Review — ‘Iron Man’ #2 Is A Stronger Launch For The Series

Having exorcised my angst about Marvel’s perpetual reboot-itis (or at least received brief relief by venting my frustrations), I feel a lot better about what this book is doing as of Iron Man #2 than I did coming out of the first issue. This is helped by the fact that the issue is simply a more-focused, stronger outing.

There’s enough happening in it that it feels like a chunky, satisfying read, but the amount of stuff happening also never feels overwhelming or difficult to follow, which is a tough tightrope to walk. But Joshua Williamson and Carmen Carnero pull it off.

Even before the title page, in what amounts to the issue’s “cold open,” the difference between issues is striking. In just three pages, we get a retro-action sequence, the seeming confirmation of Madame Masque as the central antagonist of this arc, and some additional context for the “kidnapping Tony Stark proteges and making them work in a cave” mystery established in the premiere issue.

That Williamson is willing to reveal as much as he does as early as he does suggests that he isn’t planning on dragging out that mystery much past the book’s first arc, which similar to what I said about Inglorious X-Force #2, bodes well for the construction of the series in Marvel’s current “you get ten issues … if you’re lucky” approach to publishing.

From there, Williamson checks in on the various threads he introduced last issue: the Avengers’ ominous concern over Tony, his burgeoning relationship with Luna (the chef he had a meet-cute with during A.I.M.’s attack), some more background on the kids kidnapped by A.I.M., and the introduction of some additional villains which lead into the issue-ending cliffhanger.

It’s seems like a lot, but Williams paces it well, often overlapping threads for maximum narrative efficiency — much like the cold open, the first four pages after the credits accomplishes a lot, furthering both the Avengers and Luna plotlines while also giving us a little superhero action (including a fun double-page Captain America/Iron Man spread from Carnero) that even manages to make a footnote reference to “One World Under Doom” along the way (less successful are the couple pages spent with Pepper and Melinda worrying about Tony — these two deserve something better to do than being a pair of Mother Hens).

Meanwhile, both Carnero and colorist Nolan Woodward step up their game from their already-accomplished showing in the first issue. Carnero, whose work in Exceptional X-Men sometimes felt rushed (in that panels were large and less detailed) packs every page with intricate backgrounds and engaging angles while still controlling the flow of the story.

Woodward gives each sequence its own distinct color palette — the purple glow of Dreadknight’s energy blasts, the yellow lighting of the A.I.M. sequences (playing off their beekeeper suits), the almost-neon greens of the Madripoor bar — such that every setting has its own feel based on the colors alone.

All in all, it makes for a vast improvement over issue #1, which felt like it was trying to do too much, too fast — and succeeding in very little of it. Ironically, the smaller page count here works to the creative team’s advantage, forcing them to do more with less in a way that makes it all feel richer and more intricate. It remains to be seen if the Williamson/Carnero Iron Man will stand up as one of the definitive Iron Man runs — or even just outlast the previous Iron Man series — but Iron Man #2 has me at least feeling better about its chances.