[Continuing my issue by issue look at Iron Man: The Inevitable.]
This is the most traditional superhero comic book of the series. Iron Man vs. the Ghost. It's a big dumb superhero fight that Iron Man has no patience for. The continued baiting of Iron Man to admit he's Tony Stark is interesting. The Ghost seems to get a kick out of it, mocking Iron Man with the truth. If he's such a big hero, why's he gotta lie? Why, Tony, why? Anyway, the Ghost loses and gets his ass beaten, eventually abandoned by the Spymaster. Another inevitability: if two villains team up in any way, one will abandon the other or betray him outright.
Dr. Dillon finally making contact with Arthur Parks is the more interesting part of the issue. He first appears as a little kid version of the Living Laser, afraid to come out of the closet, hiding in himself. Later, we see that the world he's built for himself looks like Iron Man's head. He's obsessed with Iron Man, much like the Spymaster. Dillon does her best to get him to let that go, to leave villainy behind, and become a regular, good person. But, it doesn't work (the inevitable!) and the machine pretty much blows up, allowing the Living Laser to escape. In fact, he shrugs off every attempt of hers to help him, summing it up by saying he's a career criminal.
It's a little surprising how much this comic hammers home its ideas: no one changes, a return to the status quo is inevitable, bad guys are bad guys, superheroes are superheroes, and new characters sometimes die.
The white light version of Dillon along with the Living Laser look great. The way Irving draws the Ghost after he's been beaten up a bit is wonderful. He just looks like a skeevy dirty sad man. I don't any other comic has had this much pink in it.
In 30 minutes, Joe Casey explains why no one could follow Warren Ellis's new ideas for Iron Man.
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Phoenix #5 annotations
15 hours ago
