Iron Man #9 *Spoilers*

[drinkblatzbeer]

the set up has been great thusfar, and the cliffhanger showing what may lead to an iron man/sentry battle looks great...

if anyone wants to do a more thorough review that'd be great...

[NMoline]

Someone please explain to me where this fits in continuity because it is such a good read I just wish it had a feasible explanation.

[Rokk]

You can check my review here (http://comicbookrevolution.blogspot.com/2006/06/comic-book-review-iron-man-9_22.html).

I thought this was a great issue. I have really been impressed with the Knaufs. They are delivering the best Iron Man comic that I have read in a very long time. I like the pacing and the blend of action and dialogue. Plus, I think the Knaufs are writing a very interesting Tony Stark. He is no longer a bland personality

[drwho]

What I found odd about it is why does the Sentry need to be allowed to get Ironman not like theyre on the same super team. This sounds like it got lost in the civil war planning.

[Pike]

The Sentry should tear Iron Man in half. Won't happen, but it should.

[Nitz the Bloody]

Someone please explain to me where this fits in continuity because it is such a good read I just wish it had a feasible explanation.

It fits into Warren Ellis' new continuity, where Tony's origin is updated and moved from Southeast Asia to the Middle East. Wong Chu apparently has been erased from present-day Marvel canon, and while Ho Yinsen still helped Tony design the first Iron Man armor, his image has been updated ( to a less stereotypically Asian look, too ).

Not that it matters, as the new terrorist villains serve the same purpose that Wong Chu as an abstract, throwaway enemy of America, and the only " meaningful " appearance that Wong Chu had since then was in the ill-conceived Sons of Yinsen story, where he briefly reappeared as a disgusting blob with half his body covered in scars, and was abruptly killed off. The alterations/retcons that Ellis made and the Knaufs are continuing aren't as radical as, say, the Black Panther reboot.

[Serik]

Yes, I'm glad they're updating Iron Man's origin. It didn't make sense for him to suffer that injury during Nam, given timeline issues. Besides - unlike Cap - Tony's origin can occur during any war involving the U.S. or even defense companies in general. In 15-20 years (maybe sooner), I'm sure Tony will have sustained his injury during the current Iraq War.

[Ogre U AHole]

They way I understand it, continuity wise, you're just going to have to allow your brain to relax for this story. This story is suffering due to Ellis/Granov's lateness and was supposed to be released much earlier. Please try not to hold any continuity problems against this story because 1) it's good, and 2) it's not the Knauff's fault, it's nobodies really unless you want to yell at Granov for being late. Your call.

Brevoort put something up about it on his blog at marvel.com I believe.

[Tony Starkz]

This arc has been really entertaining.It has a real cinematic/international feel to it and the dialogue is spot on.The action scenes are well written and the guest stars like the Avengers and Nick Fury are great.Tony's rel'p with Fury is very interesting.

[StoneGold]

They way I understand it, continuity wise, you're just going to have to allow your brain to relax for this story. This story is suffering due to Ellis/Granov's lateness and was supposed to be released much earlier. Please try not to hold any continuity problems against this story because 1) it's good, and 2) it's not the Knauff's fault, it's nobodies really unless you want to yell at Granov for being late. Your call.

Brevoort put something up about it on his blog at marvel.com I believe.
Yeah, I got the same basic answer when I asked Brevoort about it in the Civil War Q&A thread. It's basically the one thing screwing up an otherwise excellent story. And it wouldn't even be so bad, if they didn't make a point about writing an explanation for the Hulk thing in Illuminati. It's like they were so careful, and then, whoops!!!

[Jagernaut]

So this story was originally supposed to take place before the Secret War, or am I missing the big picture?

[StoneGold]

So this story was originally supposed to take place before the Secret War, or am I missing the big picture?
It's hard to say, because Secret War's story changed by the time it actually finished. Or maybe the Nick Fury story was supposed to be dealt with already, except Civil War pushed it back. So in closing, no f'n idea.

[Nitz the Bloody]

As for my opinion on the arc itself ( not that anyone asked ;) )...

