Tim takes a look @ ‘The Many Armours of Ironman’
Premise: A graphic novel reprinting same titled TPB from 1992. The stories within are the origins of a selection of the Ironman suits. Including;
* An origin retelling with original suit (fabulous artwork from Barry Windsor-Smith, by the way)
* The Spacesuit
* The Stealth Armour
* Silver Centurion armour
* The Undersea suit
Story(ies): A nice selection, with an origin retelling (as mentioned above) and a lesser known story involving the first meeting of Tony Stark and Jim Rhodes (who would become WarMachine) in ‘Apocalypse Then‘. For the most part they are great tales of lost love, violence, action and the enigma that is the heart of Tony Stark.
Also stories including such wonders as the living laser and the now forgotten Sunturion lie within. But the highlight of the entire book is the 200th issue reprint of the IronMan vs. IronMonger fight (Or we are better to call it, what they based the film on). On a personal note, is it me or does Obadiah Stane have a certain Lex Luthorness about him…
Artwork: Ahh the good old days. When having black hair required you to have to have blue highlights and everything wasn’t computer coloured. A different age of artwork when John Romita Jnr was filling our pages with Femme Fatales and Mechanical mischief. This stuff is pure Marvel at its best. Dramatic lines, grim faced situations and an emotionless face plate that hides the angst below. The days when angst wasn’t a required aspect (Ultimate Spidey pay note here)!
Overall: I’m thinking of a new class of comics, that should be the literary equivalent of the coffee table book. This would be added to it rapidly as a book that can be picked up, have a small part read and put down again until the next beverage of choice. (or in the my case pint of Coors, there are other beers). My only niggle is that it can get a little too wordy in places and the casual reader may be put off slightly.
Beyond that, an excellent collection worthy of a place on any bookshelf. Now to see what the second IronMan film will be based on….
Dude, Femme Fatales are seriously not a good thing. If you had read half the stuff I have on theory behind them, you'd run a thousand miles away from the nearest representation, heck perhaps not even go near a woman ever again.
As to the rest of the review: so was this collection put togther near the time of the cartoon that was made in the '90s?
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