Well, I've been waiting since the 90s, and now its finally happened, following the conclusion of the War Machine: Weapon of SHIELD arc in Iron man, we now have War Machine's ongoing.
Its good, this issue is mainly setting up the status quo and plot lines for the near future. We know Suzi endo left seeing Jim using lethal force to stop atrocities and he's definitely not changed his tune since. It is a far cry from the Jim Rhodes of the first War Machine ongoing, who agonised and beat himself up over killing anyone, from Psychotic dictators to super-villains. This issue really shows exactly how dangerous War Machine unchecked is. It sets up a supporting cast with Parnell and Bethany cabe, and a possible ongoing arc with the cybernetics slowly killing him or at least affecting his mind and what looks like a cloned replacement body. Of course its now in the hands of old normie Osbourne.
The art was good, not excellent but able to the task, the shots of the world through Jim's eyes are very crowded and a little confusing, but it fits the idea that he's downloaded tons of information on war criminals etc from the worlds computers and it comes up as a barrage of information. My main criticism is a small one. The artist has based the look of the armour on the "Stealth Operations" variant of the movie Iron man suit seen as a toy from same movie. Its not a big thing but I would have insisted the artist draw a suit that has as few cosmetic differences to the suit we've seen in The Initiative and Weapon of SHIELD as possible, but that's just me.
Still, at the moment, this is a keeper.
:squee:
16 years ago
In fairness, I'm sure there were hints of the movie suit in the Weapon of SHIELD arc as well (although I obviously can't check, since you've got my copies of that arc ;-)).
ReplyDeleteReally enjoyed the first issue. It sets a completely different tone from Iron Man which helps set the two series apart and its interesting to see how psychologically damaged Rhodey actually is.
Its interesting to compare it to the 90s series as well as you say, and its not just Rhodey who's changed. Back then, Tony was pretty unimpressed with Rhodey's actions, and as you say, Rhodey was a lot more restrained than he is now. Here we're presented with a Tony that's positively encouraging him (by providing him with a stealth satellite and all the rest of it).
Wonder if we'll get a repeat of the Hands of the Mandarin Prologue, because while Tony gave Jim free reign, I'm not sure if he meant for him to use the suit to "Kill the **** out of" loads of people. Then again, Tony may be changed from his time as head of SHIELD.
ReplyDeleteThere would be some similarities between the suits, and its not too jarring, I do miss his floating HUDS you had on the suit in teh initiative, where his weapons had external floating hologramatic screens, I just liked the effect.
Interested to see what Normie does with Rhodes' body, does he use it as leverage? There is a cover for a future Iron Man issue with Iron Man and War Machien fighting, saying that covers so often don't relate to their contents these days, after all, Nova and Iron Man didn't fight despite that being a Nova cover. Of course, stuck in a cybernetic shell and searching for his own body, wonder if He'll look up Deathlok for advice.
Dear Google, please fix the login thing, as I'm sick of you wiping out the comment I've just spent ages writing. Ta.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I can see Normie trying to use the clone body as leverage over Rhodey. War Machine must be one of the big heavy hitters in Marvel, since Iron Man is, and WM is Iron Man with added guns and a stealth satellite.
Although I'm not sure how great a plan that is on Osbourn's part. Hacking off Jim has been known to backfire a tad.
Remember, Transforming STealth satellite. He has a giant spacebourne robot.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, hacking Jim off tends to be a bad idea.
Of course, if it wasn't for that pesky sentry the Punisher would have ended Dark Reign really early. He tried to kill Osbourne.