Invincible Iron Man Omnibus, Vol. 1 [Hardcover]

Matt Fraction (Author), Salvador Larroca (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 3, 2010 | Age Range: 9 and up

Iron Man 2.0 is here - and Tony Stark isn't the one who made him! Ezekiel Stane is on the scene and fixated on avenging the death of his father, Obadiah. Every bit as ruthless and ten times as smart, the younger Stane is all five of Stark's nightmares rolled into one - and his perversion of Stark's technology into a weapon capable of slaying hundreds of innocents at a time starts the clock ticking on a chess game Iron Man must win! Then, Tony goes on the run from Norman Osborn! Osborn now has all the power he ever wanted minus the most important ingredient, the registration database, which is stored in the only place Stark could guarantee its safe keeping - inside his Extremis-enhanced brain. Collects Invincible Iron Man #1-19.

Product Details

• Age Range: 9 and up
  
• Hardcover: 344 pages
• Publisher: Marvel Books (March 3, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0785142959
• ISBN-13: 978-0785142959
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 1.1 x 11.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #34,511 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #45 in Books > Children's Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Superheroes
  • #77 in Books > Comics & Graphic Novels > Publishers > Marvel

More About the Author

Before joining Marvel Comics, writer Matt Fraction had already established his reputation as an emerging new talent with his work on Last of the Independents. Fraction's tale of a bank robbery gone wrong earned him a coveted "A" grade from Entertainment Weekly, as well as interest from Marvel. After taking on a short story assignment in the anthology title X-Men Unlimited, Fraction was handpicked to launch two of Marvel's biggest projects for 2006: Punisher War Journal with artist Ariel Olivetti, and Immortal Iron Fist, with co-writer Ed Brubaker and artist David Aja. Both series met with overwhelming critical and fan acclaim, selling out their respective first issues within days of release. This led to two even bigger projects: The launching of Invincible Iron Man, a high-profile first issue premiering the same month as the blockbuster film; and Uncanny X-Men, written in tandem with Immortal Iron Fist partner Brubaker. In addition to his Marvel work, Fraction writes Casanova, an off-beat series illustrated by Gabriel Bá which recently moved to Marvel's Icon imprint. He is also a talented filmmaker and graphic designer, heading up the MK12 firm with a worldwide client base that includes Adidas, MTV and Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. Fraction remains one of Marvel's most popular writers; other credits include The Order and Thor: Ages of Thunder.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 34 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars 9/10 March 14, 2010

By Uthor

Format:Hardcover

19 issues in a nice hardcover. There's basically two story arcs here. The first seven issues take place before Secret Invasion where Stark's tech gets out into the hands of terrorists. It's about his fears that the Iron Man tech gets used for evil and the sacrifices he makes to stop it. It reminds me a bit of an early Authority story.

The next 12 issues are post-SI, with Stark being kicked out of S.H.I.E.L.D. (S.H.I.E.L.D. itself becoming H.A.M.M.E.R.) and being replaced by Osborn. Stark has all the important security info stored in his brain, which he has to erase so Osborn doesn't get his hands on it. It's a story about the world's richest man on the run, going from hideout to hideout and scavenging tech, all the while slowly losing his mind, his memories, and his abilities to function. There's a cool parallel with Stark's devolving mind and him using progressively more simple Iron Man suits, eventually completely loosing his mind as he makes his way to the original gray Iron Man mk I suit. I liked this second arc better.

There's also two stories going on at the same time. One is of Pepper Potts learning to use Rescue, a defensive only Iron Man suit. The other is a spy story featuring Maria Hill as she tries to get some info to Capt. America and that eventually involves Black Widow.

The only thing I don't like about this volume is the coloring. It looks airbrushed and, especially early on, gives everything an unnatural sheen. It gets mellowed out by the end.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Redemption January 16, 2011

By Soren K.

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

If you're one of the people who has been spitting on effigies of Iron Man since the close of the Civil War, prepare to make the transition spit-shining his image.

This story arch details Stark's own failure to run the world as head of SHIELD as his past confronts him and almost undoes him. Then, after the Krull siege, Stark loses everything to Osbourne. The Invincible Iron Man has taken a licking and now that he's the underdog again, we can root for him. Better yet, he's fighting on the right side this time.

If you're a Libertarian or even liberty-minded, this series will continue to terrify and infuriate you with your worst nightmares of shady government organizations with unlimited power and clandestine processes. Finally, Iron Man is digging in and going to war with Uncle Sam's tyrannical offspring.

