Invincible Iron Man #6 Review: Rhodey Time
By Nick Tylwalk
Even Tony Stark needs a little assistance from time to time, loathe as he maybe to admit it in public. Fortunately he has a close friend who also owns his own suit of armor, and Lt. Colonel James Rhodes is very much at the center of the action in Invincible Iron Man #6.
What action there is, anyway. Aside from scaring a cleaning lady and blowing the door off a car, War Machine doesn’t get to put his nearly unlimited supply of miniguns and rockets to much use this month. He’s mostly on hand to run down leads while Tony enjoys some personal time with his current lady friend Amara Perera, who ends up in a fascinating three-way with Stark and Doctor Doom. Three-way breakfast, I mean. Geez, forgetting to put in one word can really change the meaning of a sentence …
Jokes aside, if you subscribe to the stereotype that Brian Michael Bendis comics are often overstuffed with conversation, this is one you can hold up to perpetuate it. Lots of talking in this one, which almost makes it a shame that Mike Deodato jumped aboard as artist for this arc.
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I say almost because his grittier style is perfect for the more in-your-face strength of the War Machine armor, to say nothing of the shady underground casino and other places Rhodey finds himself. It’s a perfect contrast to the shiny, glistening images that David Marquez gave the opening arc, and the awesome cover is just the icing on the cake from a visual standpoint.
And the story isn’t completely without intrigue either, as it follows up on both the beach party ninjas (who seem to be against both Iron Man and Madame Masque) and the fact that Doom keep offering his assistance even though Tony doesn’t particularly want it. You can’t help but feel like Doom is really trying to be the proverbial leopard that manages to change his spots, unless he’s playing a really long game with Iron Man for reasons we can’t comprehend at the moment.
Regardless, Bendis is doing a nice job balancing a variety of subplots and tailoring his locales to the strengths of his artistic partners. Invincible Iron Man #6 does feel a bit like it hit the pause button on the momentum of this series, but there’s no reason to think it won’t pick right back up next time out.
SPOILERS PAST THIS POINT!
Three Questions to Ponder
- Shouldn’t a suit as advanced as the War Machine armor be able to tell that it was just a cleaning lady so Rhodey wouldn’t have had to draw all his weapons on the poor woman?
- Is the whole demon thing going to pop back up to bite Tony when he can least afford it to?
- Where the heck did the women hide their glowing swords in those dresses?
Favorite Moment
Without that much from which to choose, we’ll go with the ultimate case of overkill. I count at least seven guns, three missiles, a rocket launcher and two repulsors aimed at the cleaning lady. Well played, Rhodey.