Customer Reviews

Invincible Iron Man Vol. 5: Stark Resilient, Book 1

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is as good a jumping on point as any for those new readers mulling over picking up this series. IRON MAN Vol. 5: STARK RESILIENT collects issues #25-28, and I'm with ya if you're grousing over the skimpy number of issues here. But Matt Fraction's storytelling kept my eyes pinned on the pages. Salvador Larroca's art also kept my eyes pinned on the pages. These guys have been doing that to me since this series began two years ago. My eyes hurt from getting pinned so much.

The trade kicks off with the 38-paged 25th issue. Fraction does a smooth job of incorporating what's gone down before into this current storyline so that new readers can easily get caught up. This "Stark Resilient" arc finds a Tony Stark finally with his marbles restored. But that's about it. Dude is broke. His assets, his corporation, his armory, all that is kaput. But this is nothing new for Tony. He quickly sets about reconstructing his company from the ground up, this time calling it "Stark Resilient," a name entirely in keeping with this man's make-up.

As Iron Man steps into Marvel's so-called Heroic Age, Tony Stark proclaims a new direction for Stark Resilient, much to the U.S. military's chagrin. Tony's vision revolves around the application of his repulsor technology towards providing the world an alternative source of energy, away from fossil fuels. It's an ambitious mission statement for someone as empty pocketed as Tony. But he begins recruiting business partners and key employees. Pepper Potts is willing to run his show. But she misses being a superhero.

With Stark opting out of the weaponizing industry, others are quick to fill the void. Justin Hammer's daughter thinks she's got what it takes and she begins to deploy her chess pieces. What she offers is the Detroit Steel, a manned suit of armor which towers over the Iron Man armor. Four issues into this arc, I'm still not sure where this is going. The Spymaster - who looks really, really spiffy - figures in here somewhere.

No-brainer that you'd be even more invested if you'd been following this series from the get-go. That 17-issue "World's Most Wanted" saga is what really made me like Iron Man (okay, Robert Downey, Jr. also had something to do with it). I liked the four issues in this trade, but you should know that it's predominantly talky-talk, slow on action, heavy on plot development. It focuses more on Tony Stark than on Iron Man, deals more with corporate shenanigans than hi-tech superheroics. I'm still not sure I approve of Tony's amnesia. I guess I accept that Tony nursed enough hubris that he didn't think it necessary to back himself up on a regular basis, copy his brain on a regular basis. But now what's happened is that, with this brain reboot, there's a gap in Tony's memory. Meaning, he doesn't recall all the jerk moves he'd pulled off from the Civil War onwards, and this is basically Fraction's way of giving Tony Stark a pass, a get-out-of-jail-free card. There was a time when I really disliked Tony Stark, and there's still a part of me that thinks he's getting off easy here.

Redemption, Stark's old pal. It's not enough that Tony Stark has rebranded his company. Even though he doesn't remember, Tony finds that there's a lot of people hating on him. So, in his own series and in other comic books, Tony goes around mending fences with his fellow heroes.

The new Iron Man armor is unveiled in issue #25 and it is sensational (I really think Larroca draws machines better than humans). I just wish we see more of it. I'm not sure if I buy Fraction's break-down of the pseudo-science involved, but I guess this is a logical extrapolation of the extremis technology. What's happened is that Stark's Iron Man armor is pretty much a real part of him now, the armor now residing in the hollow of his bones until summoned forth. It's actually a very cool concept, and when the armor shows up, it is dynamic.

Matt Fraction's writing maintains its high standards, even if the pace at times tends to be ponderous. Salvador Larroca keeps on laying down the sweet artwork, although there are a few panels in which he draws Thor looking Asian (what's up with that?). Frank D'Armata's colors add depth and tone, and you have got to peek at Larroca's pencil work in the bonus material section to understand how two-dimensional his stuff looks without D'Armata splashing in the rainbow. 3.5 out of 5 stars out of this one. This is Book One of the "Stark Resilient" arc. Maybe they should've waited and combined Books One & Two before releasing this volume. I'm sort of not down with the up-in-the-air finish...

yes, the cover is crappy. somebody should be ashamed, but because everything inside is great. after the mediocre (and worse) time lost in disassembled's rambling psychic journey inside tony's head this is Fraction doing what he has done best with Tony Stark. 10 years ago who would have thought of iron man as being as relevant and important as he is now? fraction & larroca have made iron man a must read for the adult comic community.

