The Invincible Iron Man 501

[spikespeigel]

Still working my way through my back catalog and just finished the latest Iron Man. The reason I started buying the series is because of Fraction's plots and Larroca's pencils. They made me actually care about Tony Stark. And the latest issue is just as outstanding as their previous efforts. Click on the cut to see the awesomeness of the interaction between Otto Octavius and Tony Stark. Yep. Somehow Fraction manages to deliver a coherent premise involving Iron Man and Dr. Octopus.

The basic setup of this issue is pretty simple. Otto finds out that he's dying and kidnaps Tony. But instead of the cliche of kidnapping Tony to cure his illness, Otto instead kidnaps him to see him ultimately fail. Why? Well, read ahead and you'll see why.








The next issue should be interesting, to say the least.

Comments

[hivemindcomics]

THAT, was awesome!

[misterbug]

Please GOD

I haven't enjoyed anything at all out of the Fraction run, but I will be very pleased if Otto comes a step closer to being back in his ultra-cool white-suit-and-shades getup.

[big_daddy_d]

I'm partial to the shades and brown coat look adapted from the movie myself.

[leoboiko]

I’ve never was even particularly interested in Iron Man, but started following this run. It’s surprisingly interesting.

[drmcninja]

My thoughts exactly.

[kirke_novak]

That's some twisted logic.
Twisted, awesome logic.

[mrstatham]

I have to admit to not being too impressed by this, although I have enjoyed Fraction's run on the book so far.

It's not a bad idea, at all, given Doctor Octopus is, so often, focused upon just for the arms and not the amazing intelligence he has, so it's cool that it's some sort of matter of pride for Otto, but still. They work in entirely different fields. Otto worked in atomics and nuclear research, correct? And Tony is an overly intelligent arms manufacturer with a stunning design that he won't sell in the form of the Iron Man.

There's comparisons to be made, but I think the way Fraction is going about this is all wrong, somehow. It might just be me, but it feels like they're being presented as the same age, when Otto should be a fair bit older. I also don't know what they're doing meeting at the same sorts of conventions, but maybe it's just me.

[arilou_skiff]

Well, the obvious answer would be "nukes", but yeah.

I personally love that time when Sue is pregnant and Reed has to go to Doc Ock for help because he's the world's top scientist in that particular field.

[artsybuzzard]

I love Doc Ock. And this is really just lovely. Nice skewering there, Mr. Stark.

Might actually visit a comic book store this weekend. (I'm really loving the mobile comic-reader app on my iPod Touch, but alas recent comics are never available on it.)

[halloweenjack]

Although I hope that Fraction doesn't turn Stark into being all about twelve-stepping (lecturing Thanos on being a codependent, "Let me tell you a little something that I learned in 'certain rooms', Galactus...", etc.), it fits here.

[jarodrussell]

"I Just stopped some kids in Brooklyn from making one."

Fuck you, Tony, you sad sack of backwards thinking Luddite shit. I look forward to the first time someone plugs a repulsor battery into a remote controlled helicopter and flies it into a building, because the traffic jam you'll cause going on a holy crusade to keep blood off your hands is going to make Civil War look like cats scrapping.

Fraction hasn't done a damn thing to change Tony...Stark Resilient my left nut...he's just spent three years wasting comics that could have been kick ass science adventures...like Reed's been having with Hickman....because no one educated the hack about the true meaning of engineering.

[espanolbot]

Stopping some teenagers from building dangerous technology doesn't equal "stopping others from having his stuff".

If you were Oppenheimer and heard some kids were building a nuke in their parent's garage, would you stop them or stay out of their way?

[valtyr]

Stopping some teenagers from building dangerous technology doesn't equal "stopping others from having his stuff".

Let's be fair, Tony's had multiple story arcs based around stopping people from having his stuff.

If you were Oppenheimer and heard some kids were building a nuke in their parent's garage, would you stop them or stay out of their way?

Shit, I'd read that comic.

[jarodrussell]

The real story: http://www.asepco.com/pages/pub/adventure/David_Hahn_Boy_Scientist.php

[jarodrussell]

I wish someone had stopped Tony Stark from building dangerous technology.

