Customer Reviews

Iron Man: Enter The Mandarin

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

 

 

I do not have to much to say, the story was entertaining and i enjoyed it. Its Eric Canetes page layouts that make this book. His work is outstanding. Theres not alot of detail, but detail can be distracting from the flow of books. Its great, buy it.

The Mandarin is one of Iron Man's oldest foes, but this supposed origin piece in Iron Man's alternate universe doesn't really add anything new to the Mandarin legend. In fact, the Mandarin here is pretty hokey (which the original incarnation was as well at the worse of times), and trying to update a hokey character with more tech just doesn't make him menacing. There are no mental games, no tricks and nothing behind the power rings of the Mandarin...so in short - I didn't quite get my Iron Man fix with this. Given the consistency and the sheer power of the current series, this is NOT an essential book, but one that you can look over as an optional buy (meaning: if you've read every Iron Man book out there and MUST have something).

The artwork isn't bad - but somehow, the cartoony Iron Man look doesn't work for me - this rendition reminds me of Batman's Warner Bros animated adventures. Give me the sheen and the gloss anyday. The retro cover invokes The Rocketeer and is nice, but that alone ain't enough to propel the story.

The Cold War is over, and Marvel needs some new foes for our Iron Man. Reviving the Mandarin is actually an uninspiring turn. Wizened Chinese Fu Manchu types don't cut it anymore.

First I will state that I have been an Ironman fan since 7 years old reading the old ironman comics with him having to wear a suit and not having the implant.

This comic does a good job for me of capturing that old school ironman feel. It felt very campy to that time period of comics.

The art I felt was a bit stale for an Ironman comic and more animie looking that I am comfortable with usually.

Good story generally speaking but to read it now is difficult with teh drastic direction that Tony stark and the Ironman suit have taken. This comic goes back to a time when the suit was a bodyguard and Tony was a drunk.

Good for me but like I said, I love the Ironman comics since being a child.

The story is set back in the 50s/60s when Mandarin finds his power rings in an alien spacecraft. It's set when Tony Stark is still figuring out how to be Iron Man. As written, this story could very well be a very good action movie.

There are faults however. One big one is the annoying fad of retelling origins, appearing to place them in the period where the story first took place, and then filling their lives with modern designs. For example, Stark Co. uses email, yet the tale is supposed to take place in the 60s, right? SHIELD soldiers use their modern uniforms, unlike in the 60s when they all wore suits like the spies they're supposed to be. The Iron Man suit is the mid-60s suit with the more knight-like helmet, before it was replaced by Gene Colan's emotive mask which smiled and frowned.

Distracting anachronisms aside, its a very good story. Like Chris Nolan is telling Batman from his early years, this does the same thing, focusing largely on Tony Stark. Stark isn't that great of a fighter as Iron Man, the Mandarin really does a number on him. When Iron Man takes a heavy shot, you can see the damage being done, something which is rare of the original Iron Man stories these are inspired by. And when Stark takes the armor off, you can see the bruises and cuts.

Another interesting idea is mixing in early minor villains like the Scarecrow.

A solid 3.5 story on the scale. It would be a strong 4 if not for the distracting anachronisms.

It's hard to capture and translate icons of decades past into the 21 century. The Mandarin is perhaps, one of the most difficult character to translate (as the visionary director of the recent movies, Jon Favreau himself has said), but Joe Casey did it wonderfully. He truly captured the character, gave him depth and a personality to match, one that is traditional in magalomaniac evil overlords, but thats what keep the character honest to its roots. He is Iron man's Joker, his polar oppsoite. While Tony Stark represent technology and capitalism (the new world), he represent magic and monarchy (the old world), but contrary to obviousness, they both believe in progress, to make the world better to their own standards. The conflict between these two is real and hard felt, beyond the obvious exchange of fists, it a conflict of ideas, west vs east. Now as for the art, thought very simple, that is what makes it wor. Canete modest touch gives the story that swashbuckling feeling of a classic James Bond movie, with a great emphazis on the technological that is not quite steam punk but something else, i dont know if it has a title, but its that coming of age of technology feeling. And make no mistake, technology is THE theme behind all the political atmosphere of this story. The race of arms of who's better, the Mandarin's rings and wisdom, or Stark's armor and intellect. All in all, I give it 5 stars for being a genuine old fashion appraoch to redrawing and exploring Iron man greatest and oldest foe, with style and feeling.

I don't know what i can say! I love art in general. I loved past Canete works. His pages and design are in general atypical and enjoyable. But this time instead they are disappointing and not recognizable. I would say this was quickly drawn..... After few pages i found this book totally unreadable. It's only a personal opinion.....maybe if you are a strong fan of Iron Man you probably give this book a chance more than I did.