Iron Man #1 Review: Marvel NOW!

| November 5, 2012 | Comics | 3 Comments

*SPOILER FREE REVIEW*

Writer:  Kieron Gillen
Penciler:  Greg Land

November sees the launch of more Marvel NOW! titles.  Leading the way this month is Iron Man #1, by Kieron Gillen and Greg Land.  We see Tony Stark in a new suit of armor, having to deal with the Extremis technology falling into the wrong hands.  How does the new creative team of Gillen and Land fare?  Let’s take a look.

What I Liked

Kieron Gillen does a good job of scripting Tony Stark’s internal dialogue.  Gillen’s Stark is familiar and does not sound out of character.  Greg Land, with his method of tracing celebrity faces for his characters, tends to be a controversial artist.  Overall the art is fine.  There were panels I had gripes with, but I will get to that later.

The new color scheme for Stark’s armor is not just a cosmetic change.  He even utilizes the armor in a brand new way.  The reader gets a quick explanation of what the Extremis armor is, and why it’s so important to Stark.  The choice of going with Extremis was not a coincidence.  It will also play a vital role in the Iron Man 3 movie next year.  To make this a more personal story, Stark’s supporting cast has been trimmed down to just Pepper Potts.  It’s new-reader friendly, which is the goal of Marvel NOW!

What I Didn’t Like

Even though I did not dislike Land’s artwork, there were a few panels of Stark where his face looked like a mannequin.  Kinda creepy.  Also, it felt like there were too many internal dialogue boxes being used.  Perhaps this goes back to the supporting cast being trimmed down.  Hard for Stark to hold conversations with anyone when he’s by himself.

For a first issue, Iron Man #1 does a fine job of introducing us to our protagonist and the threat he is up against.  The key is keeping the reader invested in following along.  Gillen’s track record suggests that he will have no trouble accomplishing this.

This review is written in partnership with Pop Culture Network.  They can be found at their website http://www.popculturenetwork.com/

#ComicBookChronicles @CBChron founder. Editor-in-Chief of @thekliqnation. Comic book reviewer, podcaster #RABBLERABBLE

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  • William Bruce West

    In the words of In Living Color’s Men on Film, “Hated it!” The MarvelNOW rollout is just off-putting, as it turned the ongoing series into lame ducks, while there was really no break before the relaunches. We read the culmination of YEARS’ worth of development (Fraction had been writing Invincible Iron Man since the first movie), and basically the next week you get the relaunch? Too soon!

    Another problem is Greg Land. He uses that SAME chick in everything he does. The bimbo Tony picks up in the club? SHE’S THE ONLY WOMAN LAND KNOWS HOW TO DRAW. Another big problem is that the Fraction series ended with Tony going off into space. Bigger and brighter things, especially since we now know he ends up with the Guardians of the Galaxy. When this series starts, that mission is already over? Instead of building on the momentum of that ending, he’s back home, Pepper still runs Resilient, and there’s little mention of the space adventure because we have to wait for February’s GotG launch for that? LAME. I’ll stick with the arc for now, but I feel like this series has been lessened by the NOW initiative. 

    • What’s even more strange is the news that Marvel announced during a live-blog this week.  That issue #6 picks up with Tony being off in space.  I felt that would have made a better starting point for #1.  I see why they did it, since GOTG doesn’t start until February (same time Iron Man #6 begins) and they want everything to coincide.

      I’m looking forward to starting Fraction’s Invincible Iron Man run.  Salvador Larroca is one of my favorite artists.  Plus it seems we’ve seen this story before (Extremis, Tony hunting down his weapons that have fallen into the hands of villains).  Tell us new stories!