Tony Stark: The Invincible Iron Man Appreciation 2022

[Frontier]

I was kinda surprised how entertaining Civil War II was yeah Carol got shafted but as a Minority Report style story I was pretty enjoyable even though it came outta nowhere

I hope you mean that ironically .

[charliehustle415]

I hope you mean that ironically .

Honestly if you divorce any preconceived ideas of the characters and read it in a vacuum, it was a fun story of no real consequence

[Frontier]

Honestly if you divorce any preconceived ideas of the characters and read it in a vacuum, it was a fun story of no real consequence

Well, the art was nice if nothing else.

[charliehustle415]

Well, the art was nice if nothing else.

heck yeah, I'm sad that David Marquez is DC exclusive now, but at least we had him on a number of different books.

What were some of the problems of the book in your opinion?

I never been a huge fan of Iron Man because I find that a lot of Stark's storylines tend to be very similar i.e. getting him to either 1) threaten his company 2) he ends up "dying" 3) he fights a dark version of himself so I don't seek his books out, but I was missing era of Bendis' career so I had to check it out.

[Huntsman Spider]

Honestly if you divorce any preconceived ideas of the characters and read it in a vacuum, it was a fun story of no real consequence

Except for reinforcing the notion that the superheroes in the Marvel Universe are a bunch of dysfunctional, infighting @$$holes that the public is fully in their rights to not trust or appreciate or respect in the slightest. Oh, and it also fed directly into Secret Empire, as that same cynical attitude about superheroes led much of the public to accept and embrace a seemingly HYDRA-aligned Captain America. Granted, it was (supposed to be) an allegory for the moral failures of modern Western liberal democracy unwittingly enabling the rise of fascism in real life, but the whole thing was rather bleak and torturous and padded out much more than it needed to be.

On a somewhat happier note, who's looking forward to Tony and Felicia/Black Cat teaming up and/or clashing again in Iron Cat?

[charliehustle415]

Except for reinforcing the notion that the superheroes in the Marvel Universe are a bunch of dysfunctional, infighting @$$holes that the public is fully in their rights to not trust or appreciate or respect in the slightest. Oh, and it also fed directly into Secret Empire, as that same cynical attitude about superheroes led much of the public to accept and embrace a seemingly HYDRA-aligned Captain America. Granted, it was (supposed to be) an allegory for the moral failures of modern Western liberal democracy unwittingly enabling the rise of fascism in real life, but the whole thing was rather bleak and torturous and padded out much more than it needed to be.

On a somewhat happier note, who's looking forward to Tony and Felicia/Black Cat teaming up and/or clashing again in Iron Cat?

Yeah totally, buuuttttt the 616 has been like that for nearly two decades. The story of heroes being idiots is part of the superhero genre milieu.

[Huntsman Spider]

Yeah totally, buuuttttt the 616 has been like that for nearly two decades. The story of heroes being idiots is part of the superhero genre milieu.

You mean around the time Joe Quesada became editor-in-chief?

[Frontier]

heck yeah, I'm sad that David Marquez is DC exclusive now, but at least we had him on a number of different books.

What were some of the problems of the book in your opinion?

To name a few:

- Characters acting at the expense of the plot (and stupidly too) and running from emotional extremes.

- Bendis and his issue with character voices where characters feel really off and this extends to characterization.

- "Minority Report is bad" is such an obvious plot thread.

- You're not given much reason to care about Ulysses other than he exists and it kind of sucks to be him. He's just a normal, everyday, guy and that's about it.

- Most of the characters come off as unlikable and irrational to justify the fight scenes.

- Killing off Rhodey was dumb and She-Hulk had to carry her pain for far longer than she should have.

- There was just no emotional investment in the hero vs. hero fight and the heroes obviously holding a woman who had done nothing wrong in custody were the obvious bad guys.

- The ending was incredibly unsatisfying.

I never been a huge fan of Iron Man because I find that a lot of Stark's storylines tend to be very similar i.e. getting him to either 1) threaten his company 2) he ends up "dying" 3) he fights a dark version of himself so I don't seek his books out, but I was missing era of Bendis' career so I had to check it out.

I feel like that's more from the movies than the actual comics, but I've read a few IM runs.

[charliehustle415]

You mean around the time Joe Quesada became editor-in-chief?

indeed and Mark Millar joined the fray i.e. Civil War numero uno

[charliehustle415]

To name a few:

- Characters acting at the expense of the plot (and stupidly too) and running from emotional extremes.

- Bendis and his issue with character voices where characters feel really off and this extends to characterization.

- "Minority Report is bad" is such an obvious plot thread.

- You're not given much reason to care about Ulysses other than he exists and it kind of sucks to be him. He's just a normal, everyday, guy and that's about it.

- Most of the characters come off as unlikable and irrational to justify the fight scenes.

- Killing off Rhodey was dumb and She-Hulk had to carry her pain for far longer than she should have.

- There was just no emotional investment in the hero vs. hero fight and the heroes obviously holding a woman who had done nothing wrong in custody were the obvious bad guys.

- The ending was incredibly unsatisfying.

I feel like that's more from the movies than the actual comics, but I've read a few IM runs.

I totally agree; however, I enjoyed it because if you read the book by itself most of these wouldn't matter.

But I hear you and I do agree the ending needed at least one more issue to give a proper denouement

[Huntsman Spider]

indeed and Mark Millar joined the fray i.e. Civil War numero uno

Yeah, that wasn't fun, either. Got me more into Marvel because I was impressed at the time with Millar's allegory to post-9/11 America and the debate over "security vs. freedom" turning into an outright superpowered street brawl, though in retrospect, that turning was probably where the problems with it began, insofar as, "It's a comic book, people won't read unless there are costumed characters punching each other's lights out."

[Digifiend]

Meet Ironheart:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLjGzo5zbes
Video recaps her origin, her involvement in Civil War II (and Tony's "death" and return afterwards), and her joining the Champions.

[Frontier]

I like Riri though I still feel like Bendis' integration of her could've been better.

[Huntsman Spider]

Meet Ironheart:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLjGzo5zbes
Video recaps her origin, her involvement in Civil War II (and Tony's "death" and return afterwards), and her joining the Champions.

I like Riri though I still feel like Bendis' integration of her could've been better.

Agreed. If it helps, there should be an appreciation thread for her somewhere in this forum if you search.

[Digifiend]

There was, last year, but it's locked and nobody ever made a new one. So unless someone wants to make a new one, anything Riri related will have to go either here or the Champions thread.