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Iron Man (2012) (Collected Editions)
Iron Man, Vol. 4: Iron Metropolitan
Tony Stark has returned from space with a vision of a better world. But who is his secret ally, what is his secret resource - and who would try to stop him? It's the grand unveiling of the core of Troy, Tony's Iron Metropolitan city of tomorrow! What could go wrong? Well, Pepper could meet P.E.P.P.E.R., or discover Tony's family secret...or both! And if the Mandarin is truly dead, then who is Mandarin-Seven: Red Peril...and how did they get the villain's rings? As the Iron Phalanx attacks and the skies burn red above Troy, Iron Man investigates the Mandarins...while Red Peril uncovers Troy's shocking secret! Will an Inhuman threaten Tony's city of tomorrow? Plus: it's Arno's last day in the iron lung! Guest starring Jim Rhodes, the all-new Iron Patriot!
Collecting: Iron Man 18-22
Collecting: Iron Man 18-22
136 pages, Hardcover
First published May 20, 2014
About the author
Kieron Gillen
1,488 books1,935 followersKieron Gillen is a comic book writer and former media journalist.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 60 reviews
June 7, 2015
Whoa. I'm really out of the loop when it comes to Iron Man, I guess.
When did he get a brother? Well, I thought he had a brother in the Ultimate line (maybe?), but then I was under the impression he was eeevil or something.
But, no? This one is named Arno, and he and Tony are bromancing all over the place with their love of science & helping people & building cities in the sky & watching simulations of What Might Happen & loving life in general...
Anyway. I'm (quite obviously) not going to be who you want to ask for advice on whether or not this was good.
But.
I didn't hate it. I was just confused.
Mandarin rings are sentient now? And sarcastic?!
Apparently, they also shoot through space searching for a worthy finger to latch on to, as well.
I've think read about something like that before, but I can't remember where!
Oh man, it's right on the tip of my tongue...
Eh. Fuck it. It'll come to me later.
The crossover in this volume ensures that the next bad guy to wield a Mandarin ring won't be anyone that we've ever heard of before.
Random Inhuman + loser qualities + drunk + dead parent + Medusa = Inhumanity
Meh.
Again, maybe this would have all been very poignant if I had been able to keep up with this title over the years. But, overall, I wasn't moved to find out more of the backstory, so I think 3 stars is generous.
When did he get a brother? Well, I thought he had a brother in the Ultimate line (maybe?), but then I was under the impression he was eeevil or something.
But, no? This one is named Arno, and he and Tony are bromancing all over the place with their love of science & helping people & building cities in the sky & watching simulations of What Might Happen & loving life in general...
Anyway. I'm (quite obviously) not going to be who you want to ask for advice on whether or not this was good.
But.
I didn't hate it. I was just confused.
Mandarin rings are sentient now? And sarcastic?!
Apparently, they also shoot through space searching for a worthy finger to latch on to, as well.
I've think read about something like that before, but I can't remember where!
Oh man, it's right on the tip of my tongue...
Eh. Fuck it. It'll come to me later.
The crossover in this volume ensures that the next bad guy to wield a Mandarin ring won't be anyone that we've ever heard of before.
Random Inhuman + loser qualities + drunk + dead parent + Medusa = Inhumanity
Meh.
Again, maybe this would have all been very poignant if I had been able to keep up with this title over the years. But, overall, I wasn't moved to find out more of the backstory, so I think 3 stars is generous.
March 1, 2015
Dear Dear Dear...why?
The reveal at the end of the last Volume; (Tony Stark isn't Tony Stark, he's adopted, and the real Stark heir is a man named Arno who lives in an Iron Lung (Iron Lung and Iron Man, brothers in Iron!!!) due to Howard having fucked his lungs up as a fetus to try and counteract 451s alien tech...) was a bit silly, but I liked it for what it presented Tony to have to consider and what it meant about his identity.
Instead, Kieron Gillen just throws that shit right out the window for the next issue and has Tony and Arno build the Utopia/Avalon/Future City of Tomorrow Today!
He's given up crime fighting, just sending non-piloted robots to all the Avengers business, because he's too busy with Arno designing a new perfect city to solve all the world's problems. Umm...OK? Except, this was supposed to be Arno's wish, which made sense as he had nothing to do for 35+ years having been living in an Iron Lung...but of course this book is titled Iron Man, not Iron Lung: Iron Man's real brother from a non-adoptive mother.
We start with a stupid future scene with Arno and Tony in their 60s (30 yrs later) and Troy (yes genius name) is a success...except, it's mostly been built from 451's remains, which Tony, of course, held onto. Well 451 goes postal, and destroys Troy, which leaves Earth desolate and dead within 5 more years....Oh but that's just a possible scenario Tony has seen from what might happen according to his computers...RIGHT.
