A quick aside to one of my favorite characters, Jim Rhodes aka War Machine.
See Jim is one of the reasons I got into comics, one of the first comics I owned was a War machine comic and my first serious collection was of his mid 90s series. It has been commented that if you want to get me to buy a series you can do worse than put War Machine or Jim Rhodes in it. Indeed, this is what marvel have done, repeatedly.
There seems to be a fair bit of enthusiasm by writers in the character of Jim Rhodes, as despite loosing his series, and his warwear armour (I Liked it) just before Onslaught, he's seemingly managed to keep some sort of profile in the MU, he was in Iron man when it re-launched, as indeed was War Machine, or an old suit flown by someone else. Later he appeared in "The Crew" an attempt at creating a streetwise team of mismatched heroes (Also featuring Casper Cole aka White Tiger, Junta, and Josiah X) and there was recently a MAX comic set in some form of alternate universe.
However recently he's been all over. After House of M he appeared in a spinnoff mini Sentinel Squad O.N.E. He had been recruited as an instructor for a team of human piloted specialist Sentinels, and even had a normal sized suit of sentinel themed armour. I liked this role a lot. It made a lot of character sense for him to semi-retire to a training role. Indeed this was progressed in The initiative, where he is in charge of Camp Hammond, the training camp for new heroes, and he has been given a new suit of War Machine armour by Stark.
However, his story is far from over, in a recent issue he is defeated by KIA, and has his mask removed against apparently standing instructions, one small shot shows a more cybernetic face and both that and the following issue refer to a "Condition" could Rhodes have been injured during business with ONE, can he ever leave the armour, just how much of him is left.
Come on Marvel, give us a War Machine mini filling in the gaps.
See Jim is one of the reasons I got into comics, one of the first comics I owned was a War machine comic and my first serious collection was of his mid 90s series. It has been commented that if you want to get me to buy a series you can do worse than put War Machine or Jim Rhodes in it. Indeed, this is what marvel have done, repeatedly.
There seems to be a fair bit of enthusiasm by writers in the character of Jim Rhodes, as despite loosing his series, and his warwear armour (I Liked it) just before Onslaught, he's seemingly managed to keep some sort of profile in the MU, he was in Iron man when it re-launched, as indeed was War Machine, or an old suit flown by someone else. Later he appeared in "The Crew" an attempt at creating a streetwise team of mismatched heroes (Also featuring Casper Cole aka White Tiger, Junta, and Josiah X) and there was recently a MAX comic set in some form of alternate universe.
However recently he's been all over. After House of M he appeared in a spinnoff mini Sentinel Squad O.N.E. He had been recruited as an instructor for a team of human piloted specialist Sentinels, and even had a normal sized suit of sentinel themed armour. I liked this role a lot. It made a lot of character sense for him to semi-retire to a training role. Indeed this was progressed in The initiative, where he is in charge of Camp Hammond, the training camp for new heroes, and he has been given a new suit of War Machine armour by Stark.
However, his story is far from over, in a recent issue he is defeated by KIA, and has his mask removed against apparently standing instructions, one small shot shows a more cybernetic face and both that and the following issue refer to a "Condition" could Rhodes have been injured during business with ONE, can he ever leave the armour, just how much of him is left.
Come on Marvel, give us a War Machine mini filling in the gaps.
I must admit, I'm glad to see Rhodey enjoying a comeback. Given the fallout of Civil War, Tony not offering him a job in the Initiative wouldn't make sense, especially given his job as a Sentinel coach. But it is nice to see him finally back in the War Machine suit.
ReplyDeleteHe does seem to have enjoyed a bit more luck than the other "90s spinoff" characters. Possibly thanks to having been a long established member of Iron Man's supporting cast long before he was ever War Machine.
Oh, and you bought an X-title solely because he was in it. That's almost as bad as me buying all of Countdown because Kyle was in it.
To be fair, its a well known fact in Marvel towers that to get me to buy a title you simply have to include one of the following
ReplyDeleteWar Machine/Jim Rhodes
Deathlok
Any of the FOrce Works cast barring Scarlet Witch (Nothing agaisnt her, she just isn't as rare to see as say, Spider Woman II)
Spider Woman II has been completely eclipsed by Spider Woman I for reasons I really don't understand. Granted,
ReplyDeleteSpider Woman I was ripe to be a Skrull, but other than that, I really don't see how her character is more interesting than Julia, other than Silver Age nostalgia.
So have you bought the War Machine trade yet?
What is it actually a trade of? If its his first solo series (All 25 issues of it) then I have the comics, however if I was to find out they were valuable, then I may consider selling and getting the trade.
ReplyDeleteOnly real problem with War machine trades, I have justa bout every War Machine comic (Not counting his Iron Man issues) Marvel have put out, with the singular exception of the Marvel comics presents or whatever it was where he looses the warwear.
War Machine: Director of SHIELD
ReplyDeleteGood thing you're already buying all the Iron Man titles :-D
It does sound good though. Like the idea that Rhodey is Tony's ace in the hole should everything go pear-shaped.
Yup, Its a nice reference, may even do a wee post about it.
ReplyDelete