Invincible Iron Man, Vol. 2: The War Machines

Invincible Iron Man (2015) (Collected Editions)

by Brian Michael Bendis, Mike Deodato (Illustrator)

Collects Invincible Iron Man #6-11.

Something is rotten in the house of Stark, and Tony must delve into the nooks and crannies of his international organization to root out the answers. But what will he find? Meanwhile, as events begin to build that will rock the Marvel Universe once again, Iron Man teams with War Machine to face a brand-new threat — with a little help from Spider-Man! Tony and Rhodey are best pals on and off the battlefield, but their friendship will be tested beyond anything they've ever known as new power players reveal themselves in a bloody and dangerous fashion. Can anything Iron Man and War Machine do prevent an all-new Civil War? Or will fresh conflict pit Tony against some of his nearest and dearest?

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

137 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 6, 2016

About the author

A comic book writer and erstwhile artist. He has won critical acclaim (including five Eisner Awards) and is one of the most successful writers working in mainstream comics. For over eight years Bendis’s books have consistently sat in the top five best sellers on the nationwide comic and graphic novel sales charts.

Though he started as a writer and artist of independent noir fiction series, he shot to stardom as a writer of Marvel Comics' superhero books, particularly Ultimate Spider-Man.

Bendis first entered the comic world with the "Jinx" line of crime comics in 1995. This line has spawned the graphic novels Goldfish, Fire, Jinx, Torso (with Marc Andreyko), and Total Sell Out. Bendis is writing the film version of Jinx for Universal Pictures with Oscar-winner Charlize Theron attached to star and produce.

Bendis’s other projects include the Harvey, Eisner, and Eagle Award-nominated Powers (with Michael Avon Oeming) originally from Image Comics, now published by Marvel's new creator-owned imprint Icon Comics, and the Hollywood tell-all Fortune and Glory from Oni Press, both of which received an "A" from Entertainment Weekly.

Bendis is one of the premiere architects of Marvel's "Ultimate" line: comics specifically created for the new generation of comic readers. He has written every issue of Ultimate Spider-Man since its best-selling launch, and has also written for Ultimate Fantastic Four and Ultimate X-Men, as well as every issue of Ultimate Marvel Team-Up, Ultimate Origin and Ultimate Six.

Brian is currently helming a renaissance for Marvel’s AVENGERS franchise by writing both New Avengers and Mighty Avengers along with the successful ‘event’ projects House Of M, Secret War, and this summer’s Secret Invasion.

He has also previously done work on Daredevil, Alias, and The Pulse.

Reviews

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Ok, the biggest problem (for me) was the art. It can really make or break it with me, and this just stuff just wasn't what I was looking for when it comes to Iron Man. I really didn't enjoy looking at anyone's faces, so that squelched some of my joy.
Not horrible by any means, just...ehhhhhh.



The plot wasn't quite a bad as I was afraid it would be, though. It's kind of all over the place, but the two big things are:
1) Tony goes undercover
&
2) Riri (Ironheart) shows up



And neither of them are particularly bad storylines, but I can see why (after the hyper-fun and visually stunning Reboot) everyone sorta felt a little meh about this one. But there were still enough fun moments to keep me entertained, so I didn't think it was all that bad.



I'm not sure why anyone thought it would be a good idea to make Mary Jane Tony's new assistant, but I guess they needed a redhead and she fit the bill? Whatever. Again, it's not bad, just and odd choice.



I'm interested enough in where all this is going to keep reading, so I guess the next thing will be to see how this new Civil War plays out.
*says quick prayer to the comic gods*

[Terence · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tony Stark sends his friend James Rhodes to investigate the tech ninjas that accosted him while he chased Madame Masque.

Things turn out to be more dangerous than Tony expected and he's forced to get help for Rhodey.


He also went along to help.


War Machines was a significant let down after the stellar first volume of Brian Michael Bendis's Invincible Iron Man run. Hunting down tech ninjas and the people running them seems like such a pointless story. I know I wasn't interested in learning more about them. I wanted more suit and tie Victor von Doom, but there was little of him. The artwork wasn't to my taste at all after the sharp artwork from the first volume. The whole thing just wasn't what I was hoping for.

2.5 out of 5 stars

[Sam Quixote · Rating 2 out of 5]

It’s the Brian Bendis Special: a paper-thin plot that would barely cover an issue stretched to book-length!