Arno keeps telling him not to trust 451 or AI in general and Tony's like oh whatevs man...fine.
We then meet a journalist who's very left-wing. She is approached by a Ring, which gives her super powers! She's now Mandarin 7!....but isn't Mandarin Dead???? OOOH!
Tony takes Mandarin City as the wrecked carcass he and Arno will built Troy from...there's one cool scene of Tony going Batman on the criminals of MC, and saying that he'll definitely go that way again, "highly recommended".
Tony introduces Pepper to Arno to explain why he's acting all weird. Pepper is engaged to some dude, who Tony hires as his PR Man...this Dude is an ex of the lefty journalist who is now Mandarin Powered! She attacks Mandarin City, but only does property damage, because she values life...umm...K.
Then Tony sees the ring, and goes to ask Rhodey (Iron Patriot/used to be War Machine) where Mandarin's rings are...turns out they're not in the SHIELD vault anymore! UHOH!!!!!
We have the Inhumanity crossover issue, where the rings have a conference, and get mad at one ring for not finding a host yet...it debates between possible hosts (Medusa, Longshot, Hulk, Red Skull) before deciding on some random 2-bit criminal who is a loser. We get that because he steals from his family and is a dick. His family all turn into Inhuman Cocoons (apparently that's how it goes) and so he gets RAGEY!!! The ring offers him power, of course...he fights Iron Man, and doesn't like him. He also finds out that he's Inhuman too!!! Medusa says great job killing your family while they were cocooning...you're a murderer and no longer one of us. CYA.
Back to our regularly scheduled monthly title!
So Red Peril (the lefty reporter girl powered by Mandarin Ring) decides she likes Mandarin City and writes an article about it...completely unnecessary...could just tell Tony, it's great but you have to leave!
She discovers 2 other Mandarin Ring people (the guy from before) and a Mafia Boss...they all hate Iron Man, and that's who the ring chooses. BORING.
Big fights, Red Peril girl now fights WITH Iron Man because she doesn't like being THAT evil..just a bit of an anarchist...right. She's gone through like 4 different political spectrums in 3 issues...
Arno is mostly sitting in his Iron Lung telling Tony how to fight, so he's more or less just another operating system for him...but the bad guys fire at Tony's home in Mandarin City!!! Oh NO! ARNO!!!!
Arno lives...because of course, he built himself a GIGANTIC SET OF FUCKING ROBOT ARMOUR!!! Because dudes in Iron Lungs have lots of time on their hands, and obviously, having a brother who makes them all the time, he's going to be just as able...even though Tony just learned his from hard work, because if he's not Howard's son, then he's even more genius! Arno should be super smart, he is, but Tony just happens to be super smart without having Stark DNA? OK.
But ya...super huge robot. BORING. SMASH ROBOTS KILL BADDIES.
Halfway through the battle, even Gillen forgets who's who, giving wrong names to the Mandarins...7 was the Inhuman dude, but he calls him 2, then there's other stupid stuff like the girl has the wrong codename Red something instead of Peril...it's just poor editing.
Oh and even though it's the Iron Robot Stark Brother Baddie Basher Bridage on the loose, someone else defeats the 3 Mandarins...where the fuck are the other 7? If they hate Tony Stark so much...where are they in all this?
This mystery person chops off Red Peril's Hands with a sword, and takes her rings, after she discovers the body of the mafia boss with his ring missing...we never see what happens to the Inhuman baddie, but at the end, the mystery badguy has 3 rings!!!!
Tony publically leaves Troy, and Arno takes over that project, to keep it safe from supervillains...right.
Then we get the reveal at the very end...who's got them rings? Why it's our old friend !!! DUM DUH DAAAAAA!!!
This is just a clusterfuck. No good ideas here at all. If they were, they're lost on me. At the end of the last book, I thought they could do anything, but they've managed to totally castrate the possibilities and turned Arno into a sideshow character who we're going to forget about in a year, and Marvel will probably turn into a Supervillain at some point, probably something about Tony stealing his life and all that should have been his or some shit.
Just don't bother. Read any other Iron Man run. Literally ANY.
The reveal at the end of the last Volume; (Tony Stark isn't Tony Stark, he's adopted, and the real Stark heir is a man named Arno who lives in an Iron Lung (Iron Lung and Iron Man, brothers in Iron!!!) due to Howard having fucked his lungs up as a fetus to try and counteract 451s alien tech...) was a bit silly, but I liked it for what it presented Tony to have to consider and what it meant about his identity.
Instead, Kieron Gillen just throws that shit right out the window for the next issue and has Tony and Arno build the Utopia/Avalon/Future City of Tomorrow Today!
