Weekly Comic Book Review

By Christos N. Gage (Writer), Sean Chen (Penciler), Sandu Florea (Inker), and Jay David Ramos (Colors)

I confess I haven’t read any comics with War Machine in them since… well, since before James Rhodes was War Machine. I mean, the guy is pretty much by definition a second-rate Iron Man, right? So why waste time and money? Well, this issue has forced me to reassess my opinion of War Machine, and of the previously awful IM:DOS series. We have a new creative team this issue, and while I’m not about to go out and buy everything Gage or Chen do, it’s a refreshing change from the overblown nonsense that’s gone before.

The story starts with the scene we’ve already seen in Avengers: Initiative, an emergency recording of Tony Stark tells Rhodey that all Starktech is off-line and that he can trust no one, which is good because the Skrull Yellowjacket is standing right next to him. Rhodey fights through the Skrull armada and a New Warriors amalgam Super-Skrull to a military satellite Stark has built in secret. (How do you build and launch a satellite without anyone knowing about it? Maybe Stark uses the same contractors who built the Batcave.) There he meets Cybermancer, a former member of Force Works who I also know nothing about, and we get an obligatory “How do I know you’re not a Skrull?” paranoia scene before they decide to team up against the invasion.

Rhodey is written well, carrying his wounds and the burdens Stark has placed on him with quiet dignity. He doesn’t moan about being alone and out-gunned—he seems more comfortable in this situation than he did at the Initiative. The book is mostly action, with just enough dialogue to give it a little depth. It remains to be seen if War Machine can carry the book for more than a few issues, but for now it’s a quick, good read. (Grade: B)

- Andrew C. Murphy