The 53rd Co(s)mic Comic Book Broadcast: The Invincible Iron Man!

Whenever I think about Iron Man, I can't help but remember this little song.  I remember it so well growing up.  It was the theme song to the Iron Man Cartoons, the classic Marvel cartoons from the 1960's.

"All Jets aflame".  I loved that theme.  I had a chance to catch these classic cartoons when a local station decided to show them in the afternoons, there were reruns and reruns week after week, sometimes of the same episode.  Sure if you compare the animation from back in the day with the animation of today, well you just can't compare the two but hey, those days it was a chance to see your favorite comic characters and pages come alive on the small screen.  It was magical in a way.

The theme songs were a little cheesy but memorable and when the Iron Man movie was released I was so happy to see that they included the theme in the movie.  As a matter of fact the theme appeared a total of three times in the movie.  The first was during the Apogee Award presentation which Tony Stark played by Robert Downey Junior was not even there to accept.  Second, in the Casino scene and third it was used as Rhodey's ringtone.  It was fun to see these little touches in the movie, a tip of the hat to the old as they usher in the new.  I think after I'm done here, I'm going to look up some old episodes or these Iron Man cartoons.

Welcome to the 53rd Co(s)mic Comic Book Broadcast, as you might have guessed by now, I am going to talk about The Invincible Iron Man, well this is going to be my first ever attempt to sort of review The Invincible Iron Man # 1 which was released just recently.  This is my first attempt at this, so bear with me.

Earlier this year Marvel Comics announced that Brian Michael Bendis and David Marquez will pilot Iron Man into All-New, All-Different Marvel.  This would happen after Marvel's Secret Wars. 
The creative duo will relaunch the armored Avenger into the post-Secret Wars Marvel Universe with Invincible Iron Man #1. Bendis and Marquez previously collaborated on Ultimate Comics Spider-Man and All-New X-Men. This would be the first Iron Man solo title for either creator. Leading up to the launch, Bendis revealed many of the series' selling points, including a new transformative armor and love interest. Bendis' comments also confirm that Tony Stark will remain as Iron Man after Secret Wars. That was a relief.

After all the announcements were made, I got....curious, very curious.  Bendis is a veteran of many comic titles, Powers, Ultimate Spider Man, The Avengers and X Men just to name a few of the titles he has written.  When it was announced that he would be leaving a few of the titles he's been writing, I was wondering what other character could he write in the vast marvel Universe.  I didn't have to wait long for the announcement.  He would be writing The Invincible Iron Man in the All New, All Different Marvel.

Then the waiting started as Secret Wars got underway, Marvel would tease fans with promo shots like this one.  That's Iron Man and there's Spider Man, well Spider Men and then there's Red Wolf?? A character that hasn't been seen in years, you got the impression that the All New, All Different Marvel would be just that.  The drawing of Iron Man intrigued me and well I just couldn't wait for this title to be released. Along the way we got more hints and bits and pieces from Marvel and Bendis.

Along the way we were treated to this page and I was intrigued and again I wanted to read this comic really bad.  If you recall the Guardians Of The Galaxy comic actually became a major hit for Marvel even before the James Gunn Movie was released, all thanks to the writing of Bendis.  It was reported that Marvel editorial was tasked with similarly raising the status of Iron Man and he one way you did that at Marvel is put Brian Bendis on the book, well they did and here's the result.  Invincible Iron Man # 1.

Finally it had arrived.  Invincible Iron Man # 1 was here.  I was so eager to read this comic, I bought the digital copy first.  I'll go hunting for the physical copy soon, one day.  Right now I wanted to  read about this new Invincible Iron Man, the new armor and everything post Secret Wars.  So what did I think of this first issue?

