I feel like it's been a million years since we last had some Nu Iron Man to talk about.

TL;DR: This issue, like the issue before it, shows some weak glimmers of potential. But it's still not very good. In addition to his flawed understanding of Tony Stark as a character, I don't think Cantwell has a good handle on how to use his real estate. He's spending excess page space on some scenes while rushing through (or completely eliding) others.

Click the jump for the deets!

Issue 6 opens with a five page sequence in which Patsy finds Tony immediately after his confrontation with Korvac, dumps him into a convenient shopping cart, and pushes him through the rain in search of help. Although it's nice to actually get an explanation for once in re: how the characters get from point A to point B, said transition could've been accomplished much more expeditiously. 

And I'm totally not going to medically nitpick and declare that through all of this, Tony probably royally effs his spinal cord because this is a comic book. I shouldn't expect it to acknowledge that Tony's unmodified armor probably can't serve as a c-collar (at least not if it has the ROM you need to make it through a hand-to-hand fight). For heaven's sake, RG, set aside your life's worth of experience with doctors and hospitals (not to mention your year as a first responder in college) and wave your damn hands. 

Ahem. Anyway...

So Patsy gets Tony in a cab, and Tony immediately insists they not go to a hospital because:

Which is total BS. Obviously, a hospital has plenty of experts running around who know how to put broken necks back together. In reality, Tony refuses that kind of professional help because he doesn't want to get benched. And you know what's weird? Patsy - who's been carping at Tony the whole time about his supposed blindness to his own privilege, remember - decides not to call him out on his recklessness here. So just in case you're keeping score: Patsy (or Cantwell's version of Patsy, rather) will dress Tony down when he manifestly doesn't deserve it. But when he actually does, she stays mum. Sure, that makes a lot of sense.

After this, we catch up with Korvac and his followers as they make their final preparations to depart on their mission to capture Galactus' ship. And this is one place we see some of the consequences of the time-wasting opening -- because in this scene, Rhodey executes his escape, and it's ridiculously anti-climactic: 

Really? You're just going to stare dumbly at Rhodey's retreating back? Put up a fight, Korvac. Don't just send the Guardsman after him. Make Rhodey really earn his freedom. Jeez.

Following this, we get some more (in this case critical) exposition explaining what Tony's support team does to his armor to keep him together -- exposition that, granted, contains a nice acknowledgement of Tony's substance abuse history:

Though I'm laughing so hard at the blood-brain barrier thing. That's built into every blood vessel that feeds the nervous system, and yes, it can be damaged by trauma. But damage to the BBB isn't automatically fatal, and the morphine they're pumping into Tony certainly isn't going to cure it. What hell is Cantwell talking about here? 

Oops, sorry. What I mean to say is: yes, as an addict, Tony is taking a risk in accepting the pain meds. But fair warning, Mr. Cantwell: you can't bring this up and then not follow through. You better make this actually matter at some later date. Otherwise, you're just a thrice-damned tease.

Moving on...

The limitations of his rig now outlined, Tony stands up, determined to take the fight to Korvac no matter what:

Readers on my TL are happy with this page, and I am too -- for the most part. So far, Tony has been written as too weak and ineffectual to really be in character, so it's good to see him angry and spoiling for a fight. However... I'm concerned that Cantwell is replacing his simp Tony with a prideful, callous and wildly imprudent Tony who's also, in my opinion, out-of-character. I really hate, for example, how Cantwell writes Tony's response to Gargoyle's injury:

Ouch. No, Tony doesn't see people as objects he can discard when they become inconvenient to his designs. The decision to leave Gargoyle behind would, on the contrary, be based on Tony's concern for the guy's well-being and would inspire a good bit of guilty agonizing over the role he might've played in the events that led to Gargoyle's injury.  Trust me: a quick look at the archives of this very blog will produce mountains of evidence that Tony always - always - feels bad and blames himself when people get hurt in his general vicinity. He would never, ever say, "He's useless to me. Leave him."

And when Rhodey shows up and orders Tony to go home, I can't say I'm all that impressed with Tony's "plan":

I'll give Cantwell this: in this scene, Tony is high and therefore not thinking straight. But it still feels like we're forgetting that Tony Stark is one of Earth's smartest men. Yeah, he's defeated villains through "good old-fashioned brute force" before, but he's also an inventor and a strategist. As I complained in the last of these reviews, where is the lab sequence? Where is the planning? Rhodey, one of Tony's best friends, should be asking these questions here. True: we do get a version of "you're in no condition" (which is good), but at the very least, Rhodey should've added, "I'm worried about you, Tony. You're a genius, but right now, you're not acting the part. That tells me there's something very wrong -- that maybe you want to die."

There is also a scene in here in which Korvac tries to convince Patsy that his utopian vision is in fact achievable, which is fine. But the issue's grand finish? Yeah, it's just as stupid as Rhodey's escape. The Guardsman shows up, everyone stands there like idiots, and then Tony takes him out with one punch. Ooh. Exciting.

Memo to Cantwell: your fight scenes need to be longer and more harrowing, and your exposition needs to be trimmed. And for the sake of my blood pressure, please read some older Iron Man comics so you can actually get this character right!

ETA: Here is the video follow-up with Marm!

On to the next issue!