Iron Man Epic Collection, Vol. 21: The Crossing

Iron Man Epic Collection

by Bob Harras, Terry Kavanagh, Tom Morgan (Illustrator)

Iron Man: murderer?! It's one of the nineties' most notorious narratives, as Kang the Conqueror weaves a complicated plot that pits the Avengers against Tony Stark! As figures from the future desperately try to warn the heroes, murders at the mansion shake the Avengers to their core. Meanwhile, Tony has begun having unexplained blackouts -- and it's possible that he's the killer! As threats mount and the mystery deepens, War Machine and Force Works become entangled, while Masque has an agenda of her own. But how do Gilgamesh, the Swordsman, the Anachronauts and the Priests of Pama fit in? Which former Avenger is Kang's secret ally? And can Iron Man unravel what's happening to him before he's lost to the darkness forever?

Genres: Comics, Marvel

512 pages, Paperback

First published May 16, 2023

About the author

Robert "Bob" Harras (born January 11, 1959) is an American comics writer and editor, who was editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics from 1995 to 2000 and currently serves as editor-in-chief of DC Comics.

Reviews

[Vaughn · Rating 2 out of 5]

One of the most infamous Avengers/Iron Man stories of all time. It's purpose was to completely reboot Iron Man, but it didn't go down well with fans of the character. It was so unpopular that it's been largely ignored by subsequent writers. It's hard to review this without giving spoilers, but I'll try!

The book starts off with the introduction of several mysteries. Strange people start appearing and giving the Avengers warnings that something terrible is about to happen. Janet loses all her money and becomes bankrupt, Tony Stark is getting memory lapses and starts acting strangely, things that appeared in the world suddenly disappeared with no one remembering, Vietnam doesn't exist anymore and no one remembers it, and when the Avengers reach the anniversary of their founding, associates of theirs start to get murdered. A lot of this seems to be related to the strange door the Avengers found in the basement of their mansion. As the book goes on, the Avengers find out the perpetrator of these actions and they go through lots of changes.

This book isn't too bad, although somewhat convoluted. It's plot starts to go downhill once time travel starts becoming involved (as plots involving time travel usually do). The main points against this storyline are the characterization of Tony Stark and the editorial decisions made. It also doesn't help that you have to read through some sub-par comics in this collection to get the whole story, specifically War Machine and Force Works.

Another point against this is that this collection doesn't include the whole story. There was nothing that Marvel could really do about this, as their Epic Collections include around 20 comics, and the Crossing storyline is 25 comics long (including some double issues). There was no way they could have included the whole story. Still, you get the impression when getting an Epic Collection that you'll get an entire story and this one ends quite abruptly 5 issues short. Maybe it would have helped if they named this "The Crossing - Part One"?

It would have also been nice to have some background notes and interviews about this storyline. It's such an unpopular storyline that it would have been really interesting to know what happened behind the scenes that made Marvel make the decisions that they did. Maybe we'll get some extras in the next volume to coincide with the last few issues of the story.

All in all, this isn't a great volume, but it is interesting to see the moves made by Marvel at the time. If you're a fan of Iron Man, then you will most probably dislike his characterization here. Just remember that this gets rebooted and forgotten shortly after.

[Anthony Wendel · Rating 2 out of 5]

So begins one of the worst storylines in all of Iron Man's long extensive history. In a plot no one asked for, Iron Man is revealed to have been a puppet for Kang for the longest time. This original idea mixed with time seeming to unravel, a lot of convulded buildup, and inconsistant art styles (not just between the different issues but sometimes the same issue had an artist doing half issue, while another artist finished) makes this a less than stellar collection of comics. Still, it is important to experience even the worse Iron Man story to be able to appreciate when the series truly was on point. This is the best example of when it wasn't.

[Simon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this far more than I thought I would do. To a degree it is a bit of a mess, with most of the issues in this collection not actually being part of the Iron Man series but all being part of a big crossover. The crossover includes issues of The Avengers, Forceworks and War Machine and is one of the most hated crossovers ever created by Marvel. It is stupid, made even more so by the fact this collection doesnt actually include the last three/four parts, and I cannot see how the writers are actually going to make sense of it. That said I enjoyed the reread, I was getting the monthly issues back when it first came out, much more knowing the secret.

[Max · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actually read all of the issues contained herein on the Marvel Unlimited app. This is a much maligned story that doesn’t really deserve all the hate throw at it. There were bold moves and changes made throughout these pages, and the story is compelling. The art is questionable in places, but also quite good in most others. The main criticism is level at this story is that 25 issues in, we should know more about what Kang did to Tony, and we should actually know who it is that Kang is so afraid of.

[Jonathan Dye · Rating 1 out of 5]

Literally the definition of bad '90s comics. Horrible art for 80%. Oddly enough the earl. Mike Deodato art is better than the rest of it. And he's me from saying it's all that art. I love Dan Abnett writing, but this is before Marvel. Let him write his own style and just told him to do whatever just to get a book out. I'm so glad this whole idea got wiped out after heroes reborn, but I would like to see that version of yellow jacket return to regular continuity.

[Federico Kereki · Rating 1 out of 5]

Typical 90's fare... but my main gripe is that the end of the story is missing! IRON MAN #325, WAR MACHINE #23, FORCE WORKS #21, and AVENGERS #395 are not included, so until the next volume in the Epic Collection appears, you don't get to know how things end.

[Raime · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly, don't care how stupid this story arch is, I quite liked it.