First things first, I'm happy Marvel put such a first rate creative team on this title.  Brian Michael Bendis and David Marquez is to me a top notch team having followed their work on Ultimate Spider Man.  The first issue of this title feels familiar, it's like seeing a familiar face of an old friend.  Tony Stark is Tony Stark, well Tony Stark as written by Bendis who has written him in so many titles over the years, so yeah this is the Tony Stark we all know.  In this first issue we are introduced to a potential love interest, we get to see his A.I. Assistant: Friday and we get to know a little bit of what's in Tony's mind as the series picks up eight months after the conclusion of the current event series Secret Wars with Tony wanting to be a better man in every aspect of his life.  While there's a plotline that's introduced in this issue involving a certain character from Tony's past, there's very little room left in this issue for anything else it seems.  Even though this seems like a packed first issue, I have one complaint which I'll talk about later.

What about the art?  When David Marquez took over from Sara Pichelli on Ultimate Spider Man, it took me a while to get used to his artwork.  To be fair, it also took me a while to get used to Pichelli's artwork when she took over as regular artist.  I must say that his artwork is stunning in this issue, that combined with the excellent coloring by Justin Ponsor makes this comic a visual treat.  Ponsor's colors are vibrant and man he makes Marquez's artwork even more appealing to the eye.  Marquez's wide screen take to some of the pages is a little distracting but you get used to it.

The new armor.  The new suit design takes some getting used to with its feminine design. Why did I say feminine?  When I first saw the armor, I thought: Oh, looks like they're going to give the suit to some one else, maybe a woman, maybe Pepper?  But it does look more streamlined, more jet like in design, it is a change from the armors of old including the armor introduced in the Superior Iron Man series, where it was a symbiotic armor if I'm not mistaken.  It's also different from the Black and Gold Marvel Now Armor.  It'll take some getting used to but I like the look of the suit.

 Here's a look at how Tony changes into the armor, he no longer needs to put on the armor of have pieces of the suit fly at him like in Iron Man 3 movie (by the way, in that movie Tony says this is his best work yet, the most advance edition of the Iron Man suit but as soon as he puts it on, it gets knocked to pieces by a bus, I was not impressed by that movie) anyway this is the new suit which Tony describes as an armor that can change shape and color scheme based on the mission, one which is attached to his biology.

So, what did I think of Invincible Iron Man # 1.  Well overall I liked it. Alot.  I'm excited to see this new armor, the new adventures of Tony Stark as he tries his best to change his life, to be a better man, looks like he remembers what happened in Superior Iron Man  (The recently wrapped comic had him based in San Francisco and being more of a jerk than usual) so it should be an interesting ride.  I believe that Bendis, Marquez and the creative team will have some thrills and spills for us, judging by the cliffhanger ending in Issue # 1, there's more coming our way from these two.  Any complaints?  Yeah two.  I felt that there wasn't enough in issue # 1, what I mean by that is, there's alot happening but there were only 21 pages which didn't seem enough, if this was a meal, it's be a snack.  Too little to fill my stomach (I'm using food analogies cause I'm feeling peckish) and there's not enough about the new suit of armor, maybe they're saving it for future issues but I really wanted more.  So I hope they'll have more in the next few issues and I hope the creative team stays on this title for a while, these days they seem to come and go.

So my verdict: It looks very promising and it looks like there are exciting times  ahead for ol Shellhead, if I were to give it a rating, it'd be four and a half stars out of a five.  I look forward to more issue of the Invincible Iron Man from The All New, All Different Marvel.

Wow, yes, I would love to see what happens next.  I would love to see the armor's capabilities.  Look at that suit.  Wow!  Oh, Bendis also mentioned in a few interviews that in addition to his new armor and weaponry, Iron Man's also getting a larger cast of characters, many of them new. Fans of Stark pals Pepper Potts, Happy Hogan and so on will get to see them again at some point, but Bendis says he is instead focusing on introducing folks such as a love interest "who is smarter than him".  I for one would like to know how Tony came back from his Superior Iron Man phase of his life, that'd be an interesting story.

So that's it, my sorta kinda review of The Invincible Iron Man # 1, have you read it yet?  What did you think of it?  Did you like it?  Before I wrap things up, here's one of the variant covers for Invincible Iron Man # 1 by Adi Granov.  WOOOWWWWWWWWWW!!!

Thanks for dropping by, hope you liked the 53rd Co(s)mic Comic Broadcast as much as I did, see you next time, take care!!