Iron Man, Vol. 2: Books of Korvac II - Overclock

Iron Man (2020)

by Christopher Cantwell, Cafu (Illustrator), Ángel Unzueta (Illustrator)

After receiving a near-fatal injury from Korvac, Tony Stark lands in emergency triage with his life on the line. If he takes off his armor, he will die! With Hellcat on the psychological ropes and Tony’s other allies recuperating from their own near-death experiences, can Iron Man muster the mettle he needs to chase Korvac back into space and stop the mad demigod’s quest for ultimate power? War Machine just might be the friend that Tony needs! Prepare to go interstellar as an unlikely band of heroes pursues their enemy to the farthest reaches of the galaxy, where near-certain death awaits at Korvac’s hands. And as Moondragon reaches across the universe to help Hellcat reclaim her once-powerful mental abilities, Patsy Walker will have to face her demons — including the literal Son of Satan himself!

COLLECTING: Iron Man (2020) 6-11

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

136 pages, Paperback

First published October 19, 2021

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tony gets his neck broken and decides to head to space instead of letting it heal (because, you know, there's not a whole team of Avengers that could have went after Korvak instead.) This run is not very good.

[Subham · Rating 2 out of 5]

This starts off with Iron man and Patsy taking the fight to Korvac and we get some past of Patsy and her connection with the mental powers and all, Moondragon cameos and a full issue devoted to her dealing with her trauma meanwhile Tony gets marooned on a strange planet and meets some beings and fight Ultimo. We get Korvacs motive sort of. It was not a bad volume but just ehh as nothing much seems to be happening and something it feels like filler stuff but good emotional beats for Patsy and Tony realizing what it means to be human, trying to get that connection back. The art is awesome and consistent throughout but the colors feel dull. Its an okayish and meh read.

[Robert · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was bad. I won't be continuing with this run, the story is the wrong kind of "Marvel Cosmic" baffling, which is a shame as the art is quite nice.


Never a good sign when a volume starts with a page like this.

Also, we Canadians don't talk like that, eh? Jheeze...

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Christopher Cantwell's Iron Man seems to want to do a lot, and it's starting to crack around the edges under the pressure.

Each of these stories individually are fun to follow - the Patsy Walker stuff shows a good knowledge of continuity, as does the Korvac recruitment drive issue (which also just has some fun villainous dialogue to go with it). And then there's the 'Iron Man ends up in Utopia' stuff near the end of the volume as well, which is intriguing as hell. The problem comes when you shove all these stories into the same book and expect them to feel cohesive when they're not. I'm pretty sure we spend the entirety of this volume with the good guys chasing the bad guys across the universe, and that's where they end up as well - despite all the runaround in the middle, we've not actually gone anywhere at all by the conclusion, which makes it all feel a bit futile.

CAFU continues on pencilling duties while Angel Unzueta taps in for two issues. The pair work surprisingly well, although Unzueta's definitely the less impressive of the two - they don't crossover between issues either so that helps things remain consistent at least within the confines of the issues themselves if not the book overall.

I'm still engaged by this, but I'd like it to get to the point already. Lots of good ideas are great, but trying to do something with them all at once just means that the bigger picture takes longer to see, and not everyone will be as patient as I am.

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Christopher Cantwell's first Iron Man volume was well-written and often baffling. It required me to have a good deal of Tony Stark knowledge (sure), Patsy Walker/Hellcat knowledge (who again?), and Korvac knowledge (uhhh). By the end, I understood that Hellcat had a tenuous hold on sanity, Korvac wanted to reformat the universe, and Tony Stark was still a big jerk caught in a deadly explosion.

Books of Korvac II - Overclock kicks off right after that big bang - and honestly surprised me with a very diverting narrative. Tony's still a jerk, and now one with a broken neck, so he gathers up his D-team to chase Korvac into space. The D-team gets several funny moments, but also some nice character building moments after Tony is zapped away to another world.

