It is with great . . .well, not sadness, but embarrassment that I have to announce that the somewhat beloved feature "Didjutal Comiks" is going on hiatus for the foreseeable future, because Itunes crashed whilst updating my iPad driver and, well . . .I had to roll it back to its starting point and I got a tantalizing glimpse of all the digital Iron Man issues I had for a split second, and then--poof!--gone.
That's just been my luck this week, it seems. It's a really labour-intensive process to get them back on the computer, and I really don't have the time to do it right now, so the best thing that I can see to do is to put it on hold and come up with something else.
Hopefully I can come up with another feature to replace it.
Showing posts with label didjutal comiks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label didjutal comiks. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Monday, July 25, 2011
Didjutal Comiks: IRON MAN #315
Digital comics are the future of comics, so says everyone on the Internet and everyone trying to justify their purchase of an iPad and leveraging that into a desperate attempt to generate content for their blogs and stuff. It is in this spirit that the management at Witless Prattle continues the following, exciting, weirdly specific and slightly iconoclastic feature.
Iron Man #248
April 1995
"Old Soldiers"
Writer: Len Kaminski
Artists: Tom Morgan (Pencils & Inks)
We begin with Iron Man tearing through into a reactor core which is melting down and which seems to be alive, like living slag (Foreshadowing--your key to quality literature!) This is all the fault of Ted Slaught, whose Alzheimer's one would think would preclude him from operating a major science experiment, but everyone's in some kind of collective denial about it, so Stark exposits about how important Slaught was to him when he was a kid. Slaught returns the favour by running in and screaming at him for being ungrateful and stabbing him in the back with trying to get him dismissed from the project.
But that's a problem for three issues or so from now. For now, Stark's jetting off to Russia with his new pilot (do we ever see her again? I doubt it) and the Black Widow, resplendent in a dress which positively thunders "Look! I'm wearing now underwear" from every rooftop. Innuendo is slathered on with a trowel for a bit and we're off to Russia . . .
. . .where the Titanium Man is in Lenin's Tomb, and lamenting the state of post-Communist Russia. He decides to do something about it (what that something is, isn't quite clear, but then again, dude is barking mad) and he flies off while the generals in Russia decide to call Valentin Shatalov, lately the Crimson Dynamo, to deal with him. There's a whole TON of backstory here (most of it from Fabian Nicieza's wonderfully insane Soviet Super-Soldiers one-shot) that involves Titanium Man and Shatalov being teammates, but all you need to know is that . . .well, they were teammates. Also: track down that one-shot some time. It's hilariously daft.
Anyways, cut back to Stark kibitzing with Gorbachev and other Russian dignitaries, when the Titanium Man storms in (Man, no one noticed the nine-foot tall guy in powered armour with the glowing eyes? Shit--Russia is in bad shape) Stark suits up as Iron Man, and a throwdown ensues. Iron Man and Titanium Man debate current events while they zap each other and Iron Man calls Titanium Man's armour is obsolete.
And Iron Man pretty much gets his ass kicked for mouthing off. We end with Titanium Man about to give Iron Man the Bane/Batman thing and then it's continued next issue!
We're close to the end of Kaminski's run on the book, and the he closes out with a three-part story and a issue that ties up the stuff with Slaught before he leaves and the Crossing stuff starts (less said about that the better) and it's serviceable enough. It's only natural that given the no. 1 supplier of bad guys for Iron Man back in the early days was the Soviet Union, that he should go back and see how things have changed and positioning Titanium Man as a relic of the Cold War works as well. I don't know that it needed to be three issues, really--not much happens in this first part when you get down to it. But even if it would work better as a two-parter, it's sound enough in concept that you don't mind so much.
Iron Man #248
April 1995
"Old Soldiers"
Writer: Len Kaminski
Artists: Tom Morgan (Pencils & Inks)
We begin with Iron Man tearing through into a reactor core which is melting down and which seems to be alive, like living slag (Foreshadowing--your key to quality literature!) This is all the fault of Ted Slaught, whose Alzheimer's one would think would preclude him from operating a major science experiment, but everyone's in some kind of collective denial about it, so Stark exposits about how important Slaught was to him when he was a kid. Slaught returns the favour by running in and screaming at him for being ungrateful and stabbing him in the back with trying to get him dismissed from the project.
But that's a problem for three issues or so from now. For now, Stark's jetting off to Russia with his new pilot (do we ever see her again? I doubt it) and the Black Widow, resplendent in a dress which positively thunders "Look! I'm wearing now underwear" from every rooftop. Innuendo is slathered on with a trowel for a bit and we're off to Russia . . .
. . .where the Titanium Man is in Lenin's Tomb, and lamenting the state of post-Communist Russia. He decides to do something about it (what that something is, isn't quite clear, but then again, dude is barking mad) and he flies off while the generals in Russia decide to call Valentin Shatalov, lately the Crimson Dynamo, to deal with him. There's a whole TON of backstory here (most of it from Fabian Nicieza's wonderfully insane Soviet Super-Soldiers one-shot) that involves Titanium Man and Shatalov being teammates, but all you need to know is that . . .well, they were teammates. Also: track down that one-shot some time. It's hilariously daft.
Anyways, cut back to Stark kibitzing with Gorbachev and other Russian dignitaries, when the Titanium Man storms in (Man, no one noticed the nine-foot tall guy in powered armour with the glowing eyes? Shit--Russia is in bad shape) Stark suits up as Iron Man, and a throwdown ensues. Iron Man and Titanium Man debate current events while they zap each other and Iron Man calls Titanium Man's armour is obsolete.
And Iron Man pretty much gets his ass kicked for mouthing off. We end with Titanium Man about to give Iron Man the Bane/Batman thing and then it's continued next issue!
We're close to the end of Kaminski's run on the book, and the he closes out with a three-part story and a issue that ties up the stuff with Slaught before he leaves and the Crossing stuff starts (less said about that the better) and it's serviceable enough. It's only natural that given the no. 1 supplier of bad guys for Iron Man back in the early days was the Soviet Union, that he should go back and see how things have changed and positioning Titanium Man as a relic of the Cold War works as well. I don't know that it needed to be three issues, really--not much happens in this first part when you get down to it. But even if it would work better as a two-parter, it's sound enough in concept that you don't mind so much.
Friday, July 22, 2011
Didjutal Comiks: IRON MAN ANNUAL #14
Digital comics are the future of comics, so says everyone on the Internet and everyone trying to justify their purchase of an iPad and leveraging that into a desperate attempt to generate content for their blogs and stuff. It is in this spirit that the management at Witless Prattle continues the following, exciting, weirdly specific and slightly iconoclastic feature.
Iron Man ANNUAL #14
1993
"Unfamiliar Faces"
Writers: Len Kaminski
Artists: Tom Morgan (Pencils) Fred Fredricks (inks)
We open with Stereotypical Business Man Creighton McCall (No relation to Robert Call, the Equalizer) opening up his latest eBay purchase, a rather ugly mask which cuts his hand and releases a demon which soon kills him and starts eating the body. I knew that "buyer protection" stuff was bullshit Naturally, someone walks in on this and also gets eaten, because if there's one thing that demons released from ancient masks hate it's being walked in on while eating someone by some asshole who won't knock.
Back in Japan, "where a mystic warrior attuned to the unseen worlds experience a prescience of events half a world a way and feels a chill in the marrow of his bones." Because it just couldn't be gas, of course. Immediately, he tells everyone else in the building that "it's time," though not the usual "Vader Time," "Island Time," or even "Miller Time." These are the Masters of Silence, recently seen getting their asses kicked in the first War Machine issue a bit back. The mask-monster is their blood enemy, as is modesty, as one of the Masters is using a gym in a loincloth, which, thankfully, is never a trend that was picked up in other gyms.
Back at Stark Enterprises (why yes! The main character shows up ten pages in.) Iron Man, using his remote control armour that he pilots with his Skype headset, confronts the Masters, who are all like "what's up dude-san?" and Iron Man says "Never mind that shit, where's Mongo?" Oh, no wait . . .not that. They exposit at length about the Masters, their enemy, the Face-Thief (who, as you can tell from the name, steals people's car keys. God I'm punchy today. Must be the heat) and Stark types on his computer and finds out Creighton McCall, and suddenly it's his turn to exposit.
Creighton's daughter, Meredith, and he were lovers, only her father and his father were business competitors and forbid the relationship going forward, and this was before he had all the Iron Man stuff going on. The man who got eaten (the second one) was Meredith's husband Stevenson, and he's having a funeral soonish and Stark decides to investigate via a LMD (the Marvel Universe equivalent of the RealDoll, I reckon) at the Funeral, Creighton (who is actually the Face-Thief) acts all weird, Meredith gets all hysterical and RoboStark comes to comfort Meredith.
Stark decides from here on in to get to the bottom of it (hell, it's nearly page twenty) and sends in Iron Man to get to the bottom of it. Creighton sends out an army of mooks with guns, but they're so lame that Iron Man zaps them all off-screen and we cut to Creighton about to do god knows what to Meredith. Meredith rakes his face and he goes all Face-Thief again, but before he can do anything to her, the Masters of Silence show up and business, as they say, is about to pick up. The Masters call the Face-Thief a "foul excrescence," which is just damn harsh, really.
Iron Man finally gets to the house, and Meredith runs in to him (literally) and the Masters (figuratively) and they decide to go after the Face-Thief, telling Meredith to stay behind. Meredith calls them all chauvinists, takes the clothes and gun of a guard (which, in the best tradition of the Bad Girl era, is completely form-fitting and causes her bust size to shoot up to like, GG, or something. Oh 1993. You so crazy.) and runs off to get a piece of the ass-kicking before the boys get it all.
Back to the fight, and it's not going well. One of the Masters has been killed, the Face-Thief melts Iron Man's armor and things are generally sucking out loud until Meredith breaks in and shoots him with a gun. The Masters bail her out and compliment her on her spirit (you see where this is going, don't you?) Iron Man works out what to do and hurts the Face-Thief enough to cause him to leave, vowing revenge (he has, to date, not returned, which is just fine) and Meredith replaces the fallen master, and again, in the best tradition of the Bad Girl era, her outfit gets all rippy so we can get a good look at her cleavage (oh 1993, you so--oh, wait, I did that one, already) and she and the Masters vanish. Iron Man makes this seem like a Bad Thing, but as Meredith had been seen for nearly 20 years before this and we haven't got the greatest picture of her as a character in this issue, so the tragedy is sorta lost.
Tony Stark feels a bit bummed out, and the story ends. I have more to say about this, but let's deal with the backmatter before we get there: "While The Band Plays On" is a short story featuring War Machine breaking up a hostage situation and argues with Hawkeye about being compared to Iron Man and all this is generally trailing the direction of War Machine's own title. It's . . .wow. The story's sound, but Jim Rhodes' new "angry guy" persona never really worked that well for me, as it felt so tacked on. The art tries to be a bit too stylised and exaggerated for the needs of the story and doesn't work so well.
"Heritage of Vengeance" is the Masters of Silence origin story, as now that they've added Meredith McBoobs to the group, this is a perfect time to put on the Druid robes, wander out in the woods and indulge in some good old-fashioned exposition. We learn a lot about the Masters' past history and their mission of vengeance (Ghost Rider was big during this time, y'all. Vengeance was a growth industry back them) John Czop gives everything a misty sort of Gene Colan look to it, but the story's pretty thin, as are the characters of the Masters, so it's not altogether surprising that this is . . .well, a typical "back of the Annual" story in that it's rushed, thin, and more than a bit inconsequential.
