Marvel Adventures (Iron Man): Heart of Steel by Fred Van Lente & others
Marvel Adventures (Iron Man): Heart of Steel
by Fred Van Lente & others
This "all-ages super hero action" book is the first in the series, collecting Marvel Adventures Iron Man #1-4.
My first real exposure to Iron Man was in the recent movies. So it's neat seeing a much different Iron Man here, one where he's trying to hide his secret identity (and with Rhodes helping him as much as possible). The stories were all short and action-packed. None of them blew my mind, but they were fun reads.
Story 1- Out testflying a new invention, Tony ends up being taken captive with a fellow scientist. Tony has to rely on his strength as Iron Man and his brilliance as a scientist to get himself out.
Story 2- Oh, the Mandarin! This baddie enslaves all the workers in Tony's China plant, causing him a moment or two of self-doubt before he realizes that it's the mind control ring. Then Tony gets to fight a dragon. Good times. I especially liked Rhodey trying to help Tony and pretend like nothing going on when Pepper walks in on him.
Story 3- These plants aren't bad, they're just engineered that way. More evil scientists--gotta love them. Pepper is taken in briefly, Tony is taken down, and the pilot takes a nap.
Story 4- Hammer tries to ruin Iron Man's reputation to lower Stark stock so that he can buy up the stock and stage a corporate takeover. But he doesn't count on the power of personal assistants.
It was a fun adventure to read these :-) And great, detailed art.