Invincible Iron Man: Ironheart, Vol. 1: Riri Williams

Invincible Iron Man (2016) (Collected Editions)

by Brian Michael Bendis (Writer), Stefano Caselli (Illustrator)

A new Iron Age begins! From the violent streets of Chicago, an armored hero rises! Clad in her own Iron Man suit, Riri Williams is ready to show the world what she can do as the self-made hero of tomorrow. Her technology just might change the world forever — if she survives that long! But is she ready for all the problems that come with stepping into Iron Man’s jet boots? Problems like her first big villain. And the other guy running around as shell-head. And the laundry list of criminals looking to destroy Tony Stark’s legacy. Oh, and all the super-teams out to recruit her! As Riri’s adventures go viral, it’s time to claim an alter ego of her own — welcome to the Marvel Universe, Ironheart!

Collecting: Invincible Iron Man 1-5

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Marvel, Superheroes, Young Adult, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics

131 pages, Hardcover

First published July 3, 2017

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

[Sam Quixote · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tony Stark is in a coma but a new hero is ready to step up into the suit: teenage girl genius Riri Williams is... Ironheart!

It took me a while to get around to reading this one because the whole concept felt so contrived and an utterly transparent and eye-rolling attempt at Marvel being overly PC – rich white guy Iron Man is now middle class black girl Ironheart because forced diversity! Ugh… except the book’s actually good?!

Like Miles Morales’ first book, Brian Bendis nails the new hero’s origin story. Yeah, it’s unoriginal and generic: tragic loss, conveniently getting all the sparkly toys immediately, learning to use them, effortlessly taking down villains right out the gate. But there’s something to be said about the structure of superhero comics and why this template is used so often – when it’s done well like this, it’s undeniably compelling.

And Bendis really gets to the core of why people like Marvel so much: the book is fun and exciting, you want to be like the heroes in the story and you want to see more of them doing stuff. I do like Riri – she’s much more rounded than I’d expected – and I liked the way the plot came together. Coupled with the fast pacing, it was never boring to read. Stefano Caselli’s art is first rate – it’s as skilful and breathtakingly slick as David Marquez’s was on Bendis’ first Invincible Iron Man book.

Bendis remains weak on writing villains – they are one-dimensional ciphers, only there for the hero to hit. Why’re they villains? Because they’re villains. Hmm. Underwritten as always. And this one – the Techno Golem – is especially pitiful. If she, wearing a giant Iron Man suit, flanked by ninjas wielding lightsabers, can’t take out armor-less Pepper Potts and a skinny teen girl with no fighting skills, how dangerous can she be? There’s never any dramatic tension in those scenes as Riri and Pepper can’t be beaten no matter what.

The name “Ironheart” is kinda cringey to begin with but it turned out to be even more embarrassing after, in a hilarious DC-esque faux-pas, it was revealed that Marvel had inadvertently named their latest female empowerment/diversity character after a Japanese porn parody of Iron Man! Why didn’t anyone google the name first?!



The ending didn’t do much for me – I don’t really care for the Champions or Latveria in general, so the next one might not be good – but Ironheart, Volume 1: Riri Williams turned out to be Bendis’ last great Marvel book before he left. Give it a chance, it’ll surprise you!

[Chelsea 🏳️‍🌈 · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 ish stars.

So, I've put off reading this series even though it's on my pull list. I own every issue but this is the first time I'm reading them. I've been wary because I heard that Riri has been written the same way most characters tangentially involved with Tony have been written these days: they're completely annoyed at Tony Stark's existence for no reason at all. I was hesitant to read this because of that and because the last 3 books I read from Bendis were terrible (Jessica Jones (2016), International Iron Man, Spider-Man, vol 1 (2016)).

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this.