He's given up crime fighting, just sending non-piloted robots to all the Avengers business, because he's too busy with Arno designing a new perfect city to solve all the world's problems. Umm...OK? Except, this was supposed to be Arno's wish, which made sense as he had nothing to do for 35+ years having been living in an Iron Lung...but of course this book is titled Iron Man, not Iron Lung: Iron Man's real brother from a non-adoptive mother.
We start with a stupid future scene with Arno and Tony in their 60s (30 yrs later) and Troy (yes genius name) is a success...except, it's mostly been built from 451's remains, which Tony, of course, held onto. Well 451 goes postal, and destroys Troy, which leaves Earth desolate and dead within 5 more years....Oh but that's just a possible scenario Tony has seen from what might happen according to his computers...RIGHT.
Arno keeps telling him not to trust 451 or AI in general and Tony's like oh whatevs man...fine.
We then meet a journalist who's very left-wing. She is approached by a Ring, which gives her super powers! She's now Mandarin 7!....but isn't Mandarin Dead???? OOOH!
Tony takes Mandarin City as the wrecked carcass he and Arno will built Troy from...there's one cool scene of Tony going Batman on the criminals of MC, and saying that he'll definitely go that way again, "highly recommended".
Tony introduces Pepper to Arno to explain why he's acting all weird. Pepper is engaged to some dude, who Tony hires as his PR Man...this Dude is an ex of the lefty journalist who is now Mandarin Powered! She attacks Mandarin City, but only does property damage, because she values life...umm...K.
Then Tony sees the ring, and goes to ask Rhodey (Iron Patriot/used to be War Machine) where Mandarin's rings are...turns out they're not in the SHIELD vault anymore! UHOH!!!!!
We have the Inhumanity crossover issue, where the rings have a conference, and get mad at one ring for not finding a host yet...it debates between possible hosts (Medusa, Longshot, Hulk, Red Skull) before deciding on some random 2-bit criminal who is a loser. We get that because he steals from his family and is a dick. His family all turn into Inhuman Cocoons (apparently that's how it goes) and so he gets RAGEY!!! The ring offers him power, of course...he fights Iron Man, and doesn't like him. He also finds out that he's Inhuman too!!! Medusa says great job killing your family while they were cocooning...you're a murderer and no longer one of us. CYA.
Back to our regularly scheduled monthly title!
So Red Peril (the lefty reporter girl powered by Mandarin Ring) decides she likes Mandarin City and writes an article about it...completely unnecessary...could just tell Tony, it's great but you have to leave!
She discovers 2 other Mandarin Ring people (the guy from before) and a Mafia Boss...they all hate Iron Man, and that's who the ring chooses. BORING.
Big fights, Red Peril girl now fights WITH Iron Man because she doesn't like being THAT evil..just a bit of an anarchist...right. She's gone through like 4 different political spectrums in 3 issues...
Arno is mostly sitting in his Iron Lung telling Tony how to fight, so he's more or less just another operating system for him...but the bad guys fire at Tony's home in Mandarin City!!! Oh NO! ARNO!!!!
Arno lives...because of course, he built himself a GIGANTIC SET OF FUCKING ROBOT ARMOUR!!! Because dudes in Iron Lungs have lots of time on their hands, and obviously, having a brother who makes them all the time, he's going to be just as able...even though Tony just learned his from hard work, because if he's not Howard's son, then he's even more genius! Arno should be super smart, he is, but Tony just happens to be super smart without having Stark DNA? OK.
But ya...super huge robot. BORING. SMASH ROBOTS KILL BADDIES.
Halfway through the battle, even Gillen forgets who's who, giving wrong names to the Mandarins...7 was the Inhuman dude, but he calls him 2, then there's other stupid stuff like the girl has the wrong codename Red something instead of Peril...it's just poor editing.
Oh and even though it's the Iron Robot Stark Brother Baddie Basher Bridage on the loose, someone else defeats the 3 Mandarins...where the fuck are the other 7? If they hate Tony Stark so much...where are they in all this?
This mystery person chops off Red Peril's Hands with a sword, and takes her rings, after she discovers the body of the mafia boss with his ring missing...we never see what happens to the Inhuman baddie, but at the end, the mystery badguy has 3 rings!!!!
Tony publically leaves Troy, and Arno takes over that project, to keep it safe from supervillains...right.
Then we get the reveal at the very end...who's got them rings? Why it's our old friend !!! DUM DUH DAAAAAA!!!
This is just a clusterfuck. No good ideas here at all. If they were, they're lost on me. At the end of the last book, I thought they could do anything, but they've managed to totally castrate the possibilities and turned Arno into a sideshow character who we're going to forget about in a year, and Marvel will probably turn into a Supervillain at some point, probably something about Tony stealing his life and all that should have been his or some shit.
