The Invincible Iron Man by Matt Fraction and Salvador Larocca

Iron Man is FUCKING cool. This is not a question or a fact that is up for debate, it's a statement. Sure, Superman can shoot lasers out of his eyes and Batman has gadgets and Hulk can lift a bus over his head and rip it in half but Iron Man can do all of these things i've just mentioned whilst wearing a kick-ass metallic suit!


But Iron Man is more than just a dude in a flashy hi-tech battle armour. Tony Stark is a man (he is also The Man but we will get on to that later) Multi-billionaire, playboy, super genius inventor, wise guy and recovering alcoholic.


I've always loved Iron Man, i'm a sucker for robot/mech design of any type, but in 2008 Marvel release Iron Man, starring Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark. It was awesome. In one word: SPLOOOSH!

i was a VERY happy bear...

Around the same time Marvel brought out a new Iron Man comics with a brand new creative team. Invincible Iron Man #1 written by Matt Fraction (the same Matt Fraction I gushed about here) and illustrated by Salvador Larocca. The aim was to bring the Marvel Comics character Tony Stark in-line with the silver screen version. It has now been running for nearly 4 years, its never been late or had any one draw a fill in issue (there have been some excellent guest artists for back -up stories and specials). Its as regular as clockwork and very high quality.

hi-five!

For the last four years Fraction has essentially been writing one long continuous story arc, starting with Stark in charge as the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D (kinda like the U.N but more badass), through his battle with Norman Osborne (wherein Osborne fired stark as director of S.H.I.E.L.D and hunted him down in one of his own suits of armour), to his wiping of his mind and subsequent mental recovery and his bankruptcy and founding of Stark Resilient, where Stark's 'Repulsor' technology is being applied to domestic machines like cars.

I WANT ONE!!!!

Fraction achieves the perfect mix of hi-tech industrial espionage, corporate power struggles and classy robotic armour clad slugfests! It certainly takes place in the Marvel Universe, Thor and Captain America show up and there is the whole thing with Osborne (Spidey shows up a few times too!) but it doesn't feature the usual roster of spandex clad super-folk. Fraction's incarnation of Invincible Iron Man concentrates on the tech. Stark's main rivals, Ezekiel Stane and the Hammer girls are using his own technology against him, it feels like an arms race with Stark wanting to help the world and the bad guys wanting to take Stark and his whole operation apart. It plays out like a high paced action movie or something like 24.

i don't even know what this is but i still WANT ONE!!!!!!

The flip side of the story is a really rather emotionally written document of Tony Stark's alcoholism. Booze has been a demon of Stark's since forever, classic storylines have already detailed his struggles. Fraction places Stark firmly in the 'recovering alcoholic' ballpark, a recent issue showed Stark attending an AA meeting:

It's refreshing to see a so-called 'super hero' painted as a vulnerable, fragile human rather than an indestructible powerhouse. It is also well documented that Fraction himself struggled with alcoholism for many years prior to making it as a comic writer. As in the panels above it feels at times that Fraction is talking directly to the reader of this comic about the dangers of the demon booze, I think that it is this honesty that really gives this comic some gravity, it's not all explosions and fighting....Tony Stark is constantly in the public eye, he is a corporate giant, an Avenger and an alcoholic.

so. fucking. badass.

Pencilling duties are handled by Salvador Larocca. This guy has drawing convincing and cool looking tech down to an art. Sharp lines and complex designs really make Invincible Iron Man feel all futuristic. I'm just gonna post examples for a bit as it's just better to see these hulking metal behemoths:

USA!!! USA!!!

this is like PORNOGRAPHY to me...

oh baby....

and there's your money shot....

See what I mean! He can also draw human figures really well to obviously but it is all about Larocca's tech design. It gives me boners. The colours for this comic are handled by Frank D'Armata (and have been since the comics inception) He knows how to make things look like they are glowing. Check out all the images i've posted, firey orange whip things and icy blue holographic displays populate Iron Man's world, little touches like this really make the world Fraction, Larocca and D'Armata are creating come to life.


Currently The Mandarin (the Chinese fella with the glowing rings in the last pic, above), one of Stark's oldest and most colourful adversaries is having' another pop at taking Stark down, with Zeke Stane, the Hammer girls and most of Stark's tech clad, armour sporting enemies from years past returning, Stark Resilient has a mole in the company and mole is making it's move and Stark is reeling from a relapse into drinking alcohol again. Its like a soap opera with robots in it! Every month with-out fail these guy pump out another issue, it is one of the best mainstream comics around on the the stands right now. I recommend this series to so many people purely because it's everything an Iron Man comic should be and, more broadly its everything a comic should be. Streamlined sleek and dependable like one of Starks Repulsor cars!

leave it, Kanye!