Okay, let's tie this up in a bow: 1993 was an odd year. Marvel and DC both had this burning need to make new characters, and apart from a few, my God, they were all so very very forgettable. The Face-Thief is firmly on the "forgettable" side of things--he makes a poor Iron Man villain (except in terms of Stock Iron Man Plot #3--Iron Man fights magic guy, says he hates magic, triumphs anyway) he's the arch-villain to a group of character who are, themselves, not terribly interesting (The Masters of Silence) and given this is primarily a Masters story and not an Iron Man story, that's a problem.
I think Kaminski had big hopes that the Masters would be spin-off characters, but it never happened. If they or this annual had any legacy at all, it's this--two years after it's published, Marvel decided that Iron Man needed to be shaken up and decided the best way to do it was "The Crossing," or if you're an Iron Man fan, "a hard kick to the nuts." In the wake of the frankly awful "Crossing" issues, the role of Iron Man was played by a teenage Tony Stark, who went back to college in New York and had, as a professor . . .Meredith McCall, who was not, in fact, a boobalicious ninja, or even the redhead she was portrayed as here (these little niggles being the least of issues with her character back then) she was also married to a different guy who also died. I won't tell you where this happened specifically--I am not going anywhere near those goddamned issues ever again.
Needless to say, this proved one immutable fact: No one reads Annuals (well, except us anoraks) not even the people who make the comics.
Much as like Kaminski, he's not really at his best here, though he gamely tries to make it work and make Meredith's committing her life to other people's vengeance tragic, but there is nowhere near enough in-story justification for it, and never really feels earned. He's not the only person at less than full force, however, as Tom Morgan's art feels a bit rushed and doesn't help the story overcome its limitations. Annuals, by this time, had become something of a bad word, and were seen as cheap cash-ins meant to wring some more money out of the punters with rushed/bad art, inconsequential stories, and a general sense mediocrity about them. This Annual will probably justify that feeling.
Iron Man ANNUAL #14
1993
"Unfamiliar Faces"
Writers: Len Kaminski
Artists: Tom Morgan (Pencils) Fred Fredricks (inks)
We open with Stereotypical Business Man Creighton McCall (No relation to Robert Call, the Equalizer) opening up his latest eBay purchase, a rather ugly mask which cuts his hand and releases a demon which soon kills him and starts eating the body. I knew that "buyer protection" stuff was bullshit Naturally, someone walks in on this and also gets eaten, because if there's one thing that demons released from ancient masks hate it's being walked in on while eating someone by some asshole who won't knock.
Back in Japan, "where a mystic warrior attuned to the unseen worlds experience a prescience of events half a world a way and feels a chill in the marrow of his bones." Because it just couldn't be gas, of course. Immediately, he tells everyone else in the building that "it's time," though not the usual "Vader Time," "Island Time," or even "Miller Time." These are the Masters of Silence, recently seen getting their asses kicked in the first War Machine issue a bit back. The mask-monster is their blood enemy, as is modesty, as one of the Masters is using a gym in a loincloth, which, thankfully, is never a trend that was picked up in other gyms.
Back at Stark Enterprises (why yes! The main character shows up ten pages in.) Iron Man, using his remote control armour that he pilots with his Skype headset, confronts the Masters, who are all like "what's up dude-san?" and Iron Man says "Never mind that shit, where's Mongo?" Oh, no wait . . .not that. They exposit at length about the Masters, their enemy, the Face-Thief (who, as you can tell from the name, steals people's car keys. God I'm punchy today. Must be the heat) and Stark types on his computer and finds out Creighton McCall, and suddenly it's his turn to exposit.
Creighton's daughter, Meredith, and he were lovers, only her father and his father were business competitors and forbid the relationship going forward, and this was before he had all the Iron Man stuff going on. The man who got eaten (the second one) was Meredith's husband Stevenson, and he's having a funeral soonish and Stark decides to investigate via a LMD (the Marvel Universe equivalent of the RealDoll, I reckon) at the Funeral, Creighton (who is actually the Face-Thief) acts all weird, Meredith gets all hysterical and RoboStark comes to comfort Meredith.
Stark decides from here on in to get to the bottom of it (hell, it's nearly page twenty) and sends in Iron Man to get to the bottom of it. Creighton sends out an army of mooks with guns, but they're so lame that Iron Man zaps them all off-screen and we cut to Creighton about to do god knows what to Meredith. Meredith rakes his face and he goes all Face-Thief again, but before he can do anything to her, the Masters of Silence show up and business, as they say, is about to pick up. The Masters call the Face-Thief a "foul excrescence," which is just damn harsh, really.
Iron Man finally gets to the house, and Meredith runs in to him (literally) and the Masters (figuratively) and they decide to go after the Face-Thief, telling Meredith to stay behind. Meredith calls them all chauvinists, takes the clothes and gun of a guard (which, in the best tradition of the Bad Girl era, is completely form-fitting and causes her bust size to shoot up to like, GG, or something. Oh 1993. You so crazy.) and runs off to get a piece of the ass-kicking before the boys get it all.
Back to the fight, and it's not going well. One of the Masters has been killed, the Face-Thief melts Iron Man's armor and things are generally sucking out loud until Meredith breaks in and shoots him with a gun. The Masters bail her out and compliment her on her spirit (you see where this is going, don't you?) Iron Man works out what to do and hurts the Face-Thief enough to cause him to leave, vowing revenge (he has, to date, not returned, which is just fine) and Meredith replaces the fallen master, and again, in the best tradition of the Bad Girl era, her outfit gets all rippy so we can get a good look at her cleavage (oh 1993, you so--oh, wait, I did that one, already) and she and the Masters vanish. Iron Man makes this seem like a Bad Thing, but as Meredith had been seen for nearly 20 years before this and we haven't got the greatest picture of her as a character in this issue, so the tragedy is sorta lost.
Tony Stark feels a bit bummed out, and the story ends. I have more to say about this, but let's deal with the backmatter before we get there: "While The Band Plays On" is a short story featuring War Machine breaking up a hostage situation and argues with Hawkeye about being compared to Iron Man and all this is generally trailing the direction of War Machine's own title. It's . . .wow. The story's sound, but Jim Rhodes' new "angry guy" persona never really worked that well for me, as it felt so tacked on. The art tries to be a bit too stylised and exaggerated for the needs of the story and doesn't work so well.
"Heritage of Vengeance" is the Masters of Silence origin story, as now that they've added Meredith McBoobs to the group, this is a perfect time to put on the Druid robes, wander out in the woods and indulge in some good old-fashioned exposition. We learn a lot about the Masters' past history and their mission of vengeance (Ghost Rider was big during this time, y'all. Vengeance was a growth industry back them) John Czop gives everything a misty sort of Gene Colan look to it, but the story's pretty thin, as are the characters of the Masters, so it's not altogether surprising that this is . . .well, a typical "back of the Annual" story in that it's rushed, thin, and more than a bit inconsequential.
Okay, let's tie this up in a bow: 1993 was an odd year. Marvel and DC both had this burning need to make new characters, and apart from a few, my God, they were all so very very forgettable. The Face-Thief is firmly on the "forgettable" side of things--he makes a poor Iron Man villain (except in terms of Stock Iron Man Plot #3--Iron Man fights magic guy, says he hates magic, triumphs anyway) he's the arch-villain to a group of character who are, themselves, not terribly interesting (The Masters of Silence) and given this is primarily a Masters story and not an Iron Man story, that's a problem.
I think Kaminski had big hopes that the Masters would be spin-off characters, but it never happened. If they or this annual had any legacy at all, it's this--two years after it's published, Marvel decided that Iron Man needed to be shaken up and decided the best way to do it was "The Crossing," or if you're an Iron Man fan, "a hard kick to the nuts." In the wake of the frankly awful "Crossing" issues, the role of Iron Man was played by a teenage Tony Stark, who went back to college in New York and had, as a professor . . .Meredith McCall, who was not, in fact, a boobalicious ninja, or even the redhead she was portrayed as here (these little niggles being the least of issues with her character back then) she was also married to a different guy who also died. I won't tell you where this happened specifically--I am not going anywhere near those goddamned issues ever again.
Needless to say, this proved one immutable fact: No one reads Annuals (well, except us anoraks) not even the people who make the comics.
Much as like Kaminski, he's not really at his best here, though he gamely tries to make it work and make Meredith's committing her life to other people's vengeance tragic, but there is nowhere near enough in-story justification for it, and never really feels earned. He's not the only person at less than full force, however, as Tom Morgan's art feels a bit rushed and doesn't help the story overcome its limitations. Annuals, by this time, had become something of a bad word, and were seen as cheap cash-ins meant to wring some more money out of the punters with rushed/bad art, inconsequential stories, and a general sense mediocrity about them. This Annual will probably justify that feeling.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Didjutal Comiks: IRON MAN #248
Digital comics are the future of comics, so says everyone on the Internet and everyone trying to justify their purchase of an iPad and leveraging that into a desperate attempt to generate content for their blogs and stuff. It is in this spirit that the management at Witless Prattle continues the following, exciting, weirdly specific and slightly iconoclastic feature.
Iron Man #248
November 1989
"Footsteps"
Writers: David Michelenie & Bob Layton
Artists: Bob Layton (Pencils) Bob Layton (inks)
Sorry for a lack of Iron Man goodness yesterday--had some entertaining to do.
We begin with Iron Man losing his shit and about to smash the wheelchair he's been trapped in ever since Kathy Dare shot him until Rhodes whacks him in the head with a crowbar, which is the way I usually deal with hysterical people. Rhodes fills us in on what's happening--Stark is handing over control of Stark Enterprises to Marcy Pearson and stepping away from public life, have decided that since he can walk and stuff as Iron Man, he's willing to give up being Tony Stark.
Of course, before he can hand it over to Pearson, Abe Zimmer pages him and let him know that his "Tapeworm" (what we call a "search bot" in this day and age) has found something that might help to repair the damage--a bio-chip that instructs the cells to repair themselves. Stark gets about the business of securing the chip, but is resigned to the fact that it probably won't help.
On the way to meeting with the people who have it, Iron Man stops an Arab terrorist hijacking (we know they're Arabs because they're a sickly gray colour, meaning the Hulk was once Arab, apparently) and steals their guns with reverse magnetism. The passengers then jump on and beat the shit out of the terrorists as Iron Man salutes them because it's not like the terrorists would have had knives or suicide vests on or whatever and flies off. I can't help thinking this is terribly irresponsible, you know.
Anyways, Stark gallivants over to New York, and meets with the biochip people, then, when they refuse, buys their company. But while he owns the biochips, the people who can put them in him still refuse and, tries to work out what to do next. IF he could find a surgeon who owes him a solid, maybe he could get the biochip put in, he could get around it, but as it's not likely, his plans for Tony Stark to disappear are back on.
But first, he has to go to a court date--Kathy Dare (with former SE lawyer Bert Hindel in tow) is in court to determine if she should stand trial for attempted murder. Upon taking the stand, Dare immediately loses her shit and claims that Stark was drunk, constantly threatened her life, beat her up, and she finally shot him in self-defence.