Just don't bother. Read any other Iron Man run. Literally ANY.
March 4, 2022
This was another solid storyline!
Tony and his brother get down to remaking Mandarin city as Troy and well they do but journalist named Abigail aka Red Peril emerges and attacks them while thye are in some press conference and we see her source of power: A mandarin ring! And so Tony vs her happens and he finds that some rings are missing and so Tony is on the search for them. We see the origin of another new ring-bearer named "The exile" and its fun how it ties into Inhumanity and his hatred for Tony is shown here too which I love so its Tony vs these new threats and an interesting character arc for Abigail and we see what this vision of the future city would look like and what Tony does!
I was hoping that the writer would introduce more new ring-bearers but we got just 3 and then they end with an asgardian threat tease which seems fun but this story had so much potential and ends rather abruptly. But I liked the cool tease of Arno being in the suit and that scene was badass and I love the bonding between the brothers personally! The art in this volume was top-notch!
Tony and his brother get down to remaking Mandarin city as Troy and well they do but journalist named Abigail aka Red Peril emerges and attacks them while thye are in some press conference and we see her source of power: A mandarin ring! And so Tony vs her happens and he finds that some rings are missing and so Tony is on the search for them. We see the origin of another new ring-bearer named "The exile" and its fun how it ties into Inhumanity and his hatred for Tony is shown here too which I love so its Tony vs these new threats and an interesting character arc for Abigail and we see what this vision of the future city would look like and what Tony does!
I was hoping that the writer would introduce more new ring-bearers but we got just 3 and then they end with an asgardian threat tease which seems fun but this story had so much potential and ends rather abruptly. But I liked the cool tease of Arno being in the suit and that scene was badass and I love the bonding between the brothers personally! The art in this volume was top-notch!
May 24, 2018
A bit weaker than the previous volumes of this series as we see Tony earthbound now.
February 12, 2018
Siempre es bueno leer algo que incluya a Tony, pero el cómic no me gustó demasiado. Ni muy bueno ni muy malo.
May 29, 2016
[some non-story ruining spoilers for Iron Man vols 1, 2 and 3. Big one's in the spoiler]
Rogue android Recorder 451 has been decommissioned.
The Godkiller has been stopped.
Tony Stark (or whatever his real name is) is back on earth.
Things for our space knight are about to get futuristic.
In an offshore China metro once known as Mandarin City, ever after the death of its ruthless dictator, tyranny rules. Vicious gangs run the city, drug runners and thieves.
Tony Stark and his 'brother', Arno, see this as an opportunity.
"We need a city that's totally feral. We need a place that we can help.
We need a place we can't mess up."
As they work to build an unstoppable Troy, with the A.I system P.E.P.P.E.R transferred to the core below the city to act as its new Helen, Abigail Burns, a far left-wing journalist meets with one of rings ruled by the Mandarin's black soul...
Which were all thought to be in S.H.I.E.L.D custody.
As the rings make their way to dangerous people, all with a personal grudge against Tony Stark, the villains rise against him, and as those who ignore history truly do seem doomed to repeat it, Troy begins to fall.
It's up to Tony, Arno, a possible turn-coat, and an army of Trojan Iron Man suits to stop it from happening.
But can Arno, bound to an iron lung, get out alive?
Kieron Gillen is an incredible author, I can't praise him enough. He writes Tony Stark the way I wish Hollywood would.
Broken, glued back together, and falling apart again, this Tony Stark is what we've always known was there, but that we've never seen.
This series just keeps getting better. I'm eagerly awaiting the arrival of my copy of Iron Man, Vol. 5: Rings of the Mandarin, which sadly seems to be the end of Gillen's run on Iron Man.
I can't wait to see how he wraps this one up.
Has he lost his mind? Can he see, or is he blind?
Can he walk at all, or if he moves will he fall?
Art specs?
I don't miss Land.
As I said before, his art was generic. I liked it because the robots and mechs looked cool, and you know what?
They still do.
Joe Bennett, Agustin Padilla? Nicely done.
You jacked Tony all the hell up, though.
The beard isn't that bad, guys, seriously.
Rogue android Recorder 451 has been decommissioned.
The Godkiller has been stopped.
Tony Stark (or whatever his real name is) is back on earth.
Things for our space knight are about to get futuristic.
In an offshore China metro once known as Mandarin City, ever after the death of its ruthless dictator, tyranny rules. Vicious gangs run the city, drug runners and thieves.
Tony Stark and his 'brother', Arno, see this as an opportunity.
"We need a city that's totally feral. We need a place that we can help.
