Recently Marvel treated Iron Man fans with a one shot issue entitled Iron Man: The Iron Protocols which featured two stories done by two creative teams. Each story was independent and self contained, put into the main stream continuity but not meant to go beyond the one shot. Both stories take place before Secret Invasion. Spoilers ahead if you haven’t read it, in which case you can go to the last paragraph for a summation.
The Ark
The first story features an AI gone rogue with a project meant to ensure Earth’s survival by creating a spaceship filled with DNA samples of every animal on the planet. Basically, it’s a modern day Noah’s ark. Of course it’s up to Iron Man still Director of SHIELD to stop it.
The concept is decent and the story moves fairly quickly. This one is more action heavy but the main fight is actually a verbal one where Stark battles the ships AI in a battle of logic and wits. For all its ego that it was superior (or at least right in its thinking) it was nice to see Stark outwit it, his own sense of logic prevailing over the AI’s.
The art was fairly good, vibrant colors and it was easy to tell what was happening during most the action scenes. There were some odd quirks, such as the repulsor emitter in the mouth and the armor looking a hybrid between the movie and comic styles, which was odd, but it didn’t take away from enjoying the story.
His Girl Friday
The second story again deals with a rogue AI, this time one of Stark’s old side projects where a young AI program “grew” into a “teenage” AI program (holographic representations used accordingly). As with other teens the program is moody and want what it wants, which in this case is attention.
The story moves very fast and unfortunately has a brief piece of Stark fighting his own commandeered armors (it’s such a tired plot anymore). There are a few lines that seem awkward, something Stark may say in his younger days but not now. A nice change though was we saw a bit more of the thrill seeking playboy that has been missing from the character recently.
The art had an anime feel to it, but wasn’t quite the same. It seemed to have a younger audience in mind but features weren't exaggerated enough to distract from the story at all. All in all I wasn’t too thrilled with this one, nothing in particular really standing out.
Conclusion
All in all the one shot was decent and a nice change of pace from the multiple issue story arcs. They were definitely intended to be fun rather than the serious melodrama that has been abundant in comics anymore. Writing and art in both stories was decent, but I definitely prefer the first story over the second. Unfortunately nothing was particularly memorable about either and it’s not hard to imagine if in a few years Iron Protocols is completely forgotten.
Monday, December 21, 2009
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
5 Things Marvel Needs to Stop Doing with Iron Man
Ok, I’ve had enough. I need to speak my mind on a bunch of the crap Marvel is continually shoving down our throats with Iron Man. Below I have listed five things that in the past few years Marvel has made a constant part of the character that has only served to lessen the him. And no, I am not even talking about making him the bad guy or writing him incorrectly. These are in no particular order because frankly they’re all equally contributing to the degrading of the character.
5)External Dependencies
What I mean by this are things like the chest plate for keep his heart beating and the most recent arc reactor in his chest to keep his body going. This worked fine when the character first started out but after the character was established the heart subplot was tossed for a reason. All it did was add the same subplot into each issue, a recurring problem that not only had a similar solution each time but also had become tedious and boring. Story quality was hurt by a writer needing to devote valuable page space, the plot device being little more than a waste of time. The previous case in Volume 3 with the mechanical heart Marvel quickly discovered this and got rid of it. Now here they are making the same mistake again. Take a hint guys: the subplot it tired, boring, tedious, a waste of space and most importantly, completely unneeded.
4)Keep the Movie Separate
I loved the movie, but that said the movie and comics shouldn’t intertwine. Keep them separate. Remember when Marvel gave the X-Men similar uniforms like they had in the movie, or Spider-Man organic web shooters? The result was fan backlash and their displeasure with eventual retcons to fix it. If you’re relying on the movies for your material you’re in trouble because they only come out about every three years and they likely won't last past three installments. So what then after you banked the comic off the movies? You’re out of luck. Marvel claims they want to bring the fans of the movie into the books and by making the comic more like the movie the transition will be easier. So you’re running the risk of alienating long time fans to appease possible new fans. You know what brings people into books? Good stories. You don't need to make the book like the successful movie to be good; the book has been going for forty years without the aid of Hollywood. Forty years of good writing (for the most part at least) has been done without leaning on a movie’s material. This is a stupid and frankly desperate move by Marvel. If you wanted to do a separate series or miniseries based on the book, I’m okay with that. But when you’re actually switching forty years of continuity to fit a movie you’re asking for problems. I would like to know what Marvel’s plan is for retconning forty years of material because that is what they are going to be doing. And let’s be honest, when more fans started reading after the release of the first movie and continued to read it despite it not falling in line with the film. Obviously they are reading it anyways why change and make a mess out of things? And there is the bit of irony to this whole matter: the movie was based on the books. So if the movie was a success based on the stories from the books, why would you change the books?
