Daily Scans - Iron Man vs. Mandarin
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05:34 pm
[schmevil]
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Iron Man vs. Mandarin
One of the things I've been missing in Invincible Iron Man, is how skillfully De La Torre and the Knaufs could build up dramatic tension, and then have the book just explode into a great action sequence. It's hard to present them here, because they sometimes take up half an issue or more. That's usually something that irritates me - why spend 12 pages on punching, when you could condense it to 3? But in DoS, where the pace is more measured, where the tension builds and builds for issues, a long fight sequence is welcome. So I'll just throw up some pages and hope you can grok the awesome from my meager offering. From Iron Man: Director of SHIELD #28, the big throw down between Iron Man and Mandarin, after Tony discovers that Mandarin plans to give the entire world the extremis treatment. Shockingly, just in the nick of time! Mandarin is ready to launch missiles, carrying an airborne version of the enhancile.
Extra context: this scene comes during Tony's time as Director of SHIELD (duh!), and just after he's been ordered to wear a power-suppressing anklet. The higher ups don't want him accessing extremis because: a) he's been disobeying orders and making a nuisance of himself; b) he's supposedly cracking under all the pressure. He's supposed to be enjoying some much needed downtime. What is he actually doing? Tracking down one of his many arch-nemeses. Oh Tony!  Why yes, Tony did just melt two of Mandarin's fingers. The context, for those of you out of the know: Mandarin's powers come from a set of five ten (yeah, I don't know why I typed five), magic rings, which he usually, and unsurprisingly, wears on his hand. Unfortunately for Tony, during a lengthy stay in prison, Mandarin lost his hand, and had his rings fused to his spine, so they couldn't be taken from him again. Tony was aware of the treatment, but hadn't realized dude was crazy enough to go all the way with it. Mandarin? Totally is that crazy. Anyway, for a couple of pages, Mandarin and Iron Man trade blows and energy blasts. It's all incredibly awesome but I had to cut something to get this to seven pages. Then we get this:  Why yes, Tony did just rip the rings off of Mandarin. Ouch.   Humanity wins? Mandarin is convinced that releasing extremis into the air, and thereby killing of the vast majority of the world's population is For Our Own Good. It's like Zoom x 1000: he wants to make us a better species. Tony freaks out and repulsors Mandarin into next year. "YOU MADMAN!!!!!!11" It's a sweet page, but I'm cutting it for space.  Why yes, Tony did just cut off a chunk of his foot, in order to remove the power-dampener. (Cutting the actual page for space, la la). Tony uses his reactivated extremis abilities to exploit the ~crucial weakness~ in Mandarin's plans push the warheads up into the jetstream, where the extreme cold will fry the 'nano-cam tech' that is the basis of Mandarin's delivery system. "Lapse rates calculate to minus fifty degrees centigrade at that altitude. Plenty cold." Refreshingly unforced dialog, mmmmm. And it is once again on.   So let's review. DoS gives us: easy to read, kickass action, lovingly rendered by Roberto De La Torre; a smarty-pants, grown-up-sounding Tony Stark; plenty of Tony abuse, for those you who like that kind of thing; old villains repurposed into new and exciting threats; and twisty mega-arcs that build tension, rather than squander it. I miss DoS, you guys. D: Tags: char: iron man/tony stark, creator: roberto de la torre, publisher: marvel comics, title: iron man
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![[User Picture]](http://www.insanejournal.com/userpic/7869020/376345) | | From: | ![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) perletwo |
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| Date: | July 5th, 2009 11:04 pm (UTC) |
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| | We interrupt this thoughtful post for a GIP | (Link) |
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 I'm'a put this on my LJ for book-related posts, I think. You may now resume thoughtful discussion of the Iron Man/De La Torre awesome.
![[User Picture]](http://www.insanejournal.com/userpic/8004714/376304) | | From: | schmevil |
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| Date: | July 5th, 2009 11:34 pm (UTC) |
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| | Re: We interrupt this thoughtful post for a GIP | (Link) |
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It needs to be a button.
![[User Picture]](http://www.insanejournal.com/userpic/8591858/412362) | | From: | stig |
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| Date: | July 5th, 2009 11:13 pm (UTC) |
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...And, instead, we got Matt Fraction's movie adaptation/introduction of Iron Man's very own Superboy-Prime story, followed by Man On The Lam! Man On The Lam! No-One Can...Catch The Man On The Lam!
Not exactly a fair trade.
*cries*
I was cautiously optimistic for the first few issues, but I quickly realized that Fraction's IIM is Just Not For Me.
I thought the Mandarin had ten rings, one for each finger, which were from an alien starship. Or are these different rings?
You are correct. I don't know why I said five. Dur.
You were being influenced by an unconscious memory of--THE INFINITY GAUNTLET!
The entire Iron Man: DOS was so beautiful. It's amazing that a good amount of the "haunted" arc wasn't typical comic book action but more political/24-esque thriller and if fucking rocked.
I haven't been reading Iron Man since Joe Q. turned him into a villai, but I loves me some Mandarin. But didn't he have 10 rings instead of 5?
Really, Mandarin should be an A-List villain, except that for some godforsaken reason, Stan Lee decided that it would be cool if he was more threatening as a karate master than as an evil genius with 10 alien rings that gave him incredible power.
Temporary insanity on my part - it's ten rings.
The Knaufs did good work with Mandarin in this arc. He was a credible threat.
Take a close look at one of the panels after Stark ripped out that batch. you see the mandarin's back to the camera, so to speak, after his shirt's been stripped off. He still has 5 more rings in his lower back.
Is there a reason he was wearing the "Silver Centurion" armor? Not that I mind-- it was one of my faves back in the late 80's when he first wore it.
Yes! The Adi Granov design that we're now used to is the extremis-connected armor. It was iirc held by the higher ups, and he wouldn't have been able to use it regardless, with the power-dampener on. So he was forced to use earlier models.
God I loved the Knauf's run on this title!
I thought the spinal implant rings thing was a damn cool route to take Mandarin. I always liked him as a villain I have to say.
I like the Mandarin, but I prefer him as the Fu Manchu ripoff he was conceived as - I'm not so wild about the old guy in the wifebeater we see here. Not that I have any problems with him indulging in some rough and tumble - that IS how he was conceived, after all - but he ought to be wearing silk robes and lurking in a cave in the mountains of Asia somewhere, not playing Mr. Miyagi.
I like the wifebeater. He's the second coming of Genghis Khan. He should look like a barbarian warlord. But since you can't have him running around dressed like a barbarian, a wifebeater is the closest modern equivalent.
Each to their own. I prefer the classic look.
Yes, that's pretty much what I meant. And I'm sorry, but wifebeaters just don't spell 'asian barbarian' to me. For that, you need more of a 'furry hat with a spike' look. |
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