Marvel relaunched another very popular character today as part of Marvel NOW! Tony Stark is back with a new creative team and a few news toys. And this first story arc references back to a story from years ago: Extremis. Obviously, Marvel is introducing the popular storyline to those who have not read it and is giving people an idea of it just in time for the release of Shane Black’s Iron Man 3.
The story starts by seeing Tony going back to some of his playboy ways. However, this is quickly brought to an end after he receives a special message from Maya Hansen, the inventor of the Extremis formula. It seems that she was kidnapped and forced to recreate it for A.I.M. before being killed. So, now it’s up to Tony to get these demons back into the bottle.
This is definitely a solid first issue. The story is interesting and the only problem that I can really find is that sometimes it takes a little longer to get to the action than you’d expect. I don’t mean that in a negative sense because the issue is hardly boring at all. There’s a lot going on in this issue that is obviously setting things up for what’s to come but at times it seems to drag a bit. Kieron Gillen does handle the writing job overall pretty well especially when it comes to writing Tony’s character. If there was anyone right to take over on Iron Man… it’s definitely Gillen.
As far as the artwork goes I really do like Greg Land on this book. There are plenty of people who dislike that he uses quite a bit of photo reference in his art. However, with the team of Greg Land on pencils, Jay Leisten as inker and Guru eFX on colors, this is a gorgeous title. The best scenes of course come when Tony is armored up and let’s the suit rip.
Final verdict: The first issue of the new series isn’t mind blowing but it is definitely a good jumping on point for new readers as well as something that older readers can enjoy. The series definitely seems to have quite a bit of promise and I am on board to see where it goes. Hopefully the story picks up after this introduction. A solid issue overall though.
Grade: 3.5/5