No Extremis required.
Iron Man: I Am Iron Man! #1 (of 2)
Marvel Comics (March 2010)
SCRIPT: Peter David
PENCILER: Sean Chen
INKER: Victor Olazaba
COLORIST: Chris Sotomayor
LETTERER: Joe Caramagna
COVER ART: Adi Granov (but is it taken from art he did from the movie or is this original art for the cover?)
ASSISTANT EDITOR: Alejandro Arbona
EDITOR: Ralph Macchio
What am I supposed to say here? It’s an adaptation of the first Iron Man movie, up to the scene where the Mark 3 is ready to go. If you haven’t seen the movie, then WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG WITH YOU! Go rent or by the DVD/Blu-Ray already!
What they got right: Issue 1 appears to be the origin part of the story, and while it zooms through events, it hits all the important spots. The problem with comic adaptations is that they compress events to fit it all in. Sometimes, it suffers, but while I hear issue 2 goes through the important stuff too fast (I’ll find out next week when I it up), this seems to work just fine here.
What they got wrong: As a whole, the art is fantastic. However, Pepper’s facial expressions seem slightly exaggerated, and the reporter babe Tony hooks up with doesn’t emote well at all. Tony himself looks more like the comic version than Robert Downey, Jr. while the other characters resemble their actors. Whether that is by design or just how well Downey resembles the comic model you’ll have to decide for yourself.
Recommendation: If you’re like me and like to have adaptations of movies, especially ones with spin-off comics, then go ahead and get this. However, this won’t replace seeing the movie, which is just a great movie. Forget Watchmen or The Dark Knight, Iron Man is the best superhero movie this decade.
Tomorrow’s Comic: The Muppet Show #3
BW Media Spotlight 