Iron Man # 31 - With Iron Hands, Part 3 of 4

This "With Iron Hands" story arc didn't catch on at first. With the introduction of a new writer, the cast got shifted around. All the big Iron Man characters seamed to have gotten killed off in the last arcs. Happy Hogan died during the Civil War tie-ins. Captain America died shortly afterwards. Then came Sal, who died by a bilogical weapon shortly after Captain America did. Then in the previous arc, Maya Hansen died. Now all that's left for Iron Man's supporting cast is Maria Hill, Pepper Potts and Dugan. To make matters worse, Pepper hasn't made a single appearance in this series since the Civil War, so now she's kicked off of the list too.

So starting at issue #29, there weren't really many characters besides Iron Man and his band of SHIELD agents. At first, l didn't like the whole "restart" direction that the Iron Man series was going for. But l like this new arc starting now, on issue #31. At last, l'm enjoying it.

The previous two issues of this arc were designed to basically lay down the foundations for this current issue. While reading them, l kept wondering why the plot was split in to two different parts and why it required such a long setup. Well now l know. Those previous arcs were designed to set up for this super special ultimate issue where the Overkill mind goes on a spree and rips SHIELD appart.

Forget supporting cast, all you need here are freaked out SHIELD agents and a monster who kills everything in the world ever. Iron Man comes in and makes matters more awsome and all of Earth explodes as vampires eat all the fruit from trees. Okay, well that last part didn't happen. Just kidding there.

But it is a good issue... really good. The art could be better though.

Story - 8/10
Art - 7/10