Tony sends Rhodey to Japan to investigate some cyber ninjas but he goes missing. Then Tony and Spidey team up to find Rhodey and THEY go missing! OH MY G… who cares. This is just Bendis treading water until Civil War II.

Meanwhile, Tony’s courting Mary Jane Watson to be CEO of his company... why? Because she’s a redhead and he has a type. And the reformed Doctor Doom - who’s drawn EXACTLY like French actor Vincent Cassel for reasons unknown - is also stalking Tony, again for reasons unknown. Garbaaaaage, Mr Bendis you write garbaaaaaage comics!

The only notable thing about this volume is the introduction of Riri Williams, a black teen girl who’s also a genius (who isn’t?) and who’s going to be the new Iron Man. She’s another slapped-together creation to make up the diversity numbers of Marvel’s titles because it’s important to look progressive these days, even when it’s only surface-level.

Riri’s going to be called Ironheart which is funny because there’s a Japanese Iron Man parody-porno called Ironheart that Bendis/Marvel didn’t know about until after they made their announcement. They’re sticking with it though!

Mike Deodato’s art is as tight and stellar as it always is and Bendis has nailed Robert Downey Jr’s voice in his Tony Stark, so there’s some enjoyment to be had with that at least. But The War Machines is mostly an unexciting, unmemorable and unenjoyable Iron Man book nobody need bother with.

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fell a bit flat for me. Bendis seems to be phoning things in a bit lately. Maybe he's stretching himself too thin. The color palette is way too dark and drab to the point of obscuring Deodato's art. It's hard to make out some of the panels because of it. Anyway we find out some more about these techno ninjas. They are led by the Techno Golem who's an Inhuman who can control tech, which apparently means you can make it float around as well as if you had telekinesis. Have I mentioned that I pretty much hate the Inhumans as a stand in for mutants? I like the addition of Mary Jane to the supporting cast, hopefully she'll get more involved. I'd love to see more of Doom as well.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Groovy little intrigue and spy-story we’ve got going here. Sorry that Bendis won’t be able to see it through to a juicy conclusion (or at least, I hope this didn’t get summarily wrapped up before he left to join DC - did it? I don’t want to know. Well, I want to know but all in good time. I mean, I need to prepare myself for Civil War II - I’m gonna read that beast no matter how varied my friends’ reviews seem to be - and I REALLY want to catch Doom and Riri in their respective impersonations as Iron Man - both of those stories hit me hard in the “here’s a cool take on the IM mythos”. Am I rambling? I feel like I’m rambling...)

I like My protagonist being under seige, and by someone(s) who can’t be best with the protagonist’s skills and powers. Tony’s in way over his head here, and what he’s trying seems out of character *and* fun in a “how’s he gonna die and get ressurected?” kind of way.

MJ is the best version of someone able to roll with the punches as I’ve ever seen.

Mike Deodato does shadowy intrigue pretty well with his heavy-handed inks.

And damned if I don’t enjoy Bendis writing Spidey every chance he gets.

[James DeSantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this was decent. Kind of like the first volume but a little less balanced. This time we have Rhody on a mission for Tony in Japan. Shit goes bad, magical samurai women attack, Tony asks Peter Parker for help, and off we go on a new adventure.

What I liked: Peter and Tony together is great. Hearing snarky comments back and forth is always a pleasure in my opinion. I also thought the moments with Rhody were pretty cool and watching him handle himself without the Warmachine armor was good. He is a badass and people forget that. I also thought the art was pretty solid throughout. I also liked Riri.

What I didn't like: Sometimes the faces are hard to tell who is who. I also didn't like the MJ and Tony dialog, felt forced. Also the Rhody and Tony love bromance felt forced as well because of what's about to happen with Civil War. Also the "villain" was quickly forgotten after I finished this volume. Oh and as much as I like Riri and Doom I feel like a lot of time was spent setting up their own comics in here.

Around a 2.5 but I'll bump it to a 3 just because I didn't find anything offensively bad. I still don't like Tony much but I don't mind him with a good supporting cast.

