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IGN once again comes up with the goods, this week in the form of a preview of this week’s Iron Man #27.

I’ve been meaning to blog about the current Iron Man storyline since #25, however a couple of things immediately jump out at me.

Firstly, its nice to see the issue of Pepper being Rescue being addressed.  To be honest, I really enjoyed her stint as an armoured hero during World’s Most Wanted, and her pain when she found out that she had to lose it all to save Tony was a great emotional moment from Matt Fraction.

That said, now Tony’s back, it really makes sense that she’d petition him for a new suit.  Tony’s arguments that he needs her running the company come across as a bit thin (he ran Stark Industries while moonlighting as Iron Man for years), so it’ll be interesting to see how this develops.

Another interesting thing is Tony’s assertion that he’s never made a suit to be primarily a weapon.  Granted Pepper immediately calls him on it with the Hulk Buster, but you just have to look at the cover of the book to see how much Tony’s kidding himself here.

Its also interesting though, as it once again seems like a bit of retconning (or at least, the character kidding himself).  Iron Man #25 for example had Tony playing up repulsor technology as this brilliant keystone power source, as well as telling Thor he’d never built his company up from scratch, and the big show of ditching the military contracts.

All these things work within the context of the story of course, but they also share the fact that they ignore past history.  Tony’s rebuilt his company from scratch several times over the course of the series, be it Stark Enterprises, Stark Solutions or now Stark Resilient (gotta admit, its not the best name he’s come up with either).  Repulsor tech was never that big a deal, and Tony cutting military contracts was a big thing from the get-go after getting caught by that landmine.

These things also have another thing in common.  They’re all big parts of the current movie series.  So its clear that the tail’s wagging the dog to an extent, and that in order to make the comics accessible for the audience who’ve found the character via the movies that these aspects are being brought in.   For the most part, I can happily live with it, and as I say, within the context of these books its well written and works.  But it’d still be nice if it died down a bit now this new direction was in place, and Tony claiming he’s never built the suit as a weapon is straight from the movies and blatant rubbish.   At least, as I say, Tony’s called on it, which does feel a bit like Matt Fraction throwing a bone to the longer-term fans who’re having to ignore continuity a bit for the sake of the movies.  And for that, I’m glad

And talking of War Machine, I notice aspects of the movie design have crept into his new armour.  No surprise though, and as a fan of the character, its just nice to see him having a recurring role in the books again lately.

Of course, its not like any of this is new.  Spider-Man gaining organic web shooters for example?  And it does make sense to capitalise on the movies in this way.  I can’t complain about that really, but its more just the way its presented with all this movie-based stuff suddenly appearing.

I will say though, fanboy continuity niggles aside, I’ve been very much enjoying this current storyline.  After all the Dark Reign stuff, Matt Fraction is once again showing his solid grasp of Tony’s character, and while its not original, its still always fun to see Tony flexing his mental muscles to rebuild his company.  The inclusion of the Hammer sisters has been interesting so far and yes, while its another way of referencing the movies, Justin Hammer was always a good nemesis for Tony, so its nice to see his daughters being established to give Tony a corporate enemy.  Something he’s not had as often as he maybe should have over the years.

One final niggle however.  I wonder when we’re going to get the new armour properly showcased?  I miss the days when the new suit would show off all its capabilities against Iron Monger or Firepower.  So far we haven’t really seen much of what this suit can do at all.

So the post-Dark Reign landscape of the Marvel universe is slowly starting to take shape, and with the latest solicits on IGN there are a few surprises.

The Heroic Age Magazine #1 cover presents an interesting line up.  Some are obvious.  We’ve got Black Widow (currently appearing all over the Marvel Universe for several months – she must have gotten Wolverine’s agent – and will no doubt enjoy a big push come the release of Iron Man 2), Spider-Man, Thor and of course, Tony in his new Iron Man armour.

But most interesting in the lineup (and seen in the Avengers posters the other week) is Captain America, who appears to still be Bucky.  With Steve’s return and headlining Seige it seemed obvious that this was Steve back as Cap, with Bucky hopefully finding a new costumed identity of some description.   Instead its looking like Bucky will be staying on for a bit (hopefully not as a misdirect, only to get killed in issue 1 spurring Steve donning the costume again).

