Tony Stark: Iron Man #2 Review

Writer: Dan Slott / Artist: Valerio Schiti / Image Comics I’m not afraid to admit I was wrong. Tony Stark: Iron Man #1 came off as a lot of pomp to me. It felt as though the movie Iron Man was seeping into the comics in a real wack way. I was wrong. In reality, it was only just the beginning of an arc. An arc that shows in just its second issue that it’s got quite a bit to say about team Iron Man. Issue #1 gave us a reckless but brilliant (yet also vapid) Tony Stark with a happy-happy-joy-joy ending that implied that Tony was the sum of his team. Tony Stark: Iron Man: Issue #2 fleshes out how the team makes the ‘man’. We get to follow a day in the life at Stark Unlimited with Rhodey, Andy Bhang, Bethany Cabe, and Jocasta Pym.

Oh yeah, the Friday A.I. has been removed from the Stark OS and has their own body! Think. When you consider Iron Man, who are the people behind the Man? Who is Tony’s conscience? Tony’s right hand, his Jiminy Cricket, his one true homie, his ride-or-die? That’s right: Air Force Colonel James Rhodes! He is the moral fiber of Stark Unlimited, and issue #2 is centered around Rhodey’s first return to action since being impaled by Thanos in Civil War II. Rhodey and Tony take on some despots using stolen Stark tech (codenamed Manticore), and War Machine has a full on meltdown. Early in the issue, we see Rhodey dreaming about the several times he’s died in the War Machine suit. By the time this fight goes down, Rhodey has to eject from the suit!

He finds a …