The Invincible Iron Man Omnibus, Volume 2

The Invincible Iron Man (2008) (Collected Editions) #4-6

by Matt Fraction, Salvador Larroca (Artist)

He's outrun Norman Osborn, and kept the database of superhuman secret identities safe and secure. But in doing so, Tony Stark has lost just about everything: his armor, his power - even his very mind. Now, at his absolute lowest point, it will take Tony's last reservoir of will - and a band of brothers including Thor, Captain America, War Machine and Black Widow - to keep from losing it all and sow the seeds for a brighter tomorrow. Stark Industries' arms-manufacturing days are over: Tony's new company, Stark Resilient, is bringing modern tech to the masses without bringing innocent people to their knees. But there's a competitor on the scene, a mother/daughter team with a very familiar name ready to pick up the slack with an armor called Detroit Steel. They've started a deadly game of international intrigue that will bring one of Iron Man's deadliest foes back into the fray - but for the Hammer girls, that was merely the opening salvo. With War Machine grounded by the Pentagon, Pepper missing the RT-charged heart that made her Rescue and Tony's Resilient team struggling to put their clean-energy tech into production, they're about to up the ante. Now, Iron Man's going to find out just what "resilient" really means.

Collecting: The Invincible Iron Man 20-33

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Graphic Novels Comics, Comic Book, Fiction, Science Fiction

408 pages, Hardcover

First published January 18, 2012

About the author

"How he got started in comics: In 1983, when Fraction was 7 years old and growing up in Kansas City, Mo., he became fascinated by the U.S. invasion of Grenada and created his own newspaper to explain the event. "I've always been story-driven, telling stories with pictures and words," he said.

Education and first job: Fraction never graduated from college. He stopped half a semester short of an art degree at Kansas City Art Institute in Missouri in 1998 to take a job as a Web designer and managing editor of a magazine about Internet culture.

"My mother was not happy about that," he said.

But that gig led Fraction and his co-workers to split off and launch MK12, a boutique graphic design and production firm in Kansas City that created the opening credits for the James Bond film "Quantum of Solace."

Big break: While writing and directing live-action shoots at MK12, Fraction spent his spare time writing comics and pitching his books each year to publishers at Comic-Con. Two books sold: "The Last of the Independents," published in 2003 by AiT/Planet Lar, and "Casanova," published in 2006 by Image Comics.

Fraction traveled extensively on commercial shoots. Then his wife got pregnant. So Fraction did what any rational man in his position would do -- he quit his job at MK12 to pursue his dream of becoming a full-time comic book writer.

Say what? "It was terrifying," said Fraction, who now lives in Portland, Ore. "I was married. We had a house. We had a baby coming. And I just quit my job."

Marvel hired Fraction in June 2006, thanks largely to the success of his other two comics. "I got very lucky," he half-joked. "If it hadn't worked out, I would have had to move back in with my parents.

- 2009. Alex Pham. Los Angeles Times.

Reviews

[The Lion's Share · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I really enjoyed this, but it doesn't make the 4 star mark.

Lots of twists and turns and it's grade A typical stark. I think Fraction did a really good job here of powering Iron man forward and I would say it's a really good run, but on paper, I'm just not that mad about iron man.

Well worth a read!

[Amanja · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the spoiler free review for Matt Fraction's The Invincible Iron Man issues 20-33, collected as volume 2. If you would like to read the spoiler full review and see all of the pictures please visit https://amanjareads.com/2020/04/20/th...

Well, Stark is still a jerk.

I keep getting told that I'm not supposed to like him. So I guess this book is successful on that front. What I don't understand is why I'm supposed to keep reading him.

I do not like Tony Stark. I do not like how he treats the people in his life. And I really don't like how he treats women. But I'm going to get into this in a bit more detail in my next post.

For now, volume 2.

Stark is in a coma and must be dragged back to the conscious side of life. After an unenlightening journey through his psyche we get a plot involving Detroit Steel. They are an opposing technology company that is trying to fill the military robot market.

