I finally got to read the first trade of Slott's run and thought I shared my thoughts:
- Slott's characterization for Tony is on-point. Forward-thinking, daring, flirty, compassionate, and introspective when he needs to be.
- The art is gorgeous. All the new armors look cool, and you can see Slott's love for cartoons and toys shine through. Although what false advertising with the Extremis suit always being on covers when it never actually appears
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- Stop trying to make Amanda Armstrong a thing. She doesn't really feel like she adds anything to the story aside from being the "cool old lady," and every time they reference her being an "ex-SHIELD Agent" it feels like a joke no one else is in on when you actually look at what she did as a SHIELD Agent (which wasn't all that much/impressive).
- Sunset Bain reminds me of a gender-flipped version of MCU Justin Hammer, except she's good enough to actually get away with her crimes. I wonder if she and Tony slept together? Seemed like she kind of implied it during her dinner with Arno.
- Nice to see Slott remembers Gauntlet from the Initiative.
- I continue to see this trend in Slott's work where the supporting cast needs to be so integral to the hero saving the day or providing the hero with the means to win, or even bailing out the hero. I guess it explains why these characters are around but I prefer my Superheroes to solve their problems on their own more often then not.
- Rhodey having armor PTSD I guess isn't too unrealistic for what he's gone through, but will definitely not stick. I'm kind of bummed we only got to see the War Machine armor in action for one issue.
- It's nice to see Bethany back, although I wish she and Tony interacted more (and flirted more, but that's the shipper in me).
- I preferred Friday's AI design to her robot body, even if I guess she looks less like Pepper now.
- I get what Slott is doing with Jocasta but I feel like she's walking a fine-line between being interesting and being kind of grating with her reaction to AI's in the comic. And that Machine Man romance seems short-lived.
- I'm always down for more Janet Van Dyne, and Slott has a good grasp of her voice, and she and Tony have a pretty fun dynamic. I'm down for seeing how their relationship develops even if I think Hank and what happened the last time they dated should weigh on their current relationship a little more. But that's just me.