Iron Man by Gillen vol. 4: Iron Metropolitan

“The Secret Origin of Tony Stark’s” big twists were these:  Tony was actually adopted, and he has a brother.  Arno, who has spent most of his life in an iron lung and hidden away in case the android 451 ever came back to find him.  Now that they’re together, the sky’s the limit as they try to do something that is a guaranteed recipe for disaster in the Marvel Universe.  That’s right, they’re going to try and build something to change the world!  The city of tomorrow, today and all that.  The problem here is that with the Marvel Universe being meant to represent “the world outside your window” any attempt to impose lasting change (for better or for worse) is doomed for failure in the long run.  Even so, I would’ve liked to have seen more emphasis on the building of this city — Troy, as it’s called — and what kind of people were lining up to live inside it.  Writer Kieron Gillen sets it up as Tony and Arno butting their heads against an incredible problem with its own special perils, yet it never transcends its superhero roots.  Troy is ultimately just a flashy plot point for superpowered beings to fight over.

It’s still a solidly constructed story, and Gillen continues to write a great Tony Stark who manages to be a great deal of fun whether he’s flashing his charm or arrogance.  Arno could do with some fleshing out, however.  While the physiological differences he has with his brother are notable, they’re almost the same in terms of personality with this newer character being less snarky and more level-headed overall.  If Gillen wants the character to survive his run, and not immediately be killed off as a cheap ploy for drama, he’s going to make the character a lot more distinctive than he currently is.  The way the writer runs with the implication from Matt Fraction’s run that the Rings of the Mandarin are actually alien intelligences who have a real mad-on for Tony Stark is more successful.  I liked seeing the way the rings’ hosts used their powers to further their own agendas, and it gave the individual powers they have more meaning than when they’ve been used by the Mandarin himself in the past.  This new status quo is upended somewhat at the end of the volume with the revelation of the villain who is bent on getting all of the rings for himself.  It’s a real, “Really!  That guy?  What’s he doing in an ‘Iron Man’ comic?”  The answer is:  Setting up a conflict between fantasy and science for the final volume in Gillen’s run on this title.