We need a place we can't mess up."
As they work to build an unstoppable Troy, with the A.I system P.E.P.P.E.R transferred to the core below the city to act as its new Helen, Abigail Burns, a far left-wing journalist meets with one of rings ruled by the Mandarin's black soul...
Which were all thought to be in S.H.I.E.L.D custody.
As the rings make their way to dangerous people, all with a personal grudge against Tony Stark, the villains rise against him, and as those who ignore history truly do seem doomed to repeat it, Troy begins to fall.
It's up to Tony, Arno, a possible turn-coat, and an army of Trojan Iron Man suits to stop it from happening.
But can Arno, bound to an iron lung, get out alive?
Kieron Gillen is an incredible author, I can't praise him enough. He writes Tony Stark the way I wish Hollywood would.
Broken, glued back together, and falling apart again, this Tony Stark is what we've always known was there, but that we've never seen.
This series just keeps getting better. I'm eagerly awaiting the arrival of my copy of Iron Man, Vol. 5: Rings of the Mandarin, which sadly seems to be the end of Gillen's run on Iron Man.
I can't wait to see how he wraps this one up.
Has he lost his mind? Can he see, or is he blind?
Can he walk at all, or if he moves will he fall?
Art specs?
I don't miss Land.
As I said before, his art was generic. I liked it because the robots and mechs looked cool, and you know what?
They still do.
Joe Bennett, Agustin Padilla? Nicely done.
You jacked Tony all the hell up, though.
The beard isn't that bad, guys, seriously.
February 22, 2021
Iron Metropolitan is volume 4 of the adjective-less Iron Man, and a continuation of my revisit of the character.
This volume is an improvement on the previous two which I wasn’t the biggest fan of. The Secret Origin of Tony Stark was in my opinion not a great storyline.
Here we do continue with some of those dangling plot threads, whilst otherwise are pushed to the side. Specifically the big reveal of Arno Stark, Tony’s long lost brother. Together they decide they are going to build the city of the future. Not something completely new to Tony as he has done similar in the past.
What I like about this volume are it’s clear links back to the Matt Fraction (the previous writer) run on the character with Invincible Iron Man. We have Mandarin city which was destroyed, which happens to be the city the Starks want to rebuild. Linked to Mandarin we also have his rings crop up. They are now sentient and have different hosts. Unfortunately for Tony, these hosts all want him dead.
I felt that was a more interesting route to go than the usual, character actually didn’t die route. There is unfortunately a weak link in this volume. That being the Inhumanity crossover, which is a result of the Infinity crossover event. What this series has been lucky with so far is not having to crossover too much with big events, it’s been able to do its own thing.
The Inhumanity element just felt out of place and pointless. We see one of the Mandarin rings searching for a suitable host, with some very interesting options considered and then binned with the option it decides to go with. Unfortunately all the teases were more interesting than the result we got.
The artwork is consistent good throughout. Better than the previous volumes. The Iron Man armours specifically are very cool to look at, especially some of the new ones introduced.
Definitely an improvement in the series. Tony has similar traits here as we’ve seen in Iron Man 3 and Avengers Age of Ultron films. Specifically his experimenting with tech that may be better left alone. It’s still hard overall to recommend this series, those newer to the character and less familiar with Iron Man’s history may enjoy this more, but there are better Iron Man stories to read for those new to the character.
This volume is an improvement on the previous two which I wasn’t the biggest fan of. The Secret Origin of Tony Stark was in my opinion not a great storyline.
Here we do continue with some of those dangling plot threads, whilst otherwise are pushed to the side. Specifically the big reveal of Arno Stark, Tony’s long lost brother. Together they decide they are going to build the city of the future. Not something completely new to Tony as he has done similar in the past.
What I like about this volume are it’s clear links back to the Matt Fraction (the previous writer) run on the character with Invincible Iron Man. We have Mandarin city which was destroyed, which happens to be the city the Starks want to rebuild. Linked to Mandarin we also have his rings crop up. They are now sentient and have different hosts. Unfortunately for Tony, these hosts all want him dead.
I felt that was a more interesting route to go than the usual, character actually didn’t die route. There is unfortunately a weak link in this volume. That being the Inhumanity crossover, which is a result of the Infinity crossover event. What this series has been lucky with so far is not having to crossover too much with big events, it’s been able to do its own thing.
The Inhumanity element just felt out of place and pointless. We see one of the Mandarin rings searching for a suitable host, with some very interesting options considered and then binned with the option it decides to go with. Unfortunately all the teases were more interesting than the result we got.
The artwork is consistent good throughout. Better than the previous volumes. The Iron Man armours specifically are very cool to look at, especially some of the new ones introduced.
