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A review by renatasnacks
Invincible Iron Man: Ironheart, Volume 1: Riri Williams by Brian Michael Bendis
3.0
There's...a lot to like here, and also...uh...some areas for improvement.
I know this isn't a new critique, I saw a lot of similar sentiment expressed when the book first came out, but since I waited for the trade I'm just now chiming in. SO: I know Bendis is one of Marvel's heaviest hitters, and giving him this book is kind of an investment in Riri Williams as a character, which is good, but also...maybe someone who's not a middle-aged white man could have written this new black teen girl character? Maybe Riri didn't need a random drive-by shooting as her ~tragic origin story~? Maybe, hear me out, she didn't need a ~tragic origin story~ at all? Also, a lot of the art that was criticized for being too sexy for a 15 y/o girl was variant art. I thought the art for the main comic itself was...okay...not as bad as some of the variants for sure, but she still looks older and more glam than 15.
OK. Anyway. I do find Riri delightful, and I completely love her interactions with Hologram Tony (sidenote: is real Tony dead in the current comics? Is everyone dead? Probably everyone is dead) and ESPECIALLY PEPPER POTTS AS RESCUE thank you God please put Pepper Potts as Rescue on every goddamn team.
I have no idea what is happening over at the Stark business side of things, probably that will pay off at some point or maybe it won't, I genuinely don't care because PEPPER POTTS AS RESCUE.
also I hope there is some follow through on how Riri needs more friends her own age because yes she does.
It's a bit of a shaky start but honestly there's enough here that I love that I'll keep reading. I mean, did I mention, PEPPER POTTS AS RESCUE, okay great, bye.
I know this isn't a new critique, I saw a lot of similar sentiment expressed when the book first came out, but since I waited for the trade I'm just now chiming in. SO: I know Bendis is one of Marvel's heaviest hitters, and giving him this book is kind of an investment in Riri Williams as a character, which is good, but also...maybe someone who's not a middle-aged white man could have written this new black teen girl character? Maybe Riri didn't need a random drive-by shooting as her ~tragic origin story~? Maybe, hear me out, she didn't need a ~tragic origin story~ at all? Also, a lot of the art that was criticized for being too sexy for a 15 y/o girl was variant art. I thought the art for the main comic itself was...okay...not as bad as some of the variants for sure, but she still looks older and more glam than 15.
OK. Anyway. I do find Riri delightful, and I completely love her interactions with Hologram Tony (sidenote: is real Tony dead in the current comics? Is everyone dead? Probably everyone is dead) and ESPECIALLY PEPPER POTTS AS RESCUE thank you God please put Pepper Potts as Rescue on every goddamn team.
I have no idea what is happening over at the Stark business side of things, probably that will pay off at some point or maybe it won't, I genuinely don't care because PEPPER POTTS AS RESCUE.
also I hope there is some follow through on how Riri needs more friends her own age because yes she does.
It's a bit of a shaky start but honestly there's enough here that I love that I'll keep reading. I mean, did I mention, PEPPER POTTS AS RESCUE, okay great, bye.