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While Iron Man's latest monthly, Invincible Iron Man, focuses more on the technology and sci-fi aspects of the character, Stuart Moore continues his espionage fueled arc. The story is divided between Iron Man & S.H.I.E.L.D's Team Alpha in Kirikhstan and a rogue S.H.I.E.L.D. agent in Washington DC. While both stories are interesting, it’s the Tony Stark thread that ultimately feels more at home here.
Tony Stark once again faces a previously unknown foe from his past who returns to exact his revenge. While this plot is certainly nothing new to the world of comics, the tone of the story mixed with the spy angles makes for a great Iron Man story. Partly through flashbacks and partly through Stark’s explanation to Duggan back at S.H.I.E.L.D., we learn that the nuclear terrorist is former Stark ally Nasim Rahimov.
Rahimov had been working in miniaturizing nuclear explosives to keep the fallout from a blast to near zero. Stark funded the research, but Rahimov was taken captive when the government of Kirikhstan fell and his wife was murdered. Now Rahimov has a means to take down Iron Man for good, and he’s hired Paladin to assist in his effort.
In Washington D.C., Nicholas Weir has unleashed a horde of nanomachines that are reconstructing a secret S.H.I.E.L.D. weapon, the Overkill Horn, to his specifications. After being attacked by security forces, Weir escapes as the Horn continues to grow and morph into a new flying weapon. The new weapon’s artificial intelligence discovers that Weir built a safeguard into the system to make him a necessary component and Weir plans to use the device to inflict major damage to S.H.I.E.L.D.
Both threads are fun to read, but mixing them together seems unnecessary at this point as they don’t have any effect on each other. The changes in the artwork are more distracting. Unlike last month where the two styles seemed to mesh well, they stand apart much more blatantly in this issue. The flashback scenes employ yet another style, and the final product feels much more like an issue cobbled together from different sources, forced to co-exist in one book.
The story (or stories) here ultimately are entertaining enough to overcome the failings of the art teams, and make for an issue that is fun to read. Iron Man 30 is $2.99 and available now at a local comic book shop.