Secret Invasion: War Machine

The Invincible Iron Man (2004) (Collected Editions) #8

by Christos Gage, Sean Chen (Artist)

The Skrulls have stricken Iron Man with an alien virus that renders his armor and technology useless! But Tony Stark plans for every possibility...so it's time to say hello to Tony's not-so-little friend - War Machine, weapon of S.H.I.E.L.D.! But can one man, even one as well-armed as James Rhodes, stand alone against a worldwide invasion? Witness an exciting new chapter in both Tony and Rhodey's history!

Collecting: War Machine: Weapon of S.H.I.E.L.D. 33-35, Iron Man 144

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

96 pages, Paperback

First published February 4, 2009

About the author

Chris N. Gage is a writer for comic books and television.

Reviews

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you are interested in the Marvel Comics Secret Invasion crossover event about the Skrulls’ attempt to take over the Earth, this wouldn’t be the first or second or even third volume to start with.

This one’s fairly predictable, hitting all the expected Marvel playbook notes. It’s also fairly short – only three issues with Iron Man #144, the first time James Rhodes and Tony Stark met retconned to the Iron Man’s Vietnam War origin story, thrown in to keep the purchasers of this tome from whining too loudly.



Right on, Mr. Rhodes! Watch your step with that jive talkin’ robot man.

The plot: The Skrulls have used some sort of virus to shut down all of Stark Tech.



Yep. Fortunately, War Machine was built with left over stuff from Obidiah Stane, some machine parts from a 1979 AMC Pacer Hatchback and a can opener and a box of popsicle sticks; so he’s immune.

So its War Machine battles Skrulls. Sometimes he gets the Skrulls; sometimes the Skrulls get him.

War Machine gets captured by Skrulls.



War Machine escapes the Skrulls.

War Machine tries to help the Russians.



After some plot stuff, the Russians finally let War Machine help them beat up Nazi Skrulls.



Bottom Line : Not a horrible way to spend a half hour, but it’s pretty much recommended only for War Machine fans and Secret Invasion completists.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

The dangers of putting all your eggs in one basket. The pride of Russians.

[SA · Rating 3 out of 5]

Whatever, I read this for Rhodey, Secret Invasion was dumb and I didn't care, but also Rhodey! The best part about this is, well, everything, especially how Tony somehow made War Machine out of non-Stark stuff so Rhodey would always be the backdoor into dealing with Tony's shit. You can't help but believe that kind of co-dependence, man.

Also, War Machine the satellite was fucking cool.

This gives a good set up, too, for Rhodey's reset coinciding with Tony's forthcoming reset, so that was nicely thought out. RHODEY.

[Ryk Stanton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was reading New Avengers for some reason and got up to the Secret Invasion storyline and said, “Hey, I have the Mavel Unlimited app, why don’t I just read the entire Secret Invasion storyline? I’d be really interested because I know that the MCU is going to come out with a movie pretty soon.” Great idea, right?

Ugh, that thing is 99 issues long and just starts to d r a g in the middle as Marvel tried to cash in by incorporating as many titles as possible. But I was committed, and I read every single issue. Was it worth it? Absolutely not. Am I glad I read it? I’m not sad, but I wish that Marvel had done a better job writing with concise storytelling. Or that I had not made the decision to read the whole blamed thing.

But, you know, in for a penny, and for a pound. And it’s red and I will never have to read it again and I can enjoy the movie when it comes out. So I’m just going to copy and paste this review in every single trade paperback that contains the secret invasion, storyline and call it a day.

if anyone reads this review, I recommend you just read the essential story itself without all of the side issues.

[Ashe Catlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

For what it was I really enjoyed it, the story is only 3 issues long which is an extremely short collection. War Machine is tasked by a secret mission by Tony as he's the only one he trusts, Rhodey's in the thick of it as there is a Skrull invasion. It feels like a complete story except for the end which left me wondering what is going to happen next, as this was the last volume in the series. Does it continue in secret invasion? I might never knew not even google will help me out.

The rest of this features a retelling of how Tony and Rhoedy met. It's starts in a weird place with Iron Man in space with some random armour guy, then it switch's to a flashback. It's quite good for an older comics, bit silly in places but not completely out there.

[Andrew Garvey · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the more fun Secret Invasion tie-ins sees Tony Stark, his armour and all StarkTech crippled by a Skrull virus, sending his old mate Rhodey off to a secret space satellite from where he'll take the fight to the Skrull fleet. Easily the best bit is where things go a bit Mobile Suit Gundam and we get all sorts of explosions. Stark's trust in, and reliance on War Machine is the backbone of the story and this volume handily includes Iron Man #144 from 1981 where Tony (wandering around the Vietnamese countryside in full armour, hat and trench coat) and Rhodey first meet and team up to fight the Viet Cong.

[Chris Greensmith · Rating 1 out of 5]

"James "Rhodey" Rhodes has been many things - a Marine, a pilot, Tony Stark's best friend. When Stark can no longer fight on as Iron Man, Rhodey dons his own suit of armor - one with the power of an entire army in the hand of one man!"
I really dont have much of an opinion on this one, generic, run of the mill, 2 🌟
Same with the art, the story wasn't that great, a slight change of pace, seeing how other nations' superheroes were dealing with things, it has a taste of 'America saves the day!'...1 🌟
Relevance to SI, 1 1/2 🌟 So overall for this TPB 1 1/2 🌟

[Terry Murphy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Gage tries, but ultimately fails, tominspire much interest in War Machine. The rah-rah jingoism is laid on fairly thickly and left me feeling fuzzy-headed and glassy-eyed. Making matters worse are the uninspired pencils of Chen that don't track the action well, which is troublesome, given that over 80% of the arc is action sequences. A very mediocre entry into the Secret Invasion storyline and one that only diehards will feel the need to read.

