Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews

Iron Man #1Iron Man #1
Marvel Comics
Gillen, Land, Leisten & Guru

Iron Man gets a new creative team and with it a new volume starting out with a number one. Having not been a follower of Iron Man I saw this as a clean jump on point. Plus, I could review a book from the much hyped NOW! promotion that Marvel has been pushing. Sadly, this book was rather boring and didn't provide anything that grabbed me enough to come back for a second issue.

The script starts off in fairly standard fashion. Gillen introduces Iron Man and Tony Stark to readers as seen through the eyes of himself, his nameless date and Pepper Potts. This is helpful because if a reader happens to be picking this issue up because they have seen one or more of the films recently then they get some grounding in the opening pages. However, the banter and the snappy dialogue just doesn't play off the same way it does in the films. The words are clear but the pace just isn't the same.

After the introduction we get into the plot. Basically, this is a case where the Iron Man technology falls into the wrong hands. The details aren't all that interesting and Iron Man eventually confronts a character that had a hand in the plot that launches the reader into future issues.

The book just doesn't feel very unique. I recognize that there are probably only so many types of plots you can wrap Iron Man into, but this one feels like it's probably been done to death already and there isn't anything special about this instance that makes me at all interested to see what happens.

Land's art is detailed, but it is way off with the visual story. His best panels are those where Stark's face is covered by his mask. He rarely matches a facial expression with the dialogue and the characters have blindingly white teeth and yet, jet black eyes. It's such a strange book artistically and I really didn't feel like it helped the story at all.

Iron Man feels like a book that will cater to the hardcore fans or the completists out there. As a casual reader I didn't like the contents and wasn't engaged by the plot to pick up future issues. Unfortunately, the read was just below average and the marketplace is simply too competitive to try out a second issue.

2 out of 5 Geek Goggles