Stark is understandably dismayed--true or not, it's a blow to his case and to him personally. When his lawyer comes up he calls a number of character witnesses to the stand to testify to Stark's character (including Sunturion, who recounts the story from the recent annual) and Stark starts feeling better--it's always good to have people puncture your negative self-image on a bad day, yeah?
In any event, a psychiatrist is called to testify who's overseen Dare's case for thirteen years, and recommended permanent institutionalization for her. This lead the judge to rule that Dare be held in the custody of the mental health board until she's not-crazy enough to stand trial. Stark, buoyed by the testimony of friends and acquaintances (none of whom mentioned his Permed Mullet of DOOM, bless them) decides not to back away and so Pearson's plans to take over are sidelined (this will ultimately comes back to bite everyone in the ass, but there you go) and decides that Tony Stark is the important person, Iron Man is just a toll to be used to get things done.
The hits keep coming, though--Rhodes has apparently been digging through back issues of Iron Man, and found Dr. Erica Sondheim, who owed him a favour and performs the operation and three pages later, Stark's up and about with the aid of a zimmer frame.
Portrait of an aborted plotline: We get the merest sketch of where things were going with the "Tony Stark shot" thing this issue, the issue, incidentally, where it all gets wrapped up more or less. Of course, it actually wasn't, because the biochip would have, at least theoretically, formed the spine (ha ha) of "Armor Wars II," until Layton skipped off to Valiant and John Byrne took over to the dismay of several. As such, this issue is a bit of a rush-job to slam the door on that plotline, clear the decks for Doctor Doom's return in #249-250, and, well, that's that.
It's not a bad issue, I guess, but it makes no effort to hide the brisk nature of its function.
Iron Man #248
November 1989
"Footsteps"
Writers: David Michelenie & Bob Layton
Artists: Bob Layton (Pencils) Bob Layton (inks)
Sorry for a lack of Iron Man goodness yesterday--had some entertaining to do.
We begin with Iron Man losing his shit and about to smash the wheelchair he's been trapped in ever since Kathy Dare shot him until Rhodes whacks him in the head with a crowbar, which is the way I usually deal with hysterical people. Rhodes fills us in on what's happening--Stark is handing over control of Stark Enterprises to Marcy Pearson and stepping away from public life, have decided that since he can walk and stuff as Iron Man, he's willing to give up being Tony Stark.
Of course, before he can hand it over to Pearson, Abe Zimmer pages him and let him know that his "Tapeworm" (what we call a "search bot" in this day and age) has found something that might help to repair the damage--a bio-chip that instructs the cells to repair themselves. Stark gets about the business of securing the chip, but is resigned to the fact that it probably won't help.
On the way to meeting with the people who have it, Iron Man stops an Arab terrorist hijacking (we know they're Arabs because they're a sickly gray colour, meaning the Hulk was once Arab, apparently) and steals their guns with reverse magnetism. The passengers then jump on and beat the shit out of the terrorists as Iron Man salutes them because it's not like the terrorists would have had knives or suicide vests on or whatever and flies off. I can't help thinking this is terribly irresponsible, you know.
Anyways, Stark gallivants over to New York, and meets with the biochip people, then, when they refuse, buys their company. But while he owns the biochips, the people who can put them in him still refuse and, tries to work out what to do next. IF he could find a surgeon who owes him a solid, maybe he could get the biochip put in, he could get around it, but as it's not likely, his plans for Tony Stark to disappear are back on.
But first, he has to go to a court date--Kathy Dare (with former SE lawyer Bert Hindel in tow) is in court to determine if she should stand trial for attempted murder. Upon taking the stand, Dare immediately loses her shit and claims that Stark was drunk, constantly threatened her life, beat her up, and she finally shot him in self-defence.
Stark is understandably dismayed--true or not, it's a blow to his case and to him personally. When his lawyer comes up he calls a number of character witnesses to the stand to testify to Stark's character (including Sunturion, who recounts the story from the recent annual) and Stark starts feeling better--it's always good to have people puncture your negative self-image on a bad day, yeah?
In any event, a psychiatrist is called to testify who's overseen Dare's case for thirteen years, and recommended permanent institutionalization for her. This lead the judge to rule that Dare be held in the custody of the mental health board until she's not-crazy enough to stand trial. Stark, buoyed by the testimony of friends and acquaintances (none of whom mentioned his Permed Mullet of DOOM, bless them) decides not to back away and so Pearson's plans to take over are sidelined (this will ultimately comes back to bite everyone in the ass, but there you go) and decides that Tony Stark is the important person, Iron Man is just a toll to be used to get things done.
The hits keep coming, though--Rhodes has apparently been digging through back issues of Iron Man, and found Dr. Erica Sondheim, who owed him a favour and performs the operation and three pages later, Stark's up and about with the aid of a zimmer frame.
Portrait of an aborted plotline: We get the merest sketch of where things were going with the "Tony Stark shot" thing this issue, the issue, incidentally, where it all gets wrapped up more or less. Of course, it actually wasn't, because the biochip would have, at least theoretically, formed the spine (ha ha) of "Armor Wars II," until Layton skipped off to Valiant and John Byrne took over to the dismay of several. As such, this issue is a bit of a rush-job to slam the door on that plotline, clear the decks for Doctor Doom's return in #249-250, and, well, that's that.
It's not a bad issue, I guess, but it makes no effort to hide the brisk nature of its function.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Didjutal Comiks: IRON MAN #149
Digital comics are the future of comics, so says everyone on the Internet and everyone trying to justify their purchase of an iPad and leveraging that into a desperate attempt to generate content for their blogs and stuff. It is in this spirit that the management at Witless Prattle continues the following, exciting, weirdly specific and slightly iconoclastic feature.
Iron Man #149
August 1981
"Doomquest"
Writers: David Michelenie & Bob Layton
Artists: John Romita Jr. (Pencils) Bob Layton (inks)
Oh wow, I just heard on the radio that Blue Oyster Cult is headlining a baby food festival. Helpless babies on picnic blankets scream bug-eyed as they wait for "Burnin' For You," I guess.
Oh wait, this thing--sorry, was distracted. This is, as you might have guessed, tied in to our recent wanderings with Iron Man and Dr. Doom that tend to come with these sorts of anniversary issues. We open with a big fight between ships and a helicopter and a lot of narration to get us up to speed. Apparently a ship is being hijacked, or was until Iron Man shows up to throw down on some fools. It takes a page and change, and Iron Man, acting on behalf of Tony Stark, orders the ship to turn around and return to port.
Iron Man flies off to change back to Tony Stark, which gives us some time to catch up on the various subplots working their way through the book--Blacklash setting fire to Stark International, Bethany Cabe off in East Germany (back when that was a thing) and we hop to the point of the thing with the ship--apparently it was full of electronic components being shipped to Latveria, a non-existent but real-sounding country that as we all know is the home to one Dr. Doom. Of course, at the present time Doom is deposed and replaced with an apparently benevolent ruler, but Stark sees through that shit right away.
Speaking of the good doctor, he's busily kibitzing with a sorcerer and they do some business that, once concluded, allows Doom to hop on the time cube and return to the present for some exposition. Doom's assistant, Hauptmann, is the brother of a character killed pre-Fantastic Four #100 who works for Doom out of fear and a desire to bide his time for vengeance. He explains to Doom that the shipment of electronics from SI is delayed and Doom handles it with the equanimity we've come to expect from him--by threatening Hauptmann and going after Iron Man with a ridiculous submarine tank. This is what they call in the psychiatric line "projection."
Ridiculous though it may be, it manages to kick Iron Man's ass and give them time to steal some of the stuff . . .and drag it through the ocean? Oh, wait, no, it can fly too. Yeah, dumping electronics in seawater would be stupid. Iron Man flies after them, but they get away and Iron Man vows to chase after them.
Stark flies over to Latveria because the book's halfway over and we gotta get a move on. The government in power gives him all the info needed to find Doom and move about the country because they figure he's going to try something and really, it would be better for everyone if Iron Man would take him down.
And take him down Iron Man shall . . er, try to. Iron Man meets with Doom, who tells him he doesn't talk to errand boys, but luckily, he will damn sure fight with one. He busts out the molecular expander (man, that move was so useful in Marvel vs Capcom 2, wasn't it?) and Iron Man returns fire and they fight and fight and fight and fight and fight, when just on the last page they end up on the time cube, which Hauptmann activates, then smashes, declaring he got his revenge because they're trapped in the past forever.
"Forever," of course, meaning "One double-sized issue."
As happened a hundred issues later, the Doom/Iron Man fight is teased in the issue leading up to the big anniversary, and paid off in the next. It ain't half bad, featuring as it does a hell of a lot of action, the beginning of Dr. Doom constantly punching holes in Iron Man's boat by calling him "errand boy," and a subplot with Brother of Background Character Who Died That One Time which, if you care about such things, probably provides you some sort of thematic closure. It's pure set-up, but good set-up, and so, why not?
Iron Man #149
August 1981
"Doomquest"
Writers: David Michelenie & Bob Layton
Artists: John Romita Jr. (Pencils) Bob Layton (inks)
Oh wow, I just heard on the radio that Blue Oyster Cult is headlining a baby food festival. Helpless babies on picnic blankets scream bug-eyed as they wait for "Burnin' For You," I guess.
Oh wait, this thing--sorry, was distracted. This is, as you might have guessed, tied in to our recent wanderings with Iron Man and Dr. Doom that tend to come with these sorts of anniversary issues. We open with a big fight between ships and a helicopter and a lot of narration to get us up to speed. Apparently a ship is being hijacked, or was until Iron Man shows up to throw down on some fools. It takes a page and change, and Iron Man, acting on behalf of Tony Stark, orders the ship to turn around and return to port.
Iron Man flies off to change back to Tony Stark, which gives us some time to catch up on the various subplots working their way through the book--Blacklash setting fire to Stark International, Bethany Cabe off in East Germany (back when that was a thing) and we hop to the point of the thing with the ship--apparently it was full of electronic components being shipped to Latveria, a non-existent but real-sounding country that as we all know is the home to one Dr. Doom. Of course, at the present time Doom is deposed and replaced with an apparently benevolent ruler, but Stark sees through that shit right away.
Speaking of the good doctor, he's busily kibitzing with a sorcerer and they do some business that, once concluded, allows Doom to hop on the time cube and return to the present for some exposition. Doom's assistant, Hauptmann, is the brother of a character killed pre-Fantastic Four #100 who works for Doom out of fear and a desire to bide his time for vengeance. He explains to Doom that the shipment of electronics from SI is delayed and Doom handles it with the equanimity we've come to expect from him--by threatening Hauptmann and going after Iron Man with a ridiculous submarine tank. This is what they call in the psychiatric line "projection."
Ridiculous though it may be, it manages to kick Iron Man's ass and give them time to steal some of the stuff . . .and drag it through the ocean? Oh, wait, no, it can fly too. Yeah, dumping electronics in seawater would be stupid. Iron Man flies after them, but they get away and Iron Man vows to chase after them.
Stark flies over to Latveria because the book's halfway over and we gotta get a move on. The government in power gives him all the info needed to find Doom and move about the country because they figure he's going to try something and really, it would be better for everyone if Iron Man would take him down.
And take him down Iron Man shall . . er, try to. Iron Man meets with Doom, who tells him he doesn't talk to errand boys, but luckily, he will damn sure fight with one. He busts out the molecular expander (man, that move was so useful in Marvel vs Capcom 2, wasn't it?) and Iron Man returns fire and they fight and fight and fight and fight and fight, when just on the last page they end up on the time cube, which Hauptmann activates, then smashes, declaring he got his revenge because they're trapped in the past forever.
