Iron Man #14

Iron Man #14 the Secret Origin of Tony Stark.  The God killer story actually turned out to be interesting.  Having Recorder 451, Deaths Head and Iron Man made for some interesting story telling.  There was also some really well written dialog.  Unfortunately after the good stuff the comic ends in a very typical and horribly corny cliffhanger.  Now if Tony cannot find a fix to the problem another world full of people will be destroyed, that world? Earth.

Iron Man #13 The Secret Origin of Tony Stark

Iron Man #13 Still in the Secret Origin of Tony Stark Storyline.  In this issue we the readers finally get to see Recorder 451’s actual plan.  Recorder found a giant robot suit that was used in the past to kill members of the Eternals.  Recorder went through all this planning and such with humans and Tony Stark.  Tony Stark is to be the compliant pilot under Recorder 451’s control.  This killer of gods will then be used to defend Earth and allow the people of Earth to continue unmolested by other races in the Galaxy.  This defense will lead to an Earth led empire and a period of peace in the Galaxy according to Recorder.  Now this would normally be a rather boring wordy comic except we have a return of Deaths’ Head.  I have to say having Deaths’ Head in the comic has really improved the action, I like him.  The comic ends on a rather large cliff hanger.  I liked this issue.

Iron Man #11

Iron Man #11 – the Secret Origin of Tony Stark Part 2.  In this issue we get more flash back to Howard Stark and his wife deciding to let Recorder 451 fix their child so it will not die.  But more than that Recorder 451 wants to improve their child in order to make a savior for mankind.  Recorder fears that the other races / empires in the galaxy will soon begin to fear humanity and in a few short years attack and destroy all life on Earth.  In order to prevent this extermination Recorder 451 wants the Stark child to be that super genius we have come to know and love – Tony Stark.  This is another well written and paced story giving us the Secret Origin of Tony Stark.  I am entertained.

Age of Ultron Book 8!

Age of Ultron Book 8 was a bit of a letdown.  I thought I had bought a book continuing the Age of Ultron storyline.  Instead all I found was another X-man with guest stars from a variant universe.  This was an entire issue that did nothing but introduces another timeline / universe and somehow hopes we care about character we had never seen before.  I know I said I was looking forward to the next issue but that was with the expectation that this new word and characters would advance the Ultron plot.  I was rather disappointed with the focus on Tony Stark / Iron Man ruling the future because if I wanted to read that comic book all I have to do is go buy the Civil War storyline and after.  I was hoping to see the Wolverines meet or Sue Storm meet her family, or Doctor Strange does something cool or any of the other variant heroes do something.  It is bad when one of the tie in comics is better than the core book.  This was a disappointing issue.

Iron Man #10 Secret Origin of Tony Stark

Iron Man #10 – The Secret Origin of Tony Stark Part 1 – wait last issue was labeled as part of the Secret Origin storyline.  Anyway, we do not get to see everything that Howard Stark and Recorder 451 said in their little movie.  Tony aka Iron Man does not believe it but we get a flashback where Recorder tells more of the story.  But in reality what we get is a caper job where Howard Stark plots with an alien and some human friends to steal Recorder  451 from other aliens living in Las Vegas.  The crew includes Jimmy Woo, Dum Dum Dugan and Thunderbolt Ross.  They manage to steal Recorder and make their getaway.  It all ends with another to be continued moment in the future.  This was a rather amusing and entertaining story.  I am interested to see what happens next.

Iron Man #9 The Secret Origin of Tony Stark!

Iron Man #9 was awesome the story was so good I will even forgive the writers for stealing the intro tag from the Hawkeye Comic Book.  Apparently this comic book is the story of Tony Stark (IE Iron Man) and what he does when he is on a break from the Guardians of the Galaxy; Star Lord even makes a guest appearance at the beginning of the story.  Tony seeks out and finds Deaths Head and hires him to hunt down Recorder 451.  Deaths Head has some really great lines and banter with Iron Man.  They manage to track down 451 and Deaths Head turns Tony over to recorder 451.  Not so much betraying Iron Man as Recorder had paid first and more than Tony had promised.  This is where it gets weird as Recorder 451 shows Tony Stark a film (Yes a film) recording of Tony’s father much like from the movies and Tony’s father is apologizing and saying how much he loves Tony and then we see Tony’s father and Recorder 451 sharing the same time and space on film.  I will be very disappointed if this is all just some mind washing on the Recorders part.  But it did deliver on the tag line “The Secret Origin of Tony Stark”.

