Filed under: Comic Reviews, Marvel Comics | Tags: Extremis, Greg Land, Iron-Man, Kieron Gillen, Marvel Now, Matt Fraction, Smart Metal, Tony Stark
A new start sees Kieron Gillen team-up with Greg Land to pick up the pace with Tony Stark aka Iron Man but could they follow the success of Matt Fraction and raise the bar for this Marvel Now! release?
The simple and obvious answer to that is yes and the creative team-up here kicks off this first 5-issue arc with style. The two-sides of the Iron Man/Tony Stark are on show as the opening scene sees a reflective Iron Man pondering his beliefs as he flies over the city all before switching to a typically suave Tony in a club seeking out another conquest. The split between those two parts of his life have always been a fine balancing act to pull off and the seduction is just about to kick-in when the real plot of the title starts to unfold……the Extemis is back on the scene and in the hands of another unscrupulous, money-hungry business man.
Tony works his way into the latest big meeting with the group and a quick shave proves to be his best disguise for going incognito. That doesn’t last long as his presence is questioned and a quick change into a super-cool smart metal suit sees things kick-off in a typically big way. Extremis guards vs Iron Man proves to cause a fair amount of damage but the smarts win the day as previous experience with Extremis means he’s ready for it. He takes them out pretty quick and grills the man in charge for details on how many sets of Extremis he’s looking at – and with 4 to track down we’re set up in this first issue for an explosive first arc.
After Gillen’s strong work in AvsX: Consequences and previous significant runs on Journey into Mystery and Uncanny X-Men he’s proving quickly to be the natural successor to Matt Fraction. Giving a smart and stylish edge to a character that’s become more recognizable in the mainstream following the success of the movies. At heart though, he’s a flawed hero with heart and that’s what’s been captured here by Gillen. The ultra-realistic artwork from Greg Land is astonishing too as he captures the energy and heat in those action scenes and my only slight qualm with this is the colours themselves…..almost a bit too vibrant and taking them in a more unrealistic direction almost contradicting the style that’s being aimed for.
A great opener and this is really the kind of successful team-up I was hoping Marvel Now was going to bring us…..here’s hoping that’s the case on this and other titles.
7/10
G-Man
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