About Heroes

This review was submitted by Knightwingbk:

Writers : Daniel & Charles Knauf
Artists: Patrick Zircher & Scott Hanna

Okay, from what I recall when the Knaufs first came on Iron Man with issue #7, they wrote "Execute Program" their previous arc, way back when Civil War was still a twinkle in Mark Millar's eye. Since Warren Ellis' run got so put off by art delays, courtesy of Adi Granov, the Knuafs' story got put on the shelf, waiting for Ellis to leave. By the time Ellis and Adi Granov did leave, Nick Fury was no longer in the Marvel U, although he played a big role in the "Execute Program" arc. So while we were reading Execute Program, Nick Fury was apparently "in-hiding" in every other Marvel book putting Iron Man in a weird place. Now that the previous arc has ended the Knauf's are closer to current Marvel time, but not that close...

This issue starts off with Iron Man fighting alongside Spider-Man and Doc Samson in the streets against a villain. This puts this issue somewhere in between Civil War 2 & 3. Tony Stark, here, is still wary and worried about his position. This is the same Tony Stark in Civil War #2 where he worries if he's doing the right thing as the law is being passed. The Knauf's are still continuing storylines from the previous arc, but not so thickly that new readers will be lost. This shows that the Knaufs have an overall plan for Iron Man, that will not be way-layd by Civil War. Most of the Civil War stuff is Tony talking to his friends, asking them if they think he's wrong, since he never got to have that conversation with Captain America. There is also some more hints to Tony's role after Civil War, when the Secretary Defense shows up to blackmail Tony into being S.H.E.I.L.D. director. Tony says no, but the conversation points to more things going on in the Marvel U than just Civil War. The snakes in Washington all want Tony as their spokesman to please their constituents and further their own agendas. Why isn't this part in Civil War proper? In Wolverine, and previous issues of New Avengers, there have been hints of more to Civil War than just registration, so where is that in the main book? Although, leaving it out of the main book gives the tie-ins more paths to explore than just extensions of the same battle scene (I'm looking at you Teen Titans IC tie-in!).

Patrick Zircher is a great artist, who I've not seen previously to this book. I think he is a great talent, a solid artist who can do a monthly book. His characters are great, he can do action, he can do emotion, his backgrounds are full, but there are not all of the extraneous lines that add "detail" to dirt like there are in Ed Benes, Jim Lee, and Ivan Reis art that put them behind. Its good, clean, comic art that needs to be in more books lets keep this guy steady. B-