Tuesday, December 27, 2011

"The End" Week: Iron Man #332!


Previously, over the last however long it's been, we've checked out a few of Marvel's last issues from before the Lee/Liefeld Heroes Reborn relaunch, and they weren't terrible: Tom DeFalco ended his long run with Fantastic Four #416 and a big goodbye to every FF character that would fit, even wedged into the Onslaught crossover. William Messner-Loebs hadn't put in as much time with Thor, but Thor #502 does much the same. More firmly in the crossover storyline, Mark Waid didn't get to dig into Avengers history in Avengers #402, but it has it's moments, and underlines how well he could write Cap.

Then there's today's book: Iron Man #332, "Night Neverending" Written by Terry Kavanagh, pencils by Joe Bennett, inks by Mark McKenna and Tim Dzon. It's not just part of the Onslaught crossover--no, wait: it is just part of the Onslaught crossover. Tony, Giant-Man, Black Panther, and Quicksilver try to make their way through the Onslaught-controlled Sentinels; so they can whip up some psychic-shield headgear for the heroes. And...that's about it. It's a little slight.
I think Pietro and Hank get more to do this issue.  And the Panther makes a dramatic exit on a tank...
This was less than a year after the Crossing, and this was Teen Iron Man. I don't believe it was catching on, as it were. That may account for not getting into Tony's history, since it was currently just wrecked. If you were to scale some sort of Retcon Outrage Meter, with events like Spider-Man erasing his marriage or Batman wetting himself on the high end; generally ignoring Tony's second teens would be in the negative numbers. I couldn't tell you if Marvel heard a peep of complaint there.

Sigh. Well, maybe next year we'll get to Captain America #454...

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