Customer Reviews

Invincible Iron Man, Vol. 1: The Five Nightmares

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I'm starting to lose track of how many times the Iron Man series has been rebooted in recent years. The storyline collected in The Five Nightmares covers issues #1-7 of the 2008 Invincible Iron Man series, and is written by Matt Fraction with illustration by Salvador Larroca.

In The Five Nightmares, we're introduced to Ezekiel Stane, son of the deceased Obadiah Stane (a.k.a. Iron Monger). The younger Stane is the very definition of a twisted genius, and has embarked on a full-fledged "bleeding edge" technological campaign of terror aimed at, you guessed it, Tony Stark. For the first time since the classic Iron Man: Armor Wars saga, Iron Man has to deal with rogue Stark technology being used to harm and kill innocents.

This is the first story I've read by Matt Fraction (Uncanny X-Men, Punisher War Journal), but it won't be the last. He successfully weaves a story that acknowledges past Iron Man continuity as well as incorporating some of the elements that made the Iron Man movie so effective. The action is intense, and the pacing barely gives you a moment to catch your breath. Fraction's dialogue is sharp as well, borrowing a page from Warren Ellis.

The artwork is every bit as impressive as the writing, if not more so. I've been an admirer of Salvador Larroca's work for more than a decade, and he really outdid himself here, delivering the best-illustrated Iron Man arc since Adi Granov's painted pages. The digital coloring has a lot to do with that, I'm sure, but this might be Larroca's best work to date.

Between the fast-paced action, sharp dialogue and gorgeous artwork, The Five Nightmares is easily the best Iron Man collection since Iron Man Vol. 1: Extremis. It's a must-read for long time Iron Man fans, and is actually a pretty decent "jumping on" point for new readers as well.

Invincible Iron Man has received a lot of praise, and in some ways I can see why. Its well scripted and layed out, and its art is beautiful. What lacks is an engaging plot, I agree with the fellow reviewers. All the pieces are set up, but it fails to make use of its potential. I ended up enjoying the ending, but it barely began to start strong.

Maybe it's the soft artwork that puts me in a slow trance, or maybe its Tony's narrative that doesn't quite strike interesting. Or maybe it's the villain, who still feels unexplained and half-done. After reading this whole trade, I see the potential, but they're just off to a rough start.

1st iron man issue i ever bought. Had some knowldge of iron mans past. But overal found it to be a great jumping off point. Art looked fantastic and loved the story. Kept me hooked and was excited to start reading vol2

After the abysmal character assassination of just about everyone -- especially Tony Stark -- in Marvel's Civil War event left a sour note in a lot of people's throats, including mine. Iron Man, the excellent first film, helped ease that pain. The second Iron Man film left me with a similar unpleasantness creeping around inside me, and this collected trade edition makes me all but forget that atrocity.

Tony Stark is the Batman of the Marvel universe in many ways. He's the insanely rich business owner whose expense on toys to fight crime surpass any realism, but they're so cool we hardly mind. Bruce Wayne finances the Justice League, while Tony Stark finances the Avengers. Bruce Wayne plays a playboy, Tony Stark is a playboy. They're both genius intellects. They can both be exceptional characters with great stories, given the right authors and artists.

In the Civil War event, the artwork was usually fantastic, but the story was so atrocious that Tony Stark has a long road ahead of him to win back the affection of his readers. Superheroes were dragged out of their fantastic world of secret identities and forced into a more realistic and gritty (read: unimaginative and boring) setting where the government controls their actions or they're illegal. Tony Stark became the government's superhero suppression force, and eventual head of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Matt Fraction tries to rebuild the good name of Tony Stark by mentioning events from the Civil War as little as possible, while utilizing his position as Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. to great effect.

Terrorism is the catalyst in this collection of comics. Ezekiel Stane, son of past enemy Obidiah Stane, is out to destroy Tony Stark and his legacy. This allows for great storytelling, where Tony Stark struggles with the changing face of warfare, confronting personal demons about the Iron Man technology being used by anyone but him and War Machine; that this technology is being used to kill people is a reminder of the blood that Tony Stark had shed as a war profiteer. Including other heroes and notable people from the Marvel universe, it makes the world feel like a big place, one with a complex structure.

There are great themes that stretch throughout the entire collection -- including a great one-shot comic at the end with Spider-man -- along with great dialogue, pacing and artwork.

There are some gripes. The token evil girlfriend, a lackluster conclusion in its execution to the Ezekiel Stane story (one that is somewhat baffling as well), and some panels where a character's face seems slightly distorted. What got me the most was that there were no page numbers; if you're not going to finish this in one sitting, you better either remember the artwork of a panel, or have a bookmark handy.

This book is great value for money.

The amazing thing about this Trade Paperback is that both long time fans and new readers can enjoy it. It's the perfect jumping on point for fans of the film that have never read an Iron Man comic in their lives. It's also an instant classic story that long time readers will savor. They captured the flavor, depth and character of Tony Stark perfectly. The artwork is remarkable and the story is guaranteed not to disappoint. Highly recommended!

Aside from the first two issues when Stane makes clear his intention to kill Tony Stark, the rest of this comic becomes quite confusing, heightened by the too dazzling artwork of Larocca. The overly drawn pictures really churn up the mess here. Somehow, Iron man manages to best Stane in a bare knuckles fist fight, depite all that array of technology on both sides. Thus it seems pointless to keep on harping about Stark technology here.

There is a half-hearted attempt to humanise this plot by making Pepper, victim of a bomb blast, not wanting to have any of Stark technology implanted into her because of the "weight" (of responsibility?). Then you have Tony giving some mumbo-jumbo "feel the weight" speech to make it all go away.

I am impressed and satisfied at the quality of the magazines provided by this supplier. Very Good.