Vol. 4. Issue 5: (March 2006) "Extremis, part 5."
Cover art: Adi Granov.
Script: Warren Ellis.
Art: Adi Granov.
Stark is encased in the Extremis cocoon, and in the meantime he's dreaming about the origin of Iron Man! Common sensically, it's updated, occurring in, apparently, Iraq. Professor Yinsen is there, a "great medical innovator." And even with the gravely injured Tony Stark, near death, Ellis can't help but lay on the thick politics, with Yinsen lecturing Tony about his weapons-making and even referring to him as "whitey." Still, the origin scenes are fairly well-done, keeping pretty true to the feel of the 1963 original. Granov's original gray armor is superb, including a fantastic splash page of that suit! Eventually, Stark awakens from his "bout" with Extremis, and boy, is he improved! He has programmed Extremis to incorporate many aspects of the IM armor ... directly into his body! The armor's "undersheath" is now stored in Stark's bones, and he can control the IM armor with but a thought, even when he's not wearing it! Granov treats us to yet another awesome splash page, this time of the current suit. We're now set up for the grand finale.
Hube's Recommendation: 3 repulsors!
Fan Reaction: First of all, to me, Ellis's whole IM run is nothing more than a big WHAT IF?: "What If Warren Ellis Created Iron Man?" There's no substance to his run that I can see. "Extreme-mess" is just that, a mess. Ellis provides no build-up and no true-to-character motivation for Tony's use of the virus. Plus, Tony's tweaking of Extremis all happens off-camera. Where did the new bio-link armor come from? Did it just grow out of Stark's ass? (Come to think of it, that seems a more likely route from Ellis, knowing his work and sense of dark and droll humor, than the primary armor layer spewing from Tony's bone marrow.) In issue 5, Tony's origin rehash takes up most of the book! Those pages could have been used to show and define Stark's painful and ultimate conclusion that ingesting Extremis was the only answer to defeat the menace at hand! Furthermore, what was once a compact armor is now a bulky two-piece affair. One of Stark's mainstay technological trademarks was the use of miniaturized electronics and etc. Not anymore. In addition, he seems too preoccupied with cell phones these days to create any BIG TECH of days long and sadly passed. I cannot wait for this convoluted WHAT IF? nightmare to end. -- Mike Kalibabky
Fan Reaction 2: Again with the wait. This is not the Sopranos Misters Ellis and Granov. There's a new meeting between Tony and Professor Yinsen and a Middle East backdrop I don't like. I like the new version of Professor Yinsen. If there's a plan to dump the Sons of Yinsen, it's no great loss. But I hope they'll keep Wong-Chu. Tony literally becoming a computer (I hope I got it right) is a neat concept that could stay for awhile. Did you notice that Granov drew Professor Yinsen like he was based on the actor who played the old gangster from Lethal Weapon 4 and would be a great choice for an Iron Man film. -- FastMike
