Iron Man #8 Review

Kieron Gillen wraps up his second Iron Man story arc with a half-naked, sword-wielding Tony Stark battling Death's Head in an intergalactic gladiatorial arena. This arc certainly hasn't been afraid to veer outside the norm for Iron Man's adventures, which is a major reason why it's been so much more enjoyable than the first. Gillen wraps the story up in satisfying fashion . The tone of this issue is fairly jovial at first. Gillen pens some wickedly fun battle banter between Tony and Death's Head. It makes you wonder why so few writers have made use of the latter character in recent years.

The script takes a darker turn as Tony escapes the arena and struggles to leave the entire Voldi empire behind him. That's easier said than done. The upside for readers is that it allows Tony to unleash the full force of his mobile armory. I've never been entirely sold on the idea of Tony sacrificing his sleek, all-purpose Bleeding Edge suit for the clunkier Modular Armor of this series, but the premise allows for some enjoyable action sequences in this issue. Even Greg Land's art works better in this issue than it generally has over the book's lifespan. The space setting is a boon, as it removes the horizon line and places the emphasis solely on the moving figures and swanky colors.

And Gillen delivers some dramatic consequences to the story in the final pages, elevating "Godkiller" from a fun, simply filler arc to something that serves as a piece in the writer's larger plan. This arc doesn't wind up affecting Tony personally as much as I was expecting considering he was put on trial for murdering a space god, but the outcome still leaves him with a mission to undertake and some emotional fallout to deal with. How any of this is supposed to play into Gillen's upcoming revisionist origin story is a bit of a mystery. Still, I'm glad to see the series on much firmer footing than at the conclusion of the first arc.

Jesse is a writer for various IGN channels. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter, or Kicksplode on MyIGN.