Comics / Comic Reviews / Marvel Comics

Iron Man 2.0 #3

By Dan Horn
April 17, 2011 - 16:02

Palmer Addley is dead. At least, that's what everyone at DARPA and the DoD believed. What else could they believe? Palmer Addley had killed himself during a deep immersion project, and his stone-cold corpse had been collected by the Feds. So why have his dismantled tech projects come back online in the hands of the world's most dangerous terrorists, and why does the cryptic message "Palmer Addley is dead" keep appearing in conjunction with each resurfacing of his designs?

In Iron Man 2.0 #3, we begin to get a few more pieces to the puzzle, and Palmer Addley may not be whom everyone had him pegged as. James Rhodes, aka War Machine, is back on the Army payroll and hot on the phantom's data trail, but the events of last issue (a dirty bomb detonation in Russia) proved that Palmer Addley (or what is ostensibly Addley) is ready for anything Rhodey has to throw at him. Enter Tony Stark and the eponymous Iron Man 2.0...

Nick Spencer's dialogue is incredibly organic. Spencer's characterizations and development may be some of the best in the business, and both shine through in this action-free interlude chapter. Whereas someone like Jeff Lemire seems to phone in his superhero work, Nick Spencer is completely immersed in all of his tales, especially this one. Iron Man 2.0 is full of complex and baffling intrigue and a brilliant cast of characters.

There's a bit of a disconnect between the artists in this issue as the transitions are pretty glaring, but each artist still does a fantastic job with his own portion of the issue. The choppy progression in the artwork does nothing to make this chapter any less marvelous. Spencer's Iron Man 2.0 has the makings of one of Marvel's best titles.

Rating: 9 /10

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12