These "oh no I've been teleported" plots are often stupid road blocks designed to wheel-spin the grander narrative. Yeah, that's kinda the case here, but I liked it. Tony's new planet is odd and he kinda learns a lesson about maybe not being such a jerk. Hellcat also gets an issue to deal with her mental issues and we're served up a nice helping of Korvac backstory. In the end, everyone's head towards Taa II, Galactus's worldship, for a big, bonkers showdown. I'm more excited than I expected to be!

[Frédéric · Rating 3 out of 5]

2,5*

Cantwell’s trading cohesion for time in this volume which terribly looks like a filler.

The three sub-plots (Stark, Walker, Korvac) are not awesomely bad but they’re also very predictable and don’t add much of anything to the main plot. Which more or less gets stuck where we left it last volume.

Maybe Cantwell should shift up a gear and get this thing done with already.

Cafu is seconded by Angel Unzueta for 2 issues. Sadly, it shows.

[Blindzider · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cantwell is still stripping off the layers of Tony Stark and building him back again. I'm enjoying the process as he is taking his time, both trying to create a new Tony as well as build new relationships. So far it's done pretty well, with this volume probably having the turning point for him.

All of this soul-searching doesn't leave much room for action, although there is some with the "team" dealing with the new Korvac. He's still making his moves but hasn't reached the climax just yet. Cantwell is also changing a couple characters, namely Hellcat, but there were two surprises as well as a character from Iron Man's distant past whom I had never heard of.

The art is consistent and reminds me quite a bit of Adi Granov's work way back in the Extremis story arc. The coloring is nearly the same, slightly desaturated with a little bit of "grittiness". Panel's look fine but they all feel a little "static", like snapshots. It's serviceable but it comes off as a little cold and lifeless (perhaps intentionally).

So far this series has been a nice break from the larger scale, high concept stories of late.

[Connor · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think what intrigued me about this series, after reading the first volume, was the relationship between Tony and Patsy. Two characters who have had troubles in the past, and could relate to each other. Unfortunately, they spend a lot of this volume apart, although Patsy figures out a way to communicate telepathically. This book did not go where I thought it was headed. For one thing, I thought all the sidekicks and minor characters that Tony had recruited died at the end of the last book, but they figured out a way of shielding themselves. I'm still not sure why they can't call the rest of the Avengers; whatever reason Tony said sound like baloney. The artwork is great and I'm still interested in the story, but I'm not as enthusiastic as I was after the first volume.

[Tom Ewing · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wasn't going to bother reviewing any of Christopher Cantwell's run until I got to the end of it, but this wasn't good, so maybe I *have* functionally got to the end of it. Anyway this is a strange story - Tony Stark has been crippled by Korvac, who is kor-back, and up to his usual nonsense*. Sealed into the Iron Man armour, Tony decides he absolutely must chase Korvac into space RIGHT NOW without waiting for any other heroes (except Misty Knight and Frog-Man), and when War Machine intervenes Tony gives him the "I NEED to do this" speech, which as usual has magical brain-dissolving powers.

But then Tony gets teleported away onto an alien world which turns out to be a hippie commune run by Stilt-Man, and he's pretty chill with that despite girlfriend Hellcat turning up on psychic FaceTime to say "excuse me... Korvac? Remember him?" every few pages. (Tony is fucked up on a morphine drip, so there is some plot-level excuse for this sudden shift in motivation). Cantwell then can't resist showing what a well-read fellow he is by titling the next issue "Walking Away From Omelas" and whoa, no way, it turns out that a cosmic paradise run by Stilt-Man may not be wholly on the level.

It makes me think about how much of a straitjacket Marvel's current publishing mode is, where most of the titles (except the X-books) are formally organised by "runs" and there's an expectation that each run will tell an overarching story. That can work extremely well but often it doesn't, leaving runs outrageously bloated (Aaron's Avengers, Nick Spencer's Spider-Man) or forced to trim all their ideas to fit the Procrustean bed of the overall arc.

