Written by: Tom Taylor
Art by: Yildiray Cinar
Publisher: Marvel
I’ve never been an Iron Man reader. Tom Taylor and Yildiray Cinar made me one.
Superior Iron Man rises from the ashes of Axis, where the effects of Scarlet Witch’s inversion spell has reversed the alignment of many Marvel heroes and for Tony Stark, the change has been permanent. Tony Stark has never been a character that has appealed to me. I have found his fellow Avengers to have far more interesting and compelling dual dichotomies than Stark at their cores, such as Thor (Man vs. God), Hulk (Man vs. Beast) and Captain America(The Man out of Time vs. The Dawn of a New Age). The Stark depicted here is in a state of Man vs. Hubris and in pushing Tony Stark to this limit of his own pure, banal egoism, Tom Taylor has crafted the most compelling of the three revamped Avengers titles on the stands today.
The Stark shown in the pages of this incredibly compelling comic book exists as the embodiment of the worst that can be brought about by incredible wealth combined with an incredible ego. Taylor depicts Stark as doing the (mainly morally reprehensible) acts that he commits in the pages of this comic book with an aura of complete justification. In Starks eyes, why shouldn’t he test the full limits of his wealth and power, no matter how much it hurts the lesser man. His full transformation from hero to almost dictator like proportions of evil remains an incredibly compelling piece of fiction and one that Marvel has been sorely lacking since Superior Spiderman left the stands. If Alan Moore’s famed cult classic Miracleman depicted a Superman that had taken charge of the full, morally ambiguous advantages of his powers, than Superior Iron Man remains a kindred spirit for it depicts how a millionaire such as Batman would take advantage of the same thing. Iron Man is a rich without reason and in the pages of this comic has fully embraced it for all of the power and control it can bring him. We are watching Tony Stark takes steps towards becoming a mortal god and while it is incredibly hard to root for him due to the nature of his actions, it does not mean that this is a comic that should be ignored in the slightest.
Yildiray Cinar’s art is a highlight as well. His pencils are incredibly clean and bright, depicting the Utopian-esque nature of the struggles present in the issue. His facial expressions remain a highlight, depicting characters with a modern-day Kevin Maguire sensibility. His presentation of Iron Man’s new, liquid metal suit is a treat to behold as well. Here’s hoping that Taylor and Cinar remains a consistent pairing throughout the run of this series.
Superior Iron Man may be a divisive comic book for some, but that does not mean that everyone should at least pick up the first issue. The evil presented in this comic book remains real and understandable without having the implications of vulgarity and extremity. This comic book presents a fear that many Americans hold fully realized, and the Marvel Universe could not be better for it.
