Invincible Iron Man #516

Well, after that first review of the night, this comic doesn't really have a lot to live up to...

Invincible Iron Man #516:

Summary: During a battle with Firebrand and Crimson Dynamo, Iron Man's armor gets shut down by Justine Hammer so she could have the villains defeated by her Detroit Steel Corps. The Avengers offer Tony some assistance with his recent string of troubles, but Tony refuses any help and takes a hiatus from the Avengers. Meanwhile, Ezekiel Stane shows off the death-machine he built for the Mandarin. The death-machine fails so Mandarin beats the hell out of Stane, while Stane is unable to move a muscle to defend himself. It's then that Stane realizes that the Mandarin had done something to his mind and he decides he was going to find out what that something was. We finally discover who Spymaster was masquerading as, Pim from Stark Resilient, who murders his lover on the orders of Justine Hammer, who had decided it was time for Spymaster to come out of hiding. This issue ends with Tony barging into General Babbage's office to inform Babbage that he had won and that Tony was going to quit being Iron Man.

Thoughts: This issue wasn't that bad. It wasn't great, but it wasn't bad either. It was the definition of an okay comic. Tony quit being Iron Man, which puts the ball in the court of the Hammer girls and Babbage, Stane is trying to figure out a way to mutiny against the Mandarin after the beating he received, Spymaster was finally revealed, a lot happened to set up future events. I'm most curious to see where the whole, “Iron Man no more!” thing is going to go out of all the story elements Matt Fraction put into motion here. I mean we know Tony's still going to be doing the Iron Man thing, I'll be curious to see how he manages to hide it from the Hammers and Babbage.

Score: 7 out of 10.

Oh Mandarin... You so crazy!