Witness the profound loneliness of the âperfect manâ in Iron Man #9. Pulling the antagonist into center stage, this ninth installment of the Armored Avengerâs solo title puts Michael Korvacâs past, present, and future into focus as he continues his crusade toward Taa II…with an unlikely ally now in tow. Written by Christopher Cantwell, drawn by CAFU, colored by Frank DâArmata, lettered by Joe Caramanga.
Iron Man #9 proves to me that this volume of Iron Man is about imperfect, arguably broken, people trying to deal with their imperfections.
For someone like Tony Stark thatâs easy. You get a new suit, you surround yourself with (similarly imperfect) co-workers, and you throw yourself headlong into work. From someone else, like new series co-star and former Invader Jim Hammond, itâs even easier. You isolate yourself on a barren planetoid and yell at people to leave you alone.
But for Michael Korvac? Thatâs a whole other matter entirely. While Tony and his co-stars are absent this month Iron Man #9 still provides plenty of thematic texture in their stead. All centered around the returned Korvac, who readers (myself included) might not be that familiar with. Though, personally, Iâve reread The Korvac Saga [Ed. Note: Thatâs from Jim Shooterâs classic Avengers run, you youngâuns] since taking up this iron mantle at CXF, I also understand that general audiences donât have a lot of connection to Korvac. Or really even know what his deal is.
Thankfully, this does a lot to work to fill readers in, while keeping the story tonally in balance with Cantwellâs thesis about Tony Stark: namely, that he knows has flaws and is working to, at the very least, learn to live with them. Michael, on the other hand, is the direct opposite. A man who thinks heâs perfect and has twisted all his trauma to justify his âperfectionâ (read: fanaticism and hatred of the other; which is really just hatred misaligned from his pain).
We are shown Korvacâs âbecomingâ at the hands of the Badoon, his eventual defeat at the hands of The Avengers, and most everything else in between. This is intercut with his ongoing present-day plot, which involves the Controller and now Jim Hammond journeying toward Galactusâs starship Taa II.
Though the near-constant flashing back and forth between the past and present is jarring, the emotions and texture Cantwell continues to lay out are satisfying enough. Korvac has been telling us for a while heâs better than Tony and now Iron Man #9 starts to show exactly why he thinks that, all while refreshing readers about his history and capabilities.
Cantwell even fosters a bleakly funny haughtiness to Korvac here that we havenât seen in the past. In one flashback in particular to the classic Avengers story, Korvac flatly intones how sorry he is that Iron Man wonât allow him to rule them all and laments calmly how disappointing it is that he has to kill them all with expedient violence. Thatâs pretty funny and gives Korvac a darkly comic edge that I would really like to see continue throughout this opening arc.
Art team CAFU and Frank DâArmata also shine with Iron Man #9âs singular focus. Though a few of the interior scenes do come off stiff, CAFUâs turn to the cosmic glory days of Avengers past are just pure visual candy. Especially impressive is the full-page splash of the Shooter Era Avengers in all their ragtag glory, which is further given a keen energy thanks to the eye-grabbing colors of DâArmata. They even manage to make Wonder Man look cool. It really is a feat.Â
Iron Man #9 will probably read better as part of a trade paperback, but that doesnât make its thematic significance to the new volume any less important. By giving readers a refresher on Korvac and following through on the âdark mirrorâ itâs been setting up against its leading man, Iron Man #9 succeeds even without the titular Avenger.
Zachary Jenkins co-hosts the podcast Battle of the Atom and is the former editor-in-chief of ComicsXF. Shocking everyone, he has a full and vibrant life outside all this.
