InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "I am Loki of Asgard. "

schmevil (schmevil) wrote in scans_daily,
@ 2009-07-05 17:34:00

Entry tags:

char: iron man/tony stark, creator: roberto de la torre, publisher: marvel comics, title: iron man

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!

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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:

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Why yes, Tony did just rip the rings off of Mandarin. Ouch.

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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.

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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.

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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:

	psychop_rex 2009-10-02 01:09 am UTC (link)
	Each to their own. I prefer the classic look. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	sillypenname 2009-10-02 09:16 pm UTC (link)
	Classic look? You mean this? http://media.comicvine.com/uploads/3/37499/943245-0krypt_super.jpg He's pretty always looked like a barbarian. The robes were an early nineties aberration. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	psychop_rex 2009-10-02 10:16 pm UTC (link)
	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. (Reply to this) (Parent)