Gambit 13, Iron Man 258.4, Fury MAX 12

Gambit 13
Asmus (w) and Pinna and Martinez (a) and Rosenberg (c)

With Fence near-dead in his warehouse, Gambit sets out to steal some tech that can hopefully save his friend's life. Unfortunately, that tech is owned by Tony Stark and it'll require Gambit breaking into an apartment armory of his and getting out of there with a suit without being spotted. Of course, things don't go quite as planned as alarms trigger when he gets in and Pepper sends Rhodey in to check and Rhodey discovers Gambit in a suit, using an override Fence gave him to enter and use the suit. Gambit is powering it himself, which is interesting, and manages to stun Rhodey long enough to get out of the armory and start flying away. Rhodey's suit is far better than the one Gambit stole and his isn't self-powered. Rhodey, now knowing that Gambit is inside the suit, tries to get Gambit to power down peacefully before resorting to blowing him out of the sky. Fortunately, he has gotten far enough away that he crashes down in Fence's warehouse and Rhodey sees the injured man and wants to help keep him alive. It seems like they got there in time but something sinister is still up as Fence has apparently hacked the Iron Man network and is beginning to transfer data out of there on behalf of some silhouetted probably-villain.

One of the things that I think slows this book down so much is the amount of mid-fight banter that takes place in every Gambit fight scene. There's always a ton of dialogue as characters aren't sure whether they want to quip or explain themselves or cryptically not explain themselves or do any mix of the three. It's not so bad that it makes the books, which are usually at least interesting if a little predictable at times, unreadable, but it definitely slows the pacing of the books down. This book started with a real spy feel to it and it seems like that's not a bad angle to take with a character like Gambit. In that case, I would say the over-explanation hinders the momentum and the tone of the series. Still, there are usually enjoyable pieces spread throughout each issue and I'd say the series is still worth reading, particularly if you're a Gambit fan, as it winds down.

Iron Man 258.4
Michelinie (w) and Ross and Layton (a) and Sotomayor (c)

The Iron Man 258 saga wraps up as Tony enacts his plan to defeat the Entity. Hammer lets Iron Man into the space station as he reveals that he is, in fact Tony Stark. They manage to send a low-tech message to Rhodey to tell him to meet Tony back at the sewer entrance hideout, where Tony gives Rhodey a different suit, one that more closely resembles his own. The plan is to distract the Entity while Tony gets in and injects it with a virus that would destroy it. They get to Stark Enterprises and are met with a slew of defenses as well as a couple special Iron Man suits directed by the Entity. As they begin to successfully fight off the Entity's defenses, the Entity brings foreign missiles online. Hammer warns the duo that the fight has just gotten far larger and Tony decides to rush through, no matter the cost. He manages to get through the building quickly enough to inject the Entity and end the threat. However, now Hammer knows who Iron Man is and Rae is still dead. Not everything is a victory for Tony Stark upon the defeat of the Entity but, as Rhodey says "that needs to be enough."

It occurs to me I probably could have gone back and read the storyline preceding this one but I'm afraid I would have fallen into a Starkhole and never climbed out of it. Once you start reading a comic storyline all at once, you may not ever stop. However, it would have probably given me more relevant things to talk about in this reviews, including how well it fits into the story and how well it works with the Tony of the time. However, it's just as well as most readers probably don't have access to the preceding and following storylines so we should probably just judge this arc the way it stands on its own. It's not easy to ignore the fact that this is a weirdly timed story. Iron Man is currently in the 500s somewhere, I believe, so it's a bit strange to double back and tell a story the slots so specifically into time actual decades ago now. Sure Iron Man is probably the focus character of May for Marvel (two-thirds of my Marvel calendars had Iron Man on them this past month; the third was Thing, inexplicably) thanks in large part to the third movie coming out, but it's still a bit of an odd choice to give readers this storyline at this point. It's not so odd because, frankly, I found it more compelling than a retelling of his history or something like that that tends to come out as new readers enter stores, but then, I'm a comic fan. Oh well, I shouldn't nitpick. For Iron Man fans, it's worth picking up this arc. It's an interesting enough story and it moves smoothly enough. If you've been an Iron Man fan since the days of Michelinie and Ross, you probably don't need me to tell you to get this book because you've probably gotten it already. Modern day fans without an eye for the past probably won't care for it but Marvel wasn't expecting that anyway.

Fury MAX 12
Ennis (w) and Parlov (a) and Loughridge (c)

Barracuda's men stopped Hatherly on his way as a distraction and roughed him up a bit to bring back to Fury, who is primed to gun down the whole camp. Barracuda explains what's happened and how little the army and the potential war and communist aggression means to him. All Barracuda has ever been interested in is the money and the drugs that he can get out of this deal and there's no way for Fury to stop it. If he tries to shoot them, he's so outnumbered that someone would kill him and, though it might have made something of a small dent, it wouldn't stop anything. They can't kill Fury because he's a legend and a high-ranking official so it would bring even more people down to their operation. So all Fury and Hatherly can do is leave. Hatherly announces to Fury on the plane that he's quitting when they get back because he can't stand the kinds of things that these secret wars are causing. Secret wars mean no accountability and that leads to people like Barracuda. When Fury returns to Pug, Pug denies him the chance to go hunt down Barracuda or to reveal anything. Too many people in Congress and the military are involved or complicit in someway so he can't expose the operation and Barracuda and some of his best men have all taken off from the location, mailing copies of evidence to some of those complicit in Washington with the threat that they'd send more to the mass media if anything happens to any of them. Fury has to accept it. If anything goes south for Pug, he loses his votes and his money and everything else; if anything goes wrong for Fury, he loses his war. Fury can't do anything. He and Shirley have a bit of a falling out as well as they both acknowledge that they've each been trapped by Pug and as Fury is kind of a jerk to her anyway. Fury waits a few years and finds Barracuda and breaks all of his limbs with a bat, which is something that isn't quite a solace.

