If someone didn't go and behead that stupid creature, I was apt to do it soon. SO FREAKING ANNOYING. At least this story had some serious jumps forward - even if they were more than just a little self-inflicting of the wounds. Nice work skewering both Ninjak and Quantum & Woody - plus the style - on that page. Even Magnus got made a part of the insanity by poking a little fun at him - and nobody seemed out of place. Well, except for X-O. He's still the worst part of the book. I NEED to get back to those initial first few issues - when nearly everything WASN'T terrible - and bring some of that old flavor back into the book again. But this was a jump forward. And next - the conclusion?
It TOOK long enough.
But the Iron Man comic has taken a great leap back onto the level of respectability with this great change in the comic. First - it's re-integrated a long-lasting powerful villain. Second, it's down-played much of the really racist tones of the Sixties. But most importantly, it's written a great story - and surrounded it wuth character. Instead of just writing something only bound by the fighting and punching, it becomes a story of the identity. Putting Stark's identity into Mandarin's hands was a great idea - and now he put much of the story back together to discover it's Stark. That's how the comic can flip back into being a character driven story - and not some throttling dump.