This is the first time in many, many years that I've felt the stakes were really high in an Iron Man book, and that the character isn't going to get out of this unscathed. When there's a cliffhanger that involves the hero in mortal danger, tied up and dangling over a pit of spikes like in the 60's Batman show, we all know that the character is going to get out of it, because they have to stick around for the next issue so that the title can continue on ( and since the Marvel Universe has gone on for 45 years with no sign of stopping, there's even less dramatic tension ).

However, creative writers can find other ways to put the character through the wringer. Here, we have a Tony Stark who is mentally unstable, wanted by the world's governments, and possibly being controlled by an outside force. Now we've seen all these things before, but how many times have we seen Iron Man insane, mind-controlled, and on the lam ALL at once?

I don't know how Tony's going to get out of this one, and that's a good feeling.

[Will.S]

It's hard to say, because Secret War's story changed by the time it actually finished. Or maybe the Nick Fury story was supposed to be dealt with already, except Civil War pushed it back. So in closing, no f'n idea.
I'm guessing it was supposed to be after since Extremis and Secret War almost had a similar delayed schedule and Iron Man's new extremis armor was way ahead of alot of other books including Secret War but the good thing is Ellis didn't have Nick Fury in there.

The problem with having Nick as an LMD during Execute Program is that Tony knows that Nick's gone underground as well as the whole S.H.I.E.L.D. thing because New Avengers is obviously running during both the Extremis arc and this current one. So really Tony has to be either in the know that it's an LMD and fakes it or he doesn't know that it's an LMD and has had his mind tampered with but it still wouldn't jive due to the NA/Secret War stuff.

[Pheonix-NoRelation]

Yes, I'm glad they're updating Iron Man's origin. It didn't make sense for him to suffer that injury during Nam, given timeline issues. Besides - unlike Cap - Tony's origin can occur during any war involving the U.S. or even defense companies in general. In 15-20 years (maybe sooner), I'm sure Tony will have sustained his injury during the current Iraq War.

Just a quick question and I didn't want to open up an entire new thread for this so, When did they change Iron Man's origin to the Persian Gulf War? And how did it happen, how did it just all of a sudden change? If anyone could please answer this for me, that'd be great.

But anyway, I thought it was a pretty good issue. I love the almost nobleity (i can't spell) of Tony, to go into the old syle jail and be submitted to that kind of humiliation by the other inmates. And the look on his face when he takes off his mask at the end is priceless. This issue almost makes me regret my not being on his side during Civil War, because he's such a great character.

[Prosthetic Head]

Executive Program so far is terrific. With this and the Extremis storyline, Tony Stark has become one of the more intresting characters in Marvel. I'm impressed. And I really want to see what The Sentry is going to do to Iron Man. I know he like's throwing things in the sun, but I don't think that would work on Iron Man.

[Ogre U AHole]

All T-Bone has to do is crack a few yo momma jokes and Sentry will break down and cry. Iron Man is *singing*coooooooldblooooded*ahem*.

[Will.S]

Just a quick question and I didn't want to open up an entire new thread for this so, When did they change Iron Man's origin to the Persian Gulf War? And how did it happen, how did it just all of a sudden change? If anyone could please answer this for me, that'd be great.
They "slid" the timeline forward to the Gulf War with Ellis's run in issue #5. It's pretty much the same characters except it takes place in a desert bunker and caves of sorts.

I love the almost nobleity (i can't spell) of Tony, to go into the old syle jail and be submitted to that kind of humiliation by the other inmates. And the look on his face when he takes off his mask at the end is priceless. This issue almost makes me regret my not being on his side during Civil War, because he's such a great character.
Yeah, Tony taking the responsibility to lock himself up to not to endanger anyone else actually synch's up pretty well going with his position in Civil War.

[Pheonix-NoRelation]

They "slid" the timeline forward to the Gulf War with Ellis's run in issue #5. It's pretty much the same characters except it takes place in a desert bunker and caves of sorts.

Thanks for the help. The first issue that I got was #6 so I guess I just missed it.

