Peter and Tony, sitting on a couch

and with this, we say Amen to the Pandora's Box opened by Civil War (God bless its soul).

start engine

drive-by readings

Iron Man #29 (Marvel) "Stark Resilient Part 5: Predators and Prey In Their Natural Environments" Matt Fraction Salvador Larocca Frank D'Armata Joe Caramagna

what we learned: Stark begins his Hail Mary play of getting investors onboard his scheme to save the world. also, Pepper Potts may be back as Rescue but she may need another knight to rescue her, because Tony just blew her off to sleep with the enemy. kidding! of course, he knows there's only one way to find out if the Hammers had anything to do with Ezekiel Stane, and that way is to sleep with Sasha Hammer. oopps.
oh shit moment: nothing much, except if your name is Pepper Potts.
what's next: Hammer Time!


hey, Tones, does she remind you of Rumiko? (k-ching!)

snaps: Iron Man #28

... where we find Tony and Rhodey get shown up in Tokyo by the Hammer women. luckily, Tony kind of remembers who Sasha Hammer might be. unluckily, he still can't remember who Maria Hill might be in his deleted history file. and yes, he's building a repulsor-powered car. watch yo' back, Elon Musk!!


oh, and you can't text or tweet him a.s.a.p., to salvage a little bit of the situation?


erhm ... is that a videocam or the top view of a DSLR with its LCD screen on it?


forget about the camera ... to quote Jack Nicholson circa Batman ... "who is that??"


what? Rhodey is Tony and Maria's lovechild from the future? get out!!!


yeah! speak up, former bitch of S.H.I.E.L.D.!


Stark Resilient hires Tim Cababa, purportedly the tech builder of the short-lived amusingly funny Triumph Division. he looks suspiciously like my countryman Leinil Francis Yu (hey man!). yeah, he's what the hip Filipino looks like nowadays. him and Francis Manapul. now, "Cababa". in the local language, it could mean something like "that low", as in "the tide wouldn't even cover the top of your toes, its that low." or "your dollars can practically buy the whole country; the exchange rate is that low." get my drift? so i think Tony is scrimping for talent, because his financial reserves are that low. naaah, just kidding. Filipinos are hardworking bootstrappers! go, Team Cababa!!

growing pains

drive-by readings

Invincible Iron Man #27 (Marvel) "Stark Resilient, Part 3: This is What We Do" Matt Fraction Salvador Larroca Frank D'Armata Joe Caramagna Ronnie Del Carmen (variant cover)

more of a layer-building issue, as Tony wrestles with Pepper regarding the resurrection of Rescue. yes, she got the taste of it, and she wants more. rebooted Tony, of course, is much more apprehensive using his tech (surprisingly, he's not like this when he's in the Avengers, right Bendis?). but Pepper is adamant, and Tony has a very precarious bargaining position, considering Pepper saved his ass, and so much more, and he doesn't remember much of it.

hello, Amy Adams.

you can almost taste the flash of the bitterness in her mouth when she says Tony has nothing left to lose, implying that he already lost her too, in a way. i wonder if she has an ulterior motive for being powered up again, as it puts her on not-exactly-equal footing-but-enough to Tony, should she start going nuts (hey, if Marvel wants someone to write that, they will) and exact revenge on him for Happy's death.

but hold that thought. hold the fact that some Comic-Con crazies have perpetrated a massacre in Tokyo subways and only Detroit Steel came to the rescue (why the hell is he even there? you'd think the Japs would be disgusted this reminder of the American car industry would be around them after what happened to Toyota last year). hold the fact that the American military are now impressed by Hammer Industries (you'd think the Americans would be disgusted with anything branded as H.A.M.M.E.R. - oh wait, those are modified Stark-era equipment). hold the fact that Rhodey had a brief crisis of conscience of laying down the War Machine armor once and for all.


no ... we need to give it up for the one ... the only ...



man, for years i wondered what happened to her. now we know. she did a lot better than Tony. bring back the '80s!!!

this is my favorite revival by Matt Fraction, after Iron Fist.

call it a comeback

drive-by readings

Invincible Iron Man #25 (Marvel) "Hammer Girls" Matt Fraction Salvador Larroca Frank D'Armata Joe Caramagna Larroca/Rian Hughes/Tetsuya Aoki/Ryan Meinerding/Herb Trimpe (variant covers)

and the blackest night is over. Tony Stark has regained control of his brain and bodily functions, and its much better than ever. recovering his Extremis backup from that hard drive that was a focal point of World's Most Wanted and Disassembled, Stark is now a true Iron Man, powered by the infinite juice of the repulsor battery in his chest, replacing his organs and making him the best fighting machine ever. truly gone are the days of the suitcase armor (although it has its purposes, as Jarvis demonstrated in Siege).