I for one am very happy if Bucky is staying on as Cap for a while longer.  He’s been generally well accepted in the role, helped enormously by the strength of Ed Brubaker’s writing in first re-establishing his character and making him interesting, and then slowly bringing him into the role, showing his own unease at taking on Steve’s legacy.  When Cap Reborn was announced, I felt that there was still life yet in Bucky as Captain America, so this is a welcome move.   I wonder if it means that there’s other plans in place for Steve.  I imagine, for example, that they’ll be needing someone to helm the HAMMER replacement once Norman’s booted out.

However, even more excitingly for me, as an Iron Man fan, is the solicitation for Rescue.  A new series starring Pepper Potts, back in her armour once again.  Pepper’s storyline has been incredibly strong under Matt Fraction’s writing during World’s Most Wanted and Stark Dissassembled, and you really felt for her when it was revealled that Tony’s revival would not only rip away her repulsor generator, but also involved ripping apart her Rescue armour.   Seeing Pepper enjoy the chance to finally be a superhero herself, after supporting Tony for so long was a great side-plot by Fraction so, much like Bucky as Cap, I’m really happy to see Marvel giving Rescue some more room to be explored.   Who’d have thought I’d be excited at the thought of a Pepper Potts series?

Finally, in amongst the various Deadpool solicitations (I love the character, but I know I’m not alone in fearing Marvel are pushing this one too far), I notice he’s got a team-up with Captain Britain.  I’m not sure if Captain Britain’s appeared since the Paul Cornell series was axed, but it’ll be interesting to see if any of MI-13 turn up or are referenced.  I hope so, as I’d hate to see Marvel throw away that team.

Its a big week for fans of Iron Man.  Not only do we get the latest part of the Stark Disassembled storyline, but we also get the final issue of the current series of War Machine.  Its worth noting that War Machine should be read before Iron Man, as Iron Man will spoil the finale of War Machine otherwise.

However just to be contrary, I’m going to review Iron Man first

Continuing on from last issue, Stark’s closest friends are gathered around his body as Rescue continues to recite Stark’s plan to bring himself back from the self-lobotomy he performed during World’s Most Wanted.  Interestingly Pepper’s reluctance to help last issue is revisited here in a way that makes complete sense as we see what exactly Stark’s rebirth will cost her.  Its a testament to Fraction’s writing and the development he’s done with the character that I really found myself feeling for her, and in some ways Stark’s plan seems cruel to her (although, of course, when it comes down to the crunch she signs up with little hesitation).

The contents of the mysterious hard disc Maria Hill retrieved during World’s Most Wanted are revealed, and while not being a great surprise, its perfectly in character for Tony.  In fact, despite being brain dead for the issue, Tony continues to get the best lines, via the holographic recording he left with Rescue.

Its also nice to see Ghost turning up here.  He’s a character I hadn’t really seen much of, prior to picking up Andy Diggle’s Thunderbolts run the other month, and he’s become a real favourite as mine.  There’s something wonderfully freaky about his design, and the way he operates completely under his own agenda under Osborn’s nose remains interesting (especially as that agenda isn’t the usual supervillain posturing).

There is also the symbolism at play here, as Fraction brings together the newly-Reborn Steve Rogers and Thor to help in Tony’s resurrection.  We’re seeing the big 3 Avengers come back together here, in preparation for the upcoming Seige event, and it does feel like something big is coming in Marvel just through these characters being together again.

While I wasn’t entirely sure about the ending of World’s Most Wanted, and this Disassembled arc from the solicits, I think its paying off nicely, helped in part by moving along quite quickly, obviously so we can have Tony back on his feet and in armour in time for Siege.

Over in War Machine #12, things aren’t looking particularly rosy for Jim Rhodes either.   While he’s not lobotomised himself, Osborn has captured him and has him on trial for war crimes and facing execution.

As a wrap up to the year of War Machine we’ve had this issue works brilliantly.  Osborn remains centre-stage as the villain of the piece and the main characters from throughout the run are all spotlighted with James’ mother visiting him in prison, Ares turning up to free his champion and team War Machine in their usual support roles.

