Marvel Comics
The Invincible Iron Man #10
By Hervé St-Louis February 17, 2009 - 21:58
Publisher(s): Marvel Comics
Writer(s): Matt Fraction
Penciller(s): Salvador Larroca
Inker(s): Salvador Larroca
Colourist(s): Frank D'armata
Letterer(s): Joe Caramagna
Cover Artist(s): Salvador Larroca
$2.99 US
Tony Stark and Maria Hill are on the run and the number
one targets of Norman Osborne, the new director of H.A.M.M.E.R., the agency
replacing S.H.I.E.L.D. that used to be under Stark’s control. Osborne is after
Stark’s technology and he’s willing to use every means to get it. But Stark has
one last ace up his sleeve, and that is the ultimate Iron Man armour ever
created and that can only be manned by someone with enhanced abilities. But if
Stark has to erase his mind to achieve his goal, he will.
It’s rare to read a series where some themes are
continuously explored seamlessly without readers noticing much. So far, if
there are one or two words to describe this new Iron Man series, it’s armour
wars. This theme has made Iron Man great in the past and Fraction understands
that. Whereas the previous armour wars in this series focused on the contraband
of Stark’s technology, this current one is about appropriation of that technology
through force, instead of deceit.
This type of conflicts allows Tony Stark to shine as a
character and make readers forget that Iron Man doesn’t even show up in action
in several issues. I also like the tension about Stark wanting to erase his
mind. Of course it’s hard to believe and I keep wondering where he really wants
to go with his wild but well calculated plot. The one complaint that I have
about this issue is the lack of explanation of where the Iron Man suit that
Osborne appropriated to himself fits in. In Dark Avengers, he discovered a haul
full of Iron Man armour, yet in this issue Hill tries to destroy a similar
vault containing older prototypes.
Larroca is a great artist that brings the human dimension
of this story of a wider scale. He succeeds as well in drawing human
interactions as big battle armour. Colourist D’Armata has to be mentioned for
the way in which he channels the colour palette of French cartoonist Mœbius. It
gives the book a realistic look mixed with some slight fantasy, informing the
reader that this is not all real, but a comic book.