When Stark awakens from his coma he decides he no longer wants to trade in weaponry. Good move, less evil. But capitalism dictates that someone needs to fill this market gap, that corporation is Detroit Steel.

The book revolves around Stark being a hotshot and continuing to get his way and avoiding conflict regardless of his actual actions.

He uses and manipulates people and never faces any consequences. At this point I think people are only on his side in order to not be against such a callous jerk.

Detroit Steel is a mildly interesting rival company run by a mother/daughter team. They team up with Stane from volume one and by the end also team up with the Mandarin in order to bring Stark down.

Overall the book is fairly action packed and has several worthy cameos. I enjoy a lot of the parts of this run that focus on basically anyone who isn't Tony Stark.

Pepper Potts is the shining star of this run. She somehow manages to remain patient with Stark and even helps save his life but she is finally ready to become a hero herself. She wants to continue being Rescue and deserves the chance to save people regularly instead of just being Stark's assistant.

I want much more of her and much less of Iron Man.

I will not be continuing this run. If you already enjoy Iron Man you will probably really like this run. It's well written and has a bunch of conflict and side plots to keep you busy. It's just not for me.

I love Fraction but even he can't make me want to spend any more time with Tony Stark than I have to.

[Sesana · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a fun read, but it doesn't have quite the staying power of Fraction's work in the first omnibus. There are basically two storylines here, and the stuff with the Hammer girls is definitely the lesser of the two. I didn't really find them or their plotting credible. The first, shorter storyline, bringing Stark back to himself is far more interesting. Even if it is somewhat convenient that he lost all of his memories from Civil War onward.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow I loved this. Really great stuff with Pepper and Rhodey and Hill. It’s interesting to see ideas that were morphed into something else for the movies. The plot was good and the art work was awesome. There’s still occasionally some sexist shit that’s said or a character is drawn with the male gaze in mind, but that definitely happens less in this one. I really enjoyed the little one shot stories for tony and pepper towards the end of this. I wish McKelvie drew more for iron man.

[Aaron · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's something very hard to quantify about this second volume of Fraction's Iron Man run, but in any case it's a huge step down from the first volume. All the weight of importance seems to have been stripped out of these storylines. In the first volume you get Tony Stark on the run from H.A.M.M.E.R., having to literally wipe his own mind to keep its secrets from getting out.

Then we get to this volume. There are pretty much zero consequences lingering from the first volume. We jump into a story of Stark having to rebuild his empire after it crashed during Dark Reign, but that is largely unfulfilling and dull compared to the breakneck pace and high tension of the first 19 issues of the series.

The new central villains this time around are the Hammer girls (who happen to share a name with Norman Osborn's S.H.I.E.L.D. rip off for a reason I have yet to understand), who set in motion a Machiavellian plan to bring Stark down and make him look like an idiot. Only, after a few issues, their plan becomes completely untenable and downright reckless. Where they start out as sinister, brilliant schemers, eventually they just go full stupid and ruin their own plans without any help from Tony Stark. I found myself getting more and more frustrated as this tiresome bout went on.

This volume is not "bad" by any means. Fraction still does a great job with the character of Tony Stark, keeping him relevant and active. His interpersonal relationships are still complicated in interesting ways, and the art is great (though I was weirded out by how much Tony has started to look like Josh Holloway).

I would say, read this if you read the first volume and were left on the edge of your seat at the end of it. Otherwise, nothing too special here.

[Sookie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Stark's snark is a delight. Pepper is memorable and everyone else is forgettable. Unfortunately as is the story.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25 stars. Awesome!! So the last volume left Tony in a “brain dead” vegetative state after he erased all the vital info in his head that Norman wanted. But this is Stark. So of course he had a plan that would “reboot” himself. He had certain people and items set in place and here we see that plan put into action. Unfortunately while this is going on, the crew is now being attacked. The assailant is trying to kill Tony before he can be brought back. This got pretty tense. Once he’s back, Tony is now no longer going to be making weapons, but using his repulser tech to bring in a new a power source and get rid of fossil fuels. The government and other parties of course are not with that. So in comes the Hammers, a mother daughter tandem hell bent on embarrassing Tony and pushing him out of the playing field. The way they go about this was nicely baked into the story by Fraction. None of this felt shoe horned in or forced. The whole plot here was slowly brought in and was executed very well. The opposing parties reach a stalemate. But the info you learn about the Hammers and who they have with them and who they brought back has me very excited for the next book.