[stolisomancer]

Okay. I actually have a lot of respect for you as a commentator, since you're often incisive, but seriously? You're often starting to come off like the kind of fan who has this weird blueprint for a character in the back of his head, and who will rail against an author for not adhering to that blueprint.

I would love to see the kinds of awesome science adventures you've got milling around inside your skull, and I encourage you to write them up, bring them to life, and show them to the world. If absolutely nothing else, do something like Christopher Bird's "I Should Write the Legion" posts.

However, going after a character or a writer for not being as awesome as the version of them you've got inside your head isn't a particularly valid criticism. It certainly isn't worth that kind of rancor, particularly when leveled against a fictional character.

[jarodrussell]

It's not my blueprint, it's the one Adam Warren used in Hypervelocity and Titanium, Fred Van Lente used in MAIM, the one from the Armored Adventures cartoons, the RDJ version from the movies, the 90's cartoon, and pretty much anything before Disassembled.

Heck, I even liked the "Secretary of Defense" arc and "Teen Tony," which are both considered the low points of the character, but at least in those instances Tony was being Tony.

All I want out of Tony is a character that's one part Steve Jobs, one part Howard Hughes, and one part Tom Swift. An industrialist and an inventor with a enormous lust for life, a moral compass (even if it sometimes has nearby magnets that point it off course), and some quirks that keep him from being a completely smooth operator like James Bond. That Tony up there isn't that, he's an anti-corporatist whipping boy who's been ground down under the weight of Civil War, The Illuminati, and Secret Invasion because he's the sole bearer.

If you think that means I've got a weird blueprint in my head, then I can't stop you from thinking that.

[stubbleupdate]

the next issue was alright. I thought that this was a two part story, but it's a 3-parter

[midnightvoyager]

"I will help you by being a dick and eventually fixing you, showing you that I am better and- hey, wait, where are you going?"
"I just realized... You're too insufferable to even let save me. I'm a' find a nice bridge to leap from. Seeya."

[midnightvoyager]

"Let's demean the painfully dying man further! Surely this entire thing couldn't be because of that. It's not like some people snap a bit when faced with the prospect of a slow, agonizing end to their existence. You know, he hasn't been on my radar... possibly because he didn't actually care about that incident at all until this dying thing. It's not like Ock sat down, tried to figure out what he's done with his life, found nothing truly constructive, and decided to blame someone who HAS done something with their life (and was a dick to him) instead of facing that he is left with nothing but wasteful supervillainy! Hint that his works are all derivative, too. That should kill any spark left in his soul."

...Okay, I think I'm done.

[midnightvoyager]

Okay, not quite: Nice randomly vanishing gauntlets you got, Tony.

Okay, that was at the artist and uncalled for. Just like Tony's random dig at Spider-man for no apparent reason! Oh, that crazy teenager. (Teenager? Really? Now?)

And I TOTALLY believe that apology. You said it was easy to apologize, and indeed it is! I am certain you meant it.

Okay, I'll stop now, before I turn into an insult comic.

[skalja]

As an interesting contrast, in a 90s Spider-Man issue Captain America commented that the Avengers are free to go haring off to other countries/planets/etc to do their thing in part because heroes like Spider-Man are around to deal with the major local threats like Doctor Octopus.

[outlawpoet]

hahahaha, now Stark is bagging people for working for the military and being a one-trick technology pony?

Why don't you go cry about how much better you are than everybody else to the dad you inherited everything in your defense industry company, Stark. Or the legion of engineers whose work you regularly claim as your own.

[bmaryott]

...stuck fighting a fighting a teenager like Spiderman for all these years...

Um, you have seven years of being a teenager. How old is Parker now?

[jlroberson]

Tony doesn't know Peter's Spidey anymore, remember?

[jlroberson]

I liked this exchange a lot, and between this and CASANOVA(which I order you to buy now), Matt Fraction's just about all that keeps my toes in mainstream comics at all these days. Marvel was wise to hire him and let him loose.

[sinisterlink]

I'm just gonna ignore everything and say that I love that panel where Doc is basically facepalming with one of his tentacle arms.

[artsybuzzard]

Oh, yes. I liked that too. B)