[Nick MB]

Has anyone else been incredibly disappointed with the Knauf/Zircher run on this series? I haven't read #9 yet, but based on #7 and #8 have dropped it from my monthly order. Will still be sent #9 and #10, and will give them a read in case of dramatic improvement, but it just seems so bland and without any subtle shades of anything.
Admittedly, I only picked the series up with the most recent #1 as I'm an Ellis fan, but was hoping for something more grown-up and interesting from these guys.

[Will.S]

Has anyone else been incredibly disappointed with the Knauf/Zircher run on this series? I haven't read #9 yet, but based on #7 and #8 have dropped it from my monthly order. Will still be sent #9 and #10, and will give them a read in case of dramatic improvement, but it just seems so bland and without any subtle shades of anything.
Admittedly, I only picked the series up with the most recent #1 as I'm an Ellis fan, but was hoping for something more grown-up and interesting from these guys.
Not really.

I actually think they pick up where Warren left off quite nicely since Ellis's stuff was more self contained and less of a macro view of the MU's reaction to the Extremis powered Iron Man. The only aspect of the book that I wish was continued was the art but that would have been impossible given Adi's methods so the monthly schedule would have been compromised again. Personally for the follow-up artist I would have gone with current Inevitable artist Frasier Irving since he can do a monthly even with his artwork style which is beautiful

Outside of that Patrick Zircher surprised me with his accurate depiction of the new armor and his general figure work.

[Nick MB]

Not really.

I actually think they pick up where Warren left off quite nicely since Ellis's stuff was more self contained and less of a macro view of the MU's reaction to the Extremis powered Iron Man. The only aspect of the book that I wish was continued was the art but that would have been impossible given Adi's methods so the monthly schedule would have been compromised again. Personally for the follow-up artist I would have gone with current Inevitable artist Frasier Irving since he can do a monthly even with his artwork style which is beautiful

Outside of that Patrick Zircher surprised me with his accurate depiction of the new armor and his general figure work.

I know what you mean, but the characterisation and dialogue just seems so blatant sometimes. There's no subtle and slow portrayal of Tony losing his grip or becoming harsher, he just suddenly is and everyone's talking about it. It makes the Extremis-Iron Man seem like a temporary plot twist. In fact, I worry that we'll see it reversed by the end of Execute Program.

Zircher's art is definitely good, but I can't shake the feeling it's not quite right for the character. A little too light. I can see why he worked well on Cable & Deadpool, but as you said, I think someone a bit heavier would be better.

[manicman]

This story would have worked a lot better if there had been some clarification as to when it was happening. For example, if there was some kind of a note in #7 that stated the current story and the Extremis story line took place before the events of Secret War. Then it would make sense. What really wrecked it for me, as far as continuity is concerned, was Spider-man being drawn in in his new suit, because you know that just dosn't make sense! As it is, this story is taking place in some sort of jumbled continuity between Secret War and Civil War. No matter how good the story is it's marred by the fact it dosn't fit into current continuity and it's events will probably will be ignored/forgotten in future continuity.

[Will.S]

I know what you mean, but the characterisation and dialogue just seems so blatant sometimes. There's no subtle and slow portrayal of Tony losing his grip or becoming harsher, he just suddenly is and everyone's talking about it. It makes the Extremis-Iron Man seem like a temporary plot twist. In fact, I worry that we'll see it reversed by the end of Execute Program. Hmm, well I thought the confrontations with Cap and the New Avengers were sort of enough to push him towards where the Extremis seems to be taking him. I agree that it would have been a bit cooler if they played it off a bit more vague and left the idea that it either could or couldn't be the Extremis's effects lingering in Tony but then again there's the whole Civil War thing going on so the Knauf's have to push it in both the CW and their own directions.

I do hope that they don't make the Extremis aspect a temporary thing myself as it opens up alot of ways to get into Tony's head as well as the whole power boost and expansion he's gotten from it which you can already see cool displays of like when he jacked the feed between Nick Fury and the US defense. Hopefully Iron Man will just correct the psychological problems it brings and keeps the good parts of the Extremis.