Thursday, November 26, 2009

break it down again

drive-by readings

Invincible Iron Man #20 (Marvel)
"Stark: Disassembled Part 1 - Counting Up From Zero"
Matt Fraction
Salvador Larroca
Frank D'Armata
Joe Caramagna
Patrick Zircher/Marko Djurdjevic (variant covers)
oooooohhh, maaaaaaaaaan.

this is where i feel Matt Fraction and Salvador Larroca are finally hitting on all cylinders - the breaking down and rebuilding of Tony Stark. not that it hasn't happened before (and that one time it was incredulous and the premise was kinda skating on thin ice). this hinges on all the crap that's happening in the Marvel U and makes sense that the disabled body of Stark be entrusted to his estranged compatriots.

Stark executes his final plan to prevent the misuse of his data and tech by Norman Osborn by wholly sacrificing himself, but by leaving himself in a 'persistent vegetative state' (can you imagine Natasha wiping off his drool, and thinking about how she used to have exciting times with this man of action? and then she notices Bucky looking at her. awkward.), he leaves the door open for his comeback (of course! did you not read the advance hype for next year's Seige?), complete with instructions on how to reboot him. its been done before; question is, should the heroes do it? well, of course they do. this is Stark making the sales pitch of his life. i'd like to see this translated onscreen by Robert Downey Jr. it'd be friggin' pitch perfect (pun intended).

let me put in a few spoilers for you (you know you want it) - in his final moments as a public official, he already knows what's going to happen, and he already thought of a solution. and he even starts by self-deprecatingly admitting he's an alcoholic. whooops. anyway, what i liked is his insistence on not apologizing for everything that happened before today - the Civil War, Steve's death, sending the Hulk to space, his ascension, the Skrull invasion and now his impending doom with everyone else hiding in shadows. he doesn't have that much of an answer for the way the bad guys are carving them up save the splitting of their ranks, and he's sick of it (who isn't?). though there is a sense of uppity smugness here, that he seems to think this Osborn problem won't be solved if he's not brought back. again, the Stark ego seeps in somehow. he sort of pulls back in the end, but you get the gist.

and just when am getting buoyed and reinvigorated by Stark's final recorded message, like i'm being inspired to fight the final battle against the forces of evil for the fate of the world, i get thrown a curveball with Pepper asking why is it that only Tony gets to come back all the goddamned time (wait, didn't Tony bring you back too?). still, she's right. damn you, Matt Fraction, damn you.

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