Its actually a real shame to see this series come to an end, if only because this issue would’ve marked a major turning point that would’ve set things up to go off in a different direction to the first year of the run.  And with War Machine turning up in Iron Man 2 next year, you have to wonder how long it’ll be before we at least get a new mini-series.

I do like how Greg Pak turns Osborn against himself here.   There’s an interesting parallel between this and the ending of World’s Most Wanted, which in both cases sees Tony and Rhodey turn Osborn’s own arrogance against him (as we see with Osborn himself exonerating Rhodey from War Machine’s crimes).  In both cases, the resolution came down to the planning by the main characters, rather than a knock-down fight.  Which especially in the case of War Machine is an interesting way to go.

There’s also an interesting clearing of the decks going on across these titles in time for the new year and the new film.  It’ll be interesting to see how Matt Fraction continues to rebuild Tony for example, since he’ll now be free from Extremis, have a movie-styled repulsor unit in his chest, and have to rebuild Stark Industries from the ground up.  And how Rhodey will feature into the Marvel universe will be interesting to see.  If nothing else, it might be nice to have him feature in Iron Man for a while again (while Tony’s getting back on his feet).  Certainly I hope the character doesn’t languish like he did after his first ongoing was cancelled.

After 12 issues, the strong of Tony Stark being on the run from Norman Osborn and H.A.M.M.E.R. has finally come to an end.

I must admit.  As much as I really enjoy Fraction’s work on this book, I’m unsure how I actually feel about this conclusion at the moment.  The run has been filled with great moments.  Pepper, Maria and Natasha make a great team, and the twist of Madam Masque being in the Rescue armour was a great moment.  Watching Norman crow about how good a day he was having while the three women were in his headquarters causing havoc (including J.A.R.V.I.S. trashing all of Norman’s captured suits of Iron Man armour) was great.

Another highlight was the final Tony/Norman fight.  By this point, Tony’s virtually incapable of putting one foot in front of the other, and is wearing only his original Iron Man armour, while Norman’s at the top of his game, yet despite everything being in Norman’s favour, we see Tony’s victory as Osborn is outsmarted, revealed on television pummelling the defenceless Tony and discovering that the information he was so desperate for no longer exists.

Despite this though, I’m left feeling slightly unsatisfied.  This story was 12 issues long, so while its no Clone Saga, that’s still a long story in modern terms, where most aim for six issues in order to fit trade paperback requirements.  Despite this long run though, it feels like we end on yet another cliffhanger.  Tony is now in a vegetative state, having erased the contents of his memory, and his body is a prisoner in the HAMMER helicarrier.  We still don’t know what’s on the hard drive Maria and co were so desperate to retrieve (although its a fair bet it relates to however Tony’s going to get out of this mess in time for the upcoming Seige event).   Despite the story’s length, there’s still the feeling that the main beats aren’t resolved, which is a bit frustrating.    Given the status at the end of the issue, with Norman having chased Tony around the globe for nothing, and having lost all his Starktech except for his one suit of Iron Patriot armour, it should’ve felt like more of a win for Tony.  Instead it all felt a bit “too be continued”, a real shame after 12 issues.

However, I don’t want to be too down on this.  I don’t doubt that whatever happens next is going to be very interesting indeed, as we see Tony’s friends getting in touch with Donald Blake, who happens to be the executor of Tony’s Estate according to his will, in addition to being the secret identity of a certain god of thunder.  So its obvious all we’ve really seen is the conclusion of stage 1 of a larger plan (again, we have Fraction playing on Tony’s ability to think three steps ahead).

This has been a great ride.  Matt Fraction’s done a great job of showing Tony’s descent as his intelligence slowly left him.  He’s also greatly captured Norman Osborn’s character showing how dangerous and deranged he can be (witness his right-hand woman freaking out over how Norman’s going to kill them all when he learns of Pepper’s escape).  There’s a great supporting cast in place here, and so all we really need is to see exactly what Tony’s got up his sleeve for how he’ll get out of this.  And then, of course, I have to presume that we’ll be getting one of those great Iron Man moments as we have the unveiling of a redesigned suit of armour (since the Extremis suit is now useless).  With the damage done to the character during Civil War (a good idea, badly handled in my opinion), its hard not to really feel for Tony as he desperately tries to string together a coherent thought while Norman is pounding on his armour, and that is possibly the greatest strength of this run.  Its made Tony Stark a character that you’re cheering for again.

