Justifying Or Hurting Rescue?
The Good
When Pepper Potts received the Rescue armoured suit way back when Tony Stark was still turning into a vegetable fugitive in Invincible Iron Man, I never thought the change would last. While Pepper has been a great support character to Stark for most of his career, she never seemed like she could handle herself as a superhero. If this issue does one thing, it justifies her motivations to become a hero. We get an explanation about why she feels the need to help others that doesn't revolve around "Tony Stark said so", which is a great move for the character as a whole. I also like that Rescue is still a completely weapon-less suit. It's a nice contrast to the extremes of War Machine.
The Bad
This is obviously a filler issue. Nothing notable happens here to influence the rest of the Marvel Universe or even the world of Tony Stark. The feeling of pointlessness stretches from the mundane art by Andrea Mutti -- which looks rushed to the point of looking truly ugly -- to the closing ad for Invincible Iron Man #26. Given that this is a filler issue, it could have been much worse. Kelly Sue DeConnick attempts to write around her limitations by giving the dialogue some real gravitas and an emotional resonance. The ghost of Happy Hogan putting in an appearance is particularly inspired, if a little cheesy. Despite these efforts, I can't recommend this issue to any fans other than die-hard Iron Man completionists. With so many other comics coming out each week, wasting money on obvious filler like this is simply not an option.
Conclusion
Rescue may pull you in with promises of insights into the character of Pepper Potts. It may even interest you as a potential female friendly new superhero. Don't be fooled. Rescue may go on to do great things as a character in the Marvel U but with her presence already hinted at in later Invincible Iron Man issues, producing such a pointless filler issue is lazy and exploitative.
Wait for Rescue to have her moment under Matt Fraction's pen. I have a feeling it will be much better than this. Pepper, you deserved better.
