Comic Review: Tony Stark: Iron Man #1

Tony Stark: Iron Man #1

Marvel Comics

Writer: Dan Slott

Artist: Valerio Schiti

In all of my many (many, many) years of reading and buying comic books, for no real reason whatsoever, I’ve never read an Iron Man ongoing. Sure, I’ve read a trade here or there, and I’ve read A LOT of team books with Tony in it (and I absolutely love Stark as a character), but never an extended run of Tony running around Iron Man-ing the town red. So, everything is re-booting and starting from zero (Again. The Circle of Life…..The Marvel Way), and so is my second favorite recovering alcoholic (John Goodman is my first favorite): Tony Stark. Of course, I’ll be along for this ride, and I really hoped it’d be fun, but Iron Man’s new writer Dan Slott has been slagged pretty hard by fans and critics lately, which I can’t really attest to, because I haven’t read his final few years on Amazing Spider-Man. I do know I’ve liked what little of Slott’s I’ve read and gave the man the benefit of the doubt. I mean, I do love Bendis, so it’d be pretty silly to start listening to other comic people’s take on Slott.

Tony Stark: Iron Man is a great starting point for someone who wants to just jump on into the character. This first issue is very much a “slice-of-life” issue. It starts with a flashback of a young Tony competing in a robot soccer (Yep. Robot. Soccer.)  match against a robotics company, and of, of course, designs amazing Pele kicking robots that slays the robots poor Bhang Robotics competed with. Then cut to today, Tony is courting Andy Bhang to have him work with Stark Industries (He doesn’t so much as court him as he does buy his company from Andy’s investors). Tony is walking around, cocky as ever cracking jokes and being, well, Tony Stark, while he gives Bhang a tour of Stark Industries, which briefs us in the exact state of things.. The likable and excitable Bhang serves as our surrogate, simultaneously impressed and filled with wonder. I honestly wish the tour lasted half of the issue because that’s the kind of crap I eat up with a gilded spoon, but what happens next is cool too. FIN FANG FOOM (all caps seems like the only way to type that) starts attacking New York, and Tony gets to work trying to defeat FIN FANG FOOM.. You’ll have to read it to figure out what happens, and the reveal seems to set up an upcoming arc that I’m actually pretty excited about.

Dan Slott does a pretty good job here. The dialogue is light, poppy and fun, which is really all it needed to be. I also love that this comic can pretty much be a stand-alone issue, it has everything you need to be satisfied if issue #1 is all you get to read, while also setting up an arc through a minor reveal at the end. Nothing made me go “Yeck!” out loud, so I gotta say he did pretty good. Its kind of weird that very little is revealed about where the series is going, but I think I can sit tight and let the man build. Artist Valerio Schiti churns out some fun sequences, and I get a kick out of the facial expressions he drew in this issue (Bhang’s trepidation, confusion are portrayed amazingly) I wouldn’t say it’s breathtaking (the action sequences are fun, but not jaw-dropping), but it definitely matches the whole “fun” aesthetic I believe this issue is going for.

All in all, I’d say it’s a very solid first issue. This is an amazing jumping on point for people who want a little more Tony in their souls, and just all around a fun romp in some yellow and gold armor.