"Forever," of course, meaning "One double-sized issue."
As happened a hundred issues later, the Doom/Iron Man fight is teased in the issue leading up to the big anniversary, and paid off in the next. It ain't half bad, featuring as it does a hell of a lot of action, the beginning of Dr. Doom constantly punching holes in Iron Man's boat by calling him "errand boy," and a subplot with Brother of Background Character Who Died That One Time which, if you care about such things, probably provides you some sort of thematic closure. It's pure set-up, but good set-up, and so, why not?
Monday, July 18, 2011
Didjutal Comiks: IRON MAN #206
Digital comics are the future of comics, so says everyone on the Internet and everyone trying to justify their purchase of an iPad and leveraging that into a desperate attempt to generate content for their blogs and stuff. It is in this spirit that the management at Witless Prattle continues the following, exciting, weirdly specific and slightly iconoclastic feature.
Iron Man #206
May 1986
"Prisons"
Writer: Denny O'Neil
Artists: Mark Bright (Pencils) Akin & Garvey (inks)
We begin with Goliath (now Atlas of the Thunderbolts . . .or he was last I saw him) straining against the prison he was put in by the West Coast Avengers. Or maybe he's busting a massive grump. Who knows, really? Hawkeye and Mockingbird come by with gigantic plates of hamburgers (flown in by White Castle, one assumes) to feed him when Goliath's lawyer drops by to get him released from their custody.
Meanwhile, in case you forgot whose book this was, someone's sabotaging Tony Stark's space shuttle. Stark is making sure Jim Rhodes is ready to fly the space shuttle. Stark will, ideally, be tagging along as Iron Man, but as Al Swearengen says, announcing your plans is a good way to hear God laugh.
We ping around Subplots Corner for a bit as the AIM Scientist Supreme with his brother, Yorgon Tykkio (Man, Denny O'Neil and names) and explains his plan for all of us and to show what a badass he is and really this totally goes nowhere. Meanwhile Cly Erwin stops in to remind us that her brother's dead and she's very upset about it and she's thinking of taking a job looking for Halley's Comet (oh, 1986) and Stark looks appropriately bummed about it.
Stark suits up and Rhodes decides not to take his suit of Iron Man armour with him and the shuttle zooms off to blow up at a moment most convenient to the plot. While that transpires, Goliath's lawyer shows up with a court order and it takes Goliath like, three whole pages to escape. Hawkeye and Mockingbird decide to fight Goliath, because the two best things you can have when fighting giants are a bow and arrow and a pogo stick. This goes about as well as you'd expect, until Iron Man shows up and slaps Goliath around for generally being a chump-ass.
Because you can't sabotage a space shuttle in act one without having something go wrong in act two, just about this time, the space shuttle goes blooey and Iron Man is faced with a dilemma--save Rhodes or let Goliath kill Hawkeye and Mockingbird. Thankfully for Hawk and Mock, Iron Man doesn't do a cost-benefit analysis because they'd be fucking dead.
Iron Man puts Hawkeye and Mockingbird in the cage formerly housing Goliath, and flies off to save Rhodes. The theory goes something like this: The cage with prove a tempting, if indestructible target for Goliath, and draw him there while Iron Man saves the shuttle, so when he gets back Goliath will be right there. Because this is now act three, dammit, we gotta wrap this up, so Iron Man defeats Goliath in short order by blasting pulse bolts down his throat which knocks him out using the powers of "this is page 21 of a 22 page book." We then cut to Yorgon Tykkio brooding and planning (the narration says so) I think he's brooding and planning about how to be such an unengaging lame-ass villain that this entire plot line will drag, then stall, then finally be put out of its mercy by Layton and Michelenie.
Man, what an odd issue this is. Goliath had recently debuted (again, this is his third or fourth identity) in an Iron Man Annual and so, it was decided to roll him back out and do something with him and also give Iron Man a chance to cross over with West Coast Avengers while Iron Man's own subplots tick over in the background. As such, it's kind of a throwaway issue, and is just sort of there. Although it does feature Iron Man kicking the shit out of a giant, and that's not a bad thing to have in an issue, really. The AIM stuff continues to bore the hell out of me, but that's to be expected by now.
Iron Man #206
May 1986
"Prisons"
Writer: Denny O'Neil
Artists: Mark Bright (Pencils) Akin & Garvey (inks)
We begin with Goliath (now Atlas of the Thunderbolts . . .or he was last I saw him) straining against the prison he was put in by the West Coast Avengers. Or maybe he's busting a massive grump. Who knows, really? Hawkeye and Mockingbird come by with gigantic plates of hamburgers (flown in by White Castle, one assumes) to feed him when Goliath's lawyer drops by to get him released from their custody.
Meanwhile, in case you forgot whose book this was, someone's sabotaging Tony Stark's space shuttle. Stark is making sure Jim Rhodes is ready to fly the space shuttle. Stark will, ideally, be tagging along as Iron Man, but as Al Swearengen says, announcing your plans is a good way to hear God laugh.
We ping around Subplots Corner for a bit as the AIM Scientist Supreme with his brother, Yorgon Tykkio (Man, Denny O'Neil and names) and explains his plan for all of us and to show what a badass he is and really this totally goes nowhere. Meanwhile Cly Erwin stops in to remind us that her brother's dead and she's very upset about it and she's thinking of taking a job looking for Halley's Comet (oh, 1986) and Stark looks appropriately bummed about it.
Stark suits up and Rhodes decides not to take his suit of Iron Man armour with him and the shuttle zooms off to blow up at a moment most convenient to the plot. While that transpires, Goliath's lawyer shows up with a court order and it takes Goliath like, three whole pages to escape. Hawkeye and Mockingbird decide to fight Goliath, because the two best things you can have when fighting giants are a bow and arrow and a pogo stick. This goes about as well as you'd expect, until Iron Man shows up and slaps Goliath around for generally being a chump-ass.
Because you can't sabotage a space shuttle in act one without having something go wrong in act two, just about this time, the space shuttle goes blooey and Iron Man is faced with a dilemma--save Rhodes or let Goliath kill Hawkeye and Mockingbird. Thankfully for Hawk and Mock, Iron Man doesn't do a cost-benefit analysis because they'd be fucking dead.
Iron Man puts Hawkeye and Mockingbird in the cage formerly housing Goliath, and flies off to save Rhodes. The theory goes something like this: The cage with prove a tempting, if indestructible target for Goliath, and draw him there while Iron Man saves the shuttle, so when he gets back Goliath will be right there. Because this is now act three, dammit, we gotta wrap this up, so Iron Man defeats Goliath in short order by blasting pulse bolts down his throat which knocks him out using the powers of "this is page 21 of a 22 page book." We then cut to Yorgon Tykkio brooding and planning (the narration says so) I think he's brooding and planning about how to be such an unengaging lame-ass villain that this entire plot line will drag, then stall, then finally be put out of its mercy by Layton and Michelenie.
Man, what an odd issue this is. Goliath had recently debuted (again, this is his third or fourth identity) in an Iron Man Annual and so, it was decided to roll him back out and do something with him and also give Iron Man a chance to cross over with West Coast Avengers while Iron Man's own subplots tick over in the background. As such, it's kind of a throwaway issue, and is just sort of there. Although it does feature Iron Man kicking the shit out of a giant, and that's not a bad thing to have in an issue, really. The AIM stuff continues to bore the hell out of me, but that's to be expected by now.
Friday, July 15, 2011
Didjutal Comiks: IRON MAN #203
Digital comics are the future of comics, so says everyone on the Internet and everyone trying to justify their purchase of an iPad and leveraging that into a desperate attempt to generate content for their blogs and stuff. It is in this spirit that the management at Witless Prattle continues the following, exciting, weirdly specific and slightly iconoclastic feature.
Iron Man #203
February 1986
"The Maze"
Writers: Denny O'Neil
Artists: Mark Bright (pencils) Akin & Garvey (inks)
We begin with some fallout from pre-issue #200, when Obadiah Stane order Dr. Atlanta to swap Madame Masque's brain with Bethany Cabe's to have a weapon of retribution against Stark in case Stane should, I don't know, blow his head off whilst using a repulsor ray as a Q-tip. This will be important later. I would also like to remind you that water is wet, fire is hot, and to keep breathing.
Stark flies in as Iron Man to pick up Bethany Masque, who does a good job of looking normal by looking really scrunched up and sinister in every single close-up. Stark flies her to his rental property and Bethany Masque entices him to remove his armour so she can shoot when when Cly Erwin comes in to remind us about her brother dying and how pissed off she is about it (and at Iron Man (sorta) and to drop in some exposition about Stark's fortune, which was frozen by Stane back when he broke his ass down--figuratively and literally.
Because nothing can ever be easy in comics it involves computer codes, a ticking clock, and some opposition called Ermarks. Not ERMAC, obviously, because the Ultimate Kombat Kode for him won't be thought of for about ten years or so.
Bethany Masque is getting a bit pissed that this fucking Erwin woman won't shut her fucking mouth so she can get on with the business of shooting Tony Stark. Really--she acts the whole time like she's desperate for a piss and the next rest area is 80 miles up the road. Stark flies off to go see Hank Pym (I'll explain that in a bit)
In the meantime Madame Cabe has escaped and hijacks a plane. You see where this is going, but then, you knew that as soon as you looked at the cover.
Back to Iron Man and Hank Pym and Denny O'Neil deciding to take the most literal possible way to regain his fortune from the computer as possible--he shrinks himself down and he flies around in the computer and encounters the Ermarks, which are space-shippy things because in 1986, really no one quite knew what "firewall" meant except auto mechanics.
Meanwhile, Madame Cabe is on her way to meet Tony Stark, hopefully after he gets over his shrinkage. He ultimately finds his fortune and everything's going swimmingly, when he gets home, starts shucking his armour and--awp--wouldn't you know it, Bethany Masque is holding her gun on him with an expression that says "fucking FINALLY!"
But just then, Madame Cabe shows up for one hell of a cliffhanger and yes, this damn well is going to be dragged out for another issue.
It's interesting that while #200 closed the book on Obadiah Stane, O'Neil takes the time to deal with the fallout, namely in terms of the loss of Stark's fortune and regaining it. The brain switching stuff Stane pulls is actually a blind to transition into the AIM plot that will start up soon after, and so this issue is a transition and as such, feels a bit thin on plot (and the damn "shrinking someone down enough to put them physically in a computer is all sorts of fucking silly) but is serviceable enough as yet another installment in an ever evolving continuing narrative.
Iron Man #203
February 1986
"The Maze"
Writers: Denny O'Neil
Artists: Mark Bright (pencils) Akin & Garvey (inks)
We begin with some fallout from pre-issue #200, when Obadiah Stane order Dr. Atlanta to swap Madame Masque's brain with Bethany Cabe's to have a weapon of retribution against Stark in case Stane should, I don't know, blow his head off whilst using a repulsor ray as a Q-tip. This will be important later. I would also like to remind you that water is wet, fire is hot, and to keep breathing.
