IRON MAN #1

Wait a minute. Iron Man #1? Hasn't that been around since the 60's or something? How is at #1? I think it used to be called The Invincible Iron Man or something...but that's not why it's #1. It's #1 because DC did such a phenomenal job with their 52 #1 issues in September of 2011 that Marvel copied it...sort of. The new Marvel books aren't all coming out in the same month (I think it's like a four month stint), there isn't a new universe with new origins, and not every book is getting a #1 or a new creator (X-Factor is staying the same and Wolverine & the X-Men is staying among a few). But they have changed writers and artists around and this is the second book of the Marvel Now initiative (the first was Uncanny Avengers #1 last month which was typical over-the-top garbage by writer Rick Remender). Deadpool #1 also came out this week but that was awful except for the nice Tony Moore artwork. Iron Man #1 is by writer Keiron Gillen and tracer Greg Land. I wasn't sure what to expect because Gillen did good work on Journey to Mystery but did little on Uncanny X-Men. So far...this book is by-the-numbers and mediocre. There's one great shot of Extremis standing in a plume of smoke that's cool but the rest isn't at all interesting. Land of course is loathed by fanboys for copying his drawings from other sources. That, and all of his women look like porn stars. But Land's art is clean and pretty but the story here is just dull. For a re-launch we all want to be blown away...especially to pay $3.99 for 20 pages. ** (out of ****)