Comic Books

Infinity Wars: Iron Hammer #2 Review

Stark Odinson may have forged his own astonishing armor and become Iron Hammer…but is even that enough when Madame Hela, masked queen of Hel, comes for him?

David Brooke

October 31, 2018

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The Iron Hammer amalgam is such a no-brainer you’d think it would write itself. Two egomaniac heroes (Thor and Iron Man) are combined to form a man who desperately needs to learn a bit about humility. They face a brother that is his lesser, but better in some ways, and an Elf with 10 rings like the Mandarin. And that’s just a taste of the combinations in this book.

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So what’s it about?

Read the preview.

Why does this matter?

This is part of Marvel’s Infinity Wars event tying in to reveal just how combined two heroes can get. Al Ewing is also writing this story in a Stan Lee sort of style that makes it feel like a storybook — which suits its origin story feel.

Fine, you have my attention. What’s good about it?

This flashback helps flesh things out. Credit: Marvel Comics

I wasn’t a huge fan of the first issue, but this issue brings things back in getting clever with its combinations as well as developing the hero in an interesting way. The issue is mainly one long confrontation between Iron Hammer and a major villain with a few more villains popping up making for a rather complex confrontation indeed. The book opens with a flashback which helps enlighten how Sigurd Stark got to where he was. As the story progresses Ewing reveals Stark’s warriors three (a clever combo in each) as well as an interesting revelation about his adopted brother Stane.

This story, combined with the first issue, serve as one long, but robust origin story. You can tell the “warps” format suits this story since it packs as much as it can into revealing who the combos are and also setting the hero on a new path. Ewing does a good job weaving in the lesson learned by tying it to the godlike powers Stark once had, too. By the end you get a sense many more stories could spill from this two-part story since so much has changed and the Stark has found a new purpose.

Ramon Rosanas draws this issue keeping the action at arm’s length. The armor and even some of the facial expressions are reminiscent of Salvador Larroca’s work. There’s also some good use of silhouette to enhance the tension and gravity of scenes.

A clever use of the Rainbow bridge. Credit: Marvel Comics

It can’t be perfect can it?

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This issue has a speed-read sort of feel. You can tell Ewing has a lot of ideas, probably a 10 issue arc to write, but instead has to speed along and reveal all the clever combos and twists on a character made up from two. Because the issue really only highlights one confrontation there also isn’t much to it beyond some thought bubbles and reasoning from the main hero. He basically pulls off a win out of convenience.