[Stacy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite characterizations of Tony Stark. It's messy, but that feels authentic; he learns, he changes, and he grows. Matt Fraction is a great storyteller.

[Mark Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely love what Matt Fraction's been doing on this title. I've heard some people complain that after the first omnibus Fraction's book seemed directionless and boring, but they couldn't be more wrong. I'll grant you that the story's slowed down somewhat, and that lately the focus has been a bit more on the boardroom than globe-trotting superheroics, but Fraction knows what he's doing. He's not writing a comic book, he's writing one of the best novels I've ever read that's release at a rate of one chapter per month. I may not always know where he's going and there's a few missteps, but they are few and far between. And every issue makes me want to read more.

The artwork is consitantly gorgeous and the technological innovations stunning. It's been years since I've read an Iron Man book where Iron Man was using technology that seemed like it was just a step ahead of the current tech and not something completely out of science fiction. Hell, it's been years since I've actually wanted to read an Iron Man book.

Fraction's first Iron Man omnibus was an essential read. And if you liked the first one, definitely check this one out. It may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

[Derrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

What can I say about this one that's different than Invincible Iron Man Omnibus, Vol. 1?

One of the things I have really loved about reading Fraction's run on Iron Man is how much attention we're getting for the ladies. We got a little Natasha Romanova and lots of great Maria Hill. But Pepper Potts gets the lion's share of screentime. She has really come into her own as a strong, smart woman -- literally, as she now has an Iron Man (Maiden? Mistress?) of her own. She's complicated and real, especially as she struggles with learning to stand up for herself when Tony comes calling.

Lots more business in this one, and I like the Detroit Steel character because I don't think he's truly a villain -- he's just been misled by his bosses. Hopefully it will change.

Seriously, comics fans should be reading this stuff. It's brilliant.

[Jesse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Generally speaking, much better than the first book. That one was the story of someone taking down Tony Stark, and then a long "on the run" story. This one is the "starting from nothing" story. First, there's the trippy dreamscape story where Tony comes back to life. Dr. Strange was a great guest star. Oh, and the covers to that arc are some of my favorites! Ghost is a freaky, yet surprisingly down-to-earth-mercenary, villain.
I was expecting the next arc, featuring the Hammer mother and daughter and their knockoff mech Detroit Steel, to be a fairly standard Iron Man story, but it really kept surprising me. The focus on Tony trying to build a new company was cool, I liked his partners and stuff. Pepper continued to be good, and her new armor is soooo much better than the previous design, thank god! Maria Hill is no longer stupid too. It was just a good story, and with neat similarities to Iron Man 2, even though they're not the same at all really. I've read this book before, a long time ago, and I really liked it this time again. I look forward to reading further, into unknown territory.

[Shahriar Shafin · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars, to be honest.

This volume takes the issues #20-#33, which has basically two stories.

The first is about Tony in a coma, and he's trying to get out of it. Doc Strange and other heroes help him get through, while Madam Masque recruits a villain called Ghost to murder him. A fairly enjoyable volume.
The second one is about Tony reinventing his life, he starts from scratch, doing what he seems is right, building cars, all while HAMMER industries breaks in his life again. Justine & Sasha Hammer introduces Detroit Steel, the transformers looking MechBot, and their target is, ultimately, Tony. This one had some pacing issues, the detroit steel arc felt a bit dragged on, as the Hammers aren't the most interesting characters.
However, the most important character in this volume was Pepper. From just a secretary to on the run, to become a superhero, she has been through quite a journey. It was wonderful to see exactly hoe determined she is to help people.

The art by Larroca is stellar, and very pleasing to the eye.

