Well, this issue’s pretty lousy. Not much in the way of people in it–mostly just Iron Man versus Iron Monger Jr.–so Larroca does all right. The fight scene isn’t exactly exciting or engaging, but it’s a competent action scene. But the writing–not even the entire issue, just the end–is awful. See, if Tony Stark’s supposed…

I’m of two minds about this issue. Maybe three. On one hand, it’s a talking head book. There’s almost no Iron Man armor appearance (with Tony in the armor) and, even when there is an appearance, he’s talking to someone. In other words, it’s a Salvador Larroca talking heads book. It’s exceptionally ugly. But the…

Bring on the expository dialogue, I haven’t heard enough from Zeke Stane about his stupid skin getting burnt up by his organic Iron Man setup. Is his name supposed to sound like a synonym for track marks? Because it kind of does; it’s appropriate, because he’s a crap villain. This issue reads, again, like a…

What’s with Larroca and faces? Hasn’t anyone told him his digital art for faces looks just plain awful? The issue has really solid art for the first eight pages or so and then I realized why–he’d only drawn like one or two faces. Once the faces are there, it looks awful again. I can run…

I’ve read this comic before. I don’t like it. It’s half sequel to the Iron Man movie and half adaptation of that movie’s distinct action sequences. I also don’t like Larroca’s artwork here. Maybe I don’t like him in general, but I know I don’t like him here. It’s plastically slick and photo-referenced. To describe…