Dark Reign rumbles on in the Marvel Universe, and it still sucks to be Tony Stark, as he’s quickly shot down after wandering into Russian airspace on his way to the latest of his private facilities.

The person doing the shooting turns out to be Tony’s old friend, the Crimson Dynamo who’s unimpressed by this person wandering into his country in an outdated armour that’s easily taken down.  He’s even more surprised when he realises it is indeed Tony Stark in the suit.

This is something Matt Fraction’s doing that I really love.  In the past, whenever Tony’s armour has been trashed, its been almost cliche that he’d spend 5-10 issues running around in the classic 60s armour, before its overwhelmed and he’s forced to build a new suit.   This rarely made sense, as in some of those situations he could’ve easily gone with a suit more advanced.   In this story, Tony’s reasons for adopting such an old suit make perfect sense, as his intelligence is compromised, and his reaction times slowed.

The other thing Fraction does which was previously ignored, is address that in the modern Marvel Universe, the 60s armour is rubbish.  Yes, it looks good.  But its old technology.  In previous instances where Tony’s worn this suit as a substitute, he’s generally held his own to a point, until becoming overwhelmed.   Here there’s no pretence that he can hold his own.  He’s quickly shot down by the Crimson Dynamo and his armour rendered useless.  Fortunately once the situation has been explained, the Dynamo is more than happy to lend Tony his armour to help him out.

We also go back to Pepper, who’s more than happy to flaunt Osborn’s authority in order to track Tony down.  Sadly, she’s playing straight into Norman’s hands, as he’s been watching her, waiting for her to run to Tony.

Talking of Norman, there’s a great scene where he contacts the Russians for permission to chase Tony in their territory, only to be bluntly told to shove off.  Its a nice scene, and its interesting to see that internationally, other countries seem to be well aware of Norman’s past, and don’t trust him one iota.

Meanwhile War Machine #7 continues Jim’s quest to shut down the research into the Ultimo virus.   Having successfully distracted American Eagle in the previous issue to allow him to get to the US military base housing the research, Jim quickly begins dismantling their defenses only to discover that the head of Ultimo is being used to house the project.

Again, a real part of the fun here is the Dark Reign setup, mainly with American Eagle’s interactions with Norman Osborn.  Again we’re seeing someone in authority tell Osborn to get knotted.  Its  a situation that’s sure to escalate, since as more and more people tell Osborn to take a hike, you can see him getting further and further out of control and throwing around his authority.   As a direct result of this issue you see military personnel questioning exactly why there was an alien superweapon hidden on their base by Osborn.  Hopefully these are hints that Osborn’s ascendancy to power isn’t nearly as all-encompassing as may have first appeared, and there’s still a good few people out there questioning what’s going on.

The other thing that really surprised me in this issue is the cliffhanger.  Jim manages to hack the Ultimo project’s database and discovers the locations where Ultimo’s main processor has been stored (after being split up).  To stop him, Osborn calls in his latest line of defense against Jim. Someone who looks a lot like Tony Stark, leaving the Stark Solutions offices.

I’m really wondering who this is going to be.  Assuming I’ve not missed any issues where there was a clone of Tony kicking around or something, this is hugely interesting.  ”Tony” is carrying his signature briefcase, so it seems to be hinting towards another War Machine/Iron Man confrontation, but what’s the twist here?

A really nice part of this issue is that we finally see the sequence of events that resulted in Jim’s injuries.  Interestingly, he was serving as an advisor to the military (in something reminiscent of his role as a liason in the Iron Man movie).  We quickly see Jim’s determination to save others no matter the personal cost.  Its nice to finally see what actually happened there.

Some good new comics this week along with Flash: Rebirth, the first of which is the long-awaited Power Girl #1.

Its no secret I’ve been looking forward to this. Power Girl’s been a fun character for a while, probably shining most recently in her pre-Infinite Crisis mini-series, that re-established her Earth-2 origin.

