It’s safe to say the wedding of Tony Stark and Emma Frost sold comics, but you can’t deny the intrigue of it all, especially with them going on their honeymoon in The Invincible Iron Man #11! It’s all a feint, or so they say since it does seem that Gerry Duggan is playing around with their flirting. Could they grow feelings for one another after showing a bit of care and concern? That’s a question I had after reading this week’s issue, which has Tony Stark infiltrating a heavily guarded Krakoa.
The Invincible Iron Man #11 opens in Hawaii, where Tony is learning to surf, and Emma is taking in the sun. Duggan has a great handle on Tony’s monologue via captions that keep your interest and his every thought going throughout the issue. We’re reminded early on that he’s after a special metal Emma has in her old room, but Orchis is guarding Krakoa, and likely others will come calling for it.
There’s a nice sense of flirtation with this issue, starting with a line about “getting it on.” While Iron Man is off on his mission, Emma can see him via some handy glasses, which keeps her involved even though it’s a solo mission. From there, this issue supplies things only comics can, like a man in an iron suit fighting a gorilla. Seriously, what is the deal with superheroes fighting gorillas?
I would argue the gorilla does add a somewhat random threat to the narrative. It forces Tony to earn the McGuffin, but it’s also a pretty random thing that’s good for a laugh but could have been a more meaningful conflict.
Flirtatious much?
Credit: Marvel
The last third of the issue is a fun montage of sorts featuring different heroes who help Tony out in testing something. It’s a good way to earn the abilities of the McGuffin and set up the fact that Iron Man may be on the right track in building his most incredible armor ever. Unfortunately, Emma drops out of the book, though, and it would have been nice to see them a bit more on the honeymoon. Maybe it’s the flirtations working on me, but I want more of them together. Instead, it cuts abruptly to the montage.
Andrea Di Vito draws this issue with colors by Bryan Valenza, and they do a bang-up job of keeping your attention. The pace is good, the characters are rendered well, and the story structure has a good sense of flow. A nice blur effect is used occasionally, and Valenza creates a neat invisibility effect when Iron Man utilizes his new suit’s power. The most impressive thing might be the gorilla, which looks pretty accurate. You can’t have a good gorilla fight and not render it as close to realistically as possible. Spider-Man also looks good, and props to Duggan for adding a “Sinister Signal” to the scene as well.
In a lot of ways, The Invincible Iron Man #11 is all about Iron Man getting his mojo back. He’s lost his fortune and most of his property, but in this issue, we see he’s on the right track in gaining an edge on his adversaries. Along the way, he’s also bonding a bit more with Emma Frost, adding to the dynamic duo’s improbable connection.
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