There were a few bugs:
- the intro reads like the start of Hidden Figures in a bad way. Honestly, I could not figure out for the life of my why Riri's parents looked as if they were being told that their daughter had some kind of disease. Even the teacher was acting as if Riri being extremely intelligent was some kind of curse. It was weird.
- I question why Miles and Riri's origins are steeped in criminal activity in their communities? Let me just say that I don't have any close family members that have been involved in/victimized by gang violence. None of my family members are felons? I don't understand why Bendis makes these decisions?
- Riri's mother is seems like such a non character. Perhaps I feel this way because I've never really understood familial relationships where the daughter takes care of the mother but she seemed so uninvolved. There is a portion where she questions if letting her 15 year old daughter go off to fight crime is a good decision and that's... okay.
- there are a couple of flashbacks that literally serve no purpose. Namely the one about Riri's experience sword fighting. I laughed out loud when it became clear that that page was completely and utterly pointless.
- All of Bendis' books blended together in that he brought in elements from that god awful International Iron Man book and I wasn't sure exactly how to feel about that. It's messy as hell that we got the overly drawn out conclusion of Tony meeting his mother just to have that series come to an end and have Tony put in a coma.

Anyway, those were the tough spots. Let's get into what I liked:
- Riri. I never found her to ungrateful or obnoxious. While I wanted a little more of her history outside of being treated like an automaton, there was enough here to get a feel for her personality. I'm totally onboard for more black, female geniuses in Marvel comics (... I just wish we could get black women to write them). I liked that she had so much in common with Tony such as forgetting to eat, getting super wrapped up in projects and having confidence in their abilities.
- The issues with Pepper were knock outs for me! I adore Rescue and I adored watching Riri and Pepper working together against Tomoe. Give me more of this! Give me a team up book because I love Pepper's chemistry with Riri! I loved Pepper in general. Sorry, but I would marry her in a heartbeat.
- I enjoyed Tony and FRIDAY's interactions with Riri to an extent. There are times where I'm not the biggest fan of Bendis' take on Tony. Not all of the jokes landed for me but I appreciated them overall.
- There were times Bendis actually got genuine laughs out of me which was interesting. Both from bystanders but I laughed all the same
- I liked seeing Team Iron Man come together: MJ, Pepper, FRIDAY and Amanda.

So, overall, this is definitely worth checking out. Even if you just check it out from your local library. I had a good time reading it and it didn't take me long at all. Surprising seeing as Bendis has been on my shit list as of late.

4 stars.

[James DeSantis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally got to sit down and read Riri's book after spending a lot of time reading a bunch of comics featuring her or having her in it for a few pages. Verdict? She's pretty damn fun.

So this book does a goodjob of setting up who Riri is and why she's a hero. When she was younger doctors told her parents to make sure to keep an eye on her, remind her she's just a kid, and to basically enjoy life. Why? Because she's so smart she can go any direction. Similar to characters like Reed Richards or Tony, they sometimes come to a line they might tip into the gray area. Riri isn't far behind them.

So once we learn about Riri's past we get to see her on a mission. Well it'll make more sense if read Iron-man volume 1-3 of Tony's (bendis run) to get the enemy and why they chasing this young girl around. So then who teams up with Riri? Pepper Pots herself!

Good: The art is top notch, but should except that on this title. The fights are fun, the designs are great, and the atmosphere works. I really enjoyed Riri. Unlike Miles or Cho, both very smart, she aligns more with the characters I named above. Very logical, to the point that she lacks emotion at times. I also enjoyed her backstory despite it being a little cliche it still hit the emotions well. The pacing worked well, and the bouncing dialog worked when it doesn't always with Bendis.

Bad: I think the plot itself is a bit basic. Just one big chase and backstory thing. I wanted a little more and it wrapped up a little to nicely at times.

Overall very enjoyable first volume. I really enjoyed all the interactions with the characters, character development, fights, and cliffhanger ending. A 4 out of 5.

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

First of all, Stefano Caselli has grown into one of the finest artists at Marvel. Now on to Riri. I liked her backstory. Yes, it's all been done before, especially by Bendis. But Bendis is just so damn good at writing these type scenes, these little personal stories. I really enjoyed the book before Riri started being burdened by Tony Stark's baggage. The appearance by Rescue was nice, but the friggin' Techno Goblin, Ugh! I also liked Riri is located in Chicago. Some heroes should exist outside New York, especially today, when the world is a much smaller place.

All in all, better than expected. After all, I'm getting tired of every Marvel hero getting replaced with a more politically correct kid. I'm all for Marvel making their universe more diverse, but how about some new characters instead of replacing all their existing ones or at least do it a little more organically.

[Subham · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun read!

