by Matt Fraction (writer), Salvador Larroca (art), Frank D’Armata (colors), and Joe Caramagna (letters)
The Story: Ghost makes his move and the gang brings in some outside help.
What’s Good: Stark Disassembled continues not to disappoint.
For the second month in a row, the scenes in Tony’s mind have improved. Tony’s new surroundings make him seem a little more pitiful and hence, it’s easier to empathize with him. We’ve gone from the admittedly same desert and that cycle of repetition to a claustrophobic, indoor, nighttime environment. The darkness and smaller surroundings add a greater sense of desperation and intimacy. The changes with respect to those weird robot enemies only enhances this shift in tone; instead of giant, “War of the Worlds” styled walkers, they’re now human sized, going from house to house and hunting in packs. This new robo-Gestapo makes Stark’s situation feel tighter and more personal.
Meanwhile, in the real world, the comic succeeds on the continuing strength of the bonds between its supporting characters. Tied together in desperation and danger, they truly feel like a group of friends, and so it’s hard not to root for Pepper, Maria, and company. Meanwhile, Pepper feels much more realistic and true to character this month, with Fraction’s having abandoned her bizarre jealousy/irritation/whatever over Tony. She’s back to her good old loving, stressed self.
As an added bonus, Fraction also has this funny little ongoing joke where sooner, now attached to Tony’s party, keeps relating her new circumstances to the soap operas she normally devours on television. Seeing her gasping expressions in backgrounds of panels during significant developments, or her seeing an odd resemblance between Dr. Lisk and the hero of her favourite show is a lot of fun in a “truth/fiction” sort of way.
Meanwhile, Larroca puts out really enjoyable work this month. The contrast between the clear real-world scenes and the murkier “mental” scenes is well-done. Meanwhile, Larroca’s new manhunting robots and his take on Ghost are truly outstanding. The robots are legitimately creepy, a good mix of old, campy and slick, modern sci-fi, while Larroca’s Ghost may be the best Ghost I’ve ever seen. Then there are the illustrations of Dr. Strange’s powers, which are simply breathtaking.
What’s Not So Good: This issue does sort of suffer from “middle of an arc” syndrome. While it’s not to the point of feeling like a chapter in a trade, the fact remains that the issue doesn’t really do anything conclusive occur.
I think part of that might be due to last month’s operation failing. It just feels a little cheap. Beyond his need to fill pages, why even have that whole, convoluted operation if it’s only going to have no effect to speak of? And if this month centers around the operation’s failure, why is there no explanation provided?
And when they call in Dr. Strange to go into Stark’s mind and pull him out, well, it’ll really have you wondering what the point of it all was. If Strange was the solution this whole time, why didn’t they go to him first? Certainly it’s simpler and more direct than the complexities depicted last month.
Sadly, that’s not the only corner-cutting on Fraction’s part. Despite the situation, Bucky, Rhodey, Thor, and Black Widow just….leave. Because Fraction needs them to, and like the failure of the operation, there’s no explanation for it. There’s just a single word bubble telling you that they’ve left. Why now? Fraction owes us a little more than that. Hell, even a fast mention of Siege would’ve worked.
Conclusion: It may not blow your socks off, but it maintains the series’ high standard.
Grade: B
-Alex Evans
Filed under: Marvel Comics, Reviews Tagged: | Black Widow, Bucky Barnes, Captain America, Comic Book Reviews, comic reviews, Donald Blake, Dr. Strange, ghost, H.A.M.M.E.R., Invincible Iron Man, Invincible Iron Man #22, Invincible Iron Man #22 review, Iron Man, Maria Hill, Marvel Comics, Matt Fraction, Natasha Romanova, Pepper Potts, Salvador Larroca, Stark Disassembled, Steve Rogers, Thor, Thunderbolts, Tony Stark, War Machine, Weekly Comic Book Review
Hey,
Amazing review! I completly agree that its not really making sense not to go to Strange in the first place but I dont think he is irrelivant to the storyline. I only subscribe to Iron Man and it feels likeits been forever since ive seen Strange, I was pumped to see him again.
I didn’t get the impression that the operation totally failed. From the outside, nothing changed, but inside Tony’s mind, he’s starting to get it all together. Whereas before he could not avoid the machines before having to reset and begin his desert digging anew, after the operation he’s able to complete the dig and get inside and start to put things together. That couldn’t have happened without his realization that he now has the pulse generator and support from his friends “Howard and Maria.” Ultimately, Tony’s operation succeeded as he had planned for his physical body and brain, but he did not account for the fact that his brain is not a computer and has mental/emotional issues to work out.
@SoldierHawk
Thank you for the kind words.
I feel as though this direction of Dr. Strange and Stark adventuring in Stark’s mind was the story Fraction really wanted to tell in this arc. It has a very promising kind of life to it that, as you say, has me really optimistic regarding next month’s issue. The previous stuff seems it might have been just a way to extend an arc to 5 issues.
@Adam
Hmm, yes that’s a good question. Unfortunately, I also skipped Pak’s series. I am fairly certain though that he was a cyborg at least at the beginning of that book. How it ended though, I’ve no idea.
-Alex
This was another fun issue from Fraction, but I have a question I’m hoping someone here can answer. When did Rhodey stop being a cyborg? I didn’t follow the recently-cancelled ongoing, but was he somehow returned to normal at the end? Or are we just pretending that never happened?
This review is just about dead-on in my opinion. It did advance the plot and there was certainly nothing WRONG with it, but nothing about the first 90% of it truly blew me away. Then of course Dr. Strange showed up, and the book *took off* for me. Those scenes were simply amazing, both in writing and in artwork, and that last line and panel…wow. MAybe I’m easily impressed, but the visual and symbolism there just gave me goosebumps. (And I couldn’t help but smile at the “Remember this is not a ritual–it’s a MEDICAL PROCEDURE” panel. I know that’s how Strange operates, but the juxtaposition of the line and the visual got a nice chuckle out of me.)
The way this one ended gives me very high hopes for next month. I look forward to a lot of Tony/Strange dialogue in the very cool “Tony’s brain” world they’ve created, and hopefully by the end of the issue we’ll have Tony back to the land of the living. (I want to see Iron Man kick the snot out of Iron Patriot dammit!!)