Invincible Iron Man (spoilers)

[Marvel Boy]

Alright, #1 by the new creative team of Bendis and David Marquez.

We start off with a clandestine meeting. A former member of A.I.M. is looking to sell his latest work in order to 'officially' retire and disappear. His buyer turns out to be Madame Masque who, upon verifying the contents to be sold, shoots and kills the guy, leaving with his work.

Switch to Tony doing what he does best, tinkering in his lab. Seems he's been feeling lost, left behind in the modern tech revolution. So, he's been modifying his armor, installing the latest updates that have sprung to mind. In the end, he produces a new armor, one that is able to adapt to any situation and mode (thus rendering obsolete all the various different types of mode armor) and one directly tied to his brain synapses (that seemingly bypasses or eliminates the Extremis elements of his physiology). A proud father, he wants to give the new armor a test-run when Friday (his new A.I) informs him that he is about to be late for his date with a noted biophysicist.

Tony meets up with Dr. Amara Perera, who is quite skeptical and cynical over what she has heard (and expected) of Tony's playboy habits. As the pair's date begins, we switch to a quick shot of Madame Masque evading security efforts as she steals something from Stark Towers in Tokyo.

Apparently immune to Tony's usual dating charms and tactics (which involved a quick neat comedic appearance by Lady Thor), Amara settles in to talking with Tony, who wants to converse with a fellow genius in their field, asking her if she has had any inventions that she's kept to herself, in fear of whether the world is ready for it or not or if her invention would be misused horribly.

She replies that she's had one, a cure for the mutant gene, one that is completely safe to the host. Fearful that such a cure would produce a mandatory law forcing it's usage, Amara has kept the cure a secret, not even bothering to write it down or leave any physical evidence. Tony fears that is not enough, for psychics and telepaths could possibly read her mind for the information. He wants to help her when Friday intervenes, telling Tony that Madame Masque has returned.

Leaving Amara, Tony suits up in his new armor while Friday informs him that Masque has stolen something from the remains of Castle Doom in Latveria. Flying there, we learn that Latveria is under siege, both from within and without, as Doom has lost control of the country. Tony lands in the ruined castle, searching for clues when he is accosted by local rebels, who demand his surrender. Before Tony can respond though, the rebels are taken out by a sonic attack, unleashed by a young man in well-dress attire, with a long scar on his face. The young man approaches Tony, saying that he is glad Tony has come for he was going to seek Tony out anyway, because Tony is going to need his help soon. Tony recognizes his voice as Friday informs him that all her scans indicate that the young man before him is Victor Von Doom.....


Color me impressed. I agree with the current fan theory that Bendis does better on solo titles than he does on team titles. Here, he does a very good job with Tony's characterization, his ego comes through but it's not over-bearing (or annoying). The dialogue with his date with Amara is terrific, as she rebuffs Tony's attempts at immediate romance. The pacing is well-done, leading up to that surprising cliffhanger. Marquez's art is perfect here. The pair opt for some unusual panel layouts, with some double page spreads that require reading the panels across the page instead of top-to-bottom. But in all, the whole book works rather well as it builds suspense and maintains good drama.

[Marvel Boy]

We've reached #5, the end of Bendis' first story arc. Despite a few hiccups, overall, I've rather enjoyed this. Marquez's art has been very good throughout and while Bendis can get dialogue-heavy at certain points, the characterization has been equally good.

As for the story, Madame Masque has been acquiring various mystical objects and abilities. As Tony continued to investigate, Whitney became more increasingly angered and vengeful, which was revealed to be caused by her mystical inexperience leading her to become possessed by a demon. Only with the help of Victor Von Doom was Tony able to free Whitney of this, who then turned her over to Strange for further convalescence and help.

Towards the end, Tony's fight with Whitney ended up wrecking Mary Jane Watson's new club. As a result, Tony contacts her and offers her a job, mainly managing his business/daily life as sometimes his tight focus and adventures leave his attention on such matters a disaster.

While at first, a strange addition, after reading how Bendis handles and presents this, I'm starting to think that Mary Jane may actually work in this title. She's leery of superheroes and cynical enough to think that Tony will hit on her eventually (though Tony swears he has no such intentions).

[Doctor Bong Crosby]

Face it, Tony, you hit the jackpot... .

[Marvel Boy]

The strange thing is, I've read some other fan remarks that question why Tony and Mary Jane shouldn't recognize each other better considering the time she lived with Peter in Avengers Tower during his time with the team. Here with Bendis, you get the impression that they're just meeting for the first time.

Of course, to answer this, fan theories jump to the memory wipe of One More Day and whether or not Tony is still affected by that. My head started hurting by then so I just decided it'd be easier to accept this as given by Bendis. :lol:

[Doctor Bong Crosby]

Jan 28, 2016 8:54:51 GMT -5 Marvel Boy said:

The strange thing is, I've read some other fan remarks that question why Tony and Mary Jane shouldn't recognize each other better considering the time she lived with Peter in Avengers Tower during his time with the team. Here with Bendis, you get the impression that they're just meeting for the first time.

Of course, to answer this, fan theories jump to the memory wipe of One More Day and whether or not Tony is still affected by that. My head started hurting by then so I just decided it'd be easier to accept this as given by Bendis. :lol:

Pay no attention to that Bendis behind the curtain!

[Marvel Boy]

The shine is starting to wear off.

Bendis' second story arc has come to a close and I have to wonder what the point of it all was. It seems a group of 'biohack' ninjas was tracking Madame Masque, intent on the object she stole from Stark. Tony fends off these ninjas and with help from Rhodey, sets off to investigate this new threat.

In Japan, they find the group is run by a new Inhuman, an Asian woman who calls herself the Tech Golem. Her ability allows her to manipulate electronics and armor. She handles both Rhodey and Tony and almost succeeds in killing both. However, Tony uses that moment to fake his death and go undercover as a rogue former SHIELD agent in order to infiltrate the Golem's group. Tony's absence is felt over the weeks as his Board of Directors grows increasingly concerned over his absence. Only the actions of his new Executive Assistant, Mary Jane, and the AI Friday are able to keep them at bay.

Meanwhile, Tony may be getting close to finding out what the Golem is up to but Rhodey feels the situation is growing more dire. In the end, he calls in the Avengers to take down the Golem while rescuing Tony. Tony is safe but SHIELD nabs the wrong person in the end. The Tech Golem, and her goals, vanish into the wind.

So at the end of this six-odd issue arc, we have no more resolution than we did when we started. We still don't know why this group was after Madame Masque, we still don't know what she stole from Tony nor why. The only seeming importance here was the introduction of Riri Williams, an engineering student whose managed to retro-engineer a suit of proto-IM armor and sets out to become a 'hero'. Her initial efforts are faltering of course.

The movies' effects are plainly obvious. Imagine Downey Jr's voice while reading the dialogue and Bendis has written a near-perfect imitation of movie Tony. For some odd reason, while Tony was undercover, he was using biotech to disguise himself in which he resembled Luke Perry of all people. But Bendis' usual predilection for failing to resolve various plot lines has left me less enthused for what's up next, a Civil War II tie-in which is sure to be all-encompassing seeing as how Bendis is the main author of the event.