Iron Man the Coming of the Melter!

Iron Man the Coming of the Melter was a one shot collection of a modern Melter story and an older story.  The first story was interesting and co-stared War Machine.  The story itself was typical comic book.  The good guys get beat up and embarrassed then spend time hunting down the bad guy.  Then there is a big fight and the good guys win.  There was a bit of corny dialog but at least the story was entertaining.  The second story was funny and had Iron Man going to a comic book convention while hunting down the Melter.  There is much hilarity as all the people in really good consume confuse Tony and stress him out.  Another villain appears and there is a fight and Tony is saved by some guy in an Iron Man costume.  In the end the consumed guy wins the day and Tony Stark as Iron Man is kicked out of the convention.  This second story had potential but it was mostly wasted here as the story lacked the context of the time period and continuity of when it was written.  This one shot felt as though it was missing some commentary or editorial explaining whatever was going on.

A + X #7

A + X #7 was another excelling amazing and fun issue pairing members of the Avengers and X-Men fighting to save the day.  The first issue has Iron Man (Tony Stark) and the Beast working together to prevent the corruption of an anti-Hulk weapon by a computer virus.  The dialog was well written and sharp with Tony completely on target with his wisecracking and genius.  The Beast also had some great dialog.  In the end Iron Man fails to prevent the computer virus from taking over the power armor that was meant to fight the Hulk.  The now rogue armor is winning the fight when the Hulk shows up returning from a mission and destroys the anti-Hulk armor accidentally.  It turns out this was all set up by Bruce Banner as a way to remind Tony Stark and the Beast who was the smartest of them all (in the Marvel Universe anyway).  The second story stared Iceman and Thor.  They are fighting against a new Frost Giant whom had entered our human world to destroy it.  He had a new weapon that was all power full.  Thor was doing the traditional trying to smash the bad guy with his hammer while Iceman quipped at Thor’s bad luck, because frankly Iceman was much outclassed.  Also Iceman was enjoying mocking Thor.   Thor manages to power the Casket of Ancient Winters an object that could destroy the world.  One side effect of the onslaught of a powerful winter blast was to increase Iceman’s powers.  Iceman manages to take down the Frost Giants where Thor had failed.  The humor in this story was really good and in the end even Thor got the joke.  As I said above both stories were very entertaining and if you have not checked out this team-up comic you should.

Iron Man #8!

Iron Man #8 was good and entertaining.  Tony Stark fights or at least runs from Deaths Head for a while killing time.  Eventually Recorder 451 activates the Iron Man armor and it goes to rescue Tony Stark – the P.E.P.P.E.R. operating system continues to be entertaining but P.E.P.P.E.R. is no Jarvis.  Tony is able to rearm and fight off his pursers.  While he is off fighting the Eternals show up and begin destroying the Voldi world space station.  At this point Recorder 451 confesses that this was all his fault and apologizes for misleading Tony and destroying the Voldi.  Tony returns to see the devastation and swears that he will track down Recorder 451 and make it pay.  There is no mention if Deaths Head survives or not.  This is the disappointing end to the Godkiller story arc.

Age of Ultron #5

Age of Ultron Book Five was good.  There was very little action beyond the Red Hulk getting zapped by the original Nick Furry.  The story starts out with a flashback to a few months ago when Hank Pym Tony Stark (Iron Man) and Reed Richards fixed the Vision.  We then flash to current events where we find Austin Texas had not yet been destroyed for some reason, until now.  We then get to see the planning and arming session of the Good Guys in Nick Fury’s secret bunker.  The Red Hulk gets Ares God of War’s axe and Tony gets his old not networked or hackable by Ultron armor.   The plan turns out to be part of the group using Doctor Doom’s time platform to attack Ultron in the future.  Once they are gone Wolverine decides to power up the platform to go back into time to kill Hank Pym before Pym builds Ultron. 

Deadpool #7!!!

