1.) Extremis. God, I respect the hell out of Warren Ellis. I think he's a fantastic writer. But that doesn't change the fact that I don't want Tony to have actual superpowers. After reading ToS and volumes 1 & 3 (remember: the mid-90's don't exist), I've become insanely invested in a Tony Stark who's just a regular smart guy under the machinery -- a Tony Stark who, indeed, is often medically breakable. I love that Tony spends half of the ToS run swooning because he's overtaxed his heart. I love that, at the beginning of volume 3, Tony is essentially pulped inside the armor and has to be strong-armed into going to a rehab facility. As I said in my first YouTube video on Iron Man, it means something to me that Tony, pre-2004, is physically fragile. I connect to that on a profound emotional level. But now that Tony has taken the Extremis enhancile, an entire dimension of his fundamental vulnerability has been erased -- and I miss it.
2.) Civil War. My biggest problem with this event and its immediate aftermath in re: Tony is the lack of consistency. In some issues, he's coldly accepting of the new order -- to the point that he willingly lays traps to snare rebels. In other issues, he's screaming in pain over what he feels he has to do (Frontline #11), sobbing openly over losing friends (Casualties of War, The Confession), or laying around in bed and not showering for days because he's been crippled by his depression and self doubt (the Iron Man tie-ins). True: these differences could be explained away with the public face/private face contrast that's been central to the character since ToS. But -- then I remember those forty years of comics prior to Civil War and think: no, no, it still doesn't work. Is it plausible that Tony would accept the necessity of government oversight to stave off something worse? Yes, of course, if you write it carefully. But would he ever agree to ratchet the enforcement to level eleven the minute the clock strikes midnight? No. No way. That's what's dumb. He'd scramble to negotiate first. And oh by the way, if he overheard SHIELD commandos calling themselves "cape-killers," he'd shut that shit down with extreme prejudice because he fucking loves his friends. That's the Tony I have come to know.
3.) Then there's the unremitting darkness of this era in general. As much as I love angst, you have to counter it with levity on occasion or else reading your comics becomes a chore. Trust me: you don't have set up permanent camp in the pit of the despair to be "serious." Tony can still juggle cars at children's hospitals without losing one iota of "respectability."
All that being said, many issues in this period still succeed in their cardinal task: getting me to feel something (other than frustration with the writer, that is). 21st century 616 Tony Stark is far more disturbed than his earlier iterations (yes, even when you factor in the alcoholism), but -- God, I can't help but continue to love my now unbalanced boy. How can I not love a character who, while in the grip of a major depression with psychotic features (I say "psychotic" because, in the same arc, a hallucination of his dead best friend attacks him in his bedroom), decides that the best way to save the world from a global plague is to cut off half his foot? YES, THIS IS A THING THAT HAPPENS. And how can I not love a character who, after Norman Osborn takes over the remnants of SHIELD in the wake of the Skrull invasion, decides that the best way to keep Osborn's grubby hands off the SHRA database is to commit slow, painful brain suicide? THIS CAT IS CRAZY, GUYS. He's so heartbreakingly beautiful that I want to
My Facebook friend says it quite well: Tony is a superhero because "kill me" (or "maim me") is WAY higher on his list of acceptable side-effects than "someone else gets hurt."
Bonus:
In which I discuss ToS #56 -- which showcases Tony's capacity for guilt and self-loathing.
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