• Written by: Spencer Ackerman
• Art by: Julius Ohta
• Colors by: Alex Sinclair
• Letters by: VC’s Joe Caramagna
• Cover art by: Yasmine Putri (cover A)
• Cover price: $3.99
• Release date:

Iron Man #2, by Marvel Comic on 11/27/24, finds Tony Stark building a low-grade replacement suit while he visits multiple executives to convince them not to accept the AIM/Roxxon buyout offer of Stark Unlimited.

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Is Iron Man #2 Good?

Writer Spencer Ackerman switches up tactics from the first issue to focus Tony’s attention on winning the board votes to save Stark Unlimited. Tony still makes a series of poor decisions in this issue, but this time, he’s in good (bad?) company with board members who willingly choose to go along with a bad deal for no good reason. Can an Iron Man fan truly buy into a series where nobody is interested in doing the right thing, including the hero?

When last we left Tony Stark in Iron Man #1, Tony agreed to let union workers continue manufacturing weapons of mass destruction until he could figure out something less lethal for them to build. Meanwhile, a joint venture between AIM and Roxxon conspired for a hostile takeover of Stark Unlimited in record time without Tony lifting a finger to stop it. If that wasn’t bad enough, Iron Man found himself the target of magical attacks. The issue ended with the recently resurrected (somehow) Justine Hammer confiscating Tony’s Mysterium armor, turning herself into the Mysterium Iron Monger.

In Iron Man #2, Tony meets with Jack Kooning Jr., one of the Stark Unlimited board members, to convince him to vote against the buyout. Tony uses sound business logic by explaining that Roxxon is drowning in debt, so the buyout could bankrupt Stark Unlimited if Roxxon’s oil and energy pipelines are disrupted. Jack acknowledges the risk but chooses to overlook it… because it’s in the script.

Oy! We had strong misgivings about Spencer Ackerman after the first issue, but issue #2 confirms those misgivings are warranted. What businessman in his right mind would agree to a one-sided deal? If Jack is under some kind of influence, it doesn’t show, so you have board members of a multi-billion dollar corporation leaning towards making a bad deal just because.

To prove the point, Tony visits board member Melinda May to advocate for her vote. Melinda, however, is less cooperative after she learns the former Iron Man villain Tuatara was spotted destroying a Roxxon oil pipeline, confirming Roxxon’s financial weakness. Melinda believes Tony is behind the attack (he is). However, Melinda believes she can keep Roxxon, AIM, and Justine Hammer in check by working the board from the inside. Tony quickly and perhaps too harshly reminds Melinda how many lives were lost at the hands of Orchis while Melinda was working on the inside.

The scene between Tony and Melinda makes for good drama, but it doesn’t hit the way Ackerman probably intended. First, Melinda’s inability to prevent the mass murders committed by Orchis is a harsh observation but a correct one. Second, if Melinda was useless against Orchis, why would she think she would be any more effective against Roxxon, AIM, and Hammer? Again, we get another board member making bad decisions simply because it’s in the script.

The issue concludes with Tony completing his cobbled-together armor that looks less-complete than the Mark 1 he built in a cave, Tony beginning an unprovoked attack against an AIM research station in Colorado because it’s in the script, Tony seemingly unable to recognize Doctor Druid when he’s staring right at him, and Tony whipping out a giant sword because the script says giant swords are cool.

What’s great about Iron Man #2?

Honestly, I’m struggling to find something positive to say about this issue. If it’s a small comfort, we haven’t seen Doctor Druid or Tuatara in a very long time, so it’s good to see Marvel shake the dust off long-dormant characters.

Further, the retro, pseudo-steampunk suit Tony cobbles together has an unexpected cool factor.

What’s not great about Iron Man #2?

If you were to list out everything wrong with this issue, the review would be triple the average size, so the main criticism lies in the foundation of the story. To make the central premise work, which means stripping everything away from Tony, a story that’s been done before by much better writers, the way Ackerman is going about it requires Tony and everyone around Tony to make poor choices.

If you have to lower the sense and savvy of nearly every character to make a premise work, that should tell you that the basic premise is fundamentally flawed. No amount of smoke and mirrors can fix a faulty foundation.

How’s the Art?

Again, the one promising spot is the cool-ish, pseudo-steampunk design of the new suit, so kudos to whoever came up with the design. That said, there’s no reason at all for Tony to go around to his various contacts looking like a homeless drug addict. Tony’s endured terrible injuries before, so there’s no reason to play up the disheveled sad sack to this extent.

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About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.

Follow @ComicalOpinions on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter

Final Thoughts

Iron Man #2 continues the downward spiral of Tony Stark and readers’ hopes of getting a good Iron Man story when Spencer Ackerman makes Tony and everyone around him make the worst decisions possible. If you have to make everyone an idiot to get your plot to work, I’ve got bad news for you. On a brighter note, the pseudo-steampunk suit is starting to grow on me.

3.8/10

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