Invincible Iron Man Annual #1 - The Mandarin is a Jerk

Who's ready for the new Invincible Iron Man Annual? It's got the Mandarin and art not by Salvador Larroca! What's not to love about it? Actually, the price tag is pretty steep, even if this is a big issue. In a week with Wonder Woman #700, you'd think Marvel would have the common decency to put out a cheaper annual, but I guess they don't care about my poor old wallet.

Disregard for my finances aside, like I said, this is a hefty issue and you're gonna spend at least a good half hour or so reading this. The story is solid enough; Mandarin kidnaps a famous Madripoorian (I think that's what you'd call them) film maker to make a biographical film about his life; that monster!

One big note is that there's really no Tony Stark in this story outside of a brief flashback and an actor playing him. This story focuses on the film maker and his crew doing what they can to make sure their movie tells the truth about the Mandarin all the while trying to make him think they're making the delusional piece he's demanding of them. Really, the two points I can take from this are: 1. The Mandarin's a real big jerk and 2. The Mandarin is crazy. Seriously, don't mess with this guy unless you're Iron Man or something equal to or better than Iron Man, otherwise things will not end well for you. By the end of the issue we find out that this is a build up piece for an upcoming story in the book where the Mandarin will be the bad guy. It's not a bad story by any means, but unless you really want some Iron Man you might want to pass.

The best thing about this issue is that the art is not by Salvador Larroca, which I cannot stress enough. I love Invincible Iron Man, but goddamn is the art ugly. And not awesome quirky ugly, but "this-is-two-overused-poses-and-a-porn-face-away-from-Greg-Land-art" ugly. So having a different artist on the book is a much welcomed change. Maybe we could make this guy the regular artist because he does a damn fine job.

In the end, this book is good, but not enough for me to tell you to buy it. Unless you really miss the Mandarin, save you're $5 or use it to buy something else in the comic shop. If you're luck it'll be in your shop's $1 back issue bargain bin before you know it!