[Gianfranco Mancini · Rating 2 out of 5]

> Storyline: 0 stars
Artwork: 5 stars

Deodato's art is great but please somebody give back Iron Man to Michelinie, Fraction or someone else.
I beg you, Marvel.
And so nice to know that you are going to hire Vincent Cassel to play yuppie Dr Doom if Fox give you back cinematic rights... *GROAN *.
Tony, Victor, Rhodey and MJ deserve far better than this crap. :(

[Subham · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was actually a rather cool volume and like focuses on Tony as he sends Rhodey on a mission to Japan but when he is captured by a new villain called Tomoe/Tech Golem, he has to take it on himself to go and rescue his friend. It's an intense volume and shows Tony and his willingness to do anything to look for his friend. Plus crazy adventures, team up with Spider-man, Undercover, Fights on all sides and Tony in the middle of it.

It's a good volume and has multiple subplots running like whatever is happening with Riri or MJ and the BOD which is pretty cool and ends with Tomoe escaping so that plot would be continued some other time. It's a good volume and is a good past time.

It's a good one time read and like sets up a new villain and next up: Civil War 2!

[Robert · Rating 2 out of 5]

The fact it took me more than 2 months to finish this dreck kind of tells its own story.
The art was a murky mismatch for the bantery dialogue, not that it was all that witty, and Mary-Jane Watson was included...why? Add an underserved love interest and Victor Von Doom's pointless meddling and it was, sadly, a thoroughly unenjoyable volume only boosted by the much-ballyhooed introduction of Riri the future tweenaged girl Iron, em, Person, which was actually kind of fun and charming...so much so it felt out of place.

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was disappointing after Reboot. I suspect—or hope—the plot will make more sense after I read volume 3, which is not the best thing to say about a plot. I’d hoped more would be done with Tony’s new girlfriend the scientist, but Amara is mostly a lady-in-waiting whom Victor Von Doom seems to be tempting toward the dark side.
I prefer the art style of the first volume. This looks more like a series of snapshots than images conveying a sense of emotion and flow. Victor Von Doom looks like Vincent Cassel, and Tony's disguise looks like Luke Perry…which isn’t bad but distracted me a bit.
In the plus column: Lots of diversity in terms of race and gender. The stuff about a 15-year-old genius girl named Riri building her own Iron Man-style suit and going out to stop bad guys in her amateurish way is cute. I thought the dialogue was very good. I enjoyed Tony Stark and Peter Parker teaming up and exchanging smart-alec remarks. Friday, Tony’s super-duper AI, has some great lines, too.

[Travis Duke · Rating 3 out of 5]

(3.5) I like where this story is going, its building nicely. Not a ton of action here but Tony is digging deeper into the techno ninjas and trying to discover what madame masque stole from him. I also liked the side story with Mary Jane, it was written pretty well. Tomoe is a great villain I am excited to see where this is going. RiRi is also making her presence known which is cool to watch. I like the art, its sharp and clear with a realistic style. I would say I am excited for vol 3 but its civil war II ..... ugh hopefully its done right.

[Michael Hicks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bendis delivers a solid sophomore arc of Invincible Iron Man that see Tony Stark hitting the streets, and skies, of Osaka after his friend, James Rhodes, goes missing.

I’ve been digging Bendis’s run on Iron Man so far. It’s been engaging and fun, and the emerging storyline revolving around cyber-ninjas is pretty damn nifty. The threat at the center of this arc is a cool villain, and Bendis seems to be establishing her as a major heavy that will be playing a vital role during his run. Also introduced here is another major character (and now current armored avenger), Riri Williams, a super-smart MIT engineering student.

On the complaints side...The dialogue, particularly Stark’s, doesn’t always ring true for me, but it’s a minor occurrence. This is still a pretty snappy arc with lots of action and a fair bit of intrigue. I’m very curious to see where it’s all headed in the long run.

[Jesse A · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent if not special. The art was iffy here.

[I.Shayan · Rating 2 out of 5]

به شدت نسبت به بخش اول نا امید کننده و گیج کننده همراه با طراحی بد و یه داستان نیمه کاره مثل همیشه

[Clarissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Does anyone else think Tony looks like the actor Santiago Cabrera (Merlin and The Musketeers) in this volume? I miss the sleekness of Marquez's art. Sadly, he was too busy working on the crap that was Civil War II and, clearly, so was Bendis.

