This is a tricky time to launch a new Iron Man series.  On the one hand, obviously there's a movie out, and Marvel feel obliged to flood the shelves with Iron Man product.  On the other, it's not as if the existing Iron Man series has been doing well enough to suggest an unmet demand.

As a character, Iron Man presently labours under two major problems.  First, there's Warren Ellis's recent relaunch of the character, giving him superpowers and turning him into a human Bluetooth device.  Presumably, this was supposed to make Iron Man a vehicle for stories about the merger of man and machine - a pet theme of Ellis', but of questionable relevance to the character.  Looking at the stories that have appeared over the last couple of years, it's difficult now to see Ellis' Extremis idea as anything but unwelcome clutter.  It does not appear to have inspired later writers.

Second, there's Iron Man's new status quo as the head of SHIELD - or rather, the Civil War storyline that got him there.  That story did wonders for Iron Man's profile, but it did so mainly by positioning him as an authority figure for other heroes to kick against.  This version of Iron Man is essentially the police commissioner who suspends maverick detectives for not filling in their paperwork properly.  It works as a foil, but it's an uninspiring set-up for the star of his own series.

With Invincible Iron Man, writer Matt Fraction has to wrestle with both these premises, and also with the need to write the character in line with the movie.  Oddly enough, that third requirement may have provided the solution, by forcing a back-to-basics approach and turning attention back to the core ideas of the character, rather than the plot of Civil War.

The core idea of Iron Man - or at least, the version that the film has seized on - is that he's a guy who built weapons, saw it rebound on him, and decided to set things right by using his technology for good.  The comics built on that theme with the idea that he was equally alarmed at the idea of his Iron Man technology getting into the hands of the supervillain community.  Essentially, though, Iron Man's motivation is to redeem himself for the consequences of his earlier mistakes - both before and during his heroic career.

Fraction puts that idea at the core of his story, and by doing so, manages to make Iron Man more sympathetic than he's been in years.  The "head of SHIELD" stuff isn't a problem; you just don't talk about how he got the job.  And besides, the theme of redemption and atonement is ideal for digging Iron Man out of the hole that Civil War landed him in, if and when they choose to go there.  Crucially, though, Fraction's Iron Man has a degree of humility and uncertainty about the long-term consequences of his choices, which makes it possible to like him again.

As for Extremis, it's mentioned in passing, and treated purely as a fancy interface with the armour.

So, Fraction has the right ideas about the character.  And it goes without saying that Salvador Larroca's clean lines are a good match for the clinical Iron Man design.  The art may be a little over-polished for some tastes, but it works for me.

The flaw - or perhaps more accurately, the bit that's not quite as good at the rest - is a "third world terrorists get cheap Iron Man armour" plot which doesn't quite convince.  From the look of it, the technology's only good for suicide attacks, which doesn't seem to justify the "Iron Man 2.0" label that the story tries to place on it.  And new villain Ezekiel Stane, although clearly meant to be irritating, does feel like the creators are trying too hard.

But the basic direction is spot on, and if the story isn't quite in the same league, it's still fine.  A decent start.

Rating: B+

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