I just finished reading The Darkhold: Iron Man by Ryan North (W) and Guillermo Sanna (A) and I. am. screaming. This issue is, without any doubt, the best Iron Man comic that's been published in years. Years. Forget the next installment of the Cantwell run (which also dropped today); just buy The Darkhold, and buy it in job lots so Marvel gets the freakin' message.
In The Darkhold, North starts at Tales of Suspense #39 -- but then takes Tony's dependence on that original metal chest plate to a whole new level. Buckle up, because this going to be long, squeeful, and image heavy.
Now after reading the above enthusiastic review, you might be wondering: can RG offer any more updates or commentary on the main Iron Man title?
Uh, yeah. Obviously, a few more issues of Cantwell's Iron Man have in fact been released since my last engagement with that book (see here). But I've just had zero motivation - until now - to write anything more involved than an occasional offhand tweet. Why? Well, based on all my other reviews and YouTube videos (all of which you can find here), you can probably guess: I love the art, but I don't like the story. I just don't like it.
Is it the worst Iron Man story that's ever been written? Eh, I'm not sure. But I think it's definitely competing in a tight horse race to the bottom with The Crossing, Superior Iron Man, and Gillen's dumbass adoption retcon (that no one asked for). Oh, and Iron Man 2020 too. (Shit, there have been a lot of bad Iron Man stories -- which is deeply depressing.) So this is what I'm going to do: I'm going to use this post to present my definitive list of gripes in re: the current run and let that be my final word on Cantwell.
Until, that is, something drastically changes.
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