Marvel Comic Review: Invincible Iron Man #503 – Fear Itself

Now I want to caution anyone who is only a casual Iron Man fan such as myself who was just hoping for a Fear Itself tie-in. For the most part this is not one of those tie-ins. Granted, I liked the issue even if I didn’t comprehend what is going on fully from missing the first two parts of the arc. Salvador Larroca helped my like of the isssue immensely, because his style to me is just about perfect with the right colorist/inker which it was with the talents of Frank D’Armata. So besides it being written by Matt Fraction, the connection of Tony proposing to build a new city for the Asgardians and one of the Serpent’s falling hammers at the end, it really didn’t have much to do with Fear Itself.

 In the previous issues of the arc subtly titled “Fix Me”, Doc Ock wants Tony Stark to correct his brain damaged state or he will detonate a nuke on Manhattan. Sounds simple enough except that Stark has no medical expertise. I’m surprised that this arc went for three issues, I’m assuming most of it was flashbacks of Otto and Stark in the old days when they were both up and coming, as was the first few pages of this issue.

*spoilers*
It would seem by the end that Doc Ock just wanted to humble Stark by having him literally beg to shut the nuke off, because it never actually was a bomb. He must have not counted on Stark repairing him either because he leaves after Stark is done begging.
*end spoilers*

I give this issue of Iron Man a 3 out of five grizzlies. I like the story even though I missed the first two parts (Nothing the summary at the beginning won’t explain.), the art team is top notch, and I haven’t seen Dr. Octopus in a very long time and he was looking pretty menacing here. It loses points because of trying to make the comic look like a tie-in when it really isn’t a true one.

I’ll have to back track on the issues to get a real feel for the story arc, but I know one thing for sure- as long as Larocca is doing the art for the actual Fear Itself tie-ins, I’ll be there to read them when they are released.