Riri is the new Iron man and we see her origin from her being ignorant to everyone and making a friend to losing her and how it informs her present and I love how Bendis gives us an emotional hook to the character immediately and its awesome and then the sequence of events from her getting a Tony AI to her teaming up with heroes here and there and taking down criminals to fighting the actual big bad Tomoe, the Techno Golem was so much fun and their fight is great and I love the way the whole thing happens and then the banter between Pepper and Riri later on is just insane and then the whole climax! <3! Just perfect all the way.

Its a great volume and has lots of emotional hooks for sure and also does well to expand on the characters and inform their choices and does a good job with the villains but felt too decompressed but still good read and getting to know this new character was awesome but the main thing is the art which I love and its so well done here, absolutely phenomenal volume! <3

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this one, but I do think using the title 'Iron Man' on a book about Ironheart is tantamount to false advertising. Still, good book.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bendis’s stint on Iron Man continues to be pretty great. We a got out first teases of Riri from Bendis in his 14 issue Invincible Iron Man run. We also had the story with the villainous Inhuman, Tomoe, end on a cliffhanger. Both of those story beats pick up nicely in this volume with Caselli doing nice work with the art.

[Renata · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's...a lot to like here, and also...uh...some areas for improvement.

I know this isn't a new critique, I saw a lot of similar sentiment expressed when the book first came out, but since I waited for the trade I'm just now chiming in. SO: I know Bendis is one of Marvel's heaviest hitters, and giving him this book is kind of an investment in Riri Williams as a character, which is good, but also...maybe someone who's not a middle-aged white man could have written this new black teen girl character? Maybe Riri didn't need a random drive-by shooting as her ~tragic origin story~? Maybe, hear me out, she didn't need a ~tragic origin story~ at all? Also, a lot of the art that was criticized for being too sexy for a 15 y/o girl was variant art. I thought the art for the main comic itself was...okay...not as bad as some of the variants for sure, but she still looks older and more glam than 15.

OK. Anyway. I do find Riri delightful, and I completely love her interactions with Hologram Tony (sidenote: is real Tony dead in the current comics? Is everyone dead? Probably everyone is dead) and ESPECIALLY PEPPER POTTS AS RESCUE thank you God please put Pepper Potts as Rescue on every goddamn team.

I have no idea what is happening over at the Stark business side of things, probably that will pay off at some point or maybe it won't, I genuinely don't care because PEPPER POTTS AS RESCUE.

also I hope there is some follow through on how Riri needs more friends her own age because yes she does.

It's a bit of a shaky start but honestly there's enough here that I love that I'll keep reading. I mean, did I mention, PEPPER POTTS AS RESCUE, okay great, bye.

[Travis Duke · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 but I will push it to 4 for the art and Bendis back as his norm. Its the somewhat origin story of Riri aka Ironheart and its a smooth opener and I felt like Bendis hit the target. The writing is pretty spot on with the balance of getting to know Riri and her family, some good action, and a few teasers for the series. Riri is 15 and vulnerable and still fragile and Bendis does a great job at that aspect. I loved seeing Tomoe and the fight was pretty cool along with Animax and a few other quick shots. The ending had a nice back and forth with S.H.I.E.L.D which was compelling and is a nice touch. Finally the art is awesome, so sharp and colorful. I will read volume 2 most likely.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you´re a fan of Iron Man, it´s because of Pepper Potts, sagt die 15-jährige Riri Williams. Und wenn man IRONHEART 1 gelesen hat, ist man vielleicht geneigt, das Zitat mit Blick auf die Zukunft abzuwandeln: "(…) it´s because of Riri Williams".
Von Tony Stark ist nur noch seine Essenz übrig, oder wie könnte man es richtiger ausdrücken? Er existiert nur noch als Computer-Programm, als AI, so wie Friday oder Jarvis, aber mit dem Unterschied, dass er Erinnerungen daran hat, dass er ein Mensch war.
Die Rüstung des Iron Man trägt nun an seiner Stelle die nicht geniale, sondern super=geniale 15-jährige Riri. Wie bei Tony Stark ist ihre Intelligenz ihren sozialen Fähigkeiten weit überlegen, aber es gibt einen maßgeblichen Unterschied: diese 15-jährige ist einfach um Längen sympathischer als der großmäulige Stark, dessen Superfähigkeit vor allem sein Reichtum ist.
Riri soll von der AI Tony Stark als künftige(r) Iron Man beschult werden (dazu gibt es ein nettes Streitgespräch, ob man nicht eine weibliche Bezeichnung für sie finden müsse, und Tonys AI wirf als Vorschlag FE=Male in den Raum, FE wie Ferrum), aber viel Zeit zum Freischwimmer-Abzeichen bleibt Riri nicht, da sie es gleich mit der ersten Superschurkin zu tun bekommt.
Eine sympathische Heldin (weder weiß noch männlich), emotionsgeladene Szenen, aber auch Situationskomik, tolle Artwort:
Ironheart 1 ist der beste Iron Man=Comic seit langem, mir hat das Buch richtig Spaß gemacht (und übrigens auch für Neueinsteiger geeignet, da keine großen Vorkenntnisse erforderlich sind, um die Story zu genießen).