3) The Classic Armor
Yes it’s classic. Yes it was the longest tenured armor and present for much of the character’s great stories. But that time is over. In the past three years we have seen the classic armor resurface in Haunted, Secret Invasion and World’s Most wanted, and if the Cup O’ Joe article that shows a cover to Siege where Tony is wearing the classic armor once more is accurate, we will be seeing it yet again. Listen, the fans loved it when it was around but the armor is in every way, from its technology to power to aesthetics, out of date. Give it a rest because it’s become obvious Marvel is looking for an excuse to use it, and they’ve done so to the point where it no longer holds any nostalgic value. You know what a great part of a character’s heyday is? That everything went together. If you’re trying to make a new heyday don't use an element from the past like the exact armor worn. Make a new armor that people actually like (hint: that’s not the extremis armor); it will add far more than an obsolete design. If you’re so concerned about the armor ask the fans. They will tell you which armors were liked and disliked and you’d discover they are sick of seeing the classic and want the extremis armor gone. So right now you’re failing in both cases.
2) Focusing on the man that is Tony Stark
You need a certain amount of drama and character development I know, and I have no problem with that. A book that’s just two guys hitting each other for no reason gets boring. But unfortunately there has been little fisticuffs between the Knaufs and Fraction. We get it, Stark has his problems, but it’s become the focus anymore. A reason Legacy of Doom was so good was because during a time of heavy drama we got an exciting and action packed series. It has its character development, it got the characters correct and it had all the things Haunted, Five Nightmares and World’s Most wanted had and it did it without being boring, not to mention did it in four issues. There is too much time being focused on characters and not enough on action. You can do both but recently Marvel seems to be oblivious to that fact. A deep meaning or emotional story means nothing when it’s not entertaining.
1) Armor Wars
We just got and Armor Wars miniseries that was terrible. Ultimate Iron Mane had an Armor Wars story line that I don't think anyone read because no one pays attention to Ultimate Iron Man. Now in the new Iron Man series “Iron Man Legacy” (to be covered in a later post) the first is going to be, you guessed it, “Armor Wars.” And the worst part of it all? IT’S ALL THE SAME STORY! Someone steals Stark’s armors and he goes after them in vigilante mode. How many more times will this be done? And none have been to the level of the original story. If you’re going to make a new Armor Wars, do something new for god’s sake. Armor Wars may have been the best saga in Iron Man’s history, but merely rehashing it doesn’t mean the story will be good. Armor Wars I and II were completely different, why when all these new Armor Wars are popping up, are there no new takes on it? I can't imagine it’s that hard to come up with something different.
5)External Dependencies
What I mean by this are things like the chest plate for keep his heart beating and the most recent arc reactor in his chest to keep his body going. This worked fine when the character first started out but after the character was established the heart subplot was tossed for a reason. All it did was add the same subplot into each issue, a recurring problem that not only had a similar solution each time but also had become tedious and boring. Story quality was hurt by a writer needing to devote valuable page space, the plot device being little more than a waste of time. The previous case in Volume 3 with the mechanical heart Marvel quickly discovered this and got rid of it. Now here they are making the same mistake again. Take a hint guys: the subplot it tired, boring, tedious, a waste of space and most importantly, completely unneeded.
4)Keep the Movie Separate
I loved the movie, but that said the movie and comics shouldn’t intertwine. Keep them separate. Remember when Marvel gave the X-Men similar uniforms like they had in the movie, or Spider-Man organic web shooters? The result was fan backlash and their displeasure with eventual retcons to fix it. If you’re relying on the movies for your material you’re in trouble because they only come out about every three years and they likely won't last past three installments. So what then after you banked the comic off the movies? You’re out of luck. Marvel claims they want to bring the fans of the movie into the books and by making the comic more like the movie the transition will be easier. So you’re running the risk of alienating long time fans to appease possible new fans. You know what brings people into books? Good stories. You don't need to make the book like the successful movie to be good; the book has been going for forty years without the aid of Hollywood. Forty years of good writing (for the most part at least) has been done without leaning on a movie’s material. This is a stupid and frankly desperate move by Marvel. If you wanted to do a separate series or miniseries based on the book, I’m okay with that. But when you’re actually switching forty years of continuity to fit a movie you’re asking for problems. I would like to know what Marvel’s plan is for retconning forty years of material because that is what they are going to be doing. And let’s be honest, when more fans started reading after the release of the first movie and continued to read it despite it not falling in line with the film. Obviously they are reading it anyways why change and make a mess out of things? And there is the bit of irony to this whole matter: the movie was based on the books. So if the movie was a success based on the stories from the books, why would you change the books?