The series picks up with Power Girl having decided to rebuild her life on New Earth. After discovering (the new) Earth-2 has its own Power Girl (in the JSA annual) she’s realised she needs to build a life for herself outside of the JSA and so has set about rebuilding her Karen Starr secret identity, along with her Starrware company when New York is attacked by robots which seem to instil fear in anyone near them.

As an introductory issue this works well. I’ve only really read some of the early Power Girl stuff from the recent trade, and her later appearances around Infinite Crisis, but Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray do a good job of quickly re-establishing the character, who she is, and her motivations following recent events. Her company looks like it’ll be a good backdrop as well, with it being a large R&D company attracting its fair share of experimental technology and nutter scientists.

As always, Amanda Conner’s art is perfect for this series. Her art was the real highlight of the mini-series and shone in the recent Terra mini as well. She’s got a great style which really brings out the facial expressions of characters and really adds to that fun feeling and the more comedic moments in the series. The colouring is really brilliant as well and adds a lot of extra pop to the art.

Things are going from bad to worse for everyone in the Invincible Iron Man title. Despite escaping Namor last issue, Tony is finding his Iron Man suit increasingly difficult to pilot as his intelligence deteriorates. To that end, he is trying to put together the parts he needs for a scaled down version, when he comes under attack from someone looking to cash in on the bounty Osbourne’s put on his head. Thankfully its a rookie, so Tony easily out maneauvers him and escapes.

The main focus of this issue I found was more on the supporting cast. We deal with Maria Hill having stumbled upon the Controller, and more interestingly, Pepper, after she’s been detained by Osbourne and HAMMER last issue. Osbourne is keen to get his hands into Pepper’s armour, however its automatically shut itself down. Here we learn that despite finding Tony’s armoury in Avengers tower, Osbourne and his team are struggling to unlock Tony’s technology, and so Norman is incredibly keen to get Pepper’s repulsor unit. Again, we see Norman start to loose his grip, as he’s quick to start threatening Pepper’s family when she rightly points out that Norman’s allegations of her suit’s weapons are empty.  Its a great scene for Pepper, as she comes across calm and in control, despite being surrounded by Norman and his troops.   Of course, Norman is eventually forced to let her go, as her suit contains no weapons, and Tony ensured she was registered before he lost his position.

As I’ve said before, I’m really intrigued by how Matt Fraction plans to wrap up this story arc.  It really feels like our heroes’ backs are against the wall here.   This series is doing a great job of showing the danger everyone’s in from Norman’s authority and in these days where you’re used to the safe knowledge that our heroes will win through, I think its a testament to Fraction’s writing that I really am seeing no way out for Tony.

The final issue I’ll mention was Strange Adventures #3. Adam Strange discovers that the Weird (or at least, a being that appears to be the Weird) is behind the missing stars. After finding himself overpowered, he makes a beeline for Comet to recruit his help.   Arriving on Hardcore Station though, Adam finds it not as easy as he thought, and soon finds himself beaten and mugged for asking about where to find Comet.  I must admit, I found this quite amusing, and it did help to underline just how dangerous a place Hardcore can be.  Heck, even Comet spends most of his time in the Hole these days.   We’ve very rarely seen him using his flat.

The mystery regarding Synar continues.  We know his plans have gone wrong, as his essence has ended up merged with the Weird’s physcial form.  However there’s also what appears to be the Weird causing Stars to vanish, and a more familiar Synar turns up at the end of the issue in Comet’s flat.   Exactly what the ramifications of the events of the end of Holy War were clearly have yet to be fully explained.

Meanwhile there’s some nice scenes with trouble brewing on New Rann with Sardath and Alanna starting to really question Adam’s sanity over the missing stars.   Fortunately when Prince Gavyn finally has time to look at the readings as Adam asked, he also confirms the stars are going missing.  Obviously its all related to Prince Gavyn and Adam being part of the Aberrant Six, but what exactly the Aberrant Six are, I presume is going to be key to this series.

I’m still greatly enjoying this series.    The reduced cast has helped immensely, bringing the story squarely to focus on Adam and Comet, the two characters I enjoy the most.  Its given the book a tighter focus that I think was maybe missing in Holy War, which just had too many characters to juggle.