[Jen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wish I would have read these as the three separate volumes instead of together like this; it is harder to give an accurate review. At the end of the day, none of this was great. The preceding volumes were really interesting and had thoughtful implications for the future. . . . which are then dropped. Tony is given his "life" back without much ado, and while he is a slightly different person he keeps telling everyone that he would do everything over if he had to #noregrets . Hm. Maybe he should have some.

I was never a fan of him sleeping with Hill (full-stop) or Pepper but that has gotten even weirder with him not remembering either time. Ugh. Nah.

[B · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was pretty good all the way through.

Detroit Steel seemed a bit goofy. (No one would name a supersoldier or a supervillain that, right? I could definitely see "Steel" or "Steel Foundry" or even "Autoplant." But . . . .)

Also, weird is how everyone has seen completely through the villains but they just keep plugging along, seemingly because they had rich parents? I guess that's like the president, but it seems less believable in a comicbook.

[Rumi Bossche · Rating 3 out of 5]

Liked this collection a bit less then the epic first HC, first 5 issues where very slow, after that things speed up a lot, but it took a little to long. Still a very enjoyable Iron Man book.

[Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an incredibly biased review I love Iron Man and read this entire book in two hours and I loved it

[Oscar · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my biased review...
I love Iron Man comics. I love Matt Fraction's writting.
This comic is awesome!!!!

[Bryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

What if Elon Musk *wasn’t* a dipshit? 🤔

[Jessy · Rating 4 out of 5]

79/100

[Alex Memus · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oh my, this run deteriorated quickly.

Pros:
* The Disassembled arc covers are the best in the whole run.
* Detroit Steel storyline has some manga vibe

Cons:
* The story itself lost its focus. Stark doesn't have any interesting adversaries and he more or less behaves as an idiot, not a genius.
* Also the story arc is not a great startup drama (as the social network, for example). Fraction adds a lot of new boring characters and they have nothing to do really. They just sit in barren offices (while someone somewhere builds a car for them). That's the biggest missed opportunity of this book.
* Also, the art direction of 'in-suit' panels became so simplistic that it feels like a bad amateur copy of a real comic book. The hyperreal art style by Larroca just doesn't work with bright colors.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read through a number of the reviews listed for Matt Fraction's second omnibus for the Invincible Iron Man and the consensus seems to be "still good, but not quite up to the standards set with volume 1". While I do agree with this in terms of my rating, I think it does a slight disservice to the quality found within these pages, and what Fraction and artist Salvador Larroca have done with this series as a whole. Tony Stark, he of the world dominance cloth, has been totally stripped bare by his handlers within these pages. It's clear from page one of this series that Fraction's aim is to strip away the "iron" from Stark, leaving on the "man". This is never more true than in this second volume, where Stark spends nearly the entire run clad in hand-me-downs, instead of his usual yellow and red attire. It's a refreshing, realistic take on what a toll it may take for one man to be "super". There doesn't seem to be the impending dread that was present during Norman Osborn's reign while Tony is battling the Hammer girls, but we do feel the massive weight of his burden, including within the opening Stark Disassembled arc, which is a pseudo epilogue to World's Most Wanted (and features awesome covers from Larroca). I'm interested to see where this storyline goes. Fraction goes to great lengths to paint Stark as an inventor, one step ahead of the curve at all times, but in a more important way than Batman giving other heroes their comeuppance. Overall, a worthy second edition to a great ongoing title.

[Shelley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tony is back, though definitely not better than ever, and he is ready to turn Stark Industries into Stark Reliant, where everyone gets Iron Man tech to make their lives better. Osbourne is out, Maria is running Shield, and the Hammers, Justine and Sasha, are ready for their turn to take Tony down.

I rather love the idea that Tony thought he was above backing up his data, leading to some major issues being back. But this means that all the awesome growth and cool developments with Pepper and Maria in the last 17 issues are toast--he's a total asshole, Maria's angry and mean, and Tony has taken far too much away from Pepper, not the least of which is their mutual respect. I sort of feel like Tony has gone off the deep end here, reacting to his missing memories. And I definitely do not respect how he refuses to apologize for his actions in the Civil War because surely he *thought* he was doing what was right. Road to hell, dude.