Definitely an improvement in the series. Tony has similar traits here as we’ve seen in Iron Man 3 and Avengers Age of Ultron films. Specifically his experimenting with tech that may be better left alone. It’s still hard overall to recommend this series, those newer to the character and less familiar with Iron Man’s history may enjoy this more, but there are better Iron Man stories to read for those new to the character.
July 30, 2018
In this volume, Tony comes up with a plan to build a "city of the future". The book starts with how things can go horribly wrong - which is a bit of a cop out as we then flash back to the present to show that Tony was just showing a simulation. I personally hate these types of tropes of showing what could be then bring everything back to normal... ugh. Anyways, its a very quick thing and then the volume moves on.
The rest of the volume kind goes into Tony trying to rebuild Mandarin City, but it goes horribly wrong due to..... the Mandarin. Well, specifically, the Mandarin's rings. It seems each one is essentially a type of Lantern ring, complete with the whole "You have the will to wield the ring..." type recruitment speech.
I'm not digging this story too much so far. The whole "building the city of the future" was kind of half assed explained and even less so shown . The villain of the book switches sides towards the end with some half assed realization of her actions. This story kind of seems.... half assed.
The art is pretty good, though it does seem very 90's at times. Especially when it comes to drawing women and the positions they are shown in. But Bennett can draw a mean Iron Man suit. Different variations, more than one at once, this dude can do it all when it comes to the suits.
I will be reading the next volume as an old and awesome Thor villain is revealed to be collecting the rings, which seems very cool. To be honest, if not for the reveal, I wouldve gave the volume a lower score.
Read this if you are an Iron Man completionist only.
The rest of the volume kind goes into Tony trying to rebuild Mandarin City, but it goes horribly wrong due to..... the Mandarin. Well, specifically, the Mandarin's rings. It seems each one is essentially a type of Lantern ring, complete with the whole "You have the will to wield the ring..." type recruitment speech.
I'm not digging this story too much so far. The whole "building the city of the future" was kind of half assed explained and even less so shown . The villain of the book switches sides towards the end with some half assed realization of her actions. This story kind of seems.... half assed.
The art is pretty good, though it does seem very 90's at times. Especially when it comes to drawing women and the positions they are shown in. But Bennett can draw a mean Iron Man suit. Different variations, more than one at once, this dude can do it all when it comes to the suits.
I will be reading the next volume as an old and awesome Thor villain is revealed to be collecting the rings, which seems very cool. To be honest, if not for the reveal, I wouldve gave the volume a lower score.
Read this if you are an Iron Man completionist only.
March 19, 2014
Review for the individual comics contained in this collection.
Minor SPOILERS to follow.
The good news:
No intergalactic sexual escapades with hot alien babes who have an aversion to facial hair. No 3-mile tall Super Suits. No alien mafia in Vegas. No Tony Stark as a genetically enhanced Messiah. No Greg Land.
The bad news:
I still don't care for Gillen's Iron Man.
I don't know why I keep coming back to this series. I really, really don't. And it's sad when the best compliment I can give this volume is "at least it's not as bad as the first three."
I love Gillen. I love Iron Man.
I just don't like the two of them together.
However, this volume DOES set up for an interesting crossover with Thor: God of Thunder in future issues, so I suppose I'll need to keep reading.
I just hope this doesn't turn into yet another Marvel-verse cross-over spectacular. But Marvel seems utterly incapable of going more than 6 months without some Company Wide Crossover Spectacular that Will Forever Change Everything (Except HAHA NOT REALLY), so I'm not actually holding my breath or anything.
Minor SPOILERS to follow.
The good news:
No intergalactic sexual escapades with hot alien babes who have an aversion to facial hair. No 3-mile tall Super Suits. No alien mafia in Vegas. No Tony Stark as a genetically enhanced Messiah. No Greg Land.
The bad news:
I still don't care for Gillen's Iron Man.
I don't know why I keep coming back to this series. I really, really don't. And it's sad when the best compliment I can give this volume is "at least it's not as bad as the first three."
I love Gillen. I love Iron Man.
I just don't like the two of them together.
However, this volume DOES set up for an interesting crossover with Thor: God of Thunder in future issues, so I suppose I'll need to keep reading.
I just hope this doesn't turn into yet another Marvel-verse cross-over spectacular. But Marvel seems utterly incapable of going more than 6 months without some Company Wide Crossover Spectacular that Will Forever Change Everything (Except HAHA NOT REALLY), so I'm not actually holding my breath or anything.
