Iron Man [2020] #18 - Marvel Comics

IRON MAN No. 18, May 2022

Essentially just chronicling Tony Stark’s realisation that “he’s become worse than Korvac” following him cold-bloodedly slaughtering a number of his super-powered colleagues whilst attending a pizza party, Christopher Cantwell’s script for “Hello, Darkness, My Old Friend” probably struck the majority of its readers as an overly-long, lack lustre affair. Indeed, for those bibliophiles familiar with the more ‘brisk’ penmanship of Bronze Age Iron Man luminaries Denny O'Neil or David Michelinie, this twenty-page periodical’s plot sadly smacks of being full of unnecessary padding, and would arguably have been depicted in the past with a single splash page pencilled by the legendary Bob Layton, rather than dragged out across an entire publication.

Of course, that isn’t to say that the American author’s persistent references to the story of Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde aren’t entirely without merit, as the comparison of the Golden Avenger being the physician, and egotistical industrialist the monster proves an incredibly thought-provoking analogy. But such an intriguing parallel could debatably be easily conveyed within the space of a handful of well-designed panels, as opposed to the numerous word-filled text-boxes which are repeatedly employed throughout middle of this comic book; “Rinse and repeat. I’m stuck, Patsy --”

Happily however, what this “penultimate issue of the Books Of Korvac” also provides is a reversal of the Iron God’s aforementioned murderous massacre, courtesy of the billionaire resurrecting his ‘friends’ with little more than a gesture of his cosmically-charged hands. The fact that each ‘victim’ retains the memory of what Stark did to them though is certainly an interesting twist, and will doubtless sow the seeds of doubt and uncertainty in the wider world of costumed crime-fighters once word of the killings gets out.

Undoubtedly assisting Cantwell in his endeavour to complete this comic is Lan Medina, who does a sterling job pencilling a number of page-sized single panels, such as the emergence of the original Mark One armour from an Afghanistan cave during a lengthy flashback sequence. This series of action-shots is especially noteworthy as the Filipino artist clearly takes “heavy inspiration from the character's counterpart from the Marvel Cinematic Universe”, so rather erroneously pencils Shell-head’s alter-ego with a goatee as opposed to the thin moustache he has sported throughout this ongoing title’s current run.

The regular cover art of "IRON MAN" #18 by Alex Ross