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.

heckling from the peanut gallery, part 4a

the call to assemble has gone out again, and we the people, the huddled masses of collateral damage from the disassembling, house of m-ing, civil warring, planet hulking, secret invading, and dark reigning, exercise our right to yell our opinion from the streets, as is our democratic right. we had the regular Avengers, then it was the New Avengers', followed by the young pups of Avengers Academy, excruciatingly, Marvel has revealed four of the not-so Secret Avengers in recent weeks. most of the speculation on who the characters are looks to be correct. they shoulda just drawn stick figures, just to drive fans even nuttier.



"what, you can't pick a permanent team??"
"does Trish Tilby know about this? by the way, she still claims you're gay."
"say, how do we know you're not the Dark Beast??"



"and which personality are you this time?"
"you know the sign on your chest means 'cent', right? like fitty cent?"
"the Zapata Bros are waiting for you to call for their shot at the big time."
"i don't think you're striving enough. wait, that was Khonshu talking."



"are you sure you don't want to go back to the Defenders?"
"Dani Moonstar wants you to help her out of Utopia."
"you know if you run into the Hulk, he can swing you and Moon Knight by your capes and toss you across three state lines, right?"
"so have you lost control before? do tell ..."



"you know you're still Iron Man lite, right?"
"hey, can you transform into a cool car?"
"how do you eat peanuts?"

Don Cheadle fired from Iron Man 2!

meet the newest War Machine!

snaps: War Machine #12

... where once again we close the book on Deathlok Cyborg War Machine, and he commits the most stupid thing since Clint Barton failed to kill Norman Osborn.

1) haven't you heard? his favorite album is Control. duh.


2) you know as well as i do that parental abuse may create supervillains in the future.


3) who's paying their salaries again? the Maria Stark Foundation?



4) just to let you know ... Rhodes' 'cloned body' is actually Obama's.


5) yes, Jim Rhodes, you ARE a moron. you're no better than this idiot.



instead of fixing this situation right here and now, Rhodes leaves it to the Big Three to clean up. wheeeeee!

alternative ending, Ultimate Avengers #3

"The good news is that Jesus is coming back. The bad news is that he's really pissed off."

crash

why T-Ho "babywipes" Howard got canned

avengin' machine

hold it; how does Rhodey figure in the Avengers, exactly? not unless they start with the West Coasters. [ifilm]

metal gear

here's a bunch of War Machine concept artwork.

let's see, for the plot of Iron Man 2, Tony slips into an alcoholic stupor, allowing Don Cheadle/James Rhodes to get into his own armor and beat up bad guys. Tony recovers and wants to be the one and only armored superhero around. of course, Rhodes refuses, and we get a steel-punch-a-roni until they unite to fight a common enemy.

and then Tones produces a handy remote and turns off the War Machine armor forever, trapping Rhodes inside.

"a-hahahahahaha! think you can outshine me? you're just a military grunt!"

ripofficers

who's ripping who, in the current "resident cyborg" arena, in terms of looks?

DC's Cyborg (who's actually one):


or Marvel's War Machine (in the pages of Iron Man) - who's now almost one after being severely injured in WWHulk.




[door smashed open]

well, you're all trying-hard copycats!! i am still, the one, the only cyborg that matters!

War Machine: Deathlok, you look like Morbius. what the fuck happened to your nose?

Deathlok: Shut up about the nose! Do we need to settle this matter like pussies or like m- cyborgs?

Cyborg: Uh excuse me, we need to know who we're fighting. Cyborgs or not, we are still gentlemen, are we not?

Deathlok: Pussies.

War Machine: He's got a point. You especially, we never know who's inside that body. Luther Manning? Michael Collins? It could be freakin' Britney Spears for all we know.

Deathlok: mmm ... Britney Spears. Shut up! That fat bitch.

Cyborg: Who're you calling fat? Did you see her new video?

War Machine: Yeah! I got a dedicated media player inside my armor.

Cyborg: Me too! Hi-Def?

War Machine: 1080p. I could almost touch those -

Deathlok: Shut up! You're sorry excuses for cyborgs! We should be above these pedestrian musings.

War Machine: Britneeeeeeeyyyy ...

Deathlok: Shut up or i'll fry your circuits.

Cyborg: Morbius Nose.

wipe machine

T-How shocked nobody wants to install baby wipes! [Geeks of Doom]

new Rhodes

Don Cheadle replaces Terrence Howard in Iron Man 2 [slashfilm.com]. maybe because they vetoed Howard's demand to have automated babywipe dispenser in the War Machine armor?