[Wing Kee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good, but could be better.

World: The art is fantastic, it's full of emotion and character allow readers to relate to Riri. The world building here is solid, we have a quick little snippet of Riri's little piece of the MU and also the MU comes and visits her to reorient her into Tony's world for the future. The world building is done well without any info dumps, but new readers will need a little more context of what happened with Tony and that side of the world, if there was a bit more balance of spending time in just Riri's world I would have like it cause by the end of the book Tony's world pretty much takes over hers.

Story and Character: I have to write these sections together because they are so linked that I can't write a review with them broken apart. This is an origin tale and Bendis is good with origins. Is Riri's origin original? No really, it the same tragedy and realization and responsibility that a majority of comic book characters gets their origin from, from Spidey, to Daredevil, to Batman and even Punisher the death of a loved one has been used to cliche and this is the case here. Immediately I got a very strong Miles Morales vibe (also a Bendis creation) because of Riri's dialogue and family dynamic and friend, of course it's not completely the same but the pieces are all there. I'm not saying it's a bad thing, Miles is in my opinion one of the best things to come out of the Ultimate Universe and Marvel in the last 10 years (alone with Kamala) and having something that feels tonally similar is a good thing. Riri is an interesting character because of level of Super Genius and it's different and I would have liked more time spent with that, in her own head, in her world, giving us a taste of what it's like to be her and to be that smart in a world where others are so different. There are hints at it, the link to the world with Nat was wonderful and what we see of Riri before Iron-Man is fantastic, I would have loved more of that, more time for her to be her own character because the issue I have most with this book is that much like Tony Stark is doing in the MCU he's taking the spotlight away from everyone else. The story is good but the moment Tony comes, the rest of his MU comes with it and Riri's own family and dynamic and time to introduce readers to it goes out the window. Sure, I understand that Bendis wants to create "Team Ironheart" for Riri this arc, finish with the world building in that aspect. But I would have love more time just Riri being Riri. I liked how Miles had time before he met the rest of the MUU and Kamala had time before Captain Marvel, Iron-Man and Wolverine showed up to meet her. Those two characters had time by themselves in their own little slice of New York and New Jersey respectively for readers to know who they are, who are their friends, their family and life before the cape and how it changes now. I wanted Riri making things for herself, without Iron-Man. I wanted to see Riri steal the suit and know what made her do the things she did. Hopefully we will get more Riri and Co. in the future without the baggage of Tony Stark's cast of characters, but I really doubt it. I'm not saying this story is bad, I really enjoyed it and I did enjoy Riri interacting with that part of the MU and I want to see more of it. I just want Riri to stand out more so that we can see what makes her so different, don't make her a super genius just to justify her being able to make the suit, have Riri be different because of her genius. Let us get into her head and see what she's good at, what she struggles with, her highs and lows, her happiness and sadness. There was a little hint of her and relationships with others but I wanted more, from both sides, from inside her head and also from others like Mom and Nat talking about Riri and interacting with her. I want more character work.

I liked this arc, and I liked this character a lot. I love the diversity in Marvel's current lineup, I was never a Marvel reader growing up so I don't have as much hangups with legacy characters, heck I'm a DC guy and we had 6 Robins (DC's diversity issue is another thing for another day) I'm okay with moving on and telling new stories with new characters. I love Kamala, Miles, Moon Girl, Squirrel Girl, Spider-Gwen, Silk, Spider-Woman, Captain Marvel and nor Riri and what they've done with them. This is a good read and a good step in the right direction for diversity and representation. It's not perfect but it's pretty fun.