That's the issue here: a two-parter in which Iron Man discovers that an ex villain has redeemed themselves in space but all is not as it seems could have fitted into the comic at any point from about 1975. But now it can't just be a dumb story on its own, it has to be part of a run, so it self consciously gyrates around to fit the wider arc, with contrived plotting and characters mercilessly pointing out the thematic links. And Cantwell's run feels contrived at the best of times, since you're constantly pausing to ask yourself "Why is Frog-Man in this thing? Why exactly AREN'T they calling the Avengers?" at least partly because the stories continually hang a lampshade on those things. Maybe all of these are subtle tells to a wider plot but... that's not how this felt.

*I can't stand Korvac. Perhaps it's possible to tell a good Korvac tale, but the famous Jim Shooter one is just Jim Shooter doing the Jim Shooter Omnipotent Guy story, and it's one of the worst supposedly classic Marvel 'epics'. However, I do like the scene in this comic where Korvac's attempting to persuade someone to join him by opening his mind to reveal his cosmic truth and the other guy goes "er wait it says here you killed all the Avengers?" It was one of two moments in this volume where I laughed, the other one being when the Living Tribunal shows up at the end and yells at Tony to get on with the fucking plot.

[Dillon Braeges · Rating 3 out of 5]

All right! Things are starting to roll now! Still now quite enough to kick it up to 4 stars, but a significant improvement over the first volume.

My hot take on storytelling is that good stories aren't about conflict. They're about solving problems and all the complications they face along the way. Those problems can range from solving small personal issues to grand universe ending supervillains, and good superhero stories have many problems from all points along that spectrum.

The problem with volume one is that it didn't really have a central problem for Tony to solve. Sure, there were gestures toward him getting back to basics as a hero and dealing with his ego, but there wasn't much work put in toward actually treating those as problems. There wasn't any work put in by the story or Tony to solve them, so it just kind of meandered for a handful of issues.

The coming of Korvac has put a much needed fire under this storys (and Tonys) butt. There is now a very clear problem to solve and plenty of complications preventing them form solving it. And those problems and complications are thematically appropriate! They allow us to see multiple aspects of Tonys character and force him to grow and change. It's nothing groundbreaking, obviously. Its basic superhero storytelling. But god is it good to see this series start to come together.

Now, I am a bit curious about how old school fans feel about this version of Korvac. I'm a newer comic fan, so theres a bunch of older stories I missed, The Korvac Saga among them. Is his consistent with previous appearances? I have no idea! Someone let me know.

On one last note: what's with the sound effects? They're bizarree. Theres not a single standard "zap" or "boom" anywhere to be seen. It's all things like "kraengkch, "statcph", and "zzraaook-pyaotchka". (that last one is supposed to be Iron Mans unibeam, incidentally) The last volume was the same way, but I only really noticed with this one. Is this some kind of weird self imposed challenge for the writer and letterer? I have questions.

[Ronan The Librarian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cantwell, oh Cantwell. The first half of this was actually really good. In fact, I started questioning my own review of Vol. 1. That is, until the conclusion of the volume.

I initially found this version of Tony Stark pretty unlikeable, but here he slowly transitions to vulnerable and more sympathetic. The dry set dressing of book one seems to payoff, as Korvac’s scheme/dream becomes much more material, and even understandable. The philosophical questions it brings are fascinating, and I actually wish they were dwelled upon more. Patsy Walker aka Hellcat is also at her most vulnerable, and her and Tony’s relationship feels like two broken people leaning on each other so both can stand. Her internal turmoil is personified effectively, and you really feel the weight of what she’s feeling. Issue #6 and #7 are the best of the bunch.

Then, things get unwieldy. Cantwell interrupts the introspective and philosophical mind-meld, and randomly transports Tony to an unknown planet where he sees some surprisingly familiar faces. Now, this story was actually interesting as well, but not when it’s inexplicably jammed into the middle of another cosmic story that clearly takes precedence. I like that Tony is questioning what happiness is, and I even like Cantwell’s AoT riff. What I really don’t like, is Cantwell’s use of a…character, that I think one has to earn the right to incorporate. And he hasn’t. It made the story feel cheap and choppy and just…why? You were doing so good!

