Review: Iron Man Vol. 3- The Secret Origin of Tony Stark Book 2

Quick Summary

Pros: The majority of the story is fun and exciting, especially the volume’s thrilling climax. The focus on Tony Stark’s history is very interesting. Everything here fills Iron Man’s future with potential.

Cons: There are a few moments of action that feel distracting and lackluster. Some of the plot points don’t line up well.

Overall: This is a solid comic that provides instant enjoyment while also setting things up for future volumes. The instantly entertaining portions of the book focus on fun bouts of action and unique explorations into secret histories. Meanwhile, the portions of the book that prepare the future are interesting in their own right, especially in regards to what is happening to Iron Man in the present. The volume has a few problems that prevent this from being a great collection but not enough to prevent it from being a good collection. In the end, fans of the series should definitely give this volume a read.

Story

Iron Man Vol. 3: The Secret Origin of Tony Stark Book 2, by Kieron Gillen, is an entertaining book that provides an interesting twist on Tony Stark’s history. It details a complex struggle between man and machine, one with high stakes and serious moments of suspense. However, it also finds time to reestablish elements of Tony Stark’s history that are sure to have an impact on his adventures going forward. The volume is not without flaw, as there are a couple of lackluster moments that slow down the narrative, but it is still good overall.

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The opening chapters in The Secret Origin of Tony Stark Book 2 are fun but not necessarily great. They mostly revolve around Tony’s fight against 451, a being who has been several steps ahead of him for a while now. The best part of this fight is watching as Tony’s resourcefulness is pushed to the max; he is forced to alter his armor in a number of ways to defend against 451’s power. However, Tony’s fight against Death’s Head and Death’s Head’s untimely death feel more lackluster and prevent this portion of the narrative from being as entertaining as it could have been.

The book’s most tense and exciting moment arrives as the Godkiller is sent rocketing to destroy Earth. In most comics, a situation like this is hard to sell, as the reader is aware that Marvel will not destroy the Earth in a regular monthly comic. However, this moment comes hot on the heels of the Godkiller completely destroying another inhabited world. This, combined with the desperation Gillen gives both Tony and 451, makes the situation feel so real that even I was sold on something terrible happening to the planet. It is easy to connect with the relief Tony feels after the Earth is spared, making this moment more meaningful and significant.

From here, the book primarily focuses on the impact that this volume has on Tony’s history. He now knows that he is adopted, has discovered that he has a brother, and has preserved 451’s body for unknown reasons. All of this sets up Tony’s future for dozens of potential storylines, all of which have tons of potential. It will be interesting to see how the Iron Man legacy evolves from this point onward and what effect it will have on the greater Marvel Universe.

The only downsides to this story are places where things don’t exactly seem to line up. For example, Tony is not the child 451 experimented upon, yet displays the exact traits that this child should have. In addition, having 451 abandon his plan after meeting one obstacle does not fit with his previously established motivation. These are minor errors but have an effect on the overall story.

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Art

Book 2 of The Secret Origin of Tony Stark has artwork that matches the quality of Book 1 (Review) by being passable but not remarkable in any way. Greg Land gives characters and locations solid levels of detail and makes most pages look nice for the most part. However, most scenes lack a level of creativity one would expect from a cosmic adventure like this one. The interiors of spaceships and other locations looks bland and boring, and at no point do they ever truly capture one’s attention. The end result is a volume that is acceptable but still manages to feel a bit disappointing.

Continuity

Iron Man Vol. 3: The Secret Origin of Tony Stark Book 2 continues the story from Iron Man Vol. 2: The Secret Origin of Tony Stark Book 1 (Review).

The story here continues in Iron Man Vol. 4: Iron Metropolitan (Review).

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

• Iron Man’s travels with the Guardians of the Galaxy began in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1: Cosmic Avengers (Review).