Iron Man 9, Iron Man 258.1, Iron Man: The Coming of the Melter

Iron Man 9
Gillen (w) and Eaglesham (a) and Guru eFX (c)

GUYS it's Iron Man day! For no particular reason! Just kidding, it's totally because the movie's coming out tomorrow. I'm planning to see it tonight so what better way to get excited than to review one the three Iron Man books that came out this week purely by chance! Ha, just kidding, I have a sneaking suspicion that Marvel knows what they're doing, considering two thirds of my Marvel calendars have Iron Man on them for the month of May (the third one is the Thing because why not?).
Okay, so let's dive into it then. Iron Man is on the search for 451 after 451 destroyed the Voldi (or condemned the Voldi to death. Semantics). The Guardians of the Galaxy (with whom he's currently touring the universe) drop him off at a little place called "Hope's Pustule," which, Starlord informs Tony, is not an ironic name. There Tony tracks down Death's Head, the bounty hunter he had to fight in the Voldi arena and who had managed to escape the destruction of the planet. The pair claim no hard feelings and Tony hires Death's Head to help him track down 451. The two talk about Death's Head's great ship and Tony makes a few Star Wars references before they find a lifeless Badoon ship that Death's Head's ship's sensors have brought them to. While exploring the ship, they find that all of the Badoon aboard apparently committed suicide, which isn't exactly a Badoon custom. 451 is indeed on board and Tony hopes to ambush him as he turns a corner. Unfortunately, Death's Head has been working for 451 all along and his goal was simply to bring Tony to him. On top of that, 451 has hacked PEPPER and left Tony defenseless. 451 hopes to talk to Tony but offers no explanation for the destruction of the Voldi (he also says that they were more or less living on borrowed time hiding from the Celestials and Phoenix and everyone else, though he does accept some blame). Without much choice, Tony agrees to listen to 451, who pulls out an old film cannister. On the film is Tony's dad, Howard Stark, explaining that he's done questionable things to help the world and, more specifically, to help Tony. Then 451 comes into frame beside Howard.
The plot thickens as we get more of an understanding of some of the power that 451 wields and far more questions arise in total, adding to our sizable total already being asked. Hard to speculate too much about where the arc and the series are going but it's nice to see Tony have to deal with his daddy issues a bit more and to find out that Howard is far from a saint. We'll be able to talk more about that when we know exactly what it is Howard is alluding to, but it's worth mentioning upfront that Tony seems to have a very strange relationship with his father as it is. Fun to see Gillen's take on it.

Iron Man 258.1
Michelinie (w) and Ross and Layton (a) and Sotomayor (c)

When I read the description of this book, I was pretty much able to write the entire review in my head. Old Iron Man pros David Michelinie and Bob Layton return to the armored Avenger to give their take on John Byrne and John Romita Jr's Armor Wars II (Michelinie and Layton were the minds behind the first). The Armor Wars were pivotal books in Iron Man history that, like most other Iron Man books not pertaining to his drinking, revolved around someone stealing the Iron Man tech and selling it to bad guys. I rather like that Gillen has sent Tony to space if only because his armor isn't that big a deal in space and he didn't bring many extras with him so no one is that eager or able to steal it. In this book, which will be continued next week allegedly, a biomass that was taken out of Tony (and connected to computer chips and nanites in his body) gains sentience and access to Tony's computer systems. He then kills a doctor that was helping Tony and reveals himself to be what Tony should have been, according to him.
So what I was going to say immediately after reading the description is "nice read, definitely worthwhile for old school Iron Man fans to pick up and relive the magic but not too relevant to today's Marvel." I think that still applies, but I will admit to being surprised by the ending. The reveal of the "Iron Mind," Tony's connected biomass, was a solid twist. Why he thinks he's what Tony should have been is worth exploring, so we find ourselves with a nice little read that's definitely worthwhile for old school Iron Man fans to pick up and relive the magic, but isn't too relevant to today's Marvel, though it may be building into a somewhat compelling story nonetheless.

Iron Man: The Coming of the Melter
Gage (w) and Lim (a) and Sotocolor (c)

I don't know what to make of this book. I had some ideas about it when I saw it on the list this week (maybe it's like Iron Man 258.1, a former Iron Man writer stepping in to tell a story that hasn't been told before) or maybe it's an Iron Man movie tie-in (though I was pretty sure the Melter wasn't appearing in the movie; I guess I'll find out tonight starting at 9 PM). Maybe it's an easy-to-read story for new readers interested in Iron Man but unwilling to start with Gillen's far-different-than-the-movies arc or maybe it's a quickly/cheaply produced book trying to cash in on the movie's arrival. After reading it, I'm at a bit of a loss. I'm something of a Christos Gage fan, as he was born and raised in my home state and used to go to one of my comic book stores. I also quite liked his Union Jack mini-series several years back and reluctantly enjoyed his Avengers Academy title. He has a weird role in Marvel, though, and sometimes he gets books like this which leave more questions about what it's doing than what it's done. Let's start with plot. The Melter shows up and interrupts a press conference Tony is holding to startle and defeat Tony in quick combat in front of cameras before telling the press that he'll be selling his new weapon to the highest bidder soon, after another display. He turns up against War Machine a few days later and also defeats War Machine. Tony and Rhodey team up to try to figure out who's behind the Melter armor, which leads to the by-the-book detective Rhodey doing things his way while off-the-rails detective Tony does things his way. Neither comes up with a perfect solution but they reconvene with their information to figure it out and eventually track down and stop Melter. They each agree that, while they have their differences, they're stronger working together than apart.
Who was this book meant for? I would say it's meant to try to let children read a comic book about Iron Man before or after the big movie comes out, but I don't think kids will be particularly entertained by a villain they won't see in the movie and will certainly not be entertained by the random crime procedural in the middle of the book. Anyone older than children, though, will be somewhat bored by the issue and will find the explicitly delivered moral trite and a bit obnoxious. I don't think this would attract new readers into reading more comics and it will just confuse older readers. Weird release, other than to hopefully make a few quick books. That kind of does fit, though. Gage also wrote the recent movie tie-in limited series for Iron Man so maybe part of his role now is to churn out the easily and quickly produced books to make a couple extra dollars. Worth missing. Like, it's actively worth missing, not just okay if you miss it.