about the fighting part ... well, apparently, Stark wants to do a 180 and make love this time around. he doesn't have anything left, so Stark Resilient, his new (broke) company as it is, plans to license his repulsor tech to global industries to reduce dependence on current energy sources and use the free alternative. to this end, the military industrial complex may have to turn to Hammer Industries, who's trying to fill in Stark's shoes. i suspect this shift has a lot to do with writer Matt Fraction's personal (hippie?) beliefs, and it does make sense, in the light of world events. he's been doing a bang-up job overall and we're drinking the Kool Aid.

with his Extremis recovery though, there's that caveat of not remembering anything through Civil War, Secret Invasion, World War Hulk, and Dark Reign. pretty convenient way out, i'd say (better than making a deal with the devil and dissolving your marriage, or going back in time and plucking out your teenage self). it'll make for some interesting conversations with his peers, and that's the part i'm really anticipating. speaking of which ...

my favorite part of this whole deal is his eventual reconciliation with Thor, of which his pwning by the latter was a source then of national glee. Thor himself makes the first step, and for once (and i hope for the long term), we get a humble Stark still speaking about himself and his convictions (though he can't remember what he did), but building enough of a bridge from his end. i thought the offer of (and eventual rejection by Stark) financial resources by the Thunder God was a nice touch, and that sealed the deal for reconciliation.

i know the movie's coming out (why else are we dusting off Justin Hammer's legacy?), but it still makes sense in the scheme of things (and in the new Heroic Age theme). if you're not onboard with this new Stark direction, you're missing out a lot.

but what are these Hammer Girls that you speak of?

via Marvel.com and @mattfraction

Tony Stark is back, bigger, bolder, better and shinier than ever in Iron Man: Resilient.

all you need to know about Iron Man #23

let's see Rogers or Barnes or Blake pull that off. you da man, Tones!!!

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.

drive-by readings: Guardians of the Galaxy #15

Guardians of the Galaxy #15 (Marvel) Dan Abnett Andy Lanning Brad Walker Victor Olazaba Livesay Jay David Ramos Chris Eliopoulos Salvador Larocca (cover)

past the fisticuffs resulting from being caught in between hostile Sh'iar Imperial Guard and the angry Inhumans/Kree, this issue merely rates an OK overall. sure there were some nice moments, like Warlock cutting loose (yeeech), the ad hoc Guardians always finding a way despite being overmatched, and of course Peter Quill's deadpan-in-the-face-of-death quips. i still give kudos to the writing team for managing the story and the schedules well - this should be a terrific trade paperback.

you know what might've prevented the War of Kings? a Michael Jackson concert. word.

drive-by readings: Invincible Iron Man #14

Invincible Iron Man #14 (Marvel) "The Shape of the World These Days" Matt Fraction Salvador Larocca Frank D'Armata Joe Caramagna Marc Silvestri/Joe Weems (cover)

Tony Stark has been reduced to a Road Runner being chased all over the world by the Coyote named Norman Osborn. its ultimately for informational, not gastronomical, reasons, as Osborn wants the data in Tony's head (and he don't have no stinkin' backup, smart man). Tony wants to wipe out the data, but he has two things going against him: (a) wiping that amount of data needs a lot of power and (b) doing so would make him dumb as a rock.

hey, i like his new look - military crewcut sans moustache (hello, ladies), which is why he almost gets punked by his old Russian frenemy the Crimson Dynamo. yes, Tony's in Russia to marry a nouveau riche petro-millionaire Russian cougar. no, he needs to get a Stark plant deep in the Siberian heartland to do his thing. little does he know Madame Masque is hot on his trail, and not because she thinks he's off philandering again.

lest we forget Tony's other flames (two of whom he's sent on errands), they're all here: newest one-night-stand Maria Hill, the Black Widow, and Pepper Potts, now armored up and reuniting with her boss (Matt Fraction still wants to turn Pepper into a superhero, after being turned into a semi-Oracle in The Order, then cyborg-ized early in this series).

and oh, Don Heck thanks you, Matt, for the tip of the hat.

the pwning of tony stark 2

slapped around by Thor and the Hulk, blamed for the death of his bestest buddy Steve Rogers, disrespected by half his peers, Tony Stark has now been stripped of his S.H.I.E.L.D. directorship and fired from his official job of protecting the good ol' US of A, after the Skrull invasion.

what, having the #2 highest grossing movie of 2008 doesn't count?

well, apparently not.


completing his humiliation is the standard exit interview with his successor, the walking loony bin called Norman Osborn (the Green Goblin to you n00bs).


sorry, "Commander" Osborn.

