Invincible Iron Man #600 Review

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis / Artists: Stefano Caselli, Alex Maleev, David Marquez, Daniel Acuna, Leinil Francis Yu & Gerry Alanguilan, Jim Cheung, Mike Deodato Jr., Mark Bagley, Andrew Hennessy & Scott Hanna, and Andrea Sorrentino / Marvel Comics This is it! The last Marvel comic for the foreseeable future written by the indomitable Brian Michael Bendis. Invincible Iron Man #600 marks the writer’s grand finale alongside an army of artists and a story aimed at your nostalgia. I vividly remember picking up New Avengers #1 in 2004 on my very first comic book day. For nerds like me, Bendis has forged the soul of Marvel for the majority of our comic reading years. The countdown has been very prominent these last few comic book days with heartfelt conclusions to Jessica Jones and Miles Morales’ stories. This monumental comic feels like an appropriate end to an era.

The comic is dramatic, self aware, wacky, and snarky. Nowhere is the wackiness more prominent than the prelude to post-Bendis Marvel. Leonardo Da Vinci: Director of S.H.I.E.L.D, but not really? It’s almost jarring enough to overshadow the return of a beloved character killed in one of his events. The artificial intelligence replica of Tony Stark narrates the book with a condescension to humans that bordered on the uncomfortable. Really, Bendis? You want to end with, “You know you’re a hot garbage fire of a species”? He takes us through a cascade of the recent adventures Bendis has taken us down with the assist…