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Well, it's about time.  After ten issues of primarly set-up, Busiek finally kicks the plot into high gear, revealing the Mandarin as the foe behind Tony's recent troubles.  Only . . . the Mandarin isn't entirely responsible.  Meaning that this entire series has been (thus far) a set-up, for *another* set-up.  Groan.  While that part of these issues irks me, I can't deny that the verbal interchange between Iron Man and the Mandarin in #10 wasn't wonderful.  Busiek's take on the Mandarin is both original and interesting, and has renewed my interest in IM . . . somewhat.  

Iron Man faces Whiplash (The Super-Villain Formerly Known as Backlash), gets beat by Spymaster's gang of toughs, nearly dies, and encounters the Winter Guard (The Russians Formerly Known as the Soviet Super Soldiers) and the Mandarin and his newest weapon of unlimited power and destruction (tm)-the Dragon of Heaven.  

Throughout the series, Busiek has maintained a "spy" feel for the series, and I think that is still prevalent, and it still works, too.  These issues are quite similar to a Bond movie, with the fanciful villains (Whiplash, Spymaster, the Mandarin, the Winter Guard), the cool car (Stark's souped-up Plymouth Prowler), the femme fatale (the Black Widow), the villain's super-world-destorying weapon (the Dragon of Heaven), and enough near-death escapes to make even Bond blink.  

Weaved in through all of this is some wonderful characterization, particularly in #10, in the conversation between the Mandarin and Iron Man.  Their socio-political argument was the highlight of these three issues and, in my mind, re-establishes the Mandarin as one of Marvel's top threats.  He isn't a slave to the past anymore, foolishly trying to return the world to the state of Imperial China.  Nope, now he's accepted modern technology and he's going to use *it* to take over . . . which makes him deadlier than ever, in my estimation.  Also, the argument, featuring the Mandarin declaring modern capitalism as the new feudalism was quite intriguing.  

I'm not sure that Busiek's revamps of Whiplash and the Soviet Super Soldiers were quite as successful as his revamp of the Mandarin, but they're okay, nonetheless.  The Winter Guard (the Soviet Super Soldiers), in particular, don't intrigue me, but I wonder how much of that is to due to Chen and Strucker's terrible new designs for them in #10.  

In fact, Chen's art has been on a bit of a downward slide ever since the beginning of this series.  Under Cannon or Parsons it tends to be pretty good, but under Stucker it become quite awful (which leads me to believe that most of the great stuff in YOUNGBLOOD's art was due to Skorce, and not the combination of Skroce and Stucker).  As far as the designs of the revamps go, the Mandarin is rather good, but I'm undecided on Whiplash's new S&M look and the Winter Guard's new look is just awful.  However, Chen's renditions of Stark's souped-up Plymouth Prowler (#8) and the Dragon of Heaven (#9-10) are fabulous.  

IRON MAN remains a steadfastly competent series, but hasn't acheived the greatness that Busiek's work on THUNDERBOLTS has.  
  

Score:  B    
  

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