Superior Iron Man, Vol. 1: Infamous

This is an example of how to not judge a book by its cover. I've been sitting on this book for probably 5 years now. It came in a Comic Book Bento Box as a gift from my bride. (Remember CBBB? They're were a graphic novel grab bag subscription service that was so fun to get in the mail each month. Now defunct. Long may it rest...) I had just finished a volume of Iron Man where Tony's brother Arno Stark was set to take on the mantle of Iron Man, when I received this book. I wasn't all that thrilled with Arno and thinking this book was chronicling his adventures, I waited to read it.

I couldn't have been more wrong in my assessment.

Superior Iron Man, Volume 1 takes place immediately after the events of AXIS. For those of you not familiar with Marvel's 2014's crossover event, AXIS was the Freaky Friday storyline where good guys became villains and villains became heroes due to the meddling of the Red Skull. When everybody went back to their normal selves, something went wrong with Tony Stark, screwing up his moral compass. 

So imagine what the billionaire playboy would have become if he never got injured from a land mine and had his life saved by Professor Yinsen. What we have at the beginning of Superior Iron Man is a hedonistic, unrepentant alcoholic Tony Stark intent on imposing his own personal Utopia upon the world. To change the world in his own image, Tony has set up base in San Francisco. He just released his latest version of Extremis as an app which turns users into Kardashian-like versions of themselves. There's a hitch to this however. Tony offered Extremis 3.0 as a trial. Now reverted back to their imperfect selves, the citizens of San Francisco must pay an exorbitant fee daily to feed their addiction to perfection.

I really loved this book. I devoured it in about an hour. Add Daredevil, She-Hulk, Pepper Potts and an all-new villain to the mix and I was hooked. Amoral Tony Stark. It's a brilliant experiment that left me reeling because I don't have volume 2!

I'm going to rate this book with a perfect score. However there was a continuity error that just stuck in my crawl. Towards the beginning of the book, Stark hosts this big event for Extremis 3.0 on Castro Street. However an issue later, Matt Murdock, fully into his internal dialogue says that the event happened on Canton Street. Just so you know, I researched and there isn't a Canton Street in the City by the Bay.

Castro Street in San Francisco is a historic area known for Harvey Milk and the fight for gay rights. Could writer Tom Taylor have received some flak from fans for setting that scene at such an iconic locale, that Marvel had to retcon things? If so, why didn't they change the name of the scene for this trade? I can see where having Tony Stark offer the people of San Francisco a way to change themselves into what they've always dreamed of being set on Castro Street as being perceived insensitive to the struggle of the LGBT+ community. I'm just flummoxed over the nit and I want to know more about the mistake.

The artwork by Yildiray Cinar and Laura Braga was amazing. One of the best sets of Iron Man armor ever!

Be on the lookout for the Full House Easter egg tribute! So clever!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.

Deadpool, Volume 7: Axis

Move over Gwenpool and Dogpool, there's a new member of the Deadpool family- Zenpool!

  After the Freaky Friday events of AXIS, Wade Wilson has finally found inner peace. While his daughter and the criminal scum of the Big Apple are enjoying this new version of the Merc With a Mouth, not everyone is so pleased. His wife Sheklah thinks he's become a wimp (he has.) The Avengers think he's gone nuts (he already was.) And the now evil X-MEN want him dead! (who doesn't?)

 But the big question is this- will Wade Wilson be able to remain at peace with himself with the ever nagging knowledge of all the bad things he's done over the years.

   Just when I think that I've seen it all about Deadpool, he never ceases to amaze me. The writing duo of Gerry Duggan and Brian Posehn have really elevated Deadpool to new heights over the past couple of years. I know that their run has been panned just as much as it's been praised, but Deadpool is more popular than ever and I think those two have a little bit to due with it.

     A crazy fun read that has everything going for it but bad kharma.

  Worth Consuming.

  Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.

Avengers & X-Men: Axis

  During a combined effort of X-Men and Avengers to take down the Red Skull, his newly acquired psychic abilities combined with the chaos magic of the Scarlett Witch and the orderly spells of Doctor Strange causes heroes and villains to swap sides. Now Carnage is your friendly neighborhood symbiote. Deadpool has fore-sworn violence and the X-Men and Avengers have vowed to exterminate each other. 

    Thus, the Marvel Axis is tipped and man what a fun ride. Anyone present during the Red Onslaught affair has occurred a Freaky Friday like change from good to evil and vice versa. Only a few heroes haven't been affected by this switch, such as Spider-man, Steve Rogers, and his son Ian: the New Nomad. With Manhattan now a human-free zone of Apocalypse and the X-Men, Steve must work in secret to come up with a new band of Earth's Mightiest Heroes. 

    While seeing who Steve Rogers recruits might be a shock to the system, the real surprise is the level of camaraderie between the original Captain America and his new ally, the White Skull (formerly, that dastardly Nazi, Johann 'Red Skull' Schmidt.) Why even Doctor Doom's level of evil is tilted to the side of good and the citizens of Latveria finally live in peace under Doom's benevolent rule. There are some many more surprises in this volume that if I got on, I'll spoil all of the fun.

    This story along with the art was fantastic. I was blown away by it and I didn't want it to end. I must say that as this story takes place in the post-Wolverine Marvel world, his presence is sorely missed. But the action, adventure and insane banter between Spider-man and Deadpool help to fill up the void left by the vacuum of the mutant's death.

   Oh, and you must check out the variant cover gallery. There's a very funny cover along with a stunning alternate cover to issue #1 starring the Scarlett Witch and the Enchantress.

   Worth Consuming

   Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.