Invincible Iron Man #513

First up today is Iron Man. This issue should continue advancing the Mandarin's plans, while making Tony Stark's life a living hell... In other words, good stuff!

Invincible Iron Man #513:

Summary: Iron Man attacks the Dreadnoughts that were attacking the Three Gorges Dam in China, hoping to prevent the Dreadnoughts from destroying the dam and flooding the surrounding countryside. IM is soon joined by the Dynasty, which is the Chinese equivalent of the Avengers. IM and the Dynasty do what they can, but the Dreadnoughts change their strategy up and begin simply slamming into the dam, blowing themselves up while inflicting massive damage to the dam. War Machine arrives on the scene to assist and joins in the fight against the Dreadnoughts, at least until the Dynasty get word from the Chinese government that the heroes were all to vacate the area so the Chinese military could attack. IM naturally doesn't want to leave, since that would allow the Dreadnoughts to destroy the dam before the Chinese military arrived, but War Machine reminds IM that they were in China, and as such, had to obey the way the Chinese wanted to handle the attack. With that, IM grabs the head of a Dreadnought and heads towards a US military airplane to head back to the States. Before boarding, IM decides he wanted to fly back to the US alone to help clear his head, but is told by War Machine that the US government was requesting(actually demanding) that IM return to the US to be questioned regarding his recent actions. With nothing else to do on the flight home, IM dissects the Dreadnought head and upon studying it, realizes that it had been created using a combination of Stane and Mandarin technology, meaning two of IM's worst enemies had banded together against him. Speaking of Stane and the Mandarin, they prepare the second phase of their plan against Iron Man, and this issue ends with the Mandarin addressing 11(!!) of Iron Man's foes.

Thoughts: Wooo, poor old Tony is getting it from all sides, isn't he?! This was a really enjoyable comic that moved along at a very brisk pace. Once again, Tony basically failed against a threat, which, again, left him looking poorly in the eyes of the world. Add what should be a tongue-lashing(if not something more severe) upcoming from General Babbage, as well as the Mandarin preparing to launch the second phase of his operation to destroy Tony, and the next issue should be chock full of awesomeness.

Score: 8 out of 10.

War Machine is so awesome! He really needs a series of his own! Oh wait......