This just fills like filler while he tries to set up Civil War II. Tony sends Rhodey on a mission to find out about those tech ninjas and find something he does, causing Tony (and Spidey) to go on a rescue mission. Tony goes missing (actually undercover in Japan), Mary Jane starts working for him (why exactly?), and Doctor Doom is still lurking about. Side note: we do get Riri's introduction here!

Overall, I got bored. They really searched out this techno golem story without really telling us anything. We get no answers about why Doom seems to have turned over a new leaf, and not to knock Deodato's artwork (it's fine in its own right) but I really miss Marquez.

2.5 stars

[Dimitris Papastergiou · Rating 4 out of 5]

So... here's the thing...

This one gets +1 star for Deodato's FUCKING AMAZING artwork. The artwork is SO nice. SO good. Loving it.

Anyway.. the story is ok.

Besides the Mary Jane stuff which I absolutely had no interest in... cuz it was like the thing to do to get people to read this, and the fans be all "WOAH" "I'm shocked" "Look what they did"... all of that was boring at best.

Anyway, so besides all that, the story was good. Interesting and with lots of good changes. Still like the new iron suit, glad Rhodey was in the story and he was much more of a co-star than just a guest or something, with his own voice. Liked the Spidey appearance too.

Main story was great! And in the middle of things it gets to a real page turner. So.. if you want to read the road to Civil War II like me, you won't get disappointed for sure.

And also if I didn't mention: Mike Deodato's Artwork. That's all you need.

[Alex Sarll]

Oh dear. I liked the first volume of this, but now the art's murky and Bendis has got tangled in another of those complicated undercover plots he keeps doing even though they never quite cohere. In particular, this one has an absolutely glaring plot hole (how would someone with the ability to control technology not notice a technological face-change device?).

[God Save · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well... I thought that we can't get worse Iron Man run than the one that we got with that less-thab-stellar Kieron Gillen's weirdfest. Which, thank god, was canceled. But... I was wrong. Iron Man haven't been in a decent ongoing series since the end of Matt Fraction's run - which, quite frankly, ended very anticlimactically, considering its grand buildup. The main problem is, nobody tries to make this character grow. Nobody is trying to escalate him as a character. Writers from old days - like Mantlo, Michelini, O'Neil, Byrne, Busiek - were trying to make Tony Stark a great character. They were trying to make him go through real struggles. They tried to ground his personality and make him more of a human being than a superhero. Unfortunately, nowadays nobody gives a **** about that. Iron Man is not anymore an interesting character - at least for me. It's all started with movies, after which the comics with Iron Man started to be similar to them. Tony Stark's personality is completely changed. They try to make Tony Stark be more like Downey Jr. because making Tony Stark be more like Downey Jr. is a rational decision from the marketing standpoint - and that's what kills him as a character. Comics and movies are two separated medium and you should keep them that way. If it's okay for some filmmakers to say, "We don't wanna follow the comics closely because we're making movies, and movies should be different when it's required," then why comic book creators can say the same thing about comic books? Hopefully, one day some real fan of the Iron Man will step up to write a great run that will be more about substance and progression over poor attempts to make something out of nothing.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

a.k.a "Volume 2: The Bore Machines." In comparison to the excellent Vol. 1 this not-quite-a 'sophomore slump' had subdued humor and the story and dark artwork did not seem quite as compelling. Still, it had its moments - the ominous laboratory conversation between doctors Perera and Doom, a cameo appearance by Ms. Marvel (my new favorite superhero), and the continued presence of the lovely Mary Jane Watson (a scene late in the story, where she descends a staircase, cries out for Van Halen's 'She's the Woman' as her theme music). The absence of Madame Masque/Whitney Frost - and instead featuring the underwhelming Tomoe and Zhang - was noticeable, however.

[Brent · Rating 4 out of 5]

Big fun. Bendis writes great Iron Man and War Machine, and together with artist Mike Deodato, begins to introduce a new generation Iron Person. Plus, Mary Jane Watson works.
Recommended.

[Vinton Bayne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good. Nothing too amazing. Honestly I feel like it doesn't really go anywhere. But we did get our intro to Riri!!

[Frédéric · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5* that I don't feel like rounding up.

An entertaining story but an issue too long at least and some patches of feeble coherence.

After defeating Madame Masque Tony sends Rhodey in Japan to investigate. Rhodey goes missing then so does Tony. Their new opponent, the Techno Golem (sic) has quite embarrassing powers for guys in tech suits and Tony will have to go undercover to try and beat it. Meanwhile, Tony's absence leads his Board to prepare a coup against him.

