U.S. War Machine

Rating:
Summary: Stunning re-invention of the Iron Man mythos
Review: As a kid I read a lot of Marvel, but I never really got into Iron Man. He was always so "establishment", so "conformist" - where was the inner struggle? For me, he never really had the edginess that makes a superhero interesting to follow. His big burden in life? A tendency to angina at inopportune moments. Not the kind of thing to get a ten year old's pulse racing.

Now along comes "U.S. War Machine", a re-imagining of the Iron Man universe, and my opinion of Iron Man is turned upside down. The primary conceit in this new universe is to ask and answer the question that, for me, always made the traditional Iron Man storyline so implausible: if Stark can build Iron Man *by hand*, wouldn't everybody from the US Military to big corporations to well-funded terrorists want one too, whether they have to beg, borrow or steal to do it? You bet, and this book chronicles the uses and abuses of the technology as a variety of misfits and hotheads climb inside U.S. War Machine, a less-than-reliable reverse-engineered imitation of Iron Man, while struggling against their own issues with race, gender, and power, both military and personal. People kill and get killed in this universe - including "good guys".

Stark himself is far more believable: rather than the implausible hero who dons the armor in anonymity, risking his own life, he is vain, arrogant, and selfish, with a drinking problem, paying other people to don the armor to protect his life. In other words, a much more plausible role for a man with his wealth and power.

The only disappointing dimension to this book is the female characters. One is a largely passive pawn, while the only woman in War Machine armor is almost a blank slate who exists primarily as a peg for other characters' sexual angst. Maybe I missed something subtle in the writing - was it the writers' deliberate intention to portray her this way as a reflection of the shallowness with which her male colleagues perceive her? Perhaps, but I would still like to see her story and her point of view filled out in future episodes.

Oh, and along the way there is some business about an AIM plan to kill all the non-white people on the planet.

This is not your father's Iron Man. Adult stuff indeed.

Rating:
Summary: Meaningless
Review: My first comic books that I ever read included Spectacular Spider-Man and Iron Man. During those times, Tony Stark, the original and one and only Iron Man was fighting for his life from a deadly virus that was ravaging his body's nervous system. When he died, James Rhodes took over and became Iron Man. Months later, Iron Man was facing a much more challenging foe that required him to create what is now known as the War Machine. In the comics, the suit of armor was a measure of what the Punisher might want to get for his own arsenal. Gone were the days of the taser gun and laser beams and inc ame the bullets and bazookas and the rockets. The War Machine was fun while it lasted, but I'm thankful that those days were finally over. I don't know why Chuck Austen decided to resurrect the suit back and bring it as a one man army in this book.

In the story, Rhodey leaves Stark after a fallthrough due to him using the armor to excessively that lives were lost. Stark fires him and Rhodey finds himself teaming up with Nick Fury, the shady head honcho of the government sanctioned SHIELD. Fury wants to save a few folks from the bad guys and after stealing Starls War Maching designs buids a small army of yahoos led by none other than Rhodey to kick major butt and kill everyone wh stands in their way.

The story is very much in your face and very easy to discern with minimum use of any intellect needed to understand it. The art is fair and I have no idea why Marvel decided to go with a B&W approach rather than color. In any case, the book is readable though very forgettable and completely does not make justice to the old Iron Man stories of days gone by. While the comic book made Rhodey a good friend and an equal to Stark, this book makes him a crony and a shadow of his old self.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting mature look at Iron Man, but loses steam
Review: This Marvel MAX title attempts to take a mature, more realistic look at the Iron Man mythos, and it does a solid job, but it never quite picks up the steam it seems to build. Writer/artist Chuck Austen's script makes Tony Stark look like the alcoholic, eccentric, money hungry, ego maniac that he would be if he existed in the real world; as we see his technological breakthrough get used and abused by the highest bidder. Austen's dialogue is average at best, and he has flashes of brilliance here and there, but for the many who love to criticize him (and there are plenty, yet this guy continues to write major titles including X-Men, Action Comics, Avengers, and JLA; go figure) will find plenty to pick apart, including his computer assisted artwork presented here in black & white. Filled with intriguing ideas, U.S. War Machine is worth checking out for Iron Man fans, but there are better titles available in Marvel's MAX line.

Rating:
Summary: Eh....
Review: Well, I was an IM fan until about 15 years ago (don't ask how old I am) and dropped out after the "Armor Wars II" fiasco. I missed a lot of the War Machine stuff in detail, but did my best to keep at least halfway in touch with it. In a nutshell, War Machine becomes a bad a** and Iron Man has to put him in his place - don't know all the details, but that's the jist of it.

When the armor went sentient a couple of years ago, I started paying attention again but from a distance. I figured I'd give this storyline a shot based on my previous love affair with shellhead along with the reviews posted here.

Lets just say this storyline leaves me where other Stark/Rhodes/SHIELD storylines have left me before - my initial reaction is "eh...". Lets start with the downside.

For starters the freakin' thing is in B&W. As much as that should not matter when considering the storyline, ANY IM/WM story should be in color. Sorry, just a personal preference. I can dig the B&W motif for The Essential series, but not for a graphic novel. I have the same problem with Batman: Child of Dreams - For $15 I want color gosh darn it!

The storyline isn't bad but leaves a lot to be desired. You really have to know the background of Iron Man and War Machine from the 1990s to get what's going on here. As I said before, since I sort of dropped out, I was lost at first. But that shouldn't be the book's fault. It is easy to get caught up (sort of) but you need to do some serious dot-connecting at first.

The biggest problem I have is with the suspense of the story - there is none. Based on the first review here, I thought this book would be cool - more espionage a la SHIELD's old days - competition from Stark's government and corporate enemies for the armor technology - the tension between Rhodey and having to wear the armor again - different people wearing the armor and doing different things. It just wasn't there for me. Stark plays a minimal role at best in the whole thing and even then he's an obnoxious a**. The end left me hanging too - I won't blow it but it looks like "Armor Wars III" isn't far behind...

On the plus side, there's tons of action in this thing. No time for rest or reflection. Plus, it was great to see Rhodey in action again. I always thought he was cool.

One note of caution - think twice before buying this for a kid. Even though its B&W, there's a lot of blood and a lot of cussing. A LOT of cussing. This is not your father's Iron Man.

And what about Doom? Jeez, give him more face time than the last ten pages or so. Man, I love Doc Doom... and Dugan's "Iron Hat" just doesn't cut it.