The Invincible Iron Man: World's Most Wanted

Since we're on the subject of Iron Man here at the Super-DuperToyBox, I thought I'd write a post about a graphic novel I picked up for five bucks at the antique mall down the road awhile back, The Invincible Iron Man: World's Most Wanted.

 

Set directly after the Secret Invasion story arc, at the beginning of Dark Reign, Tony Stark's Extremis armor is failing after the Skrulls infiltrated his technology during their invasion of Earth , S.H.I.E.L.D. has been disbanded and replaced by Norman Osborn's H.A.M.M.E.R. With the power of the U.S. government fully behind him, Osborn demands from Stark the only thing he has left: the Superhuman Registration Database. Having made sure that all remaining copies of the database have been destroyed after hacking H.A.M.M.E.R.'s systems and frustrating the increasingly despotic Osborn, Tony reveals to Pepper Potts & Maria Hill the only remaining copy is in his brain. Deciding this copy must also be removed, and that this process will essentially erase his brain, Hill must be tricked into starting the process by Tony.

The story follows Hill, Potts & our hero through the process of Tony preparing for the end of his life and Stark Industries, biding his time while fighting off all Osborn throws in his way, including brawls with both Sub-Mariner and War Machine/Jim Rhoades. I found the dialogue, storytelling, and artwork to be quite satisfactory- it should be noted that author Matt Fraction and artist Salvador Larroca won the 2009 Eisner Award for "Best New Series" for this Iron Man series.  I was left hanging though- there is a second part to this story (Invincible Iron Man, Vol. 3: World's Most Wanted, Book 2)!  Looks Like all be hunting that down  :D

This book was full of a lot of surprises, and knowledge I was unaware of, not having read the preceding material nor much Iron Man literature at all for that matter. That said, I wasn't going to pass up a $25.00 book for five bucks, and having read some of the earlier Avengers material recently, the character has started to to take shape in my mind more clearly. Like Thor, Iron Man was one of many Marvel characters I'd been introduced to in a group, never having taken the time to give him much thought as an individual. But Iron Man is a deep subject: his physical disablity, a shrapnel-filled heart kept unclogged by his own Repulsomagnetic technology, was the reason for him rising to the occassion and being all that he could to save both his own life and the lives of others. The hero is the man inside the suit- a normal, flagile human that had to give all he had to rise above. This makes Tony Stark a hero that every man can identify with.