Palmer Addley Was Crazy
Nick Spencer and Ariel Olivetti turn the focus on Palmer Addley in what is basically a villain spotlight issue that leaves our title character largely absent.
Kaylie Doran, one of Rhodey's intelligence consultants, discovers the true past of Palmer Addley through his real background files. This issue is mostly narrated through interviews with people from Addley's past, and it is a very effective way of exposing what a dangerous and damaged person Addley was. The ways these people talk about him gives just as much of an impression of the man as the facts we are told of his past. It serves to give a really strong sense of this character we really have not seen yet.
I am usually not a fan of Olivetti's art style. It often holds me back from being able to really get into a story, because I find it flat and unappealing. However, I had no problems with it this issue. I barely even realized it was Olivetti as I read. I instead rather enjoyed the art and found it worked really well with the story.
Villain spotlight issues are nothing new. Geoff Johns is known for doing them quite a bit with the Rogues. But the lack of Jim Rhodes in this issue definitely hurt it. This is just too early in the series for a story like this. It is too early in the setup of Rhodey's new status quo to go an issue largely without him. Given the developments of the previous issue, I think what most readers really wanted out of this issue was to see the Iron Man 2.0 armor in some type of action.
This ties into what I think may be the root problem of this series. It misreads or disregards Jim Rhodes' small fanbase. This is a slow-paced, intrigue-intensive story. But as well written as it all is, this is definitely not War Machine. His previous series by Greg Pak did not work out, so it is hard to blame Marvel for wanting to try something different with the character. Still, this new approach may be a little too different and could only turn off the fans Rhodey has.
This issue is a well done villain spotlight that does a lot to flesh out the mysterious Palmer Addley. However, this would have been a much stronger issue if it divided some of its time with Rhodey showing off the capabilities of his new armor. There is no doubt that this series as quality to it, but if Spencer doesn't start better balancing the intrigue with some action, this series will probably lose more Rhodey fans than it gains.
