Iron Man: Rage Against The Machines.

I wasn't going to do another comic book review so soon after X-Men: Second Coming but with this week being very busy in my work schedule, I've pushed my original plans back a bit and decided to once more dive into the comic realm with the few titles I've been reading when I've had the chance.

Today, the review is on Iron Man: War Of The Iron Men, collecting Iron Man Legacy #1-5 and the one-shot Iron Man: Titanium.

Since the one-shot has little if anything to do with the main story, I'll do a brief synopsis and review: in a story set before Civil War, Iron Man's locked in combat with a giant robot, which Tony says is reminiscent of a robot he has seen before, called Ultimo. During the fight, he's in communication with S.H.I.E.L.D's director, Maria Hill, about how to deal with the situation.

As a one-shot, it's good. The art is good, the characterization is true to what we know for Tony Stark and it could be seen as a tiny pre-cursor of things to come with Civil War (though obviously now it wouldn't matter so much, unless you haven't read it. If that is the case, you should do so, it's actually a pretty damn good story) with the idea of how far is too far when it comes to firepower and how do you measure success in the superhero world. It's not always going to be about being able to save life, limb and property and vanquishing the villain for good. Sometimes the best you can settle for is a low mortality rate, a couple houses gone and the supervillain running off to lick their wounds

But now, onto the main story: in the country of Transia, the Iron Man technology has been duplicated by persons unknown and being used in a civil war. Tony travels to Transia to track down the tyrants responsible, which leads him into conflict not just with Dr. Doom, Ivan Vanko and the Radioactive Man, but also the citizens of the country and the United States over the proper way of ending the bloodshed.

That's as far as I'll go for a synopsis, so as not to spoil. Written by Fred Van Lente and penciled by Steve Kurth, it's an enjoyable story. One of the biggest recurring themes of the Iron Man mythology is that of the Iron Man technology falling into the wrong hands or facing a rival version from one of Tony's enemies (usually, the Crimson Dynamo or the Titanium Man) and Tony questioning whether or not this is his doing for bringing Iron Man into the world. It's nicely handled here and Tony doesn't let himself fall into a guilt trip over it. Rather, he reacts much like we've come to expect: he gets a bit repulsor-happy and sets off to blast someone or something to smithereens until they give in. He retains his rapid-fire wit and never loses his cool, which is something I'm very glad the movies retain.

There's a real life parallel with Iron Man's interference overseas with that of the idea of Americans getting involved with struggles not related to them and people acting out on their own, often not thinking about how this reflects on the government's stance. But then, that's integral to Tony's character, with interpretations that he's just that altruistic (with great power comes great responsibility, y'know) or that it's more of an ego-stroker (quite valid, but who says it can't be both?)

Tony's supporting cast don't get very much to do, though, with Pepper actually in jail for a good portion of the story thanks to Tony's actions (since the government doesn't know the entire situation with the renegade Iron Men and assumes Tony's behind it in some way). And I don't recall seeing Happy Hogan either. Also, Rhodey's kind of sidelined on this adventure.

Finally, I just wanted to bring up one really damn good moment (slight spoiler): with his plans foiled, Dr. Doom says this to his royal biographer, in the calmest manner possible (Doom's nothing if not classy) ”Plan number seven hundred and forty-six shall be tabled indefinitely. Make a note of it. I am moving on to plan seven hundred and forty-seven. Ready the Venom symbiote satellites.”
I just love how once his schemes go up in smoke, he just shrugs his shoulders and says “Well, that's one plan down, time to pull another one from up my sleeve”. Granted, he can still be prone to usual stock villain lines like “You'll rue this day!” or “One day, I will be victorious!” but to be fair, a lot of that is aimed towards his arch nemesis Reed Richards, so naturally it would get under his skin. But still, scenes like that paint why Doom is one of the best Marvel villains: he notes his failures, he moves on, and always has a contingency plan (in his case, his never-ending supply of Doombots and yes, one was present in this story.

So, all in all, a good story. Sorry for the short blog but I have a bit of catching up to do.