compared to Limits.
Reader’s Rating: 4 / 5
It wasn’t too long ago that, in terms of popularity, Iron Man’s series was staring at the hind end of the top 50 list, maybe even lower. And now look at the thing. Matt Fraction and Salvador Larroca come on and rehabilitate this title into one of the most acclaimed comic books currently ongoing. Sucker even won the 2009 Eisner for Best New Series. And I’m sure the live action films have nothing to do with this resurgence (yeah, right).
INVINCIBLE IRON MAN Volume 4 collects issues #20-24 and presents the five-part “Stark: Disassembled” arc. Rather than give up his repulsor equipment and the secrets stored in the Superhero Registration Act database to Marvel’s Mad Dog Flavor of the Year, Norman Osborn, Tony Stark had self-induced a mind wipe and so placed himself in a persistent vegetative state. These next five issues tell what happens after, and it’s a mixed bag, but more tremendous than not.
This arc starts out really promisingly. In Broxton, Oklahoma, Tony’s body vegetates as Tony’s friends take in a recording in which Tony either makes his final testimony or paves the way for his return, although he leaves that option entirely up to his friends. Either way, the man reveals bits of that excellent ancient hubris which made him such an insufferable character but then he also drops nuggets of humor and insight which then makes me want to give him a second chance. Fraction writes Tony’s recorded presentation – and this entire issue, for that matter – in such a way that readers will salivate for further developments. If you’re caught up with the latest Iron Man doings, then you know that Stark, being a excellent, cautious techhead, had backed himself up in a hard drive before he ongoing flirting with the Extremis equipment. What sinks in now is that Tony had left in his most trusted friends and allies pieces and clues instrumental to successfully rebooting him. His master plot would include Maria Hill, Pepper Potts, Captain America, Rhodey, Donald Blake and his hammered alter ego.
It’s initially surprising to me – but not after thinking it over – that Pepper Potts is the one who has the most reservations about restoring Tony. We then also note once again the sheer impact the presence of Steve Rogers has. Pepper’s reservations glide.
Elsewhere, Stark’s coma rumor has it that is enough to get Osborn to back off, and the head honcho of H.A.M.M.E.R. has now confirmed Iron Man off limits for termination. Not that Madame Masque is inclined to listen. She harbors really serious issues against Tony Stark. She enlists the services of another ancient Iron Man foe, the Ghost, to take out Iron Man while he’s at his most vulnerable.
I’m still giving this arc 4 stars out of 5, because Matt Fraction overall writes an absorbing tale and because Salvador Larroca continues to draw like it’s a passion and not a job. But here’s the thingee: When you break down the plot – which is slow moving – to its essence, it consists primarily of a whole lot of Stark in a coma while, in his torturous mindscape, the real Tony does some grave soul searching. In the real world his friends are twiddling their thumbs wondering what to do – that is, until the deadly Ghost finally makes it to tiny Broxton, Oklahoma and that effectively puts a moratorium on all the thumb-twiddling.
I am not a fan of introspective metaphysical angst, especially when visualized in a name’s psychic plane. I realize that Fraction felt that that segment was crucial to Stark’s redemption, but, well, it was hard for me not to simply skim thru all that stuff. And when all is said and done, Fraction doesn’t have anything revelatory about Tony’s character. All the expected guilt trips surface. I guess it’s a necessary plot point. And, really, this is my only beef with Fraction’s run so far.
*SPOILERS alert for the coming paragraph*
Wait, I’m lying, I do have one more nitpick. There wasn’t a doubt, was there, that Tony Stark would eventually get rebooted? But one twist that Fraction implements is that Tony’s memories now only go back to before Civil War, and I smell a cop-out and a place one over. I hope that Fraction isn’t suggesting that since Tony can’t now remember his shady – and, let’s face it, fascist – moves during Civil War, well, then, absolution cometh. That would really be wick wick wack. Okay, that’s two beefs with Fraction’s run so far. But persons are it.
*SPOILERS end*
Everything else is groovy, really. After 24 issues Fraction and Larroca have achieved the unthinkable, which is to make Iron Man likable again. What’s more, they’ve elevated his comic book into must-read status. With the world’s foremost futurist stuck in his own mental telenovela, his supporting characters prove that they can stand on their own feet. I don’t reflect anyone has written Pepper Potts as well as Fraction. One of the best moments in this arc features Dr. Weird in action as he readily demonstrates that he is the Master of both the Mystic – AND Martial Arts. It’s too terrible his excellent moment doesn’t last too long. But, trust me, there are additional excellent moments in “Stark: Disassembled.” You should pick this one up.
Reader’s Rating: 4 / 5
Fraction and Lorroca (on art) get very strong reactions. They earned their Eisner award earlier on this series and they show no signs of letting up. Even though some have issues with Fraction’s writing on additional titles (he tends toward the pop-cliche’s and cultural fads a bit, strong premises on x-men with sometimes weak conclusions) he’s certainly at his best here in Iron Man. Some don’t like Lorroca’s (and D’Armata’s) shiny and plastic looking faces like cartoon celebrities. But ya know what, when you get past the stylistic choice, it’s pretty fantastic stuff.
This tale in particular gets a million bonus comic points for doing what few comics do these days: deliver. You want to see the tony stark in a coma like on the take in? He’s out for five issues. Really. You want to see Thor’s lightning channeled through Captain America’s shield in an attempt to rejuvenate him (the original take in to ish 21)? It really happens! No exaggeration. And it is in fact as cool and over the top and inspiring as you’d expect, lacking at all feeling contrived. You want Tony’s inevitable recovery (and let’s not pretend there was in fact any doubt he would recover two months before his huge sequel hit theaters) lacking it feeling like a, well… cheap and inevitable reset? Fraction really pulls off a relatively poignant and meaningful method of bringing him back that isn’t a reset at all, but a progression that builds off of Extremis and his Civil War stance in new ways lacking voiding them (ahem… One More Day…)
For a tale that starts with a levelheaded 6 pages of Tony’s head talking at us from a recording (and I mean like 16 panel double spreads), the tale really kicks off in a pretty high gear with elongated suspense. There’s guest appearances from Bucky, Steve, Thor, Dr. Weird, and Rhodey, and the Ghost is looming in the background the whole time with Siege breaking out simultaneously right outside (although only brief mention is agreed –it’s why the heroes disappear quickly). But it’s Maria Hill and Pepper who rise to the challenge. And all the while, Tony’s inside his own head, abstractly building sense of himself, providing another level of depth to what’s taking place.
From what I can see of Stark Resilient so far, Fraction isn’t resetting Tony at all, he’s truly disassembling him, and reassembling all the same components anew. Not so he can go backwards and get rid of anything recent (the last four years of Iron Man have been the best ever), but to probe the depths of it.
This is really fantastic stuff and it’s keeping Fraction’s career and high profile at Marvel justified.
Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5