Comic Review – Tony Stark: Iron Man #1

Billionaire, playboy, genius, Tony Stark was kidnapped on a routine weapons test and forced to make weapons of mass destruction by his captors. Instead, he made a powered suit of armor which saved his life and from that day he has been known as the Invincible Avenger Iron Man. Tony Stark: Iron Man #1 is his most recent outing in the suit and gives us a glimpse at Tony both in his younger days and as a hero through the eyes of his ex-schoolmate Andy Bhang.

Plot

Tony Stark: Iron Man #1, written by Dan Slott with artwork from Valerio Schiti, Edgar Delgado and, Joe Caramagna is a not only a really enjoyable comic for Iron Man fans to read but is also a really good jumping off point for new readers who might want to be introduced into the Iron Man comics. It’s by no means an origin story but it does capture all the core elements of Tony as a character and through clever use of Andy Bhang, one of Tony’s old school mates gives us an excellent look into Tony’s crazy world. The issue has a good helping of humor throughout and ends on a battle of epic proportions and a Killer Cliffhanger. Starting the issue off with a flashback to Starks younger days was a really nice way of introducing him as the genius he is without immediately showing him as Iron Man. In fact, that may be one of this issue greatest strengths, It separates Tony Stark from the Iron Man persona at the start but still shows they’re one in the same close to the end. Another one of this issues strengths is its use of Andy Bhang, an old school mate of Tony who also is somewhat of an engineering brainbox. He’s invited by Tony Stark to work at Stark industries and is obviously completely baffled by all of Stark’s tech. Speaking to a hologram that he thought was Tony for half the time didn’t exactly help either. The issue spends most of its time introducing us to Andy only setting up a larger overarching plot at the end and thats okay. As a debut issue, it sets up characters and plot points nicely so they can be paid off in future issues. This may leave some readers feeling a little empty by the end but I found Starks witty charm, Andy’s hilarious freakouts, and the issue’s final action set piece to be more than enough to hold the issue together.

Characters

The issue revolves around both Tony Stark and Andy Bhang who feel like polar opposites at certain times and rather similar at others. whilst Tony went on from school to become one of the worlds greatest engineering minds Andy sunk away into obscurity. Don’t let that fool you into thinking he’s useless though as he demonstrates his own genius in a  brilliant way which ultimately saves the day. Tony Stark is not only really enjoyable here but feels incredibly faithful to the character’s roots. He’s cocky and a little overconfident but he’s got the tech and the team behind him to back it up. His next level genius is shown off beautifully through his technology including a Power Rangers Megazord type Iron Armor suit and a tiny remote-controlled nanobot which can enter a targets bloodstream. Not too mention the Flying cars and holograms which are pretty standard when it comes to Stark.

Other than Andy and Tony the only real character that left a lasting impression was Jocasta a robotic lifeform who works as a chief robotic ethicist at Stark Industries. She made for some great comic relief especially when she first meets Andy. Unfortunately other than that no one left a lasting impression. The issue not really having a main villain is the cause for some of that. The issue climaxes with an epic showdown with Fing Fang Foom who turns out is being controlled and then simply leaves when he snaps out of it. It felt cheap and I would have wanted a more satisfying conclusion to the battle. Luckily it doesn’t tarnish the end of the issue which bought it back nicely.

Artwork

The whole issue looked great but it was Starks tech that really stood out to me as looking fantastic. It’s not just the red and gold paint job that makes his inventions stand out and there used to great effect in the final showdown with Fing Fang Foom which also looked epic. At times it can come across a little cartoonish but it never goes too over the top and when it does it fits Tony Starks personality and surprisingly looked good.

Tony Stark: Iron Man #1 was a very enjoyable read. It may be a little too slow for some but it successfully set up plot points to be paid off in the future. Its full of humor that constantly hits and whilst the issues final conflict looks flashy it unfortunate ended a little empty. Regardless this feels like a very strong first issue which has piqued my interest for the rest of the series. give us your thoughts on the issue below or over on Twitter.

Harry Reviews