Superior Iron Man #7 Review

Superior Iron Man #7
Written by Tom Taylor
Art by Yildiray Cinar and Felipe Watanabe
Colored by Guru-eFX
Published by Marvel Comics

When I first heard of the premise behind Superior Iron Man, the first thing that came to mind was the unmitigated disaster that was Avengers: The Crossing.

For you younger readers who might not remember (and don’t know how lucky you are not to), The Crossing was a massive Avengers storyline that saw Tony Stark turn evil and become a murderer. It involved Wasp being changed into a weird insect creature and truly horrible new costumes for the Avengers, and then a teenage version of Stark traveling to the present to stop his older self …

I get a headache just thinking about it.

So the news that Marvel would be trying the same idea again in the wake of last year’s Axis event had me quite worried. I don’t understand why writers seem determined to make Iron Man a villain, but I was hopeful that at least this time it would be readable and not the mess of unfinished ideas that The Crossing turned into.

And so far, Superior Iron Man has been a pretty good title. While it hasn’t been at the top of my read pile, Tom Taylor seems to have a solid grasp of what makes for a good Iron Man comic, and he has delivered some interesting twists as he continues the story of this new, villainous Tony Stark.

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Superior Iron Man #7 is another entertaining issue of a series that has gotten better as it progressed. Taylor gives us a battle between the current, inverted Stark and a failsafe program that looks to replace him with a version of Stark from eight years ago. The cool part? The virtual Stark looks like the Mark II armor, the very first red and gold version of the Iron Man suit.

What follows is a great mental and physical battle between the two that sheds some more light on what exactly Stark has planned for humanity. Throw in Iron Men fighting in space, as well as a cliffhanger that shows evil Tony at his most conniving, and you have met all the benchmarks for a pretty decent issue of Superior Iron Man.

The art is a group effort that sees Yildiray Cinar and Felipe Watanabe each tackle part of the issue. While their styles are similar enough that the transition isn’t overly jarring, it is noticeable enough that it distracts from the story being told. Of the two, I would have preferred if Watanabe had just done the entire issue and given Cinar the month off. His more textured, detailed pencils were a better fit for Taylor’s story than Cinar’s more simple, traditional super hero style of art.

Unfortunately, Superior Iron Man‘s biggest problem isn’t the fault of anyone except the upcoming Secret Wars. Due to the premise and storyline of the mega-event, it takes a bit of the suspense and drama out of Superior Iron Man since we know what’s coming down the pike. With no real consequences to speak of, at times it makes you think, “Why am I wasting my time reading this?” It’s the same problem I’m having with a lot of Marvel titles as we get closer to Secret Wars.

Thankfully, Superior Iron Man is good enough where I’m willing to read it anyway to see what happens.

The Bottom Line: While Superior Iron Man #7 isn’t a classic in any sense of the word, it’s still a very enjoyable comic that rewards readers of the series with a great story and some eye-catching artwork. Not a bad way to spend fifteen minutes if you ask me.