(commander of crap. so those who raised hell when they resurrected Osborn and retconned it that he apparently had sex with Gwen Stacy ... raise your hands)

but hey, there's some good news, boys and girls. Osborn gleefully tries to put his dirty hands on the crown jewel of Stark's career, the Superhuman Registration Database, which he'll likely cause all sorts of hell with (starting with wiping out whatever's left of Peter Parker's credit rating - currently a measly 450).

what, Osborn has no time for movies?? for all the sneaky things he's done, he didn't see this coming?


so where the hell is the database, Tones?




and now, ladies and gentlemen ... let us have some fun.

Tony Stark, R.I.P.

cliffhanger of the week!

"geez kid, just because you didn't want to register ..."

and that image will stay in your head in the next 30 days.

trash talking @S.H.I.E.L.D.

ooooooooooooooooowwwwwwww!!!

who pwned who?


now that Maria Hill brought that up, who'd make a better-looking Stark?


wait, Maria meant that as a put-down ...

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Invincible Iron Man #4
Matt Fraction/Salvador Larroca/Frank D'Armata

Iron Man-ila

that's short for Iron Man in Manila! so, forget this poser - being mentioned in a comic is always the real deal!

in this month's The Invincible Iron Man, a bunch of native(?) Philippine superheroes (and a bunch of civilians) fall victim to a bunch of suicide bombers.


being honored in a public ceremony for heroism during a recent tsunami, this kind of event is something that terrorists are always on the lookout for.

and who are these brave kababayans, hereto known forth as the "Triumph Division"? (although at first read, that tells me they produce lingerie)


let us deconstruct. Red Feather sounds like Red Robin ... or maybe Round Robin! either way, it doesn't sound like a native superhero. same goes for the rest:

St. George? i know he's partly an icon of the Catholic crowd, but really? why not St. Lorenzo?
Mighty Mother? what the-? not to sound sexist, but what does she do? keep spewing out babies? if so, that Duggar woman is a mightier mother.
Anitun? do you mean Anito? is that a spiritual deity or the temporal domicile for times sexy?
Fighter One - looks like a Street Fighter reject. i suspect his origin is tied in the game ...
The Wishing Man? looks like death to me. the death wishing man. in other words, suicidal ...
The Great Mongoose? newsflash - the mongoose is not native to the Philippines. as far as i know. unless you mean the mongoose's cousin whose shit becomes coffee, or Operation Mongoose, but that has really nothing to do with the Philippines.

if that's crazy enough for you, hold on to your underpants.


monks? monks?? i'd accept farmers, ... but monks???

that's it. my respect for writer Matt Fraction has been taken down a notch. i don't see the Philippines being mistaken for Myanmar (or Burma to you old schoolers).

i don't mind using real-life situations as references in comic book situations, but geez ... get the facts straight. or at least in the same zip code as straight. this is why i'm not a writer. i'm too lazy to do research. except of the online type, and when trying to be a wiseass.

ah well, who cares about the character names? they're all plot devices to be d-e-s-t-r-o-y-e-d!!!!!


on a side note, it's nice to see Pepper Potts back as Tony's secretary, rather than leading a ragtag team of officially-sanctioned misfits. i thought the whole concept was intriguing then they went and made Pepper a technologically-enhanced mission coordinator. that was nutty. as a matter of fact, it was you who did that, Mr. Fraction.


Tony ... Tony ... Tony ... you know religion can be used for anything. oh, that's right, that's why we drink (i kid, i kid).


and now a final word on (the late) Anitun (and a cameo by Thor!)


"embodiment of the goddess of wind and rain"? wouldn't that be Ororo Munroe/Storm (a.k.a. Mrs. Black Panther)?

with a requisite cliffhanger which will make Monday's list, this issue is typical of comics mentioning the Philippines, getting me all excited, and then lets me down.

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The Invincible Iron Man #2
"The Five Nightmares Part 2: Murder, Inc."
Matt Fraction, Salvador Larroca, Frank D'Armata, Chris Eliopoulos