Today at ComicsAlliance, I review one of the comics that had a big part in my decision to drop $650 on an iPad: Matt Fraction and Carmine DiGiandomenico’s Iron Man Annual!
I tried to be about as spoiler-free as you can be while still doing an actual review, but if you haven’t read it yet, you really ought to come to it cold, as there are a ton of great little surprises and beautiful moments in it that work really well with no prior knowledge. So if that’s the case, here’s the short version: This is probably the best Marvel book of the year, and everyone — everyone — should run down to their local shop and pick it up immediately.
Few $4.99 comics are worth it, but this was.
Bonus–try to imagine how other Marvel villains would act under the same circumstances…this should give you an idea of how well Fraction groks the Mandarin.
I don’t know – the idea behind the story is interesting, but on execution it seemed to overstay it’s welcome. That might have been due to my having to download it in installments on my iPod. Perhaps as a paper comic, it would have seemed like a quicker read.
Also wasn’t wild about the Mandarin using the phrase “Man Up”
Jim, you don’t even like the comics I write for you!
One of my favorite things about this issue is how it brought back one of Stan’s hackiest go-to plots: super-villain makes a movie. I was half-expecting a reference to SM Studios, Hayden P. Hellman or B.J. Cosmos. I’d love to to see the Mandarin bio-pic at a drive-in double feature with “The Nameless Thing from the Black Lagoon in the Murky Swamp.”