The next issue is the final issue of Fury MAX, which makes me a bit sad. I'm not fully sold on the MAX line as a whole but I'm absolutely sold on Nick Fury's character time and time again and I think that this character as part of the MAX line makes total sense. It doesn't NEED to be completely explicit content in every issue but Fury's a violent character and he has a lot of darkness to him. Some of the most interesting characters in literature are the planners and the thinkers. Fury has always been one of those types and a well-written Fury is an incredibly compelling character. There is definitely a lot of darkness there though, particularly in his willingness to sacrifice to bring about the best outcome. He's not a guy that necessarily frets over the cost of getting the job done, he just gets the job done. However, in the way that Parlov his illustrated him, Fury MAX really brings out his age and the weight of his decisions over time. It's a solid read but it's definitely a specific solid read, as anything in the MAX line. I'm still sad to see it go. A lot of the books we've seen ended recently (or that we've seen cancelled recently, whether they've ended yet or not) have been books I'd categorize as "different" in some way or another. As much as I like Marvel's line of comics as a whole, it's sad to see so many road-less-traveled books fall by the wayside because it seems to signal that the only books that can survive are the ones that they know can survive.

Journey into Mystery 652, Iron Man 258.3

Journey into Mystery 652
K. Immonen (w) and Schiti (a) and Bellaire (c)

For whatever reason, I tend not to clump this book among my favorites. Part of that I would have to attribute to the fact that I have so many books I'm a bit in love with right now. The other part might be that it hasn't really blown me away in any issue so far. It could still have something to do with the fact that my mind tends to seize up a little around Asgard stuff; there's a lot of history there and I don't know huge swaths of it, even considering how much I do know and that frustrates me. However, when we get right down to it, I love this book because of the way Immonen treats Sif. Immonen clearly has a perfect picture of the way she wants her main character to be presented and the way that Sif deserves to be presented. She's still undeniably Asgardian but she is her own Asgardian. She still has all the same warrior tendencies and the same bafflement at Earth qualities but she has such a clearly defined voice aside from all of those rather defined traits. If you're looking for a book with an interesting character and a good place to read character, you could do far worse than this one. As that is something I'm usually looking for, I tend to enjoy this book throughout then forget about it when I'm choosing favorites. So it goes.

Gaea, one of the Asgardia all-mothers, has taken ill and no one knows what to do about it. She's, as you might assume, the all-mother tied to nature so the Asgardians are particularly nervous about what this could mean. They also have no idea how to heal her. Sif goes to Broxton to talk to Jane Foster and see if humans have any sort of thoughts on this and Jane recommends quarantining and observing Gaea and her garden. Tony Stark offers an asteroid that he has marked as a place where they could quarantine her. Sif volunteers to take care of it and watch her out there but, when they get there, they get a call from Beta Ray Bill asking them to quickly evacuate the base because he and his ship Skuttlebutt are in pursuit of a ship that's set to crash on the asteroid, a ship that is being driven by Bill's ex-girlfriend. There's a lot of fun dialogue throughout the issue and Sif and Bill's relationship is already looking like a fun one, so it'll be good to see their interplay throughout the arc. Just a really fun book with a very strong central character.

Iron Man 258.3
Michelinie (w) and Ross and Layton (a) and Sotomayor (c)

Entity is planning to kill both Iron Man and Justin Hammer, as Tony figured out last issue, so Iron Man goes to warn and protect Hammer of the impending attack. He gets there and is attacked by Hammer's defenses before being able to relay the message. As Hammer disengages his own attack, Entity sends in a squad of SHIELD Mandroids that he's hacked and a squad of Dreadnoughts to kill the pair. Iron Man is able to hold them all off long enough for Hammer to use his emergency escape ship to launch off to his space satellite. With Hammer clear of his island, Tony blows the whole place up to disable the Mandroids and Dreadnoughts. As they regroup, Tony heads for the satellite. His suit, though, isn't particularly made for space travel and he finds himself running low on oxygen as he reaches Hammer, who decides not to open the door for him, preferring to rid the world of Iron Man while he has the chance. Meanwhile, Rhodey has been trapped in Stark's underground computer base by the Entity and looks for a way out. He finds a new suit that looks like the War Machine suit (I don't know where exactly this series falls in continuity as it pertains to Rhodey and War Machine) which he determines isn't connected to the computer system, so it's free of Entity's influence. However, the last time Rhodey was in a suit was a pretty traumatic experience so he has to will himself into the suit, which he does to escape and try to help Tony.

Big ol' fight scenes permeate through this issue but not a ton else. There's not a giant focus on advancing the plot behind the fact that now Hammer seems to know Entity is after him and Rhodey is in a suit and on his way to help Tony. By and large, though, the issue spends its time with explosions and Tony narrating how he's going to defeat his various foes. Makes it a little tricky to delve into the plot and the characters when there isn't much to say. Oh well. Next issue is prime for some plot to happen, I suppose.

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.