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A review by captwinghead
Avengers Disassembled: Iron Man by John Jackson Miller, Tony Harris, Mark Ricketts
2.0
Re-read this and I didn't remember the first two issues that well.
This is an example of why we can't have nice things: I get that the life of a superhero is dangerous for the hero and their loved ones. I get that it's a common trope for the hero to reveal their identity and immediately have it negatively impact/endanger a loved one. I get that.
What I don't get is when a woman is killed solely for man pain. Ricketts was lucky: Busiek did the heavy lifting here. I've read books where a female character is introduced solely to be killed for the angst of it (that Wolverine book comes to mind). Ricketts dodges the criticism of Rumiko not being a full fleshed out character because Busiek made sure to give her agency and a personality. In this book, she exists solely to worry over Tony, blame herself for their breakup (fair, another writer already ruined that) and then she dies so Tony can angst over it and have an epiphany.
In the process, she is drawn in such an unnecessarily sexual manner. I know, I know, call me a nun but there is no need to show upskirts, a blouse that no woman in her right mind would wear and *grabs megaphone* there is never a need to draw nipples. Rumiko is introduced ass first and were it not for Tony's dialogue on that page, you wouldn't know who she was. Her friend/manager (?) slaps her in the face because... I honestly have no clue.
Ugh, so that sucked. It really did. Contrast that with better iterations of comic book character deaths and what comes to mind is Gwen Stacy's in The Amazing Spider-Man 2. That movie had tons of problems but I'll give it this: Gwen had to die for Peter's man pain but she saved 200+ beforehand. She made her own choices, had her own goals and didn't exist solely for Peter in that film. So, this book was garbage and Rumiko deserved better.
Moving on *sighs*. This is all part of the Avengers Disassembled arc which was painful for a lot of reasons. Oddly enough, the only real lasting effects I saw were Carol and Vision being distrustful of Wanda for years. I didn't really see anyone else holding onto that anger. Although, Hawkeye stayed dead for a little while. Anyway, Tony was cursed to lose his inhibitions, verbally attack Doom and ask Hank if he had anymore wives to beat. It was all really bad for his image but, I can't recall if that truly lasted.
I don't love how Tony's characterized here. The only moment I appreciated was when he's in the car and Pepper asks him "Why not quit the hero thing altogether?" and he says something like "And watch from the sidelines?" That was very Tony. He can't just sit idly by and watch others in need. It's not in his nature.
So, I can't really call this a recommend. You can get quite enough of Tony's angst from the main trade for Avengers Disassembled.
This is an example of why we can't have nice things: I get that the life of a superhero is dangerous for the hero and their loved ones. I get that it's a common trope for the hero to reveal their identity and immediately have it negatively impact/endanger a loved one. I get that.
What I don't get is when a woman is killed solely for man pain. Ricketts was lucky: Busiek did the heavy lifting here. I've read books where a female character is introduced solely to be killed for the angst of it (that Wolverine book comes to mind). Ricketts dodges the criticism of Rumiko not being a full fleshed out character because Busiek made sure to give her agency and a personality. In this book, she exists solely to worry over Tony, blame herself for their breakup (fair, another writer already ruined that) and then she dies so Tony can angst over it and have an epiphany.
In the process, she is drawn in such an unnecessarily sexual manner. I know, I know, call me a nun but there is no need to show upskirts, a blouse that no woman in her right mind would wear and *grabs megaphone* there is never a need to draw nipples. Rumiko is introduced ass first and were it not for Tony's dialogue on that page, you wouldn't know who she was. Her friend/manager (?) slaps her in the face because... I honestly have no clue.
Ugh, so that sucked. It really did. Contrast that with better iterations of comic book character deaths and what comes to mind is Gwen Stacy's in The Amazing Spider-Man 2. That movie had tons of problems but I'll give it this: Gwen had to die for Peter's man pain but she saved 200+ beforehand. She made her own choices, had her own goals and didn't exist solely for Peter in that film. So, this book was garbage and Rumiko deserved better.
Moving on *sighs*. This is all part of the Avengers Disassembled arc which was painful for a lot of reasons. Oddly enough, the only real lasting effects I saw were Carol and Vision being distrustful of Wanda for years. I didn't really see anyone else holding onto that anger. Although, Hawkeye stayed dead for a little while. Anyway, Tony was cursed to lose his inhibitions, verbally attack Doom and ask Hank if he had anymore wives to beat. It was all really bad for his image but, I can't recall if that truly lasted.
I don't love how Tony's characterized here. The only moment I appreciated was when he's in the car and Pepper asks him "Why not quit the hero thing altogether?" and he says something like "And watch from the sidelines?" That was very Tony. He can't just sit idly by and watch others in need. It's not in his nature.
So, I can't really call this a recommend. You can get quite enough of Tony's angst from the main trade for Avengers Disassembled.