Stark flies in as Iron Man to pick up Bethany Masque, who does a good job of looking normal by looking really scrunched up and sinister in every single close-up. Stark flies her to his rental property and Bethany Masque entices him to remove his armour so she can shoot when when Cly Erwin comes in to remind us about her brother dying and how pissed off she is about it (and at Iron Man (sorta) and to drop in some exposition about Stark's fortune, which was frozen by Stane back when he broke his ass down--figuratively and literally.
Because nothing can ever be easy in comics it involves computer codes, a ticking clock, and some opposition called Ermarks. Not ERMAC, obviously, because the Ultimate Kombat Kode for him won't be thought of for about ten years or so.
Bethany Masque is getting a bit pissed that this fucking Erwin woman won't shut her fucking mouth so she can get on with the business of shooting Tony Stark. Really--she acts the whole time like she's desperate for a piss and the next rest area is 80 miles up the road. Stark flies off to go see Hank Pym (I'll explain that in a bit)
In the meantime Madame Cabe has escaped and hijacks a plane. You see where this is going, but then, you knew that as soon as you looked at the cover.
Back to Iron Man and Hank Pym and Denny O'Neil deciding to take the most literal possible way to regain his fortune from the computer as possible--he shrinks himself down and he flies around in the computer and encounters the Ermarks, which are space-shippy things because in 1986, really no one quite knew what "firewall" meant except auto mechanics.
Meanwhile, Madame Cabe is on her way to meet Tony Stark, hopefully after he gets over his shrinkage. He ultimately finds his fortune and everything's going swimmingly, when he gets home, starts shucking his armour and--awp--wouldn't you know it, Bethany Masque is holding her gun on him with an expression that says "fucking FINALLY!"
But just then, Madame Cabe shows up for one hell of a cliffhanger and yes, this damn well is going to be dragged out for another issue.
It's interesting that while #200 closed the book on Obadiah Stane, O'Neil takes the time to deal with the fallout, namely in terms of the loss of Stark's fortune and regaining it. The brain switching stuff Stane pulls is actually a blind to transition into the AIM plot that will start up soon after, and so this issue is a transition and as such, feels a bit thin on plot (and the damn "shrinking someone down enough to put them physically in a computer is all sorts of fucking silly) but is serviceable enough as yet another installment in an ever evolving continuing narrative.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Didjutal Comiks: IRON MAN #243
Digital comics are the future of comics, so says everyone on the Internet and everyone trying to justify their purchase of an iPad and leveraging that into a desperate attempt to generate content for their blogs and stuff. It is in this spirit that the management at Witless Prattle continues the following, exciting, weirdly specific and slightly iconoclastic feature.
Iron Man #243
Jun 1989
"Heartbeaten"
Writers: David Michelenie & Bob Layton
Artists: Barry Windsor-Smith (pencils) Bob Layton (inks)
Tony Stark is being rushed to the emergency room after being shot by Kathy Dare last issue, while doctors surrounding him fret over the notion that they're going to lose him (Hey man, you just got him in the hospital for Christ's sake! A little positivity wouldn't hurt in this situation) and Jim Rhodes is handling it about as well as you might imagine--on a short fuse and ready to smack the hell out of any reporters who get too nosy.
Meanwhile,the new breathlessly fills in the larger story or those of you who didn't read last issue and the larger story--Kathy Dare is arrested and meets up with Bert Hindel, former head of Stark Enterprises' legal dept. Having been fired for making a pig's ear of the litigation for the Armor Wars, he's now looking for revenge and a six-figure book deal, in a scene that would seem really venal and cliched if this kind of thing didn't happen all the time.
Rhodes reacts to this by kicking in the television set and Mrs. Arbogast tells him to fucking get ahold of himself and then further enhances her "awesome" credentials by fighting off a photographer with a squeegee (making her the most successful squeegee wielding combatant ever, besides Sid Eudy. Yes, that's probably the most obscure reference ever in didjutal comiks history) The new ripples outward as Scott Lang reacts to it and of course, mentions he's Ant-Man.
But not all his friends are sitting and pacing the floor. Rae LaCoste has flown in a very high quality surgeon, Dr. Ingwe, who hopefully will keep Stark from dying. In the meantime, Marcy Pearson is made acting head of Stark Enterprises and acts like a real bitch about it, and Rhodes isn't best pleased, and really, who can blame him. Continuing the slow rollout of the news among everyone, Justin Hammer hopes Stark croaks (of course,) Tigra shows up to send him some flowers and ruminate about their history.
We cut back to a news story on Nightline that gives us an opportunity to recap Iron Man's origin and the high and low points of his history and we fill in more about Kathy Dare, namely that there's a high probability that she's tried to kill other people before. Then we go from there to the Today show where Dr. Ingwe announces they've kept Tony Stark alive, but he will never walk again ("never again" meaning "five issues and an annual")
This issue is a little unfocused, but I think it's more a matter of intent than accident. The intention is to give a very fractured you-are-there quality to the proceedings and make it feel . . .well, a lot like when we see major shit happen on the news and we try to fill in bits and pieces as they come. In any event, it's basically an issue to set up the new status quo for a little while and make sure people know there are Serious Consequences (well, before editorial pulled the plug) and as such it's not a very action-heavy issue, but given how many stories kept spinning out of him being shot, it's sort of essential reading just for all that spun out of it.
Barry Windsor-Smith pops in for another guest stint as penciller, making this feel even more like a proto-Valiant issue than usual. It's not bad, but given that BWS's style was so illustrative by this point, and this is a very kind of middle of the road issue where there's no action, there's not much that's interesting for him to draw. All the Iron Man stuff kicks back in in next issue's mildly befuddling double-sized issue. However, this is another solid installment of a continuing narrative, and keeps the story humming along well enough.
Iron Man #243
Jun 1989
"Heartbeaten"
Writers: David Michelenie & Bob Layton
Artists: Barry Windsor-Smith (pencils) Bob Layton (inks)
Tony Stark is being rushed to the emergency room after being shot by Kathy Dare last issue, while doctors surrounding him fret over the notion that they're going to lose him (Hey man, you just got him in the hospital for Christ's sake! A little positivity wouldn't hurt in this situation) and Jim Rhodes is handling it about as well as you might imagine--on a short fuse and ready to smack the hell out of any reporters who get too nosy.
Meanwhile,the new breathlessly fills in the larger story or those of you who didn't read last issue and the larger story--Kathy Dare is arrested and meets up with Bert Hindel, former head of Stark Enterprises' legal dept. Having been fired for making a pig's ear of the litigation for the Armor Wars, he's now looking for revenge and a six-figure book deal, in a scene that would seem really venal and cliched if this kind of thing didn't happen all the time.
Rhodes reacts to this by kicking in the television set and Mrs. Arbogast tells him to fucking get ahold of himself and then further enhances her "awesome" credentials by fighting off a photographer with a squeegee (making her the most successful squeegee wielding combatant ever, besides Sid Eudy. Yes, that's probably the most obscure reference ever in didjutal comiks history) The new ripples outward as Scott Lang reacts to it and of course, mentions he's Ant-Man.
But not all his friends are sitting and pacing the floor. Rae LaCoste has flown in a very high quality surgeon, Dr. Ingwe, who hopefully will keep Stark from dying. In the meantime, Marcy Pearson is made acting head of Stark Enterprises and acts like a real bitch about it, and Rhodes isn't best pleased, and really, who can blame him. Continuing the slow rollout of the news among everyone, Justin Hammer hopes Stark croaks (of course,) Tigra shows up to send him some flowers and ruminate about their history.
We cut back to a news story on Nightline that gives us an opportunity to recap Iron Man's origin and the high and low points of his history and we fill in more about Kathy Dare, namely that there's a high probability that she's tried to kill other people before. Then we go from there to the Today show where Dr. Ingwe announces they've kept Tony Stark alive, but he will never walk again ("never again" meaning "five issues and an annual")
This issue is a little unfocused, but I think it's more a matter of intent than accident. The intention is to give a very fractured you-are-there quality to the proceedings and make it feel . . .well, a lot like when we see major shit happen on the news and we try to fill in bits and pieces as they come. In any event, it's basically an issue to set up the new status quo for a little while and make sure people know there are Serious Consequences (well, before editorial pulled the plug) and as such it's not a very action-heavy issue, but given how many stories kept spinning out of him being shot, it's sort of essential reading just for all that spun out of it.
Barry Windsor-Smith pops in for another guest stint as penciller, making this feel even more like a proto-Valiant issue than usual. It's not bad, but given that BWS's style was so illustrative by this point, and this is a very kind of middle of the road issue where there's no action, there's not much that's interesting for him to draw. All the Iron Man stuff kicks back in in next issue's mildly befuddling double-sized issue. However, this is another solid installment of a continuing narrative, and keeps the story humming along well enough.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Didjutal Comiks: IRON MAN #313
Digital comics are the future of comics, so says everyone on the Internet and everyone trying to justify their purchase of an iPad and leveraging that into a desperate attempt to generate content for their blogs and stuff. It is in this spirit that the management at Witless Prattle continues the following, exciting, weirdly specific and slightly iconoclastic feature.
Iron Man #313
Feb 1995
"Resolutions"
Writer: Len Kaminski
Artists: Dave Chylstek (pencils) Andy Lanning (inks)
How ironic that on the heels of one of the most cretinous, most mendacious scenes in modern comics (which was naturally hailed as brilliant by people who should--and don't--know better), this issue comes up.
It's New Year's Eve, and in the wake of VOR/TEX taking over his body and forcing him to get stupid drunk, Tony Stark goes to an AA meeting to deal with the psychological fallout of the experience. We flash back to when Howard Stark, his father offering him his first drink in the name of "making a man out of him" We'd hit on this previously in Kaminski's run--here we're just explicitly drawing a line of causality to it and his later problems with alcohol. We touch on "Demon in a Bottle" and the Obadiah Stane stuff and we flash back from there to a conversation he had with Jim Rhodes where he talks about what happened, says it sounds like the ravings of an alcoholic (VOR/TEX, I should mention, was an artificial intelligence program that took over Stark's nervous system and . . .yeah, it sounds pretty crazy, but on the scale of that and hiding your armour in your bone marrow, I'd say it's a push, really) Stark gives Jim Rhodes the specs for his War Machine suit so he can make repairs on it (which was the cause of their big set-to before the Mandarin story) and they part as friends.
Cut from there to Stark apologising to Mrs. Arbogast, who dresses him down for it, not the apology, but for not opening up to his friends and leaning on them when he needs to (yes, this was highlighted in Kaminski's final issue, now that you mention) and Arbogast tells him that the next time he needs help and doesn't ask, she'll kick his ass. See, I like her so much better than Pepper Potts.
Back to the AA meeting and Stark finishes up, feeling a little better about things. He comes across Happy Hogan outside, who confesses that his father, and him as well, were/are alcoholics, and lets him know he understands where he's coming from. Stark goes home and watches a movie featuring Wonder Man and berated himself for letting him die in Force Works, when Bethany Cabe shows up to make him feel better. They tease getting together, but that ain't gonna happen for another six issues when Stark's acting grossly out of character anyways and anyway, everyone knows Pepper Potts is Stark's one true love, right?
This isn't a bad issue--lamentably in the age of decompression you don't get these kinds of issues where you pause and catch your breath and take time out for a quiet character study like this anymore, but then, given that 90% of the issue involves the supporting cast and they don't have those anymore, it's even more of a rare bird. It has some ropey bits--Dave Chylstek's art isn't a good match for a script that's so much talking heads and given his heavy use of blacks, you kinda get the feeling he'd have been a better fit on another book that better suited his proclivities. But he does as well as he can with it, and Kaminski turns in another winner of a script and shows he understands Stark as a character the way that having him chug a bottle of wine to get Odin's attention, let's say, doesn't.
