So wanna know the truth about Tony Stark that we all suspected? He's a geek. This one proves what all the other superheroes have said behind his back, namely that Tony probably knows about as much about the history of the Oregon Trail game as he does about nano technology. In fact, the only difference between Stark and most geeks you and I know is that Tony gets the ladies by the D20, if you know what I mean...
The idea of Tony as techno-geek, lurking on message boards and being hip with hacker culture--along with a shuffling Ipod and the admission that some of his designs were stolen from the crushed armor of his enemies--would be enough for me to recommend this. All the little touches in this story--even a few that change some of Tony's history--would be enough to recommend it. But what makes it even cooler is that the main story itself is a great, innovating use of the character and his ties to SHIELD.
As we open the story, we're being narrated at by Stark, as he avoids SHIELD tech. You think it's just a routine "hero gone rogue" story at first, but as things progress, you see that all is not as it seems, right down to what's going on with that shiny red and gold armor of his. While Stark tries to evade SHIELD, he discovers a new problem--someone or some thing is messing with his memories, his armor, and quite possibly, his life. The fact that the avatar of this attack happens to look like a hotty goth chick--the kind Stark would bed without a second thought--just makes the whole geek-tech feel of the book just that much more, well, geek-subculture cool.
This is exactly the type of cool, not-really-in-continuity story that I like reading as a one-shot trade. Warren clearly handles all the uber-geeking well, along with nifty lines like Stark "complimenting" the sexual harassment policy at his company, admissions that when trying to get to the bleeding edge you cut a lot of people, and the idea that when trying to attack Tony's armor, getting an AIM account doesn't hurt.
Warren has a lot of fancy tech in here, and I'm sure if you stop to think about some of the sci fi tricks he pulls off, they'd fall apart. But one of the best parts is that this story moves so fast you don't really stop to think about anything long enough to realize they'd never work. Everything does get an explanation because this is at heart a geek book, but it's so frenzied (this may be the most innovating use of Iron Man's potential I've seen) as to keep the brain following along without too much "wait a minute..." moments.
Drawn solidly by Warren and Denham, my only issue is that the Iron Man suit seems a bit too clunky to really do all the things that are shown. I've always liked the late 70s-mid 80s streamlined look as being an Iron Man that could really maneuver like he's portrayed. But that's a minor thing. This is a great book, and gets a definite recommendation. (Library, 06/08)