Catching Up With Marvel: Iron Man

So, the last three Iron Man collections, written by the Knauf father-and-son team and drawn by Patrick Zircher and Roberto De La Torre¹? They’re very well crafted and move along nicely while simultaneously making me very much dislike the character of Tony Stark as directed by Marvel’s current editorial climate. They’ve taken Ellis’s vision of a futurist (which I was admittedly very smitten with) and turned him into an out-and-out villain hopped up on technology and power while simultaneously returning him to a more “adult” version of the unpleasant characterization that cropped up during the much-heralded 80s stories.

How is it that a character with such a great logline² consistently misses the target? The frequently-cited material – The Armor Wars and Demon in a Bottle – is barely-above-average superhero work while the rest of the character’s story disappear down the memory hole. The last thing I wanted from these comics was a grimmer, grittier version of Bob Layton’s material, but that’s what they seemed determined to deliver. B+ for competency, D- for the end result.

²Billionaire military industrialist atoning for his sins by wearing armor and beating up people? C’mon! That’s Catholic Batman!