Iron Man #313
Feb 1995
"Resolutions"
Writer: Len Kaminski
Artists: Dave Chylstek (pencils) Andy Lanning (inks)
How ironic that on the heels of one of the most cretinous, most mendacious scenes in modern comics (which was naturally hailed as brilliant by people who should--and don't--know better), this issue comes up.
It's New Year's Eve, and in the wake of VOR/TEX taking over his body and forcing him to get stupid drunk, Tony Stark goes to an AA meeting to deal with the psychological fallout of the experience. We flash back to when Howard Stark, his father offering him his first drink in the name of "making a man out of him" We'd hit on this previously in Kaminski's run--here we're just explicitly drawing a line of causality to it and his later problems with alcohol. We touch on "Demon in a Bottle" and the Obadiah Stane stuff and we flash back from there to a conversation he had with Jim Rhodes where he talks about what happened, says it sounds like the ravings of an alcoholic (VOR/TEX, I should mention, was an artificial intelligence program that took over Stark's nervous system and . . .yeah, it sounds pretty crazy, but on the scale of that and hiding your armour in your bone marrow, I'd say it's a push, really) Stark gives Jim Rhodes the specs for his War Machine suit so he can make repairs on it (which was the cause of their big set-to before the Mandarin story) and they part as friends.
Cut from there to Stark apologising to Mrs. Arbogast, who dresses him down for it, not the apology, but for not opening up to his friends and leaning on them when he needs to (yes, this was highlighted in Kaminski's final issue, now that you mention) and Arbogast tells him that the next time he needs help and doesn't ask, she'll kick his ass. See, I like her so much better than Pepper Potts.
Back to the AA meeting and Stark finishes up, feeling a little better about things. He comes across Happy Hogan outside, who confesses that his father, and him as well, were/are alcoholics, and lets him know he understands where he's coming from. Stark goes home and watches a movie featuring Wonder Man and berated himself for letting him die in Force Works, when Bethany Cabe shows up to make him feel better. They tease getting together, but that ain't gonna happen for another six issues when Stark's acting grossly out of character anyways and anyway, everyone knows Pepper Potts is Stark's one true love, right?
This isn't a bad issue--lamentably in the age of decompression you don't get these kinds of issues where you pause and catch your breath and take time out for a quiet character study like this anymore, but then, given that 90% of the issue involves the supporting cast and they don't have those anymore, it's even more of a rare bird. It has some ropey bits--Dave Chylstek's art isn't a good match for a script that's so much talking heads and given his heavy use of blacks, you kinda get the feeling he'd have been a better fit on another book that better suited his proclivities. But he does as well as he can with it, and Kaminski turns in another winner of a script and shows he understands Stark as a character the way that having him chug a bottle of wine to get Odin's attention, let's say, doesn't.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Didjutal Comiks: IRON MAN #3
Digital comics are the future of comics, so says everyone on the Internet and everyone trying to justify their purchase of an iPad and leveraging that into a desperate attempt to generate content for their blogs and stuff. It is in this spirit that the management at Witless Prattle continues the following, exciting, weirdly specific and slightly iconoclastic feature.
Iron Man #3
April 1998
"The Art of the Deal"
Writer:Kurt Busiek
Artists: Sean Chen (pencils) Cannon/Hubs/Parsons (inks)
When people ask me why I began the meme that Kurt Busiek's Iron Man is 90% Iron Man getting his ass kicked, I show him this book, the cover of which had Iron Man already looking like he got thrashed. And at this point, theoretically, you haven't even bought the book yet. When you open it and Iron Man is getting the shit kicked out of him in a glorious splash page, which, when you turn the page is a double-page spread of him getting blasted by three Dreadnoughts . . .look, I didn't pull this meme out of thin air.
So Iron Man is under attack by the Dreadnoughts, which, unusually for an Iron Man comic, are actually somewhat dangerous and not just something Iron Man can quickly wreck while Madame Masque looks all hot and dangerous posing with her gun and shit. The Dreadnoughts have issues from some kinda big flying saucery thing which is run by the Siege Engineers (yeah, I know) Iron Man flies back to the chalet that was destroyed to dig out some civilians and deliver them to safety. Then its off to chat with Pepper Potts at an internet cafe (oh, 1998, you scamp you) and this gives us a chance to touch of the Happy/Pepper stuff going on in Subplots Corner, which I went on at length about last week and ain't gonna waste time on here.
So Stark sits down for some coffee and exposition with Stephanie, the lady he rescued earlier and she tells him about Kapelos, who was a friend of her husband's, but she never liked him because he was kind of an asshole, a feeling more than justified when he tries to buy her husband's company and when she says no, he gets all pissed off. I should add that Stephanie is actually a returning character from an old old old Tales of Suspense issue wherein she apparently behaved like an utter psycho, but there's not much to say about that except while I appreciate Busiek's appreciation of the past, really, this could have been any character and the story would have still worked.
Anyways, a few bits of plot convulsions later and Stark comes up with a plan to lure the Dreadnoughts out to fight him. As this grinds on, we cut to the Mandarin (because this issue didn't have enough to annoy me, I guess) who apparently takes his meetings in the dark with a bucket on his head and calls his flunkies "fragile blossom." I have no words for this scene, really.
Anyways, round 2 with the Dreadnoughts. Iron Man meets them with an I-beam in his hand, and why not. He tricks them into melting it down, then throws the slag all over them and Iron Man leads them on a merry chase right back to their base where the Dreadnoughts seize up (the slag having blocked their heat exhaust ports) and presents their master with a choice--he gets some details on who's behind all this, or he'll just stay there and wait for the Dreadnoughts to blow up.
The guy relents and Iron Man flies off, and the Dreadnoughts go 'splode. Iron Man relaxes and thinks about this tying in to the larger plot of someone being out to get him and we cut to a few hours later and he even manages to get laid out of the deal. Not bad for someone who's plan was basically to turn his tendency to get his ass kicked into a workable plan. Then again, Stark is rather brilliant. The story closes with the girl Happy Hogan's been romancing looking all eeeeevil and saying how stupid Happy is because it's not like that hadn't been made explicit up to now and how they're going to take all the secrets Stark's new company will have, which, given this is issue #3, can't be all that much.
I tease Busiek all the time about how much time Iron Man spends getting his ass kicked, but fairness to him, as ropey as these issues read now (seriously HOW MANY GODDAMN PEOPLE ARE SITTING IN THE SHADOWS PLOTTING THE DOWNFALL OF TONY STARK? They add a new one every fucking issue) read now, this was as close to readable as Iron Man had been for like, three years at this point, and I was an am grateful that the book is being written with a measure of competence, but at the same time, I wish it was in the service of something more worthwhile.
Iron Man #3
April 1998
"The Art of the Deal"
Writer:Kurt Busiek
Artists: Sean Chen (pencils) Cannon/Hubs/Parsons (inks)
When people ask me why I began the meme that Kurt Busiek's Iron Man is 90% Iron Man getting his ass kicked, I show him this book, the cover of which had Iron Man already looking like he got thrashed. And at this point, theoretically, you haven't even bought the book yet. When you open it and Iron Man is getting the shit kicked out of him in a glorious splash page, which, when you turn the page is a double-page spread of him getting blasted by three Dreadnoughts . . .look, I didn't pull this meme out of thin air.
So Iron Man is under attack by the Dreadnoughts, which, unusually for an Iron Man comic, are actually somewhat dangerous and not just something Iron Man can quickly wreck while Madame Masque looks all hot and dangerous posing with her gun and shit. The Dreadnoughts have issues from some kinda big flying saucery thing which is run by the Siege Engineers (yeah, I know) Iron Man flies back to the chalet that was destroyed to dig out some civilians and deliver them to safety. Then its off to chat with Pepper Potts at an internet cafe (oh, 1998, you scamp you) and this gives us a chance to touch of the Happy/Pepper stuff going on in Subplots Corner, which I went on at length about last week and ain't gonna waste time on here.
So Stark sits down for some coffee and exposition with Stephanie, the lady he rescued earlier and she tells him about Kapelos, who was a friend of her husband's, but she never liked him because he was kind of an asshole, a feeling more than justified when he tries to buy her husband's company and when she says no, he gets all pissed off. I should add that Stephanie is actually a returning character from an old old old Tales of Suspense issue wherein she apparently behaved like an utter psycho, but there's not much to say about that except while I appreciate Busiek's appreciation of the past, really, this could have been any character and the story would have still worked.
Anyways, a few bits of plot convulsions later and Stark comes up with a plan to lure the Dreadnoughts out to fight him. As this grinds on, we cut to the Mandarin (because this issue didn't have enough to annoy me, I guess) who apparently takes his meetings in the dark with a bucket on his head and calls his flunkies "fragile blossom." I have no words for this scene, really.
Anyways, round 2 with the Dreadnoughts. Iron Man meets them with an I-beam in his hand, and why not. He tricks them into melting it down, then throws the slag all over them and Iron Man leads them on a merry chase right back to their base where the Dreadnoughts seize up (the slag having blocked their heat exhaust ports) and presents their master with a choice--he gets some details on who's behind all this, or he'll just stay there and wait for the Dreadnoughts to blow up.
The guy relents and Iron Man flies off, and the Dreadnoughts go 'splode. Iron Man relaxes and thinks about this tying in to the larger plot of someone being out to get him and we cut to a few hours later and he even manages to get laid out of the deal. Not bad for someone who's plan was basically to turn his tendency to get his ass kicked into a workable plan. Then again, Stark is rather brilliant. The story closes with the girl Happy Hogan's been romancing looking all eeeeevil and saying how stupid Happy is because it's not like that hadn't been made explicit up to now and how they're going to take all the secrets Stark's new company will have, which, given this is issue #3, can't be all that much.
I tease Busiek all the time about how much time Iron Man spends getting his ass kicked, but fairness to him, as ropey as these issues read now (seriously HOW MANY GODDAMN PEOPLE ARE SITTING IN THE SHADOWS PLOTTING THE DOWNFALL OF TONY STARK? They add a new one every fucking issue) read now, this was as close to readable as Iron Man had been for like, three years at this point, and I was an am grateful that the book is being written with a measure of competence, but at the same time, I wish it was in the service of something more worthwhile.
Monday, July 11, 2011
Didjutal Comiks: IRON MAN #287
Digital comics are the future of comics, so says everyone on the Internet and everyone trying to justify their purchase of an iPad and leveraging that into a desperate attempt to generate content for their blogs and stuff. It is in this spirit that the management at Witless Prattle continues the following, exciting, weirdly specific and slightly iconoclastic feature.
Iron Man #287
December 1992
"Meltdown!"
Writer:Len Kaminski
Artists: Kevin Hopgood (pencils) Mike DeCarlo (inks)
We open with Jim Rhodes calling a meeting of the board he's now in charge of after Tony Stark's death. He says SE isn't broken and he won't try to fix it and says they'll continue business as usual which, of course, means it won't at all. Rhodes is so happy he sets up a dinner date with Rae LaCoste and confesses his anxiety about being in the big chair and a further wrinkle is thrown in when Rae says she wants to be more than friends with Rhodes. Not surprisingly, he's a little tongue-tied.
