Disappointingly Bland
James Rhodes is certainly my preferred choice when mulling over the two heroes covered in armor suits in the Marvel line-up. Yet, we hardly get to see him beyond the occasional series that doesn't last long. And, sadly, this series doesn't live up to the hopes I believe many had for it.
This book focuses on two major components of James' life; patriotism and family. Starting with the latter, we see a lot of interaction between him and his father and niece, presented as primary players in this narrative from the very first screen. And, while the niece is endearing and y no means annoying, she is a little stereotypical, reminding me of Gizmo from Rescue Rangers; she's supposed to be a prodigy when it comes to technology, and wears the goggles like apparently all inventors do, no matter how young they are. And the father doesn't really appeal to me at all. His dialogue is a little rough and he's just not a very deep or interesting figure at this point. He feels like he's here more so to be something of a foil to Rhodey, but, as of yet, he doesn't have enough impact on the series to make this parallel meaningful or concrete.
Patriotism, however, is possibly to stronger of the two themes presented, as Rhodes finds himself practically fighting America itself. This is a very low-energy issue in that regard, as the "threat" is a shady political figure. And, while this is an interesting concept to explore for someone so ingrained in this idea, it leaves me wanting for a more appealing conflict; watching politicians stand around and talk isn't entirely interesting or appealing to me. There are no cool or exciting enemies, and even the armored person from all the previews for the series looks rather boring or unimaginative.
And I think that's the biggest issue I have with this book as a whole. The usual excitement and colorful nature of comics are abandoned for a more bland and standard approach. The colors lean more towards the grey side than anything else, reminding me of the previous Secret Avengers series (which worked there, at least more so, because it was a spy book), which felt unfitting for this sort of narrative. While the conflict in question is inventive and cool in theory, in application I was pretty detached, almost like reading a news article about politics. Neither of the side characters interested me, and Rhodes himself sees very little character development. And the dialogue felt rather lacking, as if there was a human component missing in attempting to bring across the information the reader needs to start the series. It never feels too much like exposition, but it borders on the idea of it.
And what really irked me was some of the art. For the most part, it looks great, but when doing close-ups on the character, the faces look like a Picasso painting; eyes are different shapes and sizes, noses are funky, and characters look almost entirely different from page to page. It's very off-putting and made me cringe to a degree when flipping through the book.
And with the ending becoming very detached (with a shift in tenses and an conclusion that comes almost out of no where, and not in a good way), and we're left with a fairly standard and unsatisfying experience. I had such high hopes for this series, but what we're left with is pretty mediocre at best. If you're a James Rhodes die-hard, have at it, and if you have some kind of sick fascination with having lots of politics in your comics, be my guest, but, for the rest of us, this is a book that should, sadly, be avoided.