[Adora · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a short three-issue arc that ties into the Secret Invasion event. I read it because I like both Rhodey and Tony, but plot-wise it's totally unnecessary, and other than a few kind of interesting/nice character moments, it's skippable. I liked that it included Iron Man #144, which isn't Rhodey's first appearance ever, but which retcons part of Iron Man's origins and shows us Rhodey and Tony's first meeting.

[Adam Stone · Rating 1 out of 5]

Some of the Secret Invasion books have suffered from poor art, some from bad plots, and some are just barely related to the main story. This book is just uninteresting.

Spinning out of a scene from Avengers The Initiative: Secret War, we see what happens to Rhodey when all of Starktech goes down during The Secret Invasion. He flies to space for a brief team up, and the story just keeps getting less land less interesting as it hits every Basic Marvel Story beat with the grace of a drunk stiltwalker falling down stairs. It's kind of impressive how bad this book is given the plot and the potential for Iron Man's besty to be an important part of The Secret Invasion.

I hope to never have any reason to read this again.

[Tim B · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m not a big fan of Iron Man, and War Machine is only a little more interesting. It was nice seeing Russian supergroup in action. An ultra brief cameo of Captain Britain. Really, not a bad story, but not worth the time.

[Nicki · Rating 4 out of 5]

The War Machine part of the collection was great, but what I truly enjoyed were the old Iron Man comic books from 1981 that were added to the back of the graphic novel as a treat. Those were fun!

[Joshua Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

this was honestly awesome. really enjoyed the team up with Winter Guard. I'll be looking for more Gage books for sure.

[Rohail · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not bad for a quick read! Just wish the art was a little better.

[Adam · Rating 3 out of 5]

This volume collects the transitional issues of Iron Man from last year, when the title focused on James "Rhodey" Rhodes, before he premiered in his own series, "War Machine."

These three issues are standard giant mechanized combat stuff, but Rhodey is a potentially interesting character, half machine/half man, a loyal soldier, and more similar to RoboCop than he is to Iron Man.

This book also reprints an issue of Iron Man from 1981 in which Rhodey first meets Tony Stark in Vietnam, immediately following Stark's invention of the Iron Man armor. My favorite part was when the injured Rhodey takes a ride on Iron Man's back, then, when they stop for a break, Rhodey whips out a big old J, takes a satisfied puff, then passes it to Iron Man, who says "Well, actually, I'm trying to cut down. But under the circumstances, I don't see why no--" and accidentally crushes the joint in his metal hand.

[Lynn Sheridan · Rating 4 out of 5]

All Stark tech has been infected with a Skrull virus. All but War Machine. He gets a secret message from Tony Stark telling him to drop everything and go to a secret location.

This is a good fun read. At the secret location, a satellite, the War Machine is able to lock into it and the satellite becomes a giant version of War Machine. That’s what we want. Bigger and better ways to kill the Skrulls.

This isn’t the best artwork in the Secret Invasion arc, but it is still very good. Lots of big fights so the artist would have had a lot of fun with those.

War Machine takes on a Skrull armada with the satellite and then helps the Russians stop the Skrulls from getting to their nukes. Seriously, it’s pretty bad ass.

It’s a short book, so it’s almost entirely fights, which isn’t a bad thing at all.

[Brad · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has very little connection to the main Secret Invasion story, but it does have space battles and Russian superhero bureaucracy. Christos N. Gage does a good job differentiating War Machine from Iron Man. Both fly around in metal suits, but one's a good soldier while the other's an inventor of questionable ethics. It's nice to see that the Skrulls didn't just invade the U.S., but the "protect Russian nukes!" story feels like an afterthought.
As an added bonus (to fill out the page count), James Rhodes' origin story is included. It's enjoyable to see him as an joint smoking, afro'd soldier in Vietnam. His characterization has changed since then.

[Oliver Hodson · Rating 4 out of 5]

As i much as i called on some parts of secret invasion to be more relevant I loved this, and the all too brief war machine solo book of this vintage, because it was just so peripheral and simply a half robot man who shoots stuff. It is more visceral than iron man and because it is more global it has complete freedom to do more in a story. Good fun.
This volume also had the vietnam version of the iron man origin. How did marvel get the balance to be racist from a modern point of view, but sensitive enough that you can tell they weren't using the worst stereotypes that they reference? Is that laudable, or just... I don't know, less-unenlightened?

[Paul Young · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this one enough, I guess. The 3 War Machine issues were fun stories with great art. Nothing particularly special about them, though. The IM reprint that's tacked on feels like it's tacked on and out-of-place - just a way to pad out the volume.

[Nick Marino · Rating 5 out of 5]

absolutely incredible. the best thing to come out of Secret Invasion.

[The Ghost's Library · Rating 4 out of 5]

Over the top, ridiculous and tons of fun. Secret Invasion tie-ins usually felt like the writers didn't want to tell the story either, but Christos Gage had lots of fun with this one.

[Angela · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was just lots of battles and not much character stuff.

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just fun.
The real reason to read "Superhero" comics.
Bad guys, good guy.

Fight! [throw in a little "fight for right"] GOOD STUFF

[Sineala · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, that was a lot of punching. I'd been hoping for more character stuff.

[Sylvester · Rating 3 out of 5]

While Iron Man is incapable, War Machine became the back up plan to stop the Skrull Invasion. Nothing really interesting other than seeing War Machine travelling across the globe.