Cut to Stane International, when two security guards are finishing up their shift and get surprised by a freaky guy in a suit who calls himself Atom Smasher (not that one) who tells them to alert the media. The security guards, apparently the most obliging security guards in the history of anything, do just that.
Cut to Rhodes and Rae, having just slept together (if the modesty bedsheeting Rae is sporting is any indication) Rhodes tells her an interracial romance isn't easy, but Rae says she's not really that worried about it, and before things can get any saucier, the phone rings, and given Rhodes's reaction, it's obviously about the Atom Smasher thing.
Over in Subplots Corner, Marcy Pearson is cleaning out her desk and vowing revenge on Jim Rhodes, because there's nothing like losing your shit about getting fired that makes people thing "now there's someone with their head on straight) she runs into Morgan Stark, who makes her an offer she can't refuse, which will come to fruition, more or less, later on.
Rhodes takes a meeting about the Atom Smasher thing, and there's not a lot they can do, so the people around him say. Ever since Stark Enterprises bought Stane from Justin Hammer a few issues back, it's been something of a poisoned chalice (and will be moreso when we go into "Crash and Burn" post #300) Rhodes suits up in the War Machine suit and flies off to find out what's what.
Back in another Subplots Corner, Abe Zimmer and Erica Sondheim stare at Stark's corpscicle and ruminate about how impossible all this is and this is our entree to Stark flashing back to his childhood and what a hateful asshole his father was. This is the beginning of Stark's use of the word "Mallory" as his password, because he was into knights and chivalry as a child. Yes, this is all laying it on rather a bit thick.
We cut back to Iron Man landing at Stane and encountering Atom Smasher, and Iron Man follows the crackling radiation and encounters Atom Smasher, which immediately leads to a fight that goes so badly that we're nearly Busiek levels of main-character-asskicking here. Meanwhile, the U.S. Government (one assumes) decides to send in Firepower.
This is a pretty decent issue with some seriously ropey bits. The parts with Rhodes stepping up to the plate as CEO is pretty good and it's good to see him having storylines of his own and not really being Stark's appendage so much, even through in about three issues this is gonna all be reversed (and I don't know if it gets adequately followed up in War Machine before that book's new status quo overtakes everything) and this is the beginning of dealing with the consequences of Stark's buyout of Stane International.
The bits that don't work very well, are . . .well, the Stark flashbacks. OK, we get it, he realises the value of iron and he idealises knight and stuff. You don't have to lay it on with a trowel. It's a bit of a shame, because the other flashbacks, which deal with Stark's father emotional abuse and his alcoholism worked great, but this . . .er, not so much.
Also, Atom Smasher's design is . . .well, problematic.
But it's mostly good and keeps things humming along and there's more good than bad to be found here.
Iron Man #287
December 1992
"Meltdown!"
Writer:Len Kaminski
Artists: Kevin Hopgood (pencils) Mike DeCarlo (inks)
We open with Jim Rhodes calling a meeting of the board he's now in charge of after Tony Stark's death. He says SE isn't broken and he won't try to fix it and says they'll continue business as usual which, of course, means it won't at all. Rhodes is so happy he sets up a dinner date with Rae LaCoste and confesses his anxiety about being in the big chair and a further wrinkle is thrown in when Rae says she wants to be more than friends with Rhodes. Not surprisingly, he's a little tongue-tied.
Cut to Stane International, when two security guards are finishing up their shift and get surprised by a freaky guy in a suit who calls himself Atom Smasher (not that one) who tells them to alert the media. The security guards, apparently the most obliging security guards in the history of anything, do just that.
Cut to Rhodes and Rae, having just slept together (if the modesty bedsheeting Rae is sporting is any indication) Rhodes tells her an interracial romance isn't easy, but Rae says she's not really that worried about it, and before things can get any saucier, the phone rings, and given Rhodes's reaction, it's obviously about the Atom Smasher thing.
Over in Subplots Corner, Marcy Pearson is cleaning out her desk and vowing revenge on Jim Rhodes, because there's nothing like losing your shit about getting fired that makes people thing "now there's someone with their head on straight) she runs into Morgan Stark, who makes her an offer she can't refuse, which will come to fruition, more or less, later on.
Rhodes takes a meeting about the Atom Smasher thing, and there's not a lot they can do, so the people around him say. Ever since Stark Enterprises bought Stane from Justin Hammer a few issues back, it's been something of a poisoned chalice (and will be moreso when we go into "Crash and Burn" post #300) Rhodes suits up in the War Machine suit and flies off to find out what's what.
Back in another Subplots Corner, Abe Zimmer and Erica Sondheim stare at Stark's corpscicle and ruminate about how impossible all this is and this is our entree to Stark flashing back to his childhood and what a hateful asshole his father was. This is the beginning of Stark's use of the word "Mallory" as his password, because he was into knights and chivalry as a child. Yes, this is all laying it on rather a bit thick.
We cut back to Iron Man landing at Stane and encountering Atom Smasher, and Iron Man follows the crackling radiation and encounters Atom Smasher, which immediately leads to a fight that goes so badly that we're nearly Busiek levels of main-character-asskicking here. Meanwhile, the U.S. Government (one assumes) decides to send in Firepower.
This is a pretty decent issue with some seriously ropey bits. The parts with Rhodes stepping up to the plate as CEO is pretty good and it's good to see him having storylines of his own and not really being Stark's appendage so much, even through in about three issues this is gonna all be reversed (and I don't know if it gets adequately followed up in War Machine before that book's new status quo overtakes everything) and this is the beginning of dealing with the consequences of Stark's buyout of Stane International.
The bits that don't work very well, are . . .well, the Stark flashbacks. OK, we get it, he realises the value of iron and he idealises knight and stuff. You don't have to lay it on with a trowel. It's a bit of a shame, because the other flashbacks, which deal with Stark's father emotional abuse and his alcoholism worked great, but this . . .er, not so much.
Also, Atom Smasher's design is . . .well, problematic.
But it's mostly good and keeps things humming along and there's more good than bad to be found here.
Friday, July 8, 2011
Didjutal Comiks: IRON MAN #4
Digital comics are the future of comics, so says everyone on the Internet and everyone trying to justify their purchase of an iPad and leveraging that into a desperate attempt to generate content for their blogs and stuff. It is in this spirit that the management at Witless Prattle continues the following, exciting, weirdly specific and slightly iconoclastic feature.
Iron Man #4
May 1998
"Trouble In Paradise"
Writer:Kurt Busiek
Artists: Sean Chen (pencils) Eric Cannon & Sean Parsons (inks)
We open with Stark showing off some new browsing software which absolutely, positively looks nothing like Netscape and what on Earth would make you say such a thing. We then cut to beautiful Isla Suerte. You see, the Starkware demo was for Morgan Stark, who is head of Stark-Fujikawa, hired Stark for the Starkware project and it's being held here at this picturesque locale because rolling out new computer stuff on a bare stage with some schmuck in a black turtleneck poking at it is for losers.
Anyways, over in Exposition Corner (a separate corner from Subplots Corner) Happy Hogan explains that he and Pepper Potts had split up. I'm not really happy about this, because first of all, despite the opinions of several, Tony Stark and Pepper Potts do not work as a couple, and I really don't much like the way they try to set this up by making Happy Hogan looks like the biggest loser on the planet.
Oh, and at a further function at Isla Suerte's casino, Stark spends some quality time with romantic interest that never quite makes the cut Rumiko Fujikawa, but before some strained small talk can get annoying, the new Fireband attacks. Rather than a guy in armour, this Firebrand is a chubby humanoid sun wearing a V-12 engine, it looks like. He shares the original's penchant for ranting about "fat cats" and the like, and Stark finally suits up as Iron Man, and unusually for Busiek Iron Man comic, does not immediately get stomped into a crater.
He does, unfortunately, mess up Firebrand's containment suit and causes a massive explosion and large-scale fire, within which Rumiko is directing rescue efforts. This is meant to be impressive, but feels far too much like a hard sell to me. The wheels of the plot spin for a bit as they try to figure out how to get the hell off the island. To make this that much more difficult, Firebrand blows up a volcano.
Hey, it's a Busiek issue where Iron Man doesn't get the crap kicked out of him! What a revelation! This isn't a bad issue all told, even if there are plenty of things about it that don't work at all (they put Pepper Potts on a bus for so many years for a reason, you know and I still remain unsold on Rumiko Fujikawa) but there's some great action in the kinda James Bond style here, and some energetic storytelling--coupled with some great Sean Chen art--that really keeps things moving.
Iron Man #4
May 1998
"Trouble In Paradise"
Writer:Kurt Busiek
Artists: Sean Chen (pencils) Eric Cannon & Sean Parsons (inks)
We open with Stark showing off some new browsing software which absolutely, positively looks nothing like Netscape and what on Earth would make you say such a thing. We then cut to beautiful Isla Suerte. You see, the Starkware demo was for Morgan Stark, who is head of Stark-Fujikawa, hired Stark for the Starkware project and it's being held here at this picturesque locale because rolling out new computer stuff on a bare stage with some schmuck in a black turtleneck poking at it is for losers.
Anyways, over in Exposition Corner (a separate corner from Subplots Corner) Happy Hogan explains that he and Pepper Potts had split up. I'm not really happy about this, because first of all, despite the opinions of several, Tony Stark and Pepper Potts do not work as a couple, and I really don't much like the way they try to set this up by making Happy Hogan looks like the biggest loser on the planet.
Oh, and at a further function at Isla Suerte's casino, Stark spends some quality time with romantic interest that never quite makes the cut Rumiko Fujikawa, but before some strained small talk can get annoying, the new Fireband attacks. Rather than a guy in armour, this Firebrand is a chubby humanoid sun wearing a V-12 engine, it looks like. He shares the original's penchant for ranting about "fat cats" and the like, and Stark finally suits up as Iron Man, and unusually for Busiek Iron Man comic, does not immediately get stomped into a crater.
He does, unfortunately, mess up Firebrand's containment suit and causes a massive explosion and large-scale fire, within which Rumiko is directing rescue efforts. This is meant to be impressive, but feels far too much like a hard sell to me. The wheels of the plot spin for a bit as they try to figure out how to get the hell off the island. To make this that much more difficult, Firebrand blows up a volcano.
Hey, it's a Busiek issue where Iron Man doesn't get the crap kicked out of him! What a revelation! This isn't a bad issue all told, even if there are plenty of things about it that don't work at all (they put Pepper Potts on a bus for so many years for a reason, you know and I still remain unsold on Rumiko Fujikawa) but there's some great action in the kinda James Bond style here, and some energetic storytelling--coupled with some great Sean Chen art--that really keeps things moving.
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Didjutal Comiks: IRON MAN #318
Digital comics are the future of comics, so says everyone on the Internet and everyone trying to justify their purchase of an iPad and leveraging that into a desperate attempt to generate content for their blogs and stuff. It is in this spirit that the management at Witless Prattle continues the following, exciting, weirdly specific and slightly iconoclastic feature.
Iron Man #318
July 1995
"Hot Metal"
Writer: Len Kaminski
Artists: Tom Morgan (Pencils & Inks)
The cover says "still 1.50." I don't know whether to laugh or cry about that, frankly.
Anyways, we open with Iron Man, fresh from killing the Titanium Man (again) last issue, frantically shifting debris and praying to God that he's wrong. Nope, this is the last Kaminski issue and from here on in it's all "The Crossing" all the time, I'm afraid.