Deadpool #7 was entertaining.  This issue was supposedly a comic that had been finished but not been published in the past for whatever reason.  In this issue Deadpool is hired to make Tony Stark aka Iron Man drink.  The story starts out simply enough in the Daily Bugle with Peter Parker admitting to everyone he was Spider-Man during a pitch meeting.  Everyone ignores Peter and sends him off to get more pictures of Spider-Man.  He meets Flash Thompson who has parked in a Handicap spot and then Deadpool steal the car. Deadpool almost runs down the Power Pack but only promises them that their comic book was already doomed.  Deadpool is then met by an agent of the devil who wants Tony Stark to take a drink; they debate contract conditions until Deadpool agrees in exchange for ownership of a Laser Disc factory.  There then were some entertaining events and Deadpool knocks out Tony Stark, takes the Iron Man armor and saves the day.  Things end badly for the demon working for Mephisto and Cable arrives asking for Deadpool’s help.  This issue was good and from some of the quips not some long lost issue but a clever and entertaining story.

Superior Spider-Man #6AU

The Superior Spider-Man #6AU (Age of Ultron) was interesting.  I am still not a fan of the Superior Spider-Man and could rant about how evil the people whom allowed Doctor Octopus to kill Peter Parker and replace Parker’s mind with his own.  This story starts right at the start of events in Age of Ultron #3 before the She-Hulk and Luke Cage plan can start.  Spider-Man is plotting a way to escape from his helpers and destroy Ultron on his own.  Tony Stark (Iron Man) tells Spider-Man that the Horizon Labs survived and Tony had a way to destroy Ultron if he could get a hold of some tech from the labs.  Spider-Man agreed to help but as soon as Quicksilver dropped him off Spider-Man betrayed the other survivors and tried to take down Ultron on his own using his own robot control powers.  Spider-Man almost succeeds but was tricked into a false fight and is almost killed.  He attempts to carry out Tony Stark’s plan but fails at that as well.  Spider-Man barely escapes and returns to give the bad news to the other remaining Heroes.  The story ends with Doctor Octopus realizing how good it is to have friends (queue the G.I. Joe “And knowing is half the Battle” music) just as the She-Hulk and Luke Cage are getting ready for their mission.

Guardians of the Galaxy #1 !!!!

The Guardians of the Galaxy #1 was entertaining.  I am a bit annoyed that they brought in Iron Man (Tony Stark) of all people when it would seem the original cast was wacky enough without adding Iron Man.  The story starts out well enough with Star-Lord (Peter Quill) hitting on a female Kree in a bar.  They are interrupted when Quill’s father the King of the Galaxy (has anyone told the Shi’ar?) arrives to tell Quill that Earth is by law now off limits.  I was amused when the king admitted that he was in fact jealous of his son’s adventures.  We then switch to following Iron Man as he encounters a Badoon space craft and combat ensues.  At the “last moment” the Guardians of the Galaxy (Gamora, Quill, Drax, Groot and Rocket Raccoon – yes Rocket Raccoon!) and help to save the day.  The bad guys blow up their ship knocking out Tony Stark and escape.  The comic ends with an attack on the Earth city of London.  The backstory for this group is not what I remember and I might have to track down some trade paperback collections to know what is going on in this comic.  I have to say I enjoyed the story so far and hope the quality continues at this level.

Age of Ultron #2 !!!

Age of Ultron #2 was just a long and uninformative monolog by Spider-Man.  We got to see the Black Widow and Moon Knight in the ruins of San Francisco but that was just more set up of the main story.  We do get to see Moon Knight kill a guy that looks a lot like Paul Giamatti before the guy could steal from the Black Widow.   This issue seemed to just be a holding spot and stalling until Captain America finally says something.  The cover art is completely and totally false and misleading.

Age of Ultron!!

