Drabness in the Depths of the Earth
Tony Stark must face down his most dangerous opponent yet in Kala and her hordes of the underworld. Imprisoned deep underground without the Iron Man suit Stark will have to use all his wits to avert crisis! With the threat of invasion looming and his friends being held hostage, can Tony Stark find a way to save the day?
Iron Man does not feel right fighting mystical underground civilisations and/or aliens. I can understand him fighting super villains, even magical ones, but when he’s fighting fantasy underground civilisations it just doesn’t feel right. I get it when he’s part of a team, when it’s part of some massive event storyline, but when it’s just a one and done issue it feels off. Iron Man is a grungy character, whose powers are derived from intellect, wit and more than a little financial clout. He feels like someone who should be stopping Soviet plots or foiling the criminal supervillains. Issues like this one just feel flat to me, it’s like dropping Tony Stark into a Thor story and expecting everything to work out. The plot just never comes together and feels flat. Also there’s more than a whiff of sixties sexism regarding Stark’s words towards both Kala the villainess and her lead general.
The art in this comic is good. Of course when you are looking at the artwork of Jack Kirby you want the sensational, that certain je ne se qua that elevated his name to that of legend. We get some wonderful character art, and a pretty cover that teases a science fiction like realm deep beneath the earth. But what we lack throughout the comic is an attempt to detail this underground civilisation, to give it flair and personality. The backgrounds of this under world are plain, the action taking place in non descript corridors that could be in any warehouse or city on the planet. Kirby’s best work brings places to life the backgrounds act as a vibrant back drop that show us that the hero is on foreign soil, for example the underwater realm of Namor. This feels a little flat, which is a shame because he brings us such imaginative and detailed foreground elements that are let down by this lack of detail.
This is a silly throwaway issue that feels very much like a flavour of the month affair. I just can’t imagine that we’ll see Kala or her underground realm again which lends the plot a kind of non-canonical unimportance. The threats to Tony Stark’s friends are unearned, we’ve barely (if not never) met these men before so Kala’s threats carry little weight. This is a below average and skippable issue.
Blast You, Stark! When The Chips Were Down, You Turned Yellow!
Evans
