Iron Man, The Comic not the Movie

So Jim has the weekend off which means two posts by me this week. Lucky, lucky you!

Since this is my second post of the week, I figured I would talk about comic books. Specifically, I want to talk about Iron Man. The book, not the movie, not only because every other blog has already written about the movie but mostly because I haven't seen it yet.

Anyway, I managed to read issues 25-28 and I really liked it. I skipped all the Civil War crap last year so this was all new to me. In summary, it was a good superhero story and I felt that it read like so many of the older Iron Man issues. There was lots of armor, lots of fighting, and even a classic villain, the Mandarin. I liked the fact that the Mandarin was portrayed as the classic scheming mastermind who almost won. He had been modernized slightly by having his rings surgically attached to his back. Maybe he's been doing this for awhile but, as I said, it was new to me. And, the authors, even managed to work in all of Iron Man's "classic" armors into the story.

But, this caused a problem. I realized that while I liked the stories there were a couple of basic problems with the whole concept.

Problem #1: Since when does Tony Stark has super powers?
I've always felt that Iron Man's appeal in a world of mutants, radioactive spiders, and generic superpowers was that he was an ordinary guy. He was just like you or me but smarter and richer.

Suddenly that's all changed. Apparently, he's infected with the Extremis Virus. I have no clue what the virus is or does but Stark's not an ordinary man anymore. Suddenly he has a superpower that allows him to talk to computers, or his armor specifically. Is it me, or does that completely defeat the premise of Iron Man? AND, even more disturbing, suddenly he's got Wolverine's healing factor!!!

If you think I'm kidding, read issue 28, page 31-32 in which he cuts his own heel off and then page 36 where it was all grown back! WHAT??? I must have missed something along the way because... let me say it again... Tony Stark used to be an ORDINARY man! He didn't have any healing powers! That completely defeats the purpose of the character! He isn't Wolverine. He's supposed to be a man.

Problem #2: The new armor is ugly!
The more I looked at the old armor, the more I realized that I liked it a whole lot better than the new armor. I will concede the old armor is kinda tin-cannish but it's the "classic" look. The new armor just seems like it's full of hard angles and techno type lines. It looks far more like a robot than a man in armor. AND, the yellow on the helmet looks exactly like the Punisher's skull. I don't want a skull head Iron Man! I want a round head Iron Man.

Don't get me wrong I liked the stories but I didn't feel that Tony Stark was still Tony Stark. Maybe he's a skrull or something but somehow I think they just messed with the character and didn't make him any better. I'm all for change and growth but not when it messes with the core concept of the character.

Oh well, that's just my opinion.