Comics / Comic Reviews / Marvel Comics

Invincible Iron Man #527 Review

By Alexander Jones
October 25, 2012 - 04:57

Invincible Iron Man relaunched in 2008 under the steady hand of Matt Fraction and Salvador Larroca. There has been four consistent years of this title hitting store shelves. This information is relevant because Matt Fraction takes his time when telling a story. Usually listening to Matt weave his complicated story in and out is completely fascinating however in the case of Invincible Iron Man 527 it is not.

No story arc in Invincible Iron Man has been as ambitious as the current The Future arc. The mandarin has been put down by Stark and friends but where does the payoff and action happen? Reading the issue may cause four year long readers to be confused. Loose threads are wrapped up fairly quickly and a new status quo is set in motion. As for the character's themselves there is no new ground broken here. The only semblance of growth or knowledge that Stark didn't have four years ago was that his products are going to be used as however the user finds necessary. The aforementioned knowledge mirrors the first issue of Invincible Iron Man in an interesting way. Where suicide bombers wipe out a third world country using Stark Tech cell phones. Another interesting twist is the idea that the backup of memories from the Stark Disassembled arc were corrupt. That is how the Mandarin hacked into Tony's mind.

The biggest problem with the issue is the girl in the tub who hides from Pepper. If The four years previous of Invincible Iron Man has taught the reader anything it's that Tony Stark is a flawed individual however Tony is obviously trying to get better. With that character arc in mind it's tough to watch Tony going back to his old ways. Throughout the series his alcoholism has always been a prevalent plot point and is only briefly touched on here. Throughout the series Salvador Larocca's pencils have been rough. His robots and action always look great but the talking heads section is wear he lies thin.

The most daunting issue with the artwork of Invincible Iron Man has always been Frank D. Armata. Armata's colors make the characters look like they are covered in plastic. His talking heads look shiny. It gives the comic this strange tone that doesn't capture the wonder or excitement meant to be portrayed. Instead the colors make even the sweetest moments of the comic look menacing. While the last issue of Invincible Iron Man is not bad it is lacking weight. The most exciting parts of the comic are the possibilities that that the new Iron Man saga ongoing and Guardians Of The Galaxy have for the character.

Rating: 6.5 /10

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12