Heroes Reborn: Iron Man TPB [Paperback]

In the mid-90's, Marvel decided to conclude their much maligned Onslaught storyline with the deaths of many of their top tier heroes. The Fantastic Four, Captain America, Iron Man, and the rest of the Avengers, all bought the big one as their respective titles were canned and re-launched with a new direction (allegedly) as Marvel teamed up with Wildstorm (before they became part of DC) to produce some new takes on old stories. Heroes Reborn: Iron Man finds our favorite alcoholic, shell-headed super hero reimagined (kind of) as he takes on the usual suspects in his rogue gallery. The only thing is, this book is so wildly inconsistent in terms of it's story and art (Jim Lee and Ed Benes can't save everything) that at times the whole shebang just seems incoherent. There's some nice ideas here and there, like a new twist on old Hulk villain the Abomination, but that's it. And at this price, that's simply not enough. Of all the Heroes Reborn books, the Fantastic Four one is the only one that really worth it's purchase price. If you're a die hard fan of Iron Man, this might be worth a look, but don't dare lay down the full price for this.

Back in the mid 90's, Marvel handed control over their "flagship" titles (the ones that didn't start with X or Spider) to the hotshot artists from Image Comics for a year. The goal behind the "Heroes Reborn" project was that guys like Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld could somehow repeat the runaway success they enjoyed with Marvel earlier in the decade and boost sales for Captain America, The Avengers, Fantastic Four and Iron Man. The characters were removed from continuity for the duration of the project so that Lee, Liefeld & company could get creative without bothering with decades of convoluted continuity. You know, just like the Ultimate Marvel Universe, only with bad writers. Sales did in fact increase for the four titles, but they were all marred by poor writing, uneven artwork (did anybody really expect any of these artists to draw 12 consecutive issues of anything?), and a needlessly complex new continuity.

The Heroes Reborn reboot of Iron Man was the title I was most interested in. I'm a big fan of the character, but by the 90's I had pretty much given up on the series, and Marvel had all but ruined the Tony Stark character (making him a time-traveling super-villain and replacing him with his teenage self) before this relaunch. Jim Lee was overseeing Iron Man, so there was at least some chance it wouldn't totally suck. Captain America and the Avengers didn't have a prayer with Liefeld at the helm.

Iron Man was written by Lee, Scott Lobdell, and Jeph Loeb during the 13-issue run. They put together a decent "back to basics" storyline that soon spiraled out of control. Early issues included the birth of the Hulk and conflicts with Hydra, but the sporadic Avengers crossovers, time traveling, and indistinguishable supporting cast made the title too hard to keep up with.

The artwork was uneven as well. Whilce Portacio was the main artist for the series, and managed to draw nearly 5 full issues. He has a very unique and, well...ugly (seriously, it's all scrunched faces and hideous long hair) style that was all wrong for a shining streamlined character like Iron Man. Fortunately Ryan Benjamin, Ed Benes, and even Jim Lee were able to give the book a better look.

The Heroes Reborn: Iron Man trade paperback contains the first 12 issues of the series. Issue #13 is not included, since it prominently featured characters from Jim Lee's Wildstorm Universe, which is now owned by rival publisher DC Comics. The omission of issue #13 doesn't harm the overall story, because after a few issues the story is too intertwined with the other Heroes Reborn titles to make sense anyway. Marvel did a great job in terms of paper quality, coloring, and including all of the various covers and bonus material for the series.

This series was a failure in just about every way, but at the time it really shook up the status quo. And if nothing else, the interested it generated in the return of the "real" Iron Man to the Marvel Universe helped put the character back to "major league" status with Marvel. If you're a serious Iron Man fan and have a few bucks to spare (you can get this book very cheap from Amazon's vendors), it's worth checking out. I can't give it a much higher recommendation than that though.

I noticed some people did not like this graphic novel but I thought It was quite enjoyable and the artwork was fantastic. Having the avengers all in one book is not always so bad. Yes some of the time line was confusing but who cares its fantasy and its Jim lee and Whilce Portacio.