Iron Man: Extremis [Hardcover]

Warren Ellis (Author), Adi Granov (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 14, 2010

It's the beginning of a new era for Iron Man! Renowned scribe Warren Ellis joins forces with acclaimed illustrator Adi Granov to redefine the armored avenger's world for the 21st century - a landscape of terrifying new technologies that threaten to overwhelm fragile mankind! What is Extremis, who has unleashed it, and what does its emergence portend for the world? Collects Iron Man (2005) #1-6.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 184 pages
• Publisher: Marvel (April 14, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0785142592
• ISBN-13: 978-0785142591
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 0.6 x 11.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #276,619 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 184 pages
• Publisher: Marvel (April 14, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0785142592
• ISBN-13: 978-0785142591
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 0.6 x 11.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #276,619 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

WARREN ELLIS is an author, graphic novelist, columnist and speaker. His new novel, GUN MACHINE, was released by Mulholland Books in January 2013, and is being developed for television by Chernin Entertainment and FOX.

CROOKED LITTLE VEIN, his last novel, was described by Joss Whedon as "Funny, inventive and blithely appalling... Dante on paint fumes."

His graphic novel RED was made into a successful film starring Bruce Willis and Helen Mirren, and its sequel film is released in August 2013. His other graphic novels, including TRANSMETROPOLITAN, PLANETARY, GLOBAL FREQUENCY and FREAKANGELS, have won multiple awards, including a Lifetime Achievement prize from the Eagle Awards and the NUIG Lit & Deb's President's Medal in recognition of support for free speech. MINISTRY OF SPACE became the first graphic novel to win the Sidewise Award for alternate history fiction. His GRAVEL sequence of graphic novels has been optioned by Legendary Pictures, with Tim Miller attached to direct.

Previously a commentator for Reuters and WIRED UK magazine, he is currently writing a weekly column for VICE.

His first non-fiction book, from Farrar, Straus & Giroux, is due in 2014. He lives mostly in Britain.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Breathtaking - one of the definitive Iron Man tales April 27, 2010

By Justin G. TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

Ever since I started reading comics, Iron Man has been my favorite Marvel character. Unfortunately, since the 1980s, good Iron Man stories have been few and far between. Joe Quesada's Iron Man: The Mask in the Iron Man tale was the last Iron Man storyline that I really enjoyed, and that one is already several years gone.

Enter Warren Ellis, Adi Granov, and Extremis - the volume you're checking out right now. Extremis is the best Iron Man story to come along in ages. Essentially, this story was as close to a big budget Iron Man movie as I ever thought we'd see (before the excellent Iron Man (Single-Disc Edition) movie with Robert Downey Jr. of course). It's absolutely breathtaking.

Warren Ellis, whose work on Stormwatch, the Authority, and Planetary I credit with changing the way I look at comic books, delivers the perfect Iron Man story. Marvel continuity has not been kind to Iron Man, so Ellis takes this opportunity to reintroduce the character and start almost from scratch. We're introduced to a Tony Stark who is haunted by the harm his military inventions have caused and is trying to make amends in the only way he knows how - by donning the Iron Man suit. There's a nice recap of his origin, adapted slightly to modernize the character, an interesting look at Tony's fellow "mad scientists", and confrontation with an extremely powerful villain who forces Tony to make a drastic decision. I won't give it away here, but it had major implications for the character in future storylines. Ellis was firing on all cylinders here. The plot, characters, dialogue, and pacing are all flawless.... This is what the Ultimate Iron Man Volume 1 TPB story should have been.

Adi Granov's painted artwork is nothing short of phenomenal. It is stylized while at the same time extremely realistic. He captures an incredible amount of emotion on each character's face, and his action scenes almost (but not quite) match Bryan Hitch's for sheer cinematic quality. And if he didn't intentionally use Tom Cruise as the model for Tony Stark, the coincidence is just too eerie. Granov's painted work is the perfect complement to Ellis's story, and helps make Extremis that much more effective. It's no surprise that Granov was selected to provide armor design for the Iron Man film.

The end result is a near perfect Iron Man story, and one that should rank alongside Iron Man: Armor Wars and Iron Man: Demon in a Bottle (Marvel Premiere Classic) as one of the best Iron Man tales ever. I highly recommend this volume, especially in Marvel's high quality hardcover format, which is perfect for a story of this caliber.

Edition Notes: Iron Man: Extremis has been out for a few years now, but is being reissued to coincide with the release of the Iron Man 2 movie. If you missed it in hardcover the first time around, this is a great time to remedy that. Read more ›

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars AWESOME December 14, 2012

By Edward

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Wanted to get this since I heard IM3 will be based on this
the graphics are awesome and the storyline is just CRAZY.
Strongly Recommend!!!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A perfect product for all Iron Man fans! October 24, 2011

By TiaDalma

Format:Hardcover

This book is especially wonderful for everybody who loves the Iron Man films since some of the events from this book were used as inspirations for the first movie.

The quality of Adi Granovs drawings that he himself also colored is outstanding.

