IRON MAN vol. 3 #62 (407)
(Feb. 2003) "You Can't Always Get... part 1."
Cover art: Michael Ryan.
Script: Mike Grell.
Art: Michael Ryan/Sean Parsons.
One thing that stands out right away for me this ish is the very appealing artwork! Is it my imagination, or has Parsons sort of "toned down" his inks over Ryan's tasty pencils? If so, the result is a delight. The first part of the issue has Tony and Rumiko doing some holiday shopping (Attention Bad Guys: now that you know Stark is Iron Man, just "off" Tony and you won't have to worry about a reprisal! Picking him off in that mall would be soooo easy right now, wouldn't it?), then introducing a street person to Haven (remember that?). Meanwhile, some Arab and North Korean badguys appear to be readying a nuclear devicefor some no-good aboard a ship in the North Atlantic. They're discovered by a US Navy ship, but they get torpedoed by the baddies! A submersible is dispatched to see what happened to the ship, but it ends up getting trapped! A call goes out to Iron Man to assist. He does promptly (much to Rumiko's dismay), but he himself gets trapped as the vessel shifts -- and then begins to descend down a huge trench!!
As mentioned previously, the art is great, but some of Grell's lines this issue are just plain ridiculous. From the Haven kid's "I don't even have the heart to tell him I'm Jewish," to the "proctologist" comment by the submersible crewman....yeesh.
Hube's Recommendation: 3 repulsors!
Fan Reaction: The good: The "I don't even have the heart to tell him I'm Jewish" line was funny. There was no mention of heart nonsense. The cover was beautiful. The bad: The "Something money and power could never buy... something I've been searching for my whole life. Someone to watch over me" line was nauseating and the "No problem, sir. I moonlight as a proctologist" line was even worse. The armor is still too weak. Iron Man should have flown up carrying the battleship or casually ripped his way out. Iron Man getting trapped in a battleship is silly. That's like you or I getting trapped in paper mache'. Overall, this issue was a definite improvement over the ghastly time-travel arc, but was still mediocre overall, with a few cool moments.
-- Vanderloosen
Fan Reaction 2: The art has improved, though it's still not as good as Sean Chen. The people in the party looked cool, nice and naturalistic pose-wise. I agree with the first letter that Iron Man getting trapped in a battleship is dumb. He's lifted heavier than that in weaker armors. At least, supposedly weaker armors. Where's Temugin or Mandarin? It's been far too long since the Temugin story without him even being mentioned! Grell creates one of the most powerful villains you'll find outside of a Dragonball Z cartoon and then promptly forgets about him! --
Fan Reaction 3: I have to agree with the other two reactions. The story was better than the last arc but still not up to par. Are we ever going to see any classic Iron Man super-villains again in the pages of Iron Man? As for Rumiko, Tony needs to move on to another woman. I thought that she has been a bitch since her introduction and Grell proves that point even more in this issue. -- szachry@mail.newnanutilities.org
Fan Reaction 4: Hi Hube, another review for you. Yes the art has improved immensely, and we get an armour display (remember those) but that's it. It looks like we are going to get a watered down version of the movie The Sum of All Fears. Characterisation is bad -- we get one panel of Happy and Pepper. Speaking of panels, out of 82 panels, Tony Stark is in 26, Iron Man is in 18, and the incredibly annoying Rumiko gets 28, more than the star of the book. I say annoying as she accuses a girl we have not seen before of ripping off Tony; reading it again I can't see how unless Angela has some kind of teleport wallet power, which I concede she might have as it's obvious she is the missing Stone Angel somehow come to life in a miracle of Christmas/Wish fulfillment malarky. Think about it, Tony wants someone to watch over him in front of the angel, next thing, Pow! Angela is there and her hands are cold as ice and she's used to it, then the statue disappears. Still, Rumiko is annoying but I guess Tony has to keep her sweet as she gave him 51% in a Mulit-National company (ie, Grell couldn't be arsed to write a decent story about it). If he wants to re-work the Little Mermaid, more power to him, but not in this book. Two last things, no Letters Page but no great loss there... and the Hulk Preview -- I think my money might be better elsewhere. And hokey dialogue galore: "Lucky I designed this armour for any type of enviroment etc." spoken out loud to himself. Here's a hint -- thought balloon, armour readout saying "sealing against environment" etc... it just doesnt work on so many levels it's not funny anymore.
--
Fan Reaction 5: Iron Man has really gone downhill in recent years and the Grell run has some of the worst issues to date. Iron Man, a guy capable of knocking out the Hulk, second only to Thor in power, is trapped in a sunken ship? That's freaking unbelievable! I thought this book "jumped the shark" (a term used for when TV shows go downhill) when he revealed his secret ID after saving a dog, but this is a "jump" moment too. And why didn't Tony use his HYDRO armor on this mission? It seems fit for underwater stuff. But since Grell has NOT bothered to study the Iron Man history, he doesn't bother to use the HYDRO armor as a MAJOR plot element. Grell really is unqualified to write this book and his blaring errors on it shows. He just rips plots off from wherever and tacks Iron Man's name to it. I look forward to the day when his run ends. -- Sjsdirectny@aol.com
Fan Reaction 6: This issue was better than most of Grell's previous issues, but the Invincible Iron Man just didn't seem invincible enough for me. I just prefer a really, REALLY strong Iron Man. I'd like to add my name to the list of those who would have prefered it if Iron Man had hurled the battleship out of the ocean. THAT'S Invincible Iron Man level, not getting trapped in a mere ship. -- Paradisla434@wmconnect.com