The person he's trying to find is Ted Slaught, who's been a recurring plot thread for the past couple of issues, as he's been working for Stark, but suffering from Alzheimer's and thus making mistakes that could put people in jeopardy, which of course, they did. It transpires that Slaught is another one of those people who were critically important to Stark that we never heard about.
In Slaught's case, he apparently was Stark's favourite professor at university, who encouraged him to have an open mind and comforted him when his parent's died and all that, as our flashbacks helpfully fill in.
In the present, Iron Man fights Slag, who, if you pay close attention to things like text, you can pretty much figure out what's going on already. Slag is, to my everlasting amusement, composed of goofy Venom-like faces and the Chrome filter in Photoshop, which is so very 1995. He beats the crap out of Iron Man and burns the words "mysterium tremendae" into Stark's armour as a message to him.
Stark mulls that over as he fixes the armour, and again we get--as gently as possible--more about this very important guy we've never really heard of. As it happens, it's not so bad, but really, this kind of stuff is a bit of an eye-rolling plot device--critically important person made a difference in our main character's life so significant we've never heard about it until now, but if I'm willing to accept the notion of something like the Matrix of Leadership being the most valuable damn thing in history and not hearing about it until Optimus Prime got hisself killed, well, in for a penny, in for a pound.
Plus, when you consider in about seven issues time, I will be expected to swallow the notion that, thanks to Kang messing with Iron Man, that's what caused him to drink and turn evil, accepting a long-lost and completely unknown friend is small potatoes by comparison.
Oh yeah, the plot--Slag attacks Stark, but Stark outfoxes him and, when Slaught begs Stark to run away because he can't control what happens with Slag, Stark uses magnetism to pull Slag apart and kill him.
Really dejected--and who can blame him?--Stark decides to gather his senior staff and tell them how much they mean to him and thanks them for tolerating him (man, you'd never have this today, would you) and the issue closes with Iron Man flying off to his arctic bunker and saying oblique stuff like "no one escapes their past" in a somewhat forced set-up to make the beginning of "The Crossing" feel somewhat natural. Spoiler: it doesn't work.
This is Len Kaminski's final issue on the book, and also the last time Iron Man will be at all readable until Heroes Reborn raises it back to levels of serviceable mediocrity. It will be three years until Kurt Busiek, for all the ropey bits that held his run back from being all it should be, will make it readable again.
Kaminski does a really good job with making Slaught really seem important to Stark despite the fact he's a walking continuity implant, and Photoshop follies aside, Slag was a pretty interesting villain I was rather surprised no one else had tried, given the slag=iron duality. The bit at the end where Stark thanks his supporting cast is also a rather good bit. One of the things I liked about Kaminski's run is that he really "got" Stark in a way that most writer's hadn't, especially in terms of not making him such a smug asshole.
As mentioned about a million times in this post, this is the final issue before "The Crossing," and honestly, there are no words for the disaster this was back in the day. Gary M. Miller--whose three-part breakdown of "The Crossing" is linked at the top of the article and, in fact, is well worth your time to check out if you want to know how much of a disaster "The Crossing" was--in terms of what it did to Iron Man (seriously, it was like a smaller version of Civil War, and the only reason that it didn't do as lasting damage is because barely anyone read "The Crossing.") one could argue the character's never entirely recovered from it.
Iron Man #318
July 1995
"Hot Metal"
Writer: Len Kaminski
Artists: Tom Morgan (Pencils & Inks)
The cover says "still 1.50." I don't know whether to laugh or cry about that, frankly.
Anyways, we open with Iron Man, fresh from killing the Titanium Man (again) last issue, frantically shifting debris and praying to God that he's wrong. Nope, this is the last Kaminski issue and from here on in it's all "The Crossing" all the time, I'm afraid.
The person he's trying to find is Ted Slaught, who's been a recurring plot thread for the past couple of issues, as he's been working for Stark, but suffering from Alzheimer's and thus making mistakes that could put people in jeopardy, which of course, they did. It transpires that Slaught is another one of those people who were critically important to Stark that we never heard about.
In Slaught's case, he apparently was Stark's favourite professor at university, who encouraged him to have an open mind and comforted him when his parent's died and all that, as our flashbacks helpfully fill in.
In the present, Iron Man fights Slag, who, if you pay close attention to things like text, you can pretty much figure out what's going on already. Slag is, to my everlasting amusement, composed of goofy Venom-like faces and the Chrome filter in Photoshop, which is so very 1995. He beats the crap out of Iron Man and burns the words "mysterium tremendae" into Stark's armour as a message to him.
Stark mulls that over as he fixes the armour, and again we get--as gently as possible--more about this very important guy we've never really heard of. As it happens, it's not so bad, but really, this kind of stuff is a bit of an eye-rolling plot device--critically important person made a difference in our main character's life so significant we've never heard about it until now, but if I'm willing to accept the notion of something like the Matrix of Leadership being the most valuable damn thing in history and not hearing about it until Optimus Prime got hisself killed, well, in for a penny, in for a pound.
Plus, when you consider in about seven issues time, I will be expected to swallow the notion that, thanks to Kang messing with Iron Man, that's what caused him to drink and turn evil, accepting a long-lost and completely unknown friend is small potatoes by comparison.
Oh yeah, the plot--Slag attacks Stark, but Stark outfoxes him and, when Slaught begs Stark to run away because he can't control what happens with Slag, Stark uses magnetism to pull Slag apart and kill him.
Really dejected--and who can blame him?--Stark decides to gather his senior staff and tell them how much they mean to him and thanks them for tolerating him (man, you'd never have this today, would you) and the issue closes with Iron Man flying off to his arctic bunker and saying oblique stuff like "no one escapes their past" in a somewhat forced set-up to make the beginning of "The Crossing" feel somewhat natural. Spoiler: it doesn't work.
This is Len Kaminski's final issue on the book, and also the last time Iron Man will be at all readable until Heroes Reborn raises it back to levels of serviceable mediocrity. It will be three years until Kurt Busiek, for all the ropey bits that held his run back from being all it should be, will make it readable again.
Kaminski does a really good job with making Slaught really seem important to Stark despite the fact he's a walking continuity implant, and Photoshop follies aside, Slag was a pretty interesting villain I was rather surprised no one else had tried, given the slag=iron duality. The bit at the end where Stark thanks his supporting cast is also a rather good bit. One of the things I liked about Kaminski's run is that he really "got" Stark in a way that most writer's hadn't, especially in terms of not making him such a smug asshole.
As mentioned about a million times in this post, this is the final issue before "The Crossing," and honestly, there are no words for the disaster this was back in the day. Gary M. Miller--whose three-part breakdown of "The Crossing" is linked at the top of the article and, in fact, is well worth your time to check out if you want to know how much of a disaster "The Crossing" was--in terms of what it did to Iron Man (seriously, it was like a smaller version of Civil War, and the only reason that it didn't do as lasting damage is because barely anyone read "The Crossing.") one could argue the character's never entirely recovered from it.
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Didjutal Comiks: IRON MAN #217
Digital comics are the future of comics, so says everyone on the Internet and everyone trying to justify their purchase of an iPad and leveraging that into a desperate attempt to generate content for their blogs and stuff. It is in this spirit that the management at Witless Prattle continues the following, exciting, weirdly specific and slightly iconoclastic feature.
Iron Man #217
April 1987
"Metamorphosis Oddity"
Writers: David Michelenie & Bob Layton
Artists: Mark Bright (Pencils) Bob Layton (inks)
In the wake of the last two issues, Stark is working on his armour, namely trying to figure out why the "chameleon effect" circuitry is screwing up his central nervous system and decides to stop using it until he can do some more research on it.
From there we move to showing off the brand-new Stark Enterprises, as Stark decides he needs a better executive secretary, and goes to the official unveiling of the new company to the press. We say hello to Marcy Pearson, who will eventually become SE's Head of Public Relations, but for now is just a news reporter with ridiculous 80's shoulderpads. Stark's impressed by her and hires her on the spot.
Meanwhile Jim Rhodes gets a package from a helicopter company (do they really deliver helicopters in big crates like that? It seems unlikely) It transpires that this is actually a booby trap, as the helicopter traps Rhodes inside, sprouts legs, and starts rampaging through the SE campus. Stark suits up as Iron Man and flies back to SE to fight the rogue helicopter.
The helicopter has a hell of a cool gimmick, as whatever Iron Man does to it, it just adapts, changes its method of attack, and keeps going until it finally bores itself into the ground and activates its self-destruct mechanism. Iron Man stands ready to blast it away (which will kill his friend in the process) but Rhodes pulls wires in a panic and ends up shutting the thing down before it could explode.
Cut to later in the day and Stark takes a call for Justin Hammer, who reveals he was the one that sent him the helicopter as a "welcome back" gift that was actually more like a warning--don't let Stark Enterprises become a problem for him like the last company did. Stark vows that if Hammer tries anything like this he's going to slap the taste out of Hammer's mouth.
This is Layton and Michelenie's third issue back, and they're briskly setting up a new status quo for the book, which is not unlike their approach in the old days--big company, large supporting cast, plenty of opportunities for plot generation, and this story is pretty much an exemplar of that in that it exists to do little more than show off the new direction of the book, put in an action sequence so Iron Man can do something, and then on to the next thing. In other words, it's a typical Marvel comic of the era.
Iron Man #217
April 1987
"Metamorphosis Oddity"
Writers: David Michelenie & Bob Layton
Artists: Mark Bright (Pencils) Bob Layton (inks)
In the wake of the last two issues, Stark is working on his armour, namely trying to figure out why the "chameleon effect" circuitry is screwing up his central nervous system and decides to stop using it until he can do some more research on it.
From there we move to showing off the brand-new Stark Enterprises, as Stark decides he needs a better executive secretary, and goes to the official unveiling of the new company to the press. We say hello to Marcy Pearson, who will eventually become SE's Head of Public Relations, but for now is just a news reporter with ridiculous 80's shoulderpads. Stark's impressed by her and hires her on the spot.
Meanwhile Jim Rhodes gets a package from a helicopter company (do they really deliver helicopters in big crates like that? It seems unlikely) It transpires that this is actually a booby trap, as the helicopter traps Rhodes inside, sprouts legs, and starts rampaging through the SE campus. Stark suits up as Iron Man and flies back to SE to fight the rogue helicopter.
The helicopter has a hell of a cool gimmick, as whatever Iron Man does to it, it just adapts, changes its method of attack, and keeps going until it finally bores itself into the ground and activates its self-destruct mechanism. Iron Man stands ready to blast it away (which will kill his friend in the process) but Rhodes pulls wires in a panic and ends up shutting the thing down before it could explode.
Cut to later in the day and Stark takes a call for Justin Hammer, who reveals he was the one that sent him the helicopter as a "welcome back" gift that was actually more like a warning--don't let Stark Enterprises become a problem for him like the last company did. Stark vows that if Hammer tries anything like this he's going to slap the taste out of Hammer's mouth.
This is Layton and Michelenie's third issue back, and they're briskly setting up a new status quo for the book, which is not unlike their approach in the old days--big company, large supporting cast, plenty of opportunities for plot generation, and this story is pretty much an exemplar of that in that it exists to do little more than show off the new direction of the book, put in an action sequence so Iron Man can do something, and then on to the next thing. In other words, it's a typical Marvel comic of the era.
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