3) The Classic Armor
Yes it’s classic. Yes it was the longest tenured armor and present for much of the character’s great stories. But that time is over. In the past three years we have seen the classic armor resurface in Haunted, Secret Invasion and World’s Most wanted, and if the Cup O’ Joe article that shows a cover to Siege where Tony is wearing the classic armor once more is accurate, we will be seeing it yet again. Listen, the fans loved it when it was around but the armor is in every way, from its technology to power to aesthetics, out of date. Give it a rest because it’s become obvious Marvel is looking for an excuse to use it, and they’ve done so to the point where it no longer holds any nostalgic value. You know what a great part of a character’s heyday is? That everything went together. If you’re trying to make a new heyday don't use an element from the past like the exact armor worn. Make a new armor that people actually like (hint: that’s not the extremis armor); it will add far more than an obsolete design. If you’re so concerned about the armor ask the fans. They will tell you which armors were liked and disliked and you’d discover they are sick of seeing the classic and want the extremis armor gone. So right now you’re failing in both cases.
2) Focusing on the man that is Tony Stark
You need a certain amount of drama and character development I know, and I have no problem with that. A book that’s just two guys hitting each other for no reason gets boring. But unfortunately there has been little fisticuffs between the Knaufs and Fraction. We get it, Stark has his problems, but it’s become the focus anymore. A reason Legacy of Doom was so good was because during a time of heavy drama we got an exciting and action packed series. It has its character development, it got the characters correct and it had all the things Haunted, Five Nightmares and World’s Most wanted had and it did it without being boring, not to mention did it in four issues. There is too much time being focused on characters and not enough on action. You can do both but recently Marvel seems to be oblivious to that fact. A deep meaning or emotional story means nothing when it’s not entertaining.
1) Armor Wars
We just got and Armor Wars miniseries that was terrible. Ultimate Iron Mane had an Armor Wars story line that I don't think anyone read because no one pays attention to Ultimate Iron Man. Now in the new Iron Man series “Iron Man Legacy” (to be covered in a later post) the first is going to be, you guessed it, “Armor Wars.” And the worst part of it all? IT’S ALL THE SAME STORY! Someone steals Stark’s armors and he goes after them in vigilante mode. How many more times will this be done? And none have been to the level of the original story. If you’re going to make a new Armor Wars, do something new for god’s sake. Armor Wars may have been the best saga in Iron Man’s history, but merely rehashing it doesn’t mean the story will be good. Armor Wars I and II were completely different, why when all these new Armor Wars are popping up, are there no new takes on it? I can't imagine it’s that hard to come up with something different.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Review: Armor Wars Miniseries
Recently the Armor Wars four issue miniseries came to a close. Geared towards mostly younger audiences it was supposed to be a new twist on the classic event. But could it live up to it at all?
Story
Well it’s the same thing Armor Wars starts off with: someone stole Stark’s armor. Unfortunately it quickly diverts from there going from Stark attempting to shut down his stolen armors to, well, I’m not really sure. The story was truly all over the place, attempts at putting some new twist in at every turn to the point that by the time the story ended you weren't sure how it really related to the Armor Wars theme.
Every issue took a new direction; new villains, new armors and new plot. There was little coherence to this series and at even four issues managed to completely after the second installment. If you can't keep the focus on armors for four issues you’ve pretty much failed. Even worse, it’s a failure with a story that has been done before.
Grade: F
Art
As I mentioned this series was geared towards younger audiences and the art definitely reflected that. Having a cartoon/anime style it was filled with characters with exaggerated facial features and bright eye caching colors. At times you couldn’t tell what the artist was going for, the fight scenes often confusing. In terms of the target audience the art was a success; but for a regular collector like myself it didn’t work.
Grade: C
Writing
Like I said the story just went all over the place. So much was crammed into this story that not enough time could be spent on developing characters main or supporting. It also failed the move the story along at a good pace, going fast and jumping all over the place. So many twists were thrown in such as Omega Red and a shape shifter impersonating Rhodey that it just got annoying and confusing by the end. “In depth” is not a term I would apply to this.
Grade: F
Final Thoughts
Even for a younger audience this book doesn’t make the cut. Too many twists and turns, most of which were not needed and added nothing were made the primary focus by the end. For a title called “Armor Wars” there was a massive lack of the concept in the last half of the story. All in all the art and especially the story failed to captivate in any way. If you haven’t picked up the title and you’re not a completist don't waste your time or money.
Final Grade: F
I apologize for the formatting but for some unknown reason blogger refuses to put spaces in between paragraphs,
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