In Resilient we find Tony facing and dealing with the fears he stated back in the Five Nightmare. They are more than just plot points they are connecting to the past, but philosophic questions too. they are also dealing with a question that i've had since the movie. if you have this amazing power source should you do something more than just play hero with it? they've had this volume planned from the beginning and it's coming to a beautiful fruition.

he's building a new suit, a new company and rebuilding his frayed relationships with friends and heroes. The dialogue is sharp and interesting. the relational tensions are real, which is amazing considering the crazy soap opera amnesia contrivances they are working out of. how do they make it seem so real is the magic of it. i love how they are not using this mind wipe to absolve tony of everything he's done in the last decade.

i know larroca has some haters, but i think his art is spot on. he has a deft and subtle touch that makes all these crazy comic book colors real. there is one frame of dr. richards thinking real hard that is an amazing jem. i completely missed it on the 1st read, but was guaffing on the 2nd go round.

this is a great entry point into this series. i strongly recommend getting everything that has gone before, but if you've been hearing all the good praise thrown this way and are curious, this is a great place to start. Stark and Fraction are back!

This is an occasionally painstakingly slow story and at 13 plus dollars for only 4 issues, I would recommend waiting for all parts to be collected in trade or for a second Fraction/Larocca Omnibus. The issues here are plodding and, while still good product, will leave you feeling very unsatisfied after purchasing.

I feel this is trying to build up to some sort of action in the next trade, but for a trade just to have 5 issues of build up is ridiculous. Hell, its not even exciting at all.

I've just read this as well as "Stark Dissassembled" and "The Invincible Iron Man Omnibus", basically Matt Fractions and Salvador Larocca's entire Iron Man run. To be honest, I really expected it to be much better. Beyond the first 6 issue arc, which is in the omnibus, there's really not a lot of action or a payoff. The entire "Worlds Most Wanted" arc really had a lousy resolution, with Stark basically getting beaten almost to death by Norman Osborn wearing one of Starks own suits. Sorry guys, I'm old school, I want to see Stark beat Osborne senseless, not the other way around. I wasn't that thrilled with any of these issues. On the plus side, Fraction actually DOES write as opposed to those so called writers who leave entire pages blank and rely on an artist to tell a story. Salvador Larocca was a favorite of mine in years past, yet I really hate the way this book is drawn now, as with all things Marvel, they rely on too much sepia tone colors and a painted look as opposed to comic book artwork, which I much more prefer to this current style running rampant through Marvel's titles. I'm not really sure how this series has won several awards, I just don't feel its all that good. While not terrible, it's not anything compared to say for instance, the Michelinie/Layton Iron Man of years gone by, or many other talented writer artist combinations. I don't really care for slow moving storylines, which this volume as well as the previous ones were all about. Three stars, and I'm being generous.

This arc presents the comeback of Tony Stark and the begginig of the New Stark Enterorises "Stark Ressilnet" the art of Salvador Larroca is ALWAYS GOOD AND PRFECT, and Matt Fraction it's the next Michael Bendis, snuff said

This is everything the 4th volume (Invincible Iron Man Vol. 4: Stark Disassembled) was not. Good to see Matt Fraction weaving together the different ideas he started in previous volumes. Am becoming a fan of Salvador Larroca's artwork, reminds me of Framk Cho's work in Mighty Avengers The Ultron Initiative. As everyone else noted, the low resolution cover looks like a cheap zoom of the smaller image inside the book. Marvel can do better than deliver internet browser quality covers.

A couple of somebodies are Marvel are going to get fired over this job. Used a low-res image for the cover. Looks terrible. All pixelated. Very unprofessional.