Onward to the next book!

*single issues read*

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

I absolutely love the attitude coming off Riri - like, takes no shit, gives plenty of it. Not just her attitude but her facial expressions - I swear, Stefanie Caselli must be spending a lot of time around kids (or studying them, in a non-pervy sort of way I’m hoping) because DAMN does he get the exaggerated expressions down.

And somehow in a book centred squarely on Riri, we still end up getting plenty of Tony Stark foolishness in the form of another AI construct that just won’t shut up. Hilariousness ensues.

But the best moment of the book was no-question Pepper Potts/Rescue throwing down and sliding a little mentoring Riri’s way. I will never tire of the hard-as-nails Marvel redheads man...

[Paxton Holley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe more of a 3.5 star read.

Wanted to get acquainted with Riri before tge IronHeart show starts. I’d never read her before.

This was a lot of fun. I like Riri. I like that she has a Tony Stark AI helping to run her suit. Want to read more.

[Natasha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would literally die for Riri Williams.

[Sesana · Rating 3 out of 5]

I actually liked Riri way better than I thought that I would. She's cute and likable, but she's also almost exactly like (Ultimate) Peter Parker and Miles Morales. Same writer, so I guess some of that comes with the territory. Obviously, this is just a stunt to bide time until Tony returns from the dead/nearly dead, again, so it's hard to get really attached to her.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was not looking forward to reading this, I'll be honest. What I'd heard about the series wasn't...great, unfortunately. But you know what? I actually really enjoyed this. I'd read some Riri in other titles like Champions, but I was quite curious to see what her background actually was.

Riri's backstory is fairly tragic. Bendis manages to hold back his own dialogue issues (for the most part) to make sure that it's punchy and succinct, even if it is rolled out as a few pages per issue rather than all at once. Riri's likeable, but I do feel like she isn't fully formed as a character just yet. If you put a character in a situation, you can usually judge what their reactions would be, but I don't feel like I know Riri enough after these five issues.

The story that she finds herself involved in is pretty good too; with the help of the Tony Stark AI, she's training to become a hero. That's it. Of course, it gets a bit more difficult when Pepper Potts and the Techno Golem turn up, but it evolves naturally rather than from Riri sticking her nose into things she's not ready for.

Stefano Caselli's artwork just continues to improve. It's super-detailed, his character acting is superb, and Marte Gracia's colours really make everything pop. I'm glad he's getting the high profile books he deserves.

Riri doesn't hit every single mark just yet, but this is definitely a good start.

[Stewart Tame · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, so Tony Stark is now an AI and Iron Man is a young black girl from Chicago. I tell you, you blink once, and you miss whole reams of Marvel Universe continuity …

Still, this book is pretty fun. Riri is a great character. Bendis writes a very believable teenage genius. With Tony Stark apparently dead (yeah, right. Any bets as to how long before he’s back in the flesh?), it's totally in character that he’d have created an AI version of himself as a contingency plan. The banter between Riri and AI Tony made me smile.

Obviously, the term Iron MAN is no longer accurate, but the characters realize this themselves, and are mulling it over. It is an established brand, after all.

In some ways, this is a fairly typical Neophyte Hero Takes Over For Iconic Character story. It does so with a fair deal of flash and sparkle though. Brian Michael Bendis dialogue never fails to make me happy. There's just something so right about the rhythms and humor and character traits … The book ends with a touch of cliffhanger and an apparent promise of a fairly standard plot, but we'll see where it goes. Recommended!

[Frédéric · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Bendis book all the way down: nice and very likeable characters, action, humor, cool dialogues.. All good, but nothing new under the sun really.

Genius Riri is intent on being a super hero and starts her new career in her homemade armor before getting Tony's AI (as in Tony downloaded his personality in an AI) as help to steer her in the right direction.

15 and hyperactive Riri is cute as hell. I liked her when she first appeared and find her even more likeable than before. She makes funny fumbles, machine-guns funny dialogues/monologues when she's excited, funnily interacts with Tony's AI, etc. In a nutshell, she's fun. A refreshing character with as much appeal as Miles Morales Bendis is a real ace when it comes to define this kind of characters.

