Tuesday, June 26, 2012

The Invincible Iron Man #519

This is a hero who's been through the grind.

That's because Iron Man - or to be more precise, Tony Stark - has been under attack from every front.

On the superhero side, he's being attacked by virtually every villain in his Rogue's Gallery, as assembled by the Mandarin, who's also involved in a corporate assault on Tony's latest company, Stark Resilient.

Tony's also under attack from his greatest weakness - alcoholism. After being forced to drink during the attack by the Serpent, Tony has been struggling to regain his footing - and since his drinking was made public, his image has also taken a hit.

His friends, his co-workers, his fellow heroes - everyone has suffered during the attack - and worst of all, Tony has been forced to give up being Iron Man. Or has he?

The story by Matt Fraction has been building slowly, with lots of twists and turns - and it's near the breaking point. It'll be interesting to see which way it breaks.

The art by Salvador Larroca, with color art by Frank D'Armata, and it's excellent. It has an organic, almost Moebius-like feel to it, with lots of life and energy.

I like almost everything about this story, except for the fact that it's taking such a long time to roll out.

Still, that's a minor complaint - it's a strong series with great characters - including the movie version of Stark. Always a good thing.

Grade: B+

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