The Good
Tony Stark continues to shake things up in his new corner of the Marvel Universe. Since moving to San Francisco, he's unleashed the Extremis App which brings perfection upon those that downloaded it. The problem was, there was a catch. Continued perfection required a big daily fee. With the city desperate to regain what they had, many turned to crime and violence. Daredevil, also residing in San Francisco, decided to put a stop to Tony's activities. It looked like he defeated the Iron Avenger until Tony turned things around.
Despite the solicit billing this as mainly focusing on the confrontation between Matt and Tony, Tom Taylor gives us more than just that in this issue. Tony Stark is making it clear he is going to continue down this gray path between right and wrong. We also see more on the mysterious contingency plan Pepper put into play at the end of the first issue. Someone also crashes the party at Tony's resulting in another battle. This just might show us what Tony is or is not willing to do when innocents are around.
I enjoy seeing Yildiray Cinar's rendition of Iron Man more and more, each time I see him. I was a little lukewarm to the open-faced mask and silver colors when it was first shown. Tony showing off his face fits his more egotistical attitude. The colors by Guru-eFx really make the new costume shine (no pun intended). The little touches of the light shining upon Tony's suit works wonders for that little bit of realism as well as fits Tony's view of himself being the center of his universe.
The Bad
I'm a little torn on the confrontation between Tony and Matt. Things end a little abruptly. It was great to see this occur immediately to tie into the continuity of DD being in the same city. Seeing more of the legal implications could further make this an interesting fight between the two. The return of another character wasn't one I particularly wanted but it could be interesting to see what Tony has in mind now.
I do really dig the art but I thought Matt Murdock looked a little too young in the face. But with artistic interpretation, it didn't bother me too much.
The Verdict
AVENGERS & X-MEN: AXIS may be ending this week but there's no sign of Tony Stark going back to his old ways. With a new outlook on life and the way he operates, Iron Man is immersed in a gray area between good and evil. We've seen characters straddle this line before but with Tom Taylor writing the story, we know we'll see different aspects of Tony Stark's personality come to the surface. This may not be the Iron Man we've all known but it it's a fascinating look at the character, flipped a little on the side. The art and color really shine here. It's an exciting time to be reading Iron Man once again. As much as I liked him before, we now have more of an unknown factor in the book. I have no idea where Tom Taylor is taking Iron Man and I can't wait to see what happens next.