Review by Ian Keogh
Tony Stark is concerned Madame Masque has acquired some technological objects better taken away from her, so he redesigns his armour and sets about doing just that. He shows off his new armour, banters with an AI assistant in the form of Pepper Potts, and suggest Mary Jane Watson take over as Iron Man. Everything’s nicely drawn by David Marquez (sample spread left), and Brian Michael Bendis channels the way Robert Downey Jr. played Stark in the movies really efficiently. But five chapters later you’ll be wondering if Marvel have bound the wrong book between the covers as there’s no sign of Riri Williams as Ironheart.
Still, onwards we go to the point where Mike Deodato takes over the art (sample spread right), and if anything he’s even more impressive in setting Stark up in a world of espionage. It’s absorbing and clever, there’s more resigned Iron Man armour, and Mary Jane even stars in her own solo chapter. The pages turn rapidly until you realise you’re now well over two-thirds of the way through The Saga of Riri Williams and Riri Williams is yet to show her face. Then she does, for a page, which is upped to two a chapter later.
The adage of never trusting a book by its cover has surely never been more applicable. Marvel sometimes play fast and loose with their collections, but this downright deliberate deception contravenes the UK Trades Description Act in gathering three Iron Man trades together. Riri doesn’t feature in Reboot, and manages a couple of pages in The War Machines, before finally being properly introduced three chapters before the end during what was Civil War II.
What you’re getting here is a repackaging of Invincible Iron Man by Brian Michael Bendis, in which Riri makes her debut and is seen for all of six pages before Tony Stark’s concerns once again take precedence. To save you calculating, in total, Riri is seen on nine pages of a 328 page book.
This is a very readable run deconstructing Iron Man, making good use of Doctor Doom, and beautifully drawn, so not bad work. However, it is contemptuous, deceitful and flagrant mis-selling, which is why it’s not ranked worth a single star.