February 4, 2015
Stark building a future of the city? Great plot. Granted, we never get to see the nuts and bolts, but still, Stark is at his best when he's the inventive futurist, and that's what we have here. The Mandarin's rings gone sentient and given themselves out to the greatest haters? Great plot. I was tired over the idea of yet another volume of Iron Man offering yet another look at the Mandarin, but this is actually a totally new take, and one that fits well with the heavier science-fiction focus of Gillen's Iron Man.
Beyond all that, we've got good characters, a good plot, and a great ending. I look forward to the next (last?) volume of Gillen's story.
Beyond all that, we've got good characters, a good plot, and a great ending. I look forward to the next (last?) volume of Gillen's story.
August 18, 2014
3.5 stars.
This Volume of Iron Man ups the action and begins to set up future storylines that could last a while. For that (as well as the art to a degree) this Volume is worth a read. But..... and I don't know if it's just because I am such a Green Lantern fan... Mandarin power rings feel way to much like Lantern Corps rings, even down to changing color.
Overall, still good, but my interest in Iron Man is starting to wain.
Recommend
This Volume of Iron Man ups the action and begins to set up future storylines that could last a while. For that (as well as the art to a degree) this Volume is worth a read. But..... and I don't know if it's just because I am such a Green Lantern fan... Mandarin power rings feel way to much like Lantern Corps rings, even down to changing color.
Overall, still good, but my interest in Iron Man is starting to wain.
Recommend
August 11, 2015
Decent storyline, like the mandarin story. The artwork though was not great and kept this from being a good book!
March 6, 2017
Come On !!!! You give Tony a brother and that's what you do with him ???
September 29, 2023
Nadszedł moment, aby "wykończyć" wszystkie resztki z Marvel NOW!, jakie do tej pory z jakiejś przyczyny ominąłem. I szczerze mówiąc, seria Iron Man nie jest w tej odsłonie jaką topową pozycją, a raczej wyrobem rzemieślnika, która momentami ma prawo się podobać.
Tony łączy siły ze swoim bratem, Arno, niejako próbując nadrobić stracone lata, kiedy to fakty o pochodzeniu obu mężczyzn wyszły na jaw w poprzednim tomie i zamieszały potężnie w życiorysie Avengera. Tymczasem na wolności znajdują się pierścienie Mandaryna i szukają nowych nosicieli. Wybór jednego z nich pada na pewną dziennikarkę, która obiera ksywkę Red Peril i ma zamiar zrobić kuku Iron Manowi.
W swojej wendecie nie jest osamotniona, bowiem do akcji wkracza jeszcze kilku nowych hostów, którzy mają własne motywacje, aby przetrzepać skórę Starkowi. Ten zaś zajmuje się renowacją dawnego miasta Mandaryna, tak aby miasto odrodziło się w nowej, lepszej formie. Nie każdemu się to podoba. W międzyczasie będziemy mieć tu też zeszyt wchodzący w skład wydarzenia "Inhumanity". Niestety jest to takie sobie.
Wizualnie seria wygląda całkiem nieźle, ale to też jest rzemieślnicza robota. Czwarty tom jest niezły, ale nie ma tego czegoś aby mówić o najlepszych tytułach z serii. Iron Man miewał się już lepiej. Niemniej dla fanów to gratka, zwłaszcza że Stark jak zwykle jest sobą i bryluje charakterem.
Tony łączy siły ze swoim bratem, Arno, niejako próbując nadrobić stracone lata, kiedy to fakty o pochodzeniu obu mężczyzn wyszły na jaw w poprzednim tomie i zamieszały potężnie w życiorysie Avengera. Tymczasem na wolności znajdują się pierścienie Mandaryna i szukają nowych nosicieli. Wybór jednego z nich pada na pewną dziennikarkę, która obiera ksywkę Red Peril i ma zamiar zrobić kuku Iron Manowi.
W swojej wendecie nie jest osamotniona, bowiem do akcji wkracza jeszcze kilku nowych hostów, którzy mają własne motywacje, aby przetrzepać skórę Starkowi. Ten zaś zajmuje się renowacją dawnego miasta Mandaryna, tak aby miasto odrodziło się w nowej, lepszej formie. Nie każdemu się to podoba. W międzyczasie będziemy mieć tu też zeszyt wchodzący w skład wydarzenia "Inhumanity". Niestety jest to takie sobie.
Wizualnie seria wygląda całkiem nieźle, ale to też jest rzemieślnicza robota. Czwarty tom jest niezły, ale nie ma tego czegoś aby mówić o najlepszych tytułach z serii. Iron Man miewał się już lepiej. Niemniej dla fanów to gratka, zwłaszcza że Stark jak zwykle jest sobą i bryluje charakterem.
