Iron Man Gets Hammered in More Ways than One
Tony Stark is a tricky character to write. His actions often lead him to look like a villain simply because they usually put him at odds with everyone else in the Marvel Universe, so you have to make sure he doesn't come off as too much of a jerk. A lot of writers seem to have trouble with this, and as a result Iron Man has hit a sour note with what seems to be the majority of the fanbase.
JMS doesn't improve Stark's image here, quite the contrary, Iron Man comes off as even more arrogant until Thor puts him in his place. I'm a little confounded with how Tony handles the situation; why would you threaten a thunder God who you yourself made a monstrous clone of, and then expect him to join your ranks? How did he think Thor would react to the cloning incident? This isn't the first time JMS has written Iron Man to be an arrogant, poor judge of character. Since he is a writer who seems to have a liberal point of view when it comes to politics, I doubt he sympathizes much with Tony's position and so he writes him as a self important lap dog for a government that uses safety as an excuse to control people. One only has to look at the place where this issue takes place in; New Orleans, a city viewed by many as to have been neglected by the United States government, both in the real world and in the Marvel Universe. Of course I am just speculating, I don't know JMS personally and so I can't definitively tell you what his views are on politics, I'm merely going on what I have picked up from his writing.
Hey! Wait a minute! This is a Thor comic! Where do I get off writing about Iron Man? Well, Thor is a character that never really struck a huge chord with me; don't get me wrong, I like him, just not enough to buy his monthly title. JMS hasn't really gotten me to care about Thor anymore than I already did, and for that, combined with what I feel is a misrepresentation of Iron Man's character, I can't really give this issue a high score. Of course, the very notion of Thor pounding Stark's face in will be enough to get many fans to stand up and cheer, I guess I was one of the few who was rooting for Iron Man in this fight.