Age of Ultron Book One was good.  It was better than I expected or hoped.  The art is really good thanks to Bryan Hitch, Paul Neary and Paul Mounts.  I am a bit disappointed that the story begins mid disaster or post disaster which was Ultron taking over the world or at least Manhattan.  The world is in a post-apocalyptic state with Manhattan under what appears to be a giant spaceship or building (a dome?).  The action starts with Hawkeye attacking what appears to be a drug den or at least a place with bad guys running the show.  It turns out Hawkeye is trying to save Spider-Man (we do not know which Spider-Man yet) from Hammerhead and the Owl.  During the rescue the action attracts the notice of many Ultrons whom attack the hideout even though there was a deal possibly made between Hammerhead and Ultron that kept those bad guys safe from the big and powerful Ultron.  That deal seems to fail as the Ultrons the building and such explode.  The good guys get away and reach their hideout in the crashed remains of the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier where we meet more survivors.  These survivors are not happy that Hawkeye has returned and run tests on Hawkeye and Spider-Man.  They are greeted by Luke Cage and She-Hulk followed by Tony Stark (Iron Man) who runs tests on Hawkeye and Spider-Man to make sure they had not been infected with a tracker of some sort.  We then get a quick look at additional survivors Emma Frost, Wolverine, Sue Storm and finally after some more plot exposition we finally see Captain America whom we are told is devising a plan.  First off Hawkeye?  We just had an end of the world mini-series that followed Hawkeye around while the world burned under the fist of Doctor Doom and the crazy zombie plague known as the Avengers vs. the Marvel Universe.  So we have been there done that with Hawkeye and considering the number of mid power super heroes it seems like Marvel could have gone with a different character to follow.  I was entertained, when at the beginning of the book Hawkeye continues to use his trademark arrows even if he has switched to hand crossbows.   Second the good guys are waiting on the good Captain America for a plan?  Even though they have Tony Stark one of the world’s smartest people available to make plans and fix stuff.  In the end I did enjoy this comic nitpicking aside it was entertaining and a good attempt to draw in the reader.

Iron Man #7!!!

Iron Man #7 was actually really good.  We get the trail of Tony Stark the God Killer which with a little outside help from Rigelian Recorder 451 or in this case Tony’s Lawyer.  Recorder 451 looks a lot like Machine Man.  Anyway the legal advice given to Tony Stark is to request trail by combat – this combat is without weapons or the Iron Man armor.  Tony Stark has experience fighting without any weapons or armor and the aliens not having much experience fighting wins bout after bout winning his innocence against many charges.   The most amusing charge Tony is found innocent of is Hubris in the first degree.  In order to get to a suspenseful cliffhanger to end this issue we have Iron Man set to fight the robotic bounty Hunter Death’s Head.

Iron Man!

Ultimate Comics: Iron Man #4: The Mandarin, the Mandarin it is all they are talking about. Oh and talking.  This issue seems to be the culmination of the story arc.  While the writers wanted to get away from the evil stereotype with the Fu Manchu look, changing the villain to an evil heartless computer served by two heartless evil women is not much of a change.  But it is a comic book so one dimensional villains seem to be normal.  At least these women were clothed in proper business attire.

Captain Marvel!

Captain Marvel #9 was a really good Day in the Life of Story.  I loved it!  The story had crazy old ladies, Spider-Woman, random people helping out and dinosaurs.  Oh and thieves or terrorists I’m not sure which or that it mattered to the story.  The story also confirms what should be obvious by now that Tony Stark is an ass.  I guess my only real complaint about this story is the art, the art suck in this issue it was horrible.  I don’t know who told the person credited as “artist” for this book (Filipe Andrade) to use this style but that person should be punished.  Characters are drawn differently in every frame of the comic it is very distracting and detracting from the story.  I really hope the powers that be see this is a bad art path to follow and just go for good solid comic book art.  Otherwise I am going to stop getting this comic and I am fairly sure I am the only one buying copies at my comic book shop.

Indestructible Hulk!

Indestructible Hulk #2: And now for Tony Stark / Iron Man to stick his nose into the situation and make it worse.  Well Iron Man made it entertaining anyway, this Tony Star is not the good guy movie guy.  This Tony Stark is the one who had people killed and essentially took over the Super Hero world for his own power grab.  So needless to say I enjoyed seeing Hulk Smash!  I am still liking this comic I hope they keep up the good work.

Iron Man!

Iron Man #5: I like the art for the standard cover.  This book ended the first five part story.  While enjoyable the stories were barely linked together at times.  But in the end it was a really good story of growth in the Tony Stark’s character.  The next stop the stars thing was a little hokey.  My question is Marvel really sending all their main characters into outer space or other dimensions?