The Mighty Thor #22 Review

Matt Fraction's Mighty Thor run has never shown the clear sense of unified purpose and direction that his Invincible Iron Man run did, and so the finale issue lacks some of the sense of purpose and immediacy that many other recent finales have had. On the other hand, Fraction's final chapter is much more uplifting and optimistic than his last Iron Man issue or Kieron Gillen's Journey Into Mystery finale.

The gist of this Everything Burns epilogue is that Thor is put on trial for the crime of pissing off his father. It's worth noting that much of Fraction's early Thor work was characterized by an oddly hostile relationship between Thor and Odin, and that dynamic is back in full force here. As before, Fraction eventually brings the story around and offers some justification for Odin's behavior, but it is strange nonetheless.

But if Fraction doesn't have any great conflict or emotional struggle to bring to a close as Gillen did with Loki last week, he does manage to end his run on a heartwarming note. There are characters pulled in from practically every story arc, and even references to material from Secret Invasion: Thor and J. Michael Straczynski's run. The issue essentially asks the question, "Must there be a Thor?" And though the obvious answer is "Well... yeah. Why not?" it's nice to get a little reaffirmation. Fraction could have used a bit more page space to work with, unfortunately. The ending feels somewhat truncated, and there are a couple scenes (particularly those involving Bill and Kelda) that deserved more attention than Fraction was able to give.

Barry Kitson helps Fraction close out the series. With Jay Leisten providing finishes to Kitson's breakdowns on some pages, the overall look is less sharp than it might have been. Facial work tends to suffer the most when Kitson isn't handling the panels himself. But the general storytelling is still strong and heavy with emotion. The series ends much as it always existed - with an uneven execution but plenty of high points along the way.

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

The Invincible Iron Man #525 Review

Anyone reading Invincible Iron Man knows the drill by now. The series has reached its climax point as Tony Stark teams with a group of sworn enemies to take down the Mandarin. It's an effective payoff to years of storytelling and groundwork, but it's also a very slow and methodical payoff. Issue #525 is one more chapter that will entertain readers but leave them wishing there was just a little more meat on these storytelling bones.

This issue is certainly heavier on the action than the last few, as Tony is finally back in an Iron Man armor and on the offensive again. Matt Fraction and Salvador Larroca tackle some some memorable battle scenes throughout. Here is where having characters like Living Laser and Blizzard on Tony's team comes in handy. Laser in particular adds a nice visual flourish to the battle scenes so that the book isn't dominated by armored dudes clobbering each other. While Frank D'Armata's coloring has never been a highlight of the series, he does some nice work tackling the various bursts of energy and radiation that dominate these fights.

This issue relegates the Hammer girls to the sidelines, so that only the Stark Resilient and Rhodey subplots remain to offset Tony's struggle. Those two pieces of the story are all but merged at this point as Fraction builds closer and closer to the big reunion/rescue sequence. A brief appearance by a couple of super-teams from the book's past only heightens the idea that Fraction is pushing towards the finish line. More loose ends are coming together and the stakes are growing higher. It seems that the cover image of Mandarin crushing the world in his grip is more literal than it seems. So even if the general sense of plot progression remains a bit sluggish from month to month. Fraction is delivering a worthy finale to his multi-year run.

Jesse is a writer for IGN Comics and IGN Movies. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following Jesse on Twitter, or on IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com

The Invincible Iron Man #523 Review

It can be draining to review Invincible Iron Man on an issue-by-issue basis, both because the series never varies tremendously in quality and because it's the sort of book that requires the reader to take the long view when making an analysis. Some chapters are just slower and less eventful than others, and issue #523 happens to be one of the slower ones.

The same running threads continue in this chapter, with most of the focus directed at Tony's attempts to undermine Mandarin's empire and Pepper's efforts to deduce the identity of the new Iron Man. At the moment the former is proving more interesting than the latter. There's too little indication as to what exactly Rhodey is up to with his antics. Is the whole thing an elaborate ruse to get Pepper looped in on Tony's plans? Surely there has to be a more direct way of accomplishing that.

In Mandarin Land, Fraction delivers some fun interaction between Tony and his rogues as he works to enlist them in his plans. The balance of power is slowly shifting as Tony and Zeke become more proactive and Mandarin shows the strain of his lofty position. There are even hints that Mandarin himself isn't the end-all, be-all villain of this storyline. It's interesting to see how many new seeds are blossoming even this late into Fraction's run.

Little has changed regarding the art, which has been the case for years at this point. Unfortunately, Salvador Larroca doesn't have the opportunity to break out his altered flashback style as he did in issue #522. Still, the issue offers a nice mix of simple character interaction, high-octane, armored action, and sci-fi imagery. Oddly, the one visual element of the book that has changed is the cover design. It's a positive change, but it seems weird to suddenly make the change in the middle of an arc and the tail end of a four-year saga.

Jesse is a writer for IGN Comics and IGN Movies. He can't wait until he's old enough to feel ways about stuff. Follow Jesse on Twitter, or find him on IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com