The art is very pretty. Smooth and expressive, somewhat reminiscent of David Marquez (one of the best in the biz), though it still suffers from feeling too static a lot of the time. The Alex Ross covers are excellent.

I almost didn’t read this volume after being disappointed with the first. Ultimately, I’m glad I gave it another shot, and I actually want to read the next. It just sucks that Cantwell seems to have gotten in his own way thus far.

[Adam Fisher · Rating 3 out of 5]

We've taken Iron Man along the cosmic route of the Marvel Universe, and I'm not sure how I feel about it. I know Earth has dealt with a bunch of Iron Man somewhat-centric events over recent years, but having him immediately get attached to an upcoming Galactus encounter, as well as dealing with Korvac (an Avengers villain I unfortunately know little about) seems like we might be headed into an area where Tony should get "back to Earth"... but that's just me.
Highlights:
- The battle with Korvac (at the end of the previous Volume) has left Tony's neck broken. He has to tighten and fuse his suit together to stave off major surgery for as long as he can.
- Hellcat too has suffered, though her damage is mental and psychological. Undertaking long distance psychic training with Moondragon, she is able to get more in control of herself and be a valuable asset to Tony's team.
- The team (War Machine, Gargoyle, Scarlet Spider, Misty Knight, Frog Man, and Halcyon) races through space using an FTL drive, all so that they can stop Corvac from reaching Galactus' ship on Taa II... I assume so he can get an incredible power up.
- The weirdest part of the story is what happens to Tony. During a scene where he and Hellcat are trying to reason with Korvac, he suddenly vanishes both physically and mentally. He ends up on Megiddo, a realm where many others have ended up before (including Stilt-Man) but they have no idea how they got there, and are content to stay. He only leaves when he is summoned and teleported by the Living Tribunal to Taa II. (Where are the authors going with this?)

Overall, the Volume wasn't bad... but it feels more like 'busy work' for Tony before getting back to whatever he is supposed to be doing. Recommend, with reservation.

[Rick Ray · Rating 1 out of 5]

After praising the previous volume, I can't believe how much I felt disconnected from this follow up. I was worried for this when the setup for Korvac was pretty flimsy, but I really enjoyed the Hellcat/Iron Man pairing and hoped this volume could follow up strong on that. This was a gruelling and dull read from start to finish. Stark starts off with his neck broken and requires the suit to keep him going through the rest of the mission. Instead of, you know calling the Avengers, Iron Man and Hellcat decide that Korvac is simply just their problem to deal with. Rhodes gets involved, and then basically nothing happens for a few issues straight. It's pretty annoying when these highly serialized stories continue to pass the buck for later volumes to address instead of progressing story along at an even pace. I might check out subsequent issues later since mercifully Cantwell's writing is pretty easy to get through quickly, but I'm in no rush now.

[JCRD · Rating 4 out of 5]

Esto sigue estando sorprendentemente bien, con un Tony más egocéntrico que nunca pero queriendo ayudar como buenamente puede y cargándose el peso del mundo (bueno, del universo) en sus hombros.

Es un interludio interesante, ya que apenas avanzamos respecto a Korvak, pero permite a Tony y al resto tomarse un breve respiro antes de lo que supongo será la batalla final. Lo que plantea Cantwell aquí tiene un toque Damon Lindelof de lo más bienvenido, donde hay momentos para explorar a Tony y Patsy y con una situación que parece salida de The Leftovers o Perdidos. Además, Cantwell está aprovechando para meter deep cuts a cascoporro y me hace mucha gracia que solo él se acuerde de ciertos personajes y acontecimientos.

También: Muy bien Angel Unzueta y CAFU, que gracias al color de Frank D'Armata todo queda uniforme y sin aparente baile de dibujantes.

A ver qué tal los dos siguientes. No esperaba para nada que un cómic de Iron Man consiguiese engancharme, pero aquí estamos.

[Ross · Rating 2 out of 5]

What did I just read?? Tony's had his neck broken by Korvac and his armor is the only thing keeping alive. Patsy Walker is still having a breakdown and SHE gets to shopping cart him out of there?

