Invincible Iron Man #8

[selenak]

Friends are people who hand over American comics to needy Europeans. Having friends, I've now read Invincible Iron Man #8, aka The One After Secret Invasion Which Starts The Most Wanted Storyline, and I have to say, it's a blast.



One of the pleasure of con and heist movies: sooner or later, there is, almost inevitably, a scene in which Our Hero seems to be totally humiliated, screwed over and at his lowest, deserted by his friends, with the villain gloating - and then the villain and the audience find out that actually Our Hero has secretly set up a scheme which ensures the one being screwed over here is the villain, while our guy, with some help by his not so absent friends, takes the good and runs. To get the full effect out of it, you must play fair by character. In The Sting, it's unlikely, but not impossible that Redford's character gives in to the villain and screws over Newman's, because the odds are just so overwhelming and the villain that dangerous. However, if you pay attention, the double bluff - that actually Redford and Newman are still in cahoots, and running a second set-up for the villain - is signalled as well. Fraction does something similar here. It's not that Tony is faking feeling depressed and guilty at the start. He does. But feeling depressed and guilty never resulted in passive acceptance before, plus here you have a character whose technological savvy is a quintessential trait and who, in Armor Wars, went to considerable illegal lengths to prevent his tech being used for means he doesn't approve of, so the fact he used his day of humiliation and checking out procedures to pinch the Superhuman Registration Database and set up a virus program in the new H.A.M.M.E.R. computers (that doesn't affect every day stuff but everything which requires a code clearance) feels absolutely right. Plus it screws Norman Osborn over, which as Pepper points out is iuvenile, but as Tony says both fun and necessary.

(I could quarrel with the likelihood of there being just one copy of the Superhuman Registration Database before Tony downloads it into himself (which thanks to the changes Extremis wrought in his body, he can) and wipes it from what used to be SHIELD's computers, but then again, it doesn't break comics plausability and actually fits with Casualties of War and the Tony and Steve argument about the danger of everyone being on file there.)

Other aspects to enjoy: the current on the run team itself. Maria Hill is probably the one character getting more hostility for her actions in Civil War from most comic readers than Tony Stark does (she doesn't have the benefit of getting a movie to boost her popularity again), but the Knaufs in their last arc of Director of SHIELD, Bendis in Secret Invasion and Fraction now have all written her as dedicated to the world-saving business (her showdown with Skrull!Jarvis was a beautiful thing), her relationship with Tony changing from mutual dislike but allies by necessity to growing respect. So I'm happy she's not getting written out but on the contrary goes on the run with him. (Tony and no-nonsense military people who aren't exactly fans of each other are a combination for which I have a soft spot.) It's also a contrast to Tony and Pepper, who do have a close relationship (with UST) of many years standing, but one that's currently more convoluted than ever now that Tony saved Pepper's life by literally changing her into another meta.

Trivia: when Norman Osborn triggered the virus by trying to open the Superhuman Registration Database, looking up Spider-man first, I thought "but hasn't he found out two or three times already...?", but then I remembered The Giant Retcon Of Doom over at Spider-man. Which evidently means that Norman along with the rest of the world has forgotten the Peter Parker/Spider-man identity yet again. A retconned villain's lot is not an easy one.

The (red) flying car cracked me up. Fraction does have fun with displaying Tony's juvenile/playful side along with the serious stuff.

Comments

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

I think there actually was a plot point at the end of Civil War of Steve requesting that Tony be the only one with access to the database, so there is some background to it. I hadn't thought of the "Sting" comparison, but it makes me smile.

I *really* like the story being set up here and I'm curious to see where it goes. I do hope that some of the Director of SHIELD fans who weren't wild about the first arc of this book give it another chance for a different kind of story.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

You know, I feel dumb. When I read the announcements declaring Tony had one last thing Norman wanted which made him go on the run, I thought they'd give us some new MacGuffin, a weapon or something like this, when the database was really the most logical thing, because of course he wouldn't let Norman get his hands on the identity and address of every superhero on the planet. It's good continuity and makes emotional sense.

...incidentally, and speaking of continuity and what you said about Fraction writing Maria Hill as a character - the first moment where she captured my attention was in The Road to Civil War when she asked Tony, apropos the Hulk situation and the need to deal with it, how often the Greek Goblin would have to break out (presumably Bendis wrote this when Norman was still in jail) and kill people before it became Spider-man's fault. This, err, might have some new relevancy.

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I do remember Hill's role in 'New Avengers,' which was pretty well done by Bendis, but I still remember thinking she was more of a more of a mouthpiece for pro-reg than an individual. Fraction actually has her talking about where she's from, and bickering with Tony in a way that's not plot- point related. Bendis always did a good job with the character for the way he used her, but it seems like Fraction's taking the next step -- which is always a neat thing to see in comics, when writers find interesting ways to play with others' creations.

[handyhunter.livejournal.com]

Thanks for writing this. :) I feel a bit like I missed an issue or two before #8, and your post helps to clarify a lot of things (like, why Tony is no longer in charge and Norman Osborn (isn't he evil?) is).

[vitruvian23.livejournal.com]

The problem with trying to make Hill likeable is that presumably she's still the person who ordered the slaughter of Savage Land indigenes back in New Avengers, and passed through the orders for suicide bombing of Attilan in Silent War. So, every time I find myself liking her more recent portrayals, there's a bit of cognitive dissonance there, since after all any true hero would be handing her over to a war crimes tribunal.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

The reason why Tony is no longer in charge and Norman Osborn is actually didn't happen in Invincible Iron Man but in the mega crossover event of this year, Secret Invasion. (Short version: the blame for the Skrull Invasion went to Tony, plus Norman, who during the Civil War events was released and got to head a villains-who-don't-want-to-go-to-jail-again team named The Thunderbolts, had been the one to take out the Skrull Queen on camera, so he's a media darling and got handed the keys to the kingdom, with SHIELD being dismantled and the leftovers being transformed into the merged-with-the Thunderbolts organisation HAMMER.)

The last Invincible Iron Man issue #7, was set before Secret Invasion and was a Spider-man crossover, in which Tony met Peter Parker again.