March 26, 2018
It just keeps on going. This book was mostly stupid, with Tony and his newfound bro trying to rebuild "Mandarin City" and they keep getting attacked etc. Honestly, there was one scene that I absolutely loved, and it had the sentient 10 Rings of the Mandarin talking amongst each other on some otherworldly plane, making fun of each other and talking about their plans to destroy Iron Man. It was the best thing in these Iron Man books so far, and was far, far too short. It reminded me of the Fear Lords in Gillen's Journey into Mystery. Punchy, dark and hilarious. Otherwise, this book was rather unremarkable. There's one more volume, wonder how its gonna end....
April 1, 2023
Very mixed feelings about this book. Tony and Arno Stark working together to make a city of the future - that's a cool enough idea. Having them face almost random individuals now empowered by the quasi-sentient rings of the Mandarin? That feels quite silly and way too Green Lantern for my tastes, especially with the rings teleporting around in search of hosts/ringbearers.
And things aren't fully resolved because the perfect host turns out to be more than random folks with a bone to pick with Tony Stark, but maybe that'll be enough to turn things around.
And things aren't fully resolved because the perfect host turns out to be more than random folks with a bone to pick with Tony Stark, but maybe that'll be enough to turn things around.
June 1, 2019
Iron Man is back on Earth and hanging out with his brother Arno. They're going to build the city of the future. Meanwhile, the Mandarin's rings are back and they're behaving like Green Lantern rings: thinking for themselves, talking like computers, and searching out hosts. Like a lot of comics in the written-for-the-trade era, there isn't enough time to explore the story before the dramatic shift at the end.
November 21, 2016
Stark and his brother are planning to help the world by re-building a city. Unfortunately, the Mandarins rings are loose and really hate Stark. They chose wearers that match their own characters, think a bit like the rings of power from DC. A decent story, I liked the interaction of the 2 brothers. A good read.
September 8, 2019
Not as good as the previous two volumnes, but there were still parts that I really liked. Having Tony and Arno working together sounded quite promising, but maybe throwing in this kind of enemy was a bit of overdoing, since any kind of character development fell flat - at least for me. I did like the conlusion though, so all in all it was a good read.
November 11, 2019
Is this the only book in which Iron Man has a brother? I found the start slightly confusing because they switched from a simulation to reality and it doesn’t tell you that until after the start, still it’s a book that you can read on its own without reading the others before it. It is also really suspenseful at the end: “Shush, mortal” I stopped reading there.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 21, 2020
Yeah, Kieron Gillen just doesn't get Iron Man. This cheap rip off of Green Lantern is embarrassing for a successful writer. The entire arc made little to no sense. Editorially, typos and spelling errors were everywhere. It seemed like no one cared about this. The art by Joe Bennett was serviceable but unspectacular. Overall, a pretty bad book for a character who deserves so much better.
June 15, 2018
Not able to attach photos from the app but the wrong "your" was used. (should have been "your," instead was "you're.") Besides that, this volume just wasn't as good as the previous ones, unfortunately.
September 12, 2017
Can I give something zero stars?
October 26, 2017
Super hype for Rings of the Mandarin.
June 10, 2018
Minu arvamuse leiab blogist https://triinuraamatud.wordpress.com/...
November 3, 2018
This Mandarin story seems too much like a Green Lantern rip off.
March 28, 2022
Better of the Gillen run so far but doesn’t pass being just ok. Beginning to think I am not sure that Iron Man is a character who works well as a solo hero.
August 23, 2022
Gang, it’s possible I don’t like Iron Man comics.
May 27, 2023
Kieron Gilles rarely disappoints!
April 9, 2016
Iron Man wants to build up an Iron Metropolitan or rather a perfect city that does not reel from the problems faced by the world at present. Reinforced with the mental faculties provided forth by his just discovered brother who happens to be a bigger genius than Tony himself, Stark continues his crusade of making lives better through the only way he understands - Technology. However, he has his own set of enemies lurking about and he has to gear up for unexpected obstacles that are likely to line his path.
The decision to use Mandarin City as the point of technological revolution initiated by Stark is a volatile strategy from the very onset. Given the past that the area carries along with it, plus, the political hulla-ballu that surrounds the entire city only sets up the stage for an uncomfortable transformation that Tony has planned.
However, what he has failed to account for is the rings of Mandarin that are out to make his life more miserable and make sure that the Iron Metropolitan dream of Stark remains... well, a dream.
The decision to use Mandarin City as the point of technological revolution initiated by Stark is a volatile strategy from the very onset. Given the past that the area carries along with it, plus, the political hulla-ballu that surrounds the entire city only sets up the stage for an uncomfortable transformation that Tony has planned.
However, what he has failed to account for is the rings of Mandarin that are out to make his life more miserable and make sure that the Iron Metropolitan dream of Stark remains... well, a dream.
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