Like I said, entertaining but could have been done in 5 issues. One or two bugging things didn't actually helped in that regard.
First is Doom. Why does he loom over Tony this way? It's so obviously creepy for no particular reason it feels fake.
Second his Mary Jane Watson. The excuse for hiring her as executive assistant seems tenuous at best. She's actually cool in her cold way to stand up to Tony but I'm still wondering why she's here.

A new character is also introduced. Teenage genius Riri who obviously will have a greater role in the future.

As always dialogues are really good.

Mike Deodato pencils the whole six issues. It's good, the Deodato's way, including sometimes weird propotions, and massive use of blacks. Pretty colors from Franck Martin though a little undertoned.

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a step down from Invincible Iron Man, Volume 1: Reboot, but certainly a step sideways. Things start off promising enough: War Machine investigates a break-in in Tokyo, Stark has an entire issue of witty repartee with Mary Jane, and a new, intriguing villain arrives on the scene. The art isn't as rock solid as the previous volume, but it's good enough. Bendis still has a mastery of fun pacing and copious dialogue.

And then things kind of go off the rails. War Machine, Iron Man, and Spider-Man team up to take on the new villain...and then there's some kind of time jump and Tony Stark is missing? It feels like I missed an issue. Which maybe I did, since this volume also contains the origins of the Ironheart spin-off, as well as some pages that were covered in Invincible Iron Man: The Search for Tony Stark. The plot proceeds to jump around wildly through the last three issues, which doesn't bode well for the Civil War II volume coming up next. *grimace*

[Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

As the old saying goes: *now* we're cooking with gas.

Volume 1 of this series had great characterization but overly-simplistic plot. Here, Bendis picks up the plot threads left from Volume 1's groundwork and spins a truly intriguing mystery (the cover blurb mentions a "gripping noir;" I wouldn't have gone that far, but it's not that far off). This one kept me turning the pages not only to hang out with the characters, but to see what was gonna happen next. There's undercover work, plot twists, an appearance by Spider-Man -- and the intriguing, slow-build, awesome introduction of Riri Williams, who already delights me.

There's also some shining moments from Rhodey, and a quiet, truly touching Rhodey-Tony moment of friendship at the book's end -- extra heartbreaking given what's ahead for both characters in the final volume of the series. Which I can't wait to read.

Then I may come back and reread this one. It was a good time.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bendis shifts away from the deep characterization that we got in Invincible Iron Man, Volume 1: Reboot and instead we get an action-adventure story with three different Iron Men in it: Tony, Rhodes, and Ironheart.

It's a fun story, if not quite as good as volume 1, and it's nice to see all these different characters. Part of it a a too-transparent setup for Invincible Iron Man: Ironheart, Volume 1: Riri Williams and there's a somewhat annoying deus ex machina at the end, which creates an anti-climax not unlike in the first volume. Don't know what's up with that, but I still enjoyed this second volume and want to see more.

[Annye Driscoll · Rating 3 out of 5]

Man oh man, I wish this book had had a different artist. The story is actually super interesting (especially knowing Rhodey's fate, but the art is *bad*. Embarrassing, bad, especially the women. In one panel Thor looks like she's about six inches around at the waist. Tony's girlfriend has teeth about a foot long. Blech.

So ya, good story ruined by really bad artwork.

I am super excited to start Civil War II now! I've never read an event before - I'm anxious to find out if it's as bad as everyone says ;)

[shakespeareandspice · Rating 2 out of 5]

- Pepper thing is weird
- MJ? Really? Reaally?
- what’s with the red heads?
- Art is bloody awful
- Riri is pointless

[Ivan Lex · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story keeps cool but the art is nothing compared with the last volume

[☽｡⋆ Shells (jlreads_) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Iron dad and spiderson appearance 😫 Avengers Infinity War and Endgame really did break me.

I'm not sure how this civil war gonna play, but I'm intrigued. And of course Victor.

[Villain E · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rhodey helps Tony investigate the biohack ninjas from the previous volume. Tony tries to recruit Mary Jane Watson to come work for him. Doctor Doom just wants to hang out. And the first appearance of Riri Williams.

The story is all over the place, but it somewhat comes together in the end.