Writers: Daniel & Charles Knauf
Artists: Roberto de la Torre & Jonathan Sibal
Warning: This may spoil the end of Civil War #7 if you haven't read it yet, though the last issue of Iron Man pointed towards this.
Still here? Ok. Tony Stark is now director of S.H.I.E.L.D. and this issue, rather than jump into the 50 - State Initiative looks at the director's other duties, like stopping terrorist attacks. The issue is a conversation between Dum Dum Dugan (who I thought died in Wolverine Origins) and his superior at the Pentagon. Dugan is complaing about Stark's methods, how he is treating it like a Super-hero team and a company, rather than a military division. Stark puts in a suggestion box on the Helicarrier, gets rid of the officer's club so he can spend more money on the enlisted men's cafeteria, and has a day care center for the children when the ship is in port. How the helicarrier enters port, I have no clue. As this conversation goes on, we see Tony leading S.H.I.E.L.D. not as a commanding officer but as a friendly mentor. He oversees missions, and most of the time has to diffuse the situation himself because the soldiers look to him as a secret weapon, rather than doing the work themselves. Maya, the creator of the Extremis virus wants to use it on other soldiers so that Tony does not have to bail them out all the time. There is also an escalation of terrorism post civil war, as small time groups are getting better weapons. Are they being financially backed and by who? This is a great issue that sets up a lot of storylines that can run through the book for a long time, if Tony stays in his postition for a long time as well. I like this idea of Tony as the leader of S.H.I.E.L.D., and if the Knaufs can write stories like this one with this idea for a long time, let them. This is a great resuccitation for a book that was drowning after Warren Ellis and Adi Granov delayed it into oblivion.
The art, while not Patrick Zircher, is great. It has a nitty-gritty feel to it that fits the book, especially with it's new S.H.I.E.L.D. premise. It's a cross between Ariel Olivetti, Tommy Lee Edwards, and Brian Hitch. If this guy took over the art on Iron Man, I would be pleased. Another thing that is great about the art is the coloring. Colorist Dean White uses a lot of red and pink filters in the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier to give it a "red-alert" feel. It's a great looking book. Here's hoping Iron Man can move up an be one of Marvel's top tier books. A
Writer: J. Michael Straczynski
Artists: Ron Garney & Bill Reinhold
Mild Spoilers Below:
After a lackluster Civil War finale with lackluster art (the last seven pages aren't McNiven, there's no way he penciled that bad) this issue manages to deliver a sastisfying conclusion. If you can't remember the cliffhanger of last issue, Wilson Fisk hired a sniper to shoot either MJ, Aunt May or both of them, and we saw the two women in his sights as the last issue ended. This issue picks up in the middle of the giant battle in Civil War #7, and sees Peter return after it has ended. A lot of it is him speechifying to the readers how he's fighting for the people, blah blah anti-reg stuff. That's boring. What thrilled me about this issue was the end, and how it harkened back to Spider-Man lore. That's right, I liked who got shot, or rather, how they got shot. JMS set it up so that like Uncle Ben and Gwen Stacy, Peter will always feel responsible for this event. His Spider-sense goes off and he tackles one of the women to save them, doing it so fast that he forgets about the other one. From here on out, he will forever be saying to himself, what if I wasn't so hasty, I could have prevented it. Which is similar to the thoughts he's had about Uncle Ben and Gwen Stacy for the last 50 years. For those thinking, Spider-man was boring for the last 15+ years, pick up this book, it's about to get more interesting. What is sad is that they had to resort to this in order to make Spidey interesting again, rather than revisit the older issues. Maybe JMS tried that (see Sins Past), and got such a bad reaction from fans that now he feels he has to create something new. The argument could go on forever, but I thought the way it was written and set-up was well done.
Ron Garney is amazing. Where was this Ron Garney on JLA though? Like the last 6 issues, this book is nothing short of breathtaking art-wise. Garney draws Peter at a ripe 30, not a 21 or 35 like other artists. He also has a great feel for the other characters appearing in the book's battle scene. Nobody looks ugly, unlike McNiven in Civil War this week. The two page spread of the battle in Manhattan is nothing short of beautiful. It's exactly the sort of thing I want to see regularly in my books. Another thing that Garney is a master at is emotion. Peter, MJ, Aunt May all emote, which is hard to say about other comics art. This really hits you in the gut with it's art, and the writing helps as well. If you're not reading Civil War, at least give this issue a chance. B+
