The Invincible Iron Man vol. 6: Stark Resilient, Book II

Was all that setup worth it?  Kinda.  The biggest problem with this arc is that you really could’ve squeezed it down into five or six issues and only missed some of the “flavor” that Matt Fraction brings to Tony Stark’s adventures.  Throughout most of this volume I felt that he was trying to depart from the superhero action setup in much the same way that Joe Casey did nearly a decade ago with “Wildcats 3.0.”  That series eschewed the standard formula of the genre to focus more on boardroom business deals and the struggles former superheroes face when they try to change the world.  It’s a lot like what Fraction is having Stark do here and on one level I like that.

However, the reason Casey was able to get away with doing this to the Wildcats for as long as he did was that the Wildstorm Universe was far less defined than the Marvel one and had a lot less baggage for him to deal with.  Here, Fraction also has to contend with the fact that not only is he writing a character with over 40 years of history that happens to be one of the figureheads of this fictional universe, but also the constraints of the universe itself.  Now the Marvel Universe has always been designed to reflect “our word,” so you’re never going to see its characters introduce some fantastic world-altering change that would distort that image.  Or if you do, you can bet that it’s a plot by the Red Skull to destroy America and the reset button will be hit by the end of the arc.

Tony’s current plan is to power the world using repulsor technology and he plans to really show it off by building the car of the future.  (As I started typing that, I suddenly realized how similar it sounds to what Jack Marlowe and crew were doing in “Wildcats 3.0,” but if you’re going to call it anything Fraction’s work here is more homage than rip-off.)  With that as a goal, you know that he’s destined for failure because it’ll mean that this world is no longer a reflection of our own.  I want to see Tony succeed because he genuinely wants to use his power to make a better world, but such success is quite literally impossible in this universe.  

Perhaps that’s why Fraction seems to be heading towards wrapping things up when the end of this volume has several of the primary villains from his run teaming up with a longtime “Iron Man” antagonist.  With a setup like that, I can’t help but think that the final issue will involve Tony stopping their evil designs at the cost of his dream.  I’d like to think that Fraction’s a clever enough writer to have forseen this possibility and is planning something completely different, but the moments when the characters are talking amongst themeselves and not advancing the plot continue to be more interesting than the main story.  Justine and Sasha Hammer just aren’t that interesting villains, as a sense of superiority seems to be their defining character trait, and I was disappointed that they weren’t taken off the board in the battle at the end of the volume.

The best parts of this volume were the two short stories written by Fraction and illustrated by Jamie McKelvie.  “Again at the End of the World With Your Pal Pepper Potts” takes place when the title character’s life is in limbo and she has a vision of her former husband Happy Hogan who’s trying to help her come to terms with dying and her relationship with Tony.  Pepper rightly senses that all is not as it seems and the final revelation comes off nicely with a bit of foreshadowing for future arcs.  “Good Morning, Tony” is a day in the life of the man seen through his eyes without any spoken dialogue.  There’s still a wealth of information to take from this story both in the ever-present information overlays and in Tony’s actions and body language and it’s utterly compelling to see it all unfold in front of your eyes.

It’s always a little disappointing when back-up features like those steal the show from the main story, but maybe it’s not so bad for now.  The next two volumes won’t be focusing on extended stories like the past several have, and that may make for a nice change of pace.  I’m still on board for this series, though as of right now I’m not reading it for its quality.  It’s that I know Tony’s plans are going to fail, and I want to see what kind of crater Fraction has them leave behind when they do.