Better than other Marvel Noir books
Iron Man Noir is an interesting take on a familiar character. Stark and Rhodes are depicted as adventurers who are looking for a Mayan mask while chronicling their journey for a magazine.
This book sets up the basic villains, involving the creation of Madame Masque and an encounter with Zemo. It also foreshadows where the book is heading in issues to come, and I can already tell you it is going to be interesting.
It looks like Pepper Potts will be more of a side kick for Tony. I'm interested to see where they will take her character.
The fact that this book is supposed to take place in the pre-WWII world means that the Iron Man suit and other technology are rudimentary when compared to the tech that we are used to in the modern books. The writers did not do a great job of incorporating the tech into the story, which is a vital part of Iron Man. I hope that they do a better job going forward. It's going to be a challenge for them to incorporate this element in a relatively low tech world.
All in all, I enjoyed the book. The art was pretty good, and it definitely set up a story that I'm interested in. My major concern is that it may be too similar to Indiana Jones. The whole 1930's/40's adventurer, looking for ancient relics, facing off against Nazis... It seems too familiar. They are going to have to go out of there way to trump Indy, or take the book in a more unexpected direction.
4/5