The risk is to see her confined in her cute-and-fun-teenager character in the long run. If there is a long run. Tony Stark is not going to stay "dead" for years and one might wonder what'll become of her then. Well, que sera, sera.

Artwise Stefano Caselli does wonders with Riri. He gives her very great facial expressions that makes her all the cuter. Apart from that his art his good, more B+ than A but very commendable anyway.

I'm not convinced Riri is destined to ever be more than a supporting B-list character but she deserves a lttle attention, if only as a sympathetic breather.

[Alex E · Rating 4 out of 5]

Riri Williams finally gets her chance to step into the shoes of Iron Man, which is something that has been in the works since before Civil War II. Because as we have seen up to this point, Tony has noticed Riri and was already becoming a bit of a mentor to her. But now things kick into overdrive, as the absence of Tony becomes more apparent in the world.

Bendis is so good at writing origins I think. He knows how to take someone who is kind of street level, and show us how they grow, and what makes them... well, them. And this is no different as we see why Riri is a bit closed off, and how her family dealt with the revelation of her super genius status. From there, she gets the Tony AI, makes new enemies and friends, and by the end of things, has a few huge prospects for where she can go in life. Really entertaining to see Bendis navigate the story beats of her life.

Another high point of the book is the art by Stefano Caselli. I've always been a fan of his art, and it's so good here. He changes his style just slightly to be a bit more realistic, and it works really well as you need a more realistic tone for the armor and technology that is a huge part of the book. I'm glad to see his work on any book, and it doesn't disappoint here.

Overall, a really good start to Ironheart, I'm definitely on board for what comes next for Riri.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bendis hits a home run here with another great, young character. I'd seen Riri in other comics, but had never really gotten a sense of her personality, but here it's all laid bare: tragedy, family, and an unflappable optimistic spirit.

The plot itself, about fighting the Technogolem is entirely forgettable. What's not forgettable is her great interactions with Pepper Potts and how Riri handles herself when out of her Ironsuit.

Overall, this is another great hero that I want to see more of.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did like it, though as others have mentioned, there's more than a little Miles Morales in Riri Williams...

[Christina Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I want to live in a world where Pepper Potts is "Rescue" & the genius behind the Iron Man legacy, Commander Carter heads up S.H.I.E.D., and a 15-year old black woman is Tony Stark's successor. We've come a long way, baby! #girlpower #mavericklist #comicslife

[ellis · Rating 5 out of 5]

this was AMAZING. and the art was soo pretty (if a little same-facey with sharon and pepper)

[Milo · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really fun, engaging read that welcomes one of Marvel's strongest new characters in the form of Riri Williams, aka Ironheart, to the Marvel Universe. Brian Michael Bendis is so much better with solo character-centric adventures rather than events as is the case with his Miles Morales-written stuff and he brings heart, fun and entertaining down-to-earth energy that establishes Riri as a brilliant, likeable character who makes the perfect replacement for Tony Stark who is still around in A.I. form in a mentor-role.

This book reads a lot better as a trade than in single issues and benefits from some art that puts it right at home in the Marvel universe. I'm leaning towards a 3.5/5 as the book struggles in creating any sort of tension or forward plot momentum other than serving as an early origin story for Riri but it's clear that there's a lot of room to grow. I'm looking forward to seeing where Bendis takes this series going forward and as long as this series follows a more character-driven approach and can avoid getting dragged into big events which is something that happens particularly to Bendis books so, so often, we may have the start of something special here.

[Cathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was disappointing. Although Riri Williams was created in part by Bendis, I feel like he was not the right person for the job of telling her origin story. Everything about this volume was downright stereotypical, cliche, and meh. A POC leading character? Let’s throw in drive-by gun violence to their origin. An Asian villain? Let’s have her be accompanied by ninjas. A child genius suffering through trauma- let’s explore that briefly through a montage of her duking it out with a string of ridiculous villains. The dialogue (especially for the adults) was underdeveloped and the exploration of Riri as a person felt too rushed. I wanted to know more about her-aside from the poorly placed flashbacks. I want her to be a fully fleshed out character - not a cardboard cutout. Maybe I’m missing something here, but everything about this plot fell flat for me. With the exception of the A.I. Tony/Riri pairing. I feel that such a duo can lead to comedic gold. This volume is several years old now and I understand that Riri was later entrusted to Eve Ewing’s hands. So, I’m hoping that her further adventures are a bit more detailed, authentic, and lend her a stronger voice. I give this three star review mainly for Caselli’s pencils- which were gorgeous and flawless.