Excellently written, fantastically drawn. My only complaint and reason to subtract a star is that the action, at times, can be a bit of a blur. The entire concept of the novel can at times become overwhelming and a sense of hopelessness grasps the reader. Comics have come a long way since the Man of Steel lazily snapped his fingers, flew around the world, and turned back time. The complexity of characters in the ever-expanding Marvel universe has become impressive and stands to compete with the depth and grit of Garth Ennis' more adult-oriented lines such as The Boys and Preacher (of course minus the nudity and ultra-violence, although this novel does contain more than a few provocative glimpses of Black Widow, Pepper, and Maria Hill showing some skin). Strap yourselves in for an incredible story. This novel will tear at you. Be prepared for the ultimate emotional investment.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Tony Stark gets the hubris knocked out of him March 30, 2010

By H. Bala TOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

No one likes a high and mighty know-it-all. Even Classius Clay didn't become the people's champion until he lost his first fight. In the Marvel universe Tony Stark, the world's foremost futurist, is probably the most smug smart guy around. He wasn't ever my favorite costumed crimefighter, but then the live action movie came along and made me like him and then I picked up Matt Fraction's run and he made me like him even more. Drat.

This is the INVINCIBLE IRON MAN Omnibus and it collects the first 19 issues of the new series, and it's unputdownable enough that it won the Eisner award for Best New Series. If, like me, you're not caught up with everything that Tony Stark has been up to, well, it's fine, because Matt Fraction catches you up enough with the requisite backstory.

This first arc here covers Tony Stark's end stint as Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. as he tangles with global terrorism and with Ezekiel Stane, the homicidal genius son of Obadiah Stane (who had been Stark's nemesis). Young and insane Ezekiel Stane is converting men into walking repulsor bombs, and the kicker is that the technology used is clearly lifted from Tony Stark's design. It's only one element of Ezekiel's murderous vendetta against our favorite superhero industrialist.

The second arc is epic and it comprises the bulk of this collection, and it takes us past the events of the Skrull invasion, and it finds Tony Stark discredited and ousted as Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. on grounds of royally bollocksing stuff up during the invasion. And maybe, just maybe, part of it too is repercussion from his sanctimonious deeds in the Civil War. S.H.I.E.L.D. is shut down, H.A.M.M.E.R. established in its place, with Norman Osborn now running things.... The public, of course, doesn't have the slightest that Osborn is a giggling psychopath.

This is about as low as we've ever seen Tony Stark, discounting his time in the '80s as a raging alcoholic, which inarguably was Stark at lowest ebb. Stark Enterprises is gutted, and when Tony refuses to cooperate (ie: hand over the Superhero Registration Act database), he becomes a wanted man. But here's the key element to this whole arc, that which makes this story so gripping: the database is now kept solely in Tony's brain and so, to make sure that Osborn doesn't gain access to it and other secrets, Tony puts into motion a comprehensive program which will hack into his brain and into the Extremis bio-electronics package in his body (the Extremis which, by the way, governs Tony's interfacing with the Iron Man armor). The result is a gradual erosion of Tony's memory and intellect and even his core personality. All this so that Osborn couldn't get into his head. Because Osborn is that dangerous.

Matt Fraction spins a breakneck, edge-of-the-seat tale of suspense, espionage, drama, and high tech skirmishes. It's crazy just how Stark becomes this utterly rootable character as he goes on the run, pressing on even as he loses bits of himself along the way, his smarts and his memory. As his intellect devolves, Tony not only finds it suddenly more challenging to survive Osborn's relentless attacks but he begins having trouble operating the sophisticated Iron Man armor and he's soon forced to rely on the older models. If you pay attention, you get to see the different incarnations of Iron Man, except in reverse chronology. As you get deeper in the pages, you can't help but note that the progressive decay of Tony's smarts and memory obversely parallels Fraction's humanizing of Tony Stark. A down and out Iron Man, I've never liked him more.

Supporting characters, Fraction gives them opportunities to shine. Pepper Potts goes thru a life-changing event and emerges as a hero in her own right. Maria Hill, whom I've never really cared about, endures some horrifying stuff and proves her mettle as a secret agent. The Black Widow surfaces in the later issues, and I like her tough as nails attitude. And there's even a team-up between the ol' Shellhead and the unregistered but incredibly helpful Spider-Man. But where Matt Fraction really lets loose is on Norman Osborn and his big bowl of crazy. In Fraction's hands Osborn comes off as possibly the worst case scenario EVER of a bad guy getting the remote control to the universe. The Goblin's insanity creeps me out and curdles the blood. It's gotten to the point now where I really can't wait for him to get what's coming to him. And I never thought I'd say this but, because of what he's put Tony thru, I won't even mind if it's Iron Man, rather than Spidey, who takes him down.

