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.

Tom Taylor done a good job with Iron Man and better than Kieron Gillen

Nice

love thiiiisssss

I thought it was interesting that Matt wanted to see Foggy and not his girlfriend.

This issue felt way too short

I love this series, it's like Stark, raw.

Also, She-Hulk! God I hope she gets to pound on Tony's open facemask. :)

Reaaaally lovin this man. 5/5 in my opinion :D

@wheatstalker: Last time she tried hat she ended up powerless, penilless and stuck in New Jersey with a torn uniform. Then again all it took was a note of apology for her to get over that. I wouldn't be surprised if she sleeps with him again. Where Tony is concerned Jen doesn't have a lot of self respect.

I'd give this a 3/5. Everything ends abruptly, and it's very much so a set-up issue. Still enjoying this series a lot but this was a short issue

If you're referring to the adamantium-needle nanite injection incident ... it was all just a misunderstanding. No deficit of self-respect, as I recall, just a long list of acquaintances. She won't sleep with Tony ever again, especially not Superior Stark. Well, she might, she can do what she wants. :)

@wheatstalker: A miss-understanding? He drafted her into SHIELD (and despite the fact that she is a lawyer Jen had no idea that the superhero registration act allowed the law to do that to her)to use her to capture Hulk Foes which SHIELD experimented on, lied to her face when she was worried about her cousin, used the persona of a sympathetic friend to get her into bed, used the nanites when she confronted him and then threw her off the ship so he could use her as bait to catch Amedeus Cho. In response to all of this, including the knowledge that Doc Samson had been sharing confidential information about her with Tony Jen did... Nothing. She helped the Leader get a trial and then got disbarred and was a bounty hunter when they next met. That was in a courtroom and she sat there, terrified of Tony when he approached her and handed her the note of apology for all of that. That was all it took. I don't see a miss-understanding there. I see woman written as a doormat by men, for other men. I've shown the issues to women and all of them are amazed that a supposedly strong character like Jen folded so easily.

@wheatstalker: it's not open, just transparent)

Damn Tom Taylor really knows how to make some absurd and really annoying stories, am I right? However, he's still doing a better job on Tony than Kieron Gillen.

@spacemanspiff85: It kind of makes sense to me. Foggy is his oldest and longest lasting freind.