[Micaela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Riri Williams es como Iron Man pero mejor... Porque tiene conciencia social y no usa su inteligencia prodigio para diseñar armas para las invasiones yanquis a otros países. En lugar de eso, con solo 15 años, Riri decide usar su super inteligencia para ayudar al mundo, un mundo que no deja de golpearla pero en el que sigue creyendo.
Hay mucho potencial de superheroina ahí. Una superheroina para el siglo XXI. Porque a Marvel le encanta mantener sus clásicos y también adaptarse a los nuevos tiempos creando nuevos personajes e historias en lugar de reciclando viejos personajes y cambiandoles su origen como hacen otras compañías (perdón, me salió la fan).
Nunca disfruté los cómics de Iron Man/Tony Stark, pero Riri Williams me dio ganas de darle finalmente una nueva oportunidad a los cómics de personas con armaduras súper tecnológicas y realmente tengo ganas de seguir leyéndola porque me parece un personaje con muchísimo potencial, espero que sepan explorarlo y aprovecharlo.

CW: armas, muerte de personas cercanas, violencia.

[Jesse A · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really great start to a series like this. With a younger protagonist there are alot of pitfalls possible but BMB managed to avoid them all.

[kitkat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dude, Riri is a cool cat. I really like her!

[Amy (I'd Rather Be Sleeping) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sadly, I liked the idea of this comic more than the actual finished product. First of all, I've never read any Iron Man comics before so all I know about the character of Tony Stark and the world Iron Man inhabits comes from the movies. That being said, when I heard that Riri Williams was a brilliant black woman that would be taking over the mantle of Iron Man - now renamed Ironheart - I was excited.

Riri herself is a decent character. She actually wants to be a superhero. At times she is flat-out awesome: "I'm really not a fan of sexual identity as a qualifier." BUT, she's a fifteen year old girl that built a suit of armor in her garage. My mind doesn't quite comprehend that. Someone (a therapist?) tells her parents that she's a 'super-genius' when she's five years old. All this is part of Riri's character, but...honestly, I was just expecting a college (nineteen-ish) age superhero and this threw me enough that I never quite believed that she was fifteen. (Both because of her actions and other people's reactions to her.)

A big complaint I had, was the constant flashbacks for the first two issues. Ever time I turned a page practically, it was a flashback to five years ago, two years ago, ten years ago, and then the very next page was back to present time. Now, I am a big fan of flashbacks, but I've always thought there was a good way to do them and brief flashbacks in the middle of a fight is not something I like. Two other problems that could have been completely my fault: One, because I've not read the Iron Man comics, I missed Riri's first introduction, an introduction that was alluded to in this volume but never explained because it already happened in another issue. Same with reveals that felt sudden to me. Perhaps they were explained perfectly well in previous issues. But in this one, they felt VERY abrupt. Because of that, I'm not sure this is actually a good place to start reading Iron Man. Finally, don't EVER try reading comics on your kindle. I did with this one because I got a free credit with amazon to get a free comic out of a selection and this is the one I was most interested it. But, trust me, trying to read a comic on a kindle is just terrible. The screen is fussy and takes FOREVER to load and it's just an exercise in frustration. (There's a pretty decent chance I'd have liked this more if I hadn't read it on my kindle and I KNOW I'd have ate least finished it sooner.)

[Nick Klagge · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got interested in reading this after reading the more recent Ironheart series written by Eve Ewing. I wanted to see more of the character's backstory, but was a little worried that it would be missing something. I shouldn't have worried, as Bendis is a great writer too. This is well worth reading, and it's interesting to see the foundation that Bendis created, which Ewing has been building from. I would say that we see "the same" Riri Williams in both series. Bendis focuses a bit more on her internal struggles as a teenager thrust into the spotlight, while Ewing does a bit more to bring her personal relationships to the fore. The only thing I didn't really like in this was that Tony Stark's AI, rather than Riri herself, is the one who comes up with the name "Ironheart."