So I guess, basically, after really enjoying vol 1, I'm back to not really liking Tony. We'll see where we go from here, I guess. I'm glad Pepper stood up for herself and got Rescue. She remains my favorite character in all of this. Maria and Howard in Tony's brain before the reboot was interesting. Will Tony ever take dream!Howard's advice and ask for help when needed? The Detroit Steel app, getting players to be killer drones, was so fascinating and clever--it seems a very likely thing.

[Matt Sabonis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume's not quite as strong as the previous, but it's still strong. The first story, Stark Disassembled, is a fantastic epilogue to World's Most Wanted. The character goes through reconstruction (World's Most Wanted is almost exclusively deconstruction), and the slate gets wiped clean in preparation for the new direction of the series.

Stark Resilient is the premiere for that new direction, and one of my favorite Iron Man stories. Stark decides to save the world that doesn't want him to save it (a kind of story that I love), and things go crazy. I love the ideas presented here, the various pieces of science talk that show how the world would REALLY work if there were superpowers in it. It's the kind of story I love All-Star Superman for, and it works really well here, too.

[J · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. I found this volume completely satisfying in a way I wasn't really expecting. Collecting the story arcs "Stark: Disassembled" and "Stark Resilient," this volume showcases Fraction's gift for balancing character and action in a way that few comics writers accomplish so thoroughly... and he makes it look easy. Some fans seem to consider this collection a step down from volume one, but I would disagree. The first arcs of Fraction's run may have more action and intrigue, but the character stuff here is so good. Delving into Tony's psyche and using small moments to bring his supporting cast to life, Fraction builds an Iron Man book that is as much about "Team Iron Man" as it is about Tony Stark, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

[kristin (paper reader) · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lot of what I loved about this collection is echoed from the first omnibus. Fraction's Tony Stark has to deal with one thing after the other and maybe it's gritty, intense, or another plethora of similar adjectives, but I can see where that works. Like Tony's alluded to, he has to confront head-on where his past has brought him and decide if that's a place he wants to be. Tony was not a nice person and so Tony Stark did some pretty terrible things. But that doesn't make him a bad person, and the junction of realisation is really well addressed here.

With a well fleshed-out cast of characters, this continues to be a fantastic investment both monetary, character, and time wise.

[Jordan Lahn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Iron Man action, combined with interesting character development and enough corporate intrigue to make Iron Man unique among superhero comics. Really enjoying seeing Pepper get her own suit, and while having Tony forget everything he did during Civil War, etc feels a bit overly convenient, it's handled in an interesting way and his interactions with other characters are impacted by this enough that it feels justified.

Too bad the omnibuses only collected up to volume 6. Guess I'll have to continue reading in the trade paperbacks!

[Caio Major · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once again, Pepper Pepper Pepper. My heart kind of broke a little at her ambivalence to bringing Tony back, and then I was so unbelievably happy to see her back in the suit. Tony's stint wandering around his own brain was creepy and fascinating with really beautiful art. And I feel like I shouldn't have found the whole rebuilding-the-company plot so fascinating, but I really really enjoyed all that stuff. (Tony's fetish for turning himself into an android is kinda creepy though.)

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

As vol. 1 was to destruction, vol. 2 is to construction of Tony, the new company, Stark Resilient, and Pepper. While nothing is as emotional as the Spider-man team-up issue from vol. 1 and the tension is not as high which may make it feel like a bridge (especially given the big reveal at the end), there is some great all around look into Tony effectively building from scratch and introspection and development with Pepper.

[J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still quite good, although not as compelling as the previous volume. The first arc is too unsurprising and forced--what else are you going to do after the events of the previous volume? The second arc is a little too rambly, but still full of strong moments. But don't get me wrong: this is still really good Iron Man.

[Nicolas · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really engaging series. I like reading it in omnibus style so that I can get a good chunk of story in one sitting. I really like the relationships in these stories. It does a good job of exploring he human side of things, without sacrificing the action.