Writer: Dan Slott and Jim Zubb
Artist: Juanan Ramirez
Release Date: August 21, 2019
Cover Price: $3.99


Iron Man has gotten interesting! ( I hate to bury the lead ) I have had my ups and downs with this series since issue 1. There has been a lot of concepts thrown at you and a ton of seeds that have been planted. Most of which didn’t interest me, or I failed to see the potential in them. Either way the ending to this issue has my eyes flickering open like a high speed shutter….Do I have your attention yet? Good lets get into it.

We open to Tony Stark getting grilled on Capitol Hill for the whole eScape fiasco. Tony is trying to keep his dick-ish charm to a minimum. You can tell as Senator Miles Brickman repeatedly goads Tony. 

This part of the story goes a little long and is a little over blown, but it serves its purpose. In the fact that it shows a level of maturity rarely shown in Tony when it comes to the rule of law. He understands he is partially to blame and excepts his responsibility in the matter, but he is also strong firm in a matter of fact way.

The Senator is trying to assign sole blame to Tony because it was his technology that killed people and destroyed property. Tony simply states it was the controller that hacked his systems using a corrupt A.I. The Senator latches onto this A.I. comment almost like he is being fed information about Tony’s current Crisis of Humanness. The Senator makes a pointed joke of Tony’s “efficiency”. He is obviously very well prepared for his questioning when it comes to A.I. technology. And we all have seen from the Facebook hearings how unusual that is. The Senator directs and controls this whole conversation with the intent it seems to back Tony into a corner forcing him to admit he might possibly be an Artificial Intelligence while the whole world watches on.

To really drive home his debate the Senator produces the A.I. that was originally in Riri Williams original suit of armor that was taken from her. This A.I. if you don’t know was a Tony Stark A.I. The Senator proposes the conundrum does this A.I. have any legal rights or responsibilities? Does it own and control Stark Unlimited? Can you even own it Tony? 

Tony grasping at straws because he can’t produce answers he doesn’t have basically asks for a recesses to confer with his client which is him in hologram A.I. form. Yet again this part is a little bit weird and bonkers but I think you have to go with it. They let Tony walk off with possible “evidence” the Senator brought in to this hearing. It’s weird but not too wonky.

Tony, Rhodey, and umm…Tony talk and strategize outside the hearing about what their next defense might be. They need to find people that can vouch for the legitimacy of A.I. and alternate humanity.

My first thought went to the Vision and man I must have had a “vision” of the future, because next page is Vision and Wonder Man pulling up to Avengers Mansion. Which is weird because Avengers don’t use the mansion anymore. Both of our new entourage mention this but they are here at the bequest of Tony…or are they? They get ambushed and zapped by a controlled Jarvis and I start swearing at the book thinking the Controller what the hell. 

We flip back to Tony and now he has put the A.I. of himself into his suit of armor trying to get it to remember how it fell into the hands of the Senator. Janet Van Dyne shows up to give Tony a little pep in his step and take him out to dinner. Before this little touching moment can turn into creasing the sheets, a Vision/Wonder Man Amalgam shows up and the fight is on.

It’s at this moment I will tell you quickly Jacosta still hates her robot form and wants to look human and Bain Technology and Arno Stark are going to fix that for her. Plus the Robot population is now mad at Tony for some of the things he said at the Hearing and are picketing and protesting. Boo Hoo Robots no one cares. Get back to work you lazy lay abouts!

In the battle Tony and Janet are getting the butts whipped. This creature has got the combined power of Vision and Wonder Man for God sakes! The odd thing is Wonder Vision{™} isn’t going after Tony. It seems like its main objective is to capture Janet Van Dyne. So in a last ditch effort Tony sends out an EMP cascade. Which is good because it wipes out the Tony A.I. ( Two Tonys’ are to many but a Toni Tony Tone is perfect)

Once Tony regains consciousness he is happy to see his plan worked but saddened to see it had some unintended consequences. His EMP knocked out all the robot protesters and he lost Janet in the scuffle. Thankfully she is in Ultra good hands that left me Hankering for more.

The revolving art team on this book sucks but each artist they have put on has done a really good job making the art their own but also keeping close to each other so not to make it to jarring. This art team is no exception. Faces are distinguished and expressive, backgrounds are alive and colors are vibrant. I really hope Juanan and Francesco stick around.

Final Thoughts:

This was probably my favorite issue of this volume of Iron Man. You get some all out Tony moments,  nice Iron Man fight scenes, progression of the sub characters that surround Tony, and a peek into the bigger scope of the story Slott has been slowly building. The cliffhanger has me psyched!

7.8/10