Now, we've got Tony locked in the armor (again) with a morphine drip to keep him from going into shock. About time he goes and finds Korvac, right? Sounds like a total win when REMOVING YOUR HELMET WILL POSSIBLY KILL YOU.

Then....then... he gets hijacked from his Korvac Quest (see what I did there?) and appears on a planet of Ultimos that EAT PEOPLE.

Bonus: Isn't the OG Stilt-Man dead?
Bonus bonus: Jim Hammond gets 'fixed' again. How many versions of him have there been?
Bonus^3: The Living Tribunal interrupts a hero speech. Are we sure he isn't a drug hallucination?

Again...what the hell did I just read? This was just throwing stuff at the wall until a plot point stuck.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 3 out of 5]

We should be honest about Cantwell's biggest problem: he's not only put together a group that includes a group as ridiculously disparate as Misty Knight and Frog Man, but he's also entirely failed to characterize them, so that any story with the super-group is like nails on the chalkboard.

Which is too bad, because there's good stuff in here, such as Tony's mysterious visit to an alien planet run by a certain villain and the story of Korvac himself.

So why the Frog-Man/Misty Knight group!?

[Sesana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sort of loses its way about halfway through. Sure, Tony getting stranded in an almost utopia with Stilt Man makes a good story, but it shouldn't be here when he's supposed to be desperately chasing Korvac. Which is a shame, because Cantwell has some good ideas and a good grasp of the characters. I wasn't so sure about Patsy taking such a big role in this book, even though I love the character, but he's used her very well. The pacing is just a mess.

[Mike Jorgensen · Rating 2 out of 5]

The art continues it be great, both Cafu's interior and Ross's covers. However what started out as a good character study and reflection on the culture in volume 1 has turned into a generic team up of misfits that is kind of boring to read. Two of the five issues in this trade don't even have Iron Man in them. That is a very disappointing turn from the deep focus on him in volume 1. I'm going to keep going, but not forever unless we can get back to our title character

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

COLLECTING: Iron Man (2020) issues #6-10

The story here is strong, and the art is fantastic, plus this collection features my favorite Marvel character in a side role - Ben Reilly, the Scarlet Spider!

Korvac is the main villain throughout this series, but a not-as-villainous Stilt-Man is also in a few issues of this collection.

[Will Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ll be honest, I really haven’t been thrilled by the whole universe ending threat, but I’m intrigued with how Tony will come out on top given how physically fragile Tony is with his broken neck (I’m also just a fan of any story that makes his suit the only thing keeping him alive him, like in his original debut). Better than the last volume, but it still hasn’t quite clicked with me yet.

[Steven · Rating 3 out of 5]

Similar to previous volume, plot rather than character driven. With more heroes along, it’s become Defenders (Where are Bird Nose & Sword Girl, asks Hulk?) guest starring Iron Man.

Still interesting enough to finish but honestly Iron Man is the least interesting character to me among this odd mix and that’s a problem

[Daniel Butcher · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5.

More like the Korvac Interlude or Tony’s Summer Vacation or Iron Man Makes a Friend.

Not at all what the book described or what I expected.

Is it me or does Tony really date a type…a super type?

[Trike · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is okay, but seems kind of unfocused, as is Tony. It feels like it’s dragging with several side quests and overlong flashbacks that don’t add much. Bit of a let-down after the first volume’s strong start.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Story is all over the place, with weird side digressions (the unknown planet with giant robots that eat people), but it's still interesting. And the art is good. I'll see where this goes in the next volume...

[Jamie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a great book, but not terrible. The artwork is fairly decent and the cover arts are good (by Alex Ross). The story didn’t really grip me that much and I just sort of plodded along reading it. Would only recommend to a hardcore Iron Man fan.

[Andres Pasten · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ya no entiendo para donde va esto...

[Eye-ra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m growing to like Cantwells writing more and more. And the art is always fantastic.

[Kamil · Rating 2 out of 5]

Extremly boring story that could be three times shorter.

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75
The series started off promising, but the Korvac story is dragging on; and it's not that interesting.

[zinnia · Rating 2 out of 5]

sigh