I’ve got stacks. Literally stacks of books built up. I don’t know how because I always seem to be reading but I guess there is just no catching up.
So the other day I started reading Iron Man Legacy. I wasn’t too impressed with the covers. Not that the art was bad, I just didn’t see anything that was going on during the first 6+ issues I had stored up. I liked the design of the last few that I had from the Industrial Age arc, but nothing that was reaching out and telling me that I had to read this book.
This is one of those stupid gifts, one’s procrastinating things where it actually rewards you. I love this book. I don’t understand where this is supposed to take place? Does it revolve around the movies or the current Iron Man books? I don’t know. Either I’m completely out of it or it’s never fully explained, but the best I can do is that these are just a variety of stories from all over Iron Man’s past. Which is cool. You just need to know the basics and the creators will get to tell any story they want, whether it’s when Tony Stark is at the top or bottom of his game. He’s been through so much, there’s tons of unexplored time where you can jump in and tell a story.
I guess if you’re looking for continuity for years to come, this is not the book for you. This is, a few issues, telling a good solid back story to explain a time in the character’s past. I like it.
The “Industrial Revolution” plot that I’m in the middle of is just fun. You get a ton of surprises, such as the Pride in a good role. Being from Los Angeles, I’ve always been disappointed that the west coast gets no real superhero love. The Pride was a great way to explain all of that really quickly and easily. But now that Marvel has this “Pride” I’m glad to see capable hands using them to better stories. The fact that they fear that their territory is being attacked by a broken Stark is great. The fact that they’re own fears will probably what makes Tony stronger in the end is something you can see a mile away but it’s a good footnote. And you can never go wrong with Tony being Tony while the world is crumbling around him. It’s not just that he’s a genius but he truly believes that bad environments can change and be changed if by only one man.
When a cheap little back story can get you to see how Tony sees the world even when every thing has been taken from him, you realize that maybe as much as Tony needs Iron Man…Iron Man needs Tony. Tony sees the ghetto and wants to make it better. not by just buying it up and fixing it but also, if need be, by necessity and doesn’t even realize it. He needs start up cash. He holds a town hall for the entire city and explains how a company can be started, owned, and create it’s own jobs just by the people of the city coming together.
Dealing with the economic market in my real life, I marvel at the simplicity of Tony’s idea is. Maybe it wouldn’t actually work but at least the idea is brought up. people are loosing their jobs and companies are sending the work overseas. What if a town bought a factory and everyone had a small ownership in that factory and that factory would give good jobs out and you wouldn’t need to worry that the factory wasn’t going anywhere because the people of the city owned it. There wasn’t a board that you needed to show yearly growth and how much more profits are this year than last. It’s all there for the people by the people. If only real life was as easy as comic books.
Let’s not forget the art. Steve Kurth is killing it. I see a lot of Frank Quitely in some of these shots. But there is certainly a different style. No shot seems to big for Kurth. I think that I’ve seen a lot of that lately. There seem to be a lot of good artists that get the job done. But not a lot of them can do camera breakdowns with so many in’s and out’s and different page layouts that totally flow. An artist that can give you a close up on Tony’s snarky face and then back out the camera to see an abandoned where house is really stretching the “scene” and can give you that life that sells a joke or makes the comic punch. I like it. Some artists can do the close-up and others can do the backgrounds but to have the same balance and detail to both is rare, especially with the tons of different books out there.
I won’t leave out the writer, Fred Van Lente. He’s doing a great job. Again, it’s not always easy to take a character from different times in their past and create his history. You’ve got to live in the minds of the reader. You’re telling stories about the times in between. We as readers know Tony went from rich to poor. Here it shows one of Tony’s first sober moments and how he starts to regain his wealth. Like I mentioned it also give a chance to see what’s made Tony the person he is today.
Bottom line is read it. Hell, it’s not going to kill you. You could be reading worse and I’m sure you are.
Posts
