Review: Iron Man Vol. 2- The Secret Origin of Tony Stark Book 1

Quick Summary

Pros: The book’s first half is filled with light action mixed with light humor. The second half gets more serious and does a fantastic job in building excitement for the future. The entire journey has a great sense of comic creativity.

Cons: The flashback in the second half isn’t that interesting.

Overall: Though this is the second volume in the series, this is the book that will truly grab readers’ attention and generate excitement for more Iron Man adventures. It contains plenty of moments that provide immediate entertainment while also containing plenty of moments that help develop future storylines. The entire book also takes an enjoyable look into the cosmic side of Marvel. Both new and old readers are sure to find a lot to love in this collection.

Story

Iron Man Vol. 2: The Secret Origin of Tony Stark Book 1, by Kieron Gillen, has Tony Stark take a break from earthbound adventures and go for a ride on the cosmic side of the Marvel universe. Part of this volume focuses on humor, action, and intergalactic fun, successfully providing excitement for the present. The other part of the volume focuses on drama, excitement, and even a little mystery, successfully introducing tension to the present and building interest for the future. The resulting combination creates a book that is fun to read and hard to put down. Overall, this is a solid book and a great opening chapter for a new story arc.

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The Secret Origin of Tony Stark Book 1 opens with a creative and entertaining arc detailing some of the aftermath from the death of the Phoenix Force in Avengers vs. X-Men. It has Iron Man deal with a potentially deadly situation while constantly finding time to deal out humorous quips and occasional jokes. Plus, there is a bit of action in the form of a deathmatch, where Iron Man is separated from his armor.

However, the best part about this portion of the book is how creative Gillen gets when delving into the cosmic side of the universe. This arc has unique alien races, strange cultures, robot assassins, and intergalactic courts where trial by combat is an option. The most creative element here is probably the Voldi race, a group of aliens living as parasites on the cosmic energy given off by the Celestials. Exploring all of this makes for an interesting reading experience, especially for those with a penchant for space-bound comics.

From here, The Secret Origin of Tony Stark Book 1 starts to establish a larger narrative, one that already appears as if it will have a significant impact on the next story arc and potentially on the history of Tony Stark. A robot sacrifices the entire Voldi race in order to obtain an item of power from their people. However, what is interesting here is that the robot’s intentions appear to be benevolent. His explanation that his actions are done for the “greater good” imply that there is an incredibly powerful force of malevolence out there somewhere, one that requires this item of power to defeat. This setting builds a solid level of suspense and excitement, which is the perfect primer for the next volume in this series.

In addition, this second story arc delves into some very interesting aspects of Tony’s past. It shows that his father kept secrets from him, secrets that are extremely relevant to Tony’s present situation. The only problem here is that these flashbacks are not that exciting or interesting on their own. Luckily, as a whole, this portion of the arc also succeeds in building excitement for the future.

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Art

The artwork in The Secret Origin of Tony Stark Book 1 is passable but not remarkable in any way. Greg Land does an alright job in depicting the characters and ensuring that they have acceptable levels of detail. However, he fails to properly inspire the creativity and wonder of the cosmos, the location in which most of this volume is based. Instead, the scenes set in space feel generic and underwhelming. His work looks better in flashbacks to Earth, yet these comprise the minority of pages in this book.

Continuity

Iron Man Vol. 2: The Secret Origin of Tony Stark Book 1 continues the story from Iron Man Vol. 1: Believe (Review).

The story here continues in Iron Man Vol. 2: The Secret Origin of Tony Stark Book 2 (Review).

This volume also makes references to other comic books, detailed below:

• The first story arc in this volume deals with the aftermath from the Avengers vs. X-Men event.
• Iron Man’s travels with the Guardians of the Galaxy began in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1: Cosmic Avengers.