Nathan Edmondson showed some strong potential in his Ultimate Universe debut, Ultimate Comics Iron Man #1. The second issue offers a fair bit of improvement and further suggests that Edmondson is a natural fit for this corner of Marvel's catalog. Even so, the limp visuals and a sometimes wonky style of pacing hold the book back.
Edmondson devotes far less attention to flashback sequences in issue #2. On one hand that's a shame, as that material is more interesting than Tony's present predicament. On the other hand, it allows Edmondson to generate a sense of drama in the present that was pretty well lacking last time. And in either timeframe, Edmondson's portrayal of Tony is well done. He's snarky and rude, but never unlikable.
But as mentioned, the pacing is a bit off at times. Particularly during Tony's excursion into China, the transition between scenes becomes very short and choppy. Edmondson focuses heavily on character banter, sometimes to the detriment of the plot. The bickering between Jarvis and Tony is fun. The interaction between Tony and Rhodey isn't bad either, though it's not clear yet whether Rhodey really needs to be in this book or if his presence is more about ticking off an Iron Man 3 checklist. On that note, the random shawarma reference is a particularly blatant attempt to appeal to movie fans. But it's really the Tony/Carol Danvers scenes that stand out as unnecessary. Midway into the series, I'd really like to have a better idea of what Ultimate Mandarin is and what threat it poses to Iron Man.
As for the art, Matteo Buffagni handles the tech-based elements like Tony's armor well. However, his characters are generally flat and his action scenes are bizarrely framed at times. The art still leaves something to be desired in this series, even if the scripting is improving.
Jesse is a writer for various IGN channels. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter, or Kicksplode on MyIGN.
Source : ign[dot]com
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