Invincible Iron Man #9

Preview was cool. The writing really keeps me coming back to this.

i picked this up for the first time last issue, just cause tony seems to be the most interesting coming out of SI, and of course for fraction

Why exactly is he wanted?

i never thought i would be looking foreward to an Iron Man book like i have been witht his title.  this is even bettert than when Ellis was writing it.  Never in a million years did i ever think i could possibly love an Iron Man title like this.  thank you, mr fraction.  you have officially made tony stark interesting and a bad ass.  loved that moment where he bitches osborne out.  Tony went from being the villain of the MU to being its ballsiest bad ass.

@JonSamuelson: Because of that mustache.

I miss the variant covers. The less of Larroca I can see the better to my eyes.

The most wanted mustache in the Marvel U.  Love this book

@JumpingJupiter I sort of find that ironic, seeing as Larroca's cover for #1 was the best of the options that time around. Same's true of the unpurchased, reasonless issue #8 Madame Masque cover by Aja. I've found Larroca's last few covers to be really interesting from a design standpoint, this one not so much though.

Yes, his first few were good imo. But I didn't purchase any of his others if there were affordable options available. Nor do I enjoy his interiors. Very weak to my eye. I prefered the skillfully drawn but generic varients to Sal's work.

I'll admit to being a little tired of Sawyer from Lost being Larocca's only leading man in everything he draws. If you're going to trace, at least trace the right guy...

Just bought the hardcover collection and issue 8. Will get issue 7 and 9 this week.

Issue 8 was very good.

@hakaider - I'm so glad you noticed that too. It really worked for newuniversal, though.

I didn't give a s*%@ about the last arc, but I'm really enjoying this one.

@conor: That'd do it.

@jonsamuelson  he's most wanted because of what he took from orborn in the last issue

I've been pleasantly surprised by this series.  It wasn't earth shattering, but it was solid.  The only drawback for me was the art.

@ScorpionMasad  I think the hardback actually has issues 1-7.  So if you get this one you're caught up.

Really enjoyed last issue and looking forward to the rest of this arc.  Hopefully don't need to read rest of Dark Reign to enjoy it.

@Jediaxle:

You won't.

 I'm enjoying it immensely as well.

@Goat: Correect. No you don't need the rest of Dark Reign and that's a beautiful thing!

Love this title, loved this issue-- but the art in this issue was distractingly bad.

yeah, i loved this issue too, but the art continues to be the worst part about this book.  The panel with Tony and Pepper kissing?  Ugh, Tony's lips looked nasty as hell.

Still, great book.  Loved the page of Norman when he just finished beating his fist against the glass.  Genius!

I agree that the art does look odd and stiff in some places, but the coloring is so deep and layered that I can look past that and really enjoy the art.

Everything looks like pvc. There is practically no line weight variation and everyone is melting. Shitty, colors, inking and pencilling.

Story is very good!

I really enjoy this new path Iron Man is taking, it's really setting up to be quite the story...

This books new direction is intriguing and exciting. Best book I read today.

Fraction, in an interview, called out Sal on his art on this title.

@JJ-what interview?  Mind posting the link?  Would be very interested to read this

http://www.comicsreporter.com/index.php/cr_holiday_interview_xx_matt_fraction/

"SPURGEON: One of the more interesting about the art in your Iron Man is Salvador Larocca's visual references to celebrities… in fact, you've worked with a number of strong stylists. Is there any way that you as a writer will respond to or make choices based on stylistic strategies undertaken by an artist with whom you're working?

FRACTION: I can't stand that stuff, personally -- yanks me out of the story immediately. Not photo referencing, that's not what bugs me, but using celebrities just... it's as intrusive as someone standing over your shoulder reading the word balloons with funny voices. Bums me out. "

Great article Jupiter, thanks a lot for posting it.

To be fair, he didn't call him out on his art at all, just the fact that he used celebrities for reference.  And he didn't specifically call Sal out, just any artist that does it in general.

Yeah, I'm reading between the lines here.

Forgive, but i just think this is some of the worst art ive ever seen in a "professional" comic.  

@thefreakygeeky: I suppose we can safely assume that you don't read Angel After the Fall.

 Agreed that Larroca is definitely the weak link in this title but he does at least seem to be putting a bit more effort into his human faces than he did at the beginning of the series.

I guess I'm alone here when I say this was a really bad issue. Not only the art, but the story as well. He has to kill himself? "Wha?". Also by taking the registration info away from the government, Stark is essentially making Civil War irrelevant. Completely betraying everything he stood for in the past. I guess the new upstart heroes no longer need watching because Tony Stark says so.

I like the story for the most part but Ruo makes a lot of valid points.

 art was atrocious.

Meh, as far as the story, at this point with the CW storyline, you're either with it, or you're not.

Ruo, I'm not at all disregarding your opinion.  It's just that it seems a little unfair to ME, just to me, to judge too harshly the work of writers who's stories are clearly, to some extent, being controlled by the powers that be.  As a workabnle story with beginning middle and end, it seems good and it was entertaining enough.

 Dave, I mean no harm to Mr. Larocca himself, who am I but a school teacher who's probably too old to read comics?   But imporvement, unless its a shift into being an actually good artist, doesn't make much difference to me.  Hi material is just some of the most unprofessional stuff Ive ever seen.

I just wish Fraction's Iron Man stuff was as good as his Thor stuff.

When did Larocca stop trying to draw like Carlos Pacheco, and start trying to draw like Josh Middleton?