On top of that the story is also very well written.

So this book reads good: writing wise, and art wise.
A must have for all Iron Man fans!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars My thoughts September 23, 2011

By I'm shopping

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Overall I enjoyed this book. I'm not really an Iron Man fan but upon reading other reviews about this item I decided to check it out (plus it was on sale). It's worth a read in my opinion and also the artwork was good.

5.0 out of 5 stars Cool book June 3, 2013

By Ana Kinghorn

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

My kid got it for his Birthday and read it in a few hours. He loved the pictures and they story.

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully adapted to the Kindle May 30, 2013

By Jennifer Davis

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

My first Kindle-format graphic novel. Incredibly well-done; easy to turn the pages, easy to "pop out" each panel which enlarges it so it is easy to read the text and admire the art. Loved the art, loved the story-line. It helped fill in some comic canon that I didn't know, since I've approached the Marvel universe as an adult from the movie side and want to understand the comics' backstory. A fantastic companion to "Iron Man 3"; if you loved the movie, you'll probably enjoy the graphic novel. Need to repeat just how impressed I was by how well this was formatted for a Kindle reader (I used my reader app on my iPad 2)--I think I got a lot more out of it than I do a regular, paper-bound graphic novel.

4.0 out of 5 stars An interesting Iron Man tale, but not extremisly wonderful May 28, 2013

By Karen A. Amrhein

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

This is the first Iron Man story I've purchased, primarily being a Superman fan. However, I really enjoyed the first Iron Man film and I learned in one of its documentary supplements that this book was an inspiration and source for the film. The artwork looked unusual and so I took a chance.

The artwork is a bit clunkier and mannequin-like than I expected (from the brief glimpse I had of it in that documentary), but still interesting and at places quite effective. The artist used painting software, so it has that Polar Express (film) look: often a bit too realistic for a graphic novel / animated film, but not realistic-enough to avoid dancing on the edge of a dead-eye, almost creepy look. It generally manages to avoid that, but isn't as wonderful as I'd expected. Still, the artwork remains interesting and unusual.

The story is darker and more violent than I expected, though it has some fine flashes of wit and is often very moving and soul-searching. I enjoyed it, but especially in measured doses, rather than all in one gulp. I won't reveal any of the plot, because I came to it almost completely ignorant of the story and found it far more surprising and effective than it otherwise would have been.

If you're an Iron Man fan I imagine you'll want this in your collection. For others, I only recommend it if you don't mind comics that search the darkness a bit. It's certainly not a Golden Age or Silver Age story, but a very modern, maybe even post-modern, tale.

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Introduction to the *Iron Man* Character That Influenced the Marvel Films May 17, 2013

By MereChristian

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

One of my favorite characters in the Marvel Comics universe is Iron Man. Even before the recent films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as it's called, were released, I really liked the character from the cartoons I watched in the '90's when I was younger. Since I have recently decided to read more Marvel Comics stories, I chose to give Iron Man a try.

I chose The Invincible Iron Man: Extremis as the one to read due to the fact that it is a basis for the third Iron Man film, which is a loose adaptation of the comic. Very loose in some areas, of course. It is, after all, a completely different universe from the main continuity in Marvel, called the 616-Universe, so some differences are to be expected.

Anyways, to summarize the story: a rogue scientist sold a sample of a super-human serum to some domestic terrorist, who is now on a super-powered rampage. When one of the developers of the serum, Maya Hansen, calls in Tony for help from his Iron Man "bodyguard" (the cover story at this time in the comics), he of course obliges to help a colleague and old flame.

What occurs next is a battle where the bad guy absolutely crushes Tony and very nearly kills him. This necessitate Tony to make a big gamble to try to beat him. The risks of his plan are high, and the result will be Iron Man winning and saving the day, or Tony Stark dying.

I said before that the third Iron Man film was a loose adaptation of this story, but arguably all three eponymous films so far, and some of the scenes in The Avengers adapt this story. Back in 2005 when this was released, it included references to past events and to Tony's origin as Iron Man. In other words, it was a subtle reboot of Iron Man for the current age.... The movies have taken much of their cue from the Extremis story arc, in this regard.

The art was great. The panels were absolutely gorgeous and were rendered in an almost photographic feel to them. Like they are real pictures, in a way. It's hard to describe. All I can say is that the artist for this comic is incredibly talented.

Once again, though not to the extent as in other sources, they have made Iron Man just as much about the struggles and trials of Tony Stark as about the super-heroics of his alter ego. It wasn't in the form of a raging battle with alcoholism, but the more nuanced moral debate Tony has with himself of how to deal with Iron Man as a weapon, and his other military applications, on the one hand; and the medical, computerized, and other civilian applications, on the other. To be too much in either world, to make this a genuine "either/or" situation, is a mistake on his part. Tony needs to find the balance and good in both. To see him begin to do so is perhaps almost as interesting as is the main plot.

A terrific story, and, I will add, a great introduction to Iron Man for new readers. Read more ›