As ever, I'm digging on Salvador Larroca's sleek art, even though, yeah, the coloring on the characters' faces tend to take on this muddy look. On the other hand, the colorist is fantastic at adding texture and nuance to Larroca's pencils (check out the six pages of Larroca's penciled stuff at the back of the trade, and then compare that with the finished product).

I'm kinda curious to see more of the Triumph Division, the Philippines' preeminent superhero squad, although the first incarnation we see did go down pretty easy. But those are some pretty intriguing superhero code names. Read more ›

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A fantastic start to a new series! February 21, 2012

By N. Beitler VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Title: Invincible Iron Man Omnibus Volume 1
Publisher: Marvel
Writer: Matt Fraction
Artists: Salvador Larroca (pencils, inks) Frank D'Armata & Stephane Peru (colors), Salvador Larroca (covers)
Collects: Invincible Iron Man #1-19
Price: $39.99

At the time of this writing, it's been almost two years since this book has been published. I've read it through a couple of times and lent it to a couple of friends. My friends and I all enjoyed it very much. With the Secret Invasion event coming to a close and a new Iron Man movie coming up on the horizon, Marvel felt it was a good time to launch a new on-going Iron Man book, making this the second Iron Man book on the bookshelves at the time of its original publication. The timing was good for this release, and they were able to secure a great creative team for the book in the trio of writer Matt Fraction, Spanish comic artist Salvador Larroca, and colorist Frank D'Armata . At the time the original series debuted, I was already familiar with all of these creative talents. I had been reading Fraction's work in the The Immortal Iron Fist, Vol. 1: The Last Iron Fist Story series, had the pleasure of viewing Frank's outstanding coloring work in Annihilation: Conquest Book 1 (Bk. 1), and had fond memories of Larocca's great artwork during his tenure illustrating the X-Treme X-Men, Vol. 1: Destiny (Xtreme) series. Thus, I had a lot of faith that this series would turn out to be worth my while and above average. Happily, I was correct about this.

(Spoilers Ahead!...)
At the outset of the series, Tony finds himself on the run from an unlikely group - namely the S.H.I.E.L.D. organization that he used to run. (For more on this, you can read the book Iron Man: Director of S. H. I. E. L. D. -- with Iron Hands.) At the end of Secret Invasion, Norman Osborn appears to the world as a hero and is given the authority to take over S.H.I.E.L.D., which he re-names H.A.M.M.E.R. Eager to take full advantage of this group and its enormous resources of both military firepower and classified information, Norman has clear plans for Tony Stark, who he labels as a traitor and a failure. Knowing Norman's intentions for him, Tony sets in motion a plan to deny Norman access to both classified information that could endanger his friends and access to his Iron Man suits.

As Tony races across the planet, one step ahead of Norman Osborn and his henchmen, he attempts to destroy all of his Iron Man suits in all of his secret bases. Because Tony (and Norman) consider Tony's great intelligence and own personal knowledge his greatest asset, Tony also begins a sort of erasure of his own brain. Losing both memories and thought processes, Tony becomes more and more vulnerable the longer he is on the run. Requiring assistance from all of his most trusted friends to see him through to the end of his run, the fugitive Tony Stark has intimate encounters with several of his female colleagues who believe he is certain to end up dead at the end of his run.

The book was a great read, and was complemented, perfectly, by beautiful artwork work. Pretty much everyone on the creative docket is firing on all cylinders with this book, and what they have presented up with, here, will certainly go down in history as one of the finest Iron Man stories, ever. A great start to a new series. I just hope they can continue to flourish throughout their entire run on this series.

One final thing I'd like to mention: This book, unlike most Marvel omnibus editions, is not clad in a black hardcover. Instead, it has been packaged in a blood-red hardcover with gold lettering. It's a small, but very welcome detail that adds more value to this book. Kudos to the editing team for making a near-flawless book.

Writing: 9/10
Artwork: 9/10
Cool Factor: 9/10
Value: 8/10

Overall: 8.75/10 Read more ›