PREVIEW: Iron Man #8

[Dark Phoenix]

Ive been majorly dissapointed in Iron Man so far. I don't know if I'm truly not enjoying the story or if Land's art is just making me hate EVERYTHING about this book. I know people from Marvel read these boards from time to time. If that's you and you are reading this now, please tell whoever keeps giving Greg Land work to stop. I'm sure there is somewhere else he can go work. He is an abysmal story teller tracing people who are smiling ear to ear at the most inappropriate times in the story. It's not just distracting, it pulls me so far out of the book that I usually have to stop reading.

I see Dale Eaglesham is coming on, please Marvel, keep him on the title. His art is really good and can tell a story. Thank Greg Land for his many years of tracing Hustler and send him on his way. If he has a contract, buy him out. I had to suffer through him on Uncanny X-Men for all that time. Please make it stop.

[Nitz the Bloody]

I actually have found these issues to be infinitely better than Fraction/Larocca since World's Most Wanted ended. And that was over three years ago... I guess I like issues where things actually happen. And no knock on Larocca because he's a good artist, but man I don't think Iron Man's helmet has ever looked any worse or inconsistent. Not to say I support how Land does his art, but if nothing else it's a breath of fresh air.

Actually, that's the reason I far and away prefer Fraction's work and am dissatisfied with the current series. Fraction's pacing may have been deliberate, but a lot happened in his stories, even after the Heroic Age launched. The status quo was fluid, the stakes were high, and the emotions ranged from visceral gut-punches to more subdued and textured anguish and ennui. Here we had five one-shot stories hinging on fight scenes with the emotional content serving as a backdrop, followed by an in space arc tied into another franchise's mega-crossover which pretty much hinges on a single joke (that by this civilization's standards, Tony is a barbarian).

I don't blame Gillen for this, because it seems as though Tony's status quo is being controlled by other books (most notably Guardians of the Galaxy and New Avengers), so he's trying to make the best of it. But I'd rather be patient and follow a meticulous story like Fraction's than read faster-paced stories that ultimately don't head anywhere.