Iron Man #3: A.I.M. for the Heart

Iron Man #3 is a vibrant balancing act of an issue, threading so many different points of setup for the story of this first arc without losing pace with its core narrative. With all the focus on A.I.M. and its splintering factions, the team never loses sight of Tony Stark’s character as he attempts to keep his human side alive through romance—a part of him that is so often destroyed by his superhero life. That all comes sandwiched between big, explosive Iron Man action and humor in a way that keeps the pace of this book lively while simultaneously echoing its themes.

Starting with Masque and A.I.M., the team continues to layer the threat of an agency fallen to chaos, its legacy lost to time as multiple hands all attempt to establish themselves as the de facto leader of this tyrannical organization. This desperation, and the personal connection between Madame Masque and Tony, has allowed this plot to target our title hero just as much as it does the Marvel Universe. The weight of that, which rests on the steel shoulders of Iron Man, grows with each passing page as A.I.M. continuously outpaces Tony’s ability to stay ahead of the curve. We also get more insight into why Tony chose the individual he did to receive the “Tony Stark Award,” which helps build out the themes of heroism necessary to frame Tony’s character.

This intersects with his newly found love interest, Luna Lucia, in a much lighter way. This lightness stems from Tony’s own attempts to bury the rising threat of A.I.M. with humor and bravado, but that lid can only stay shut for so long. Seeing how messy it’s all becoming is not only entertaining, but also quietly speaks to the character’s worst traits without kicking him down in a Spider-Man-style fashion. This book continues to revel in a lighter tone, especially with the over-the-top humor of M.O.D.O.K.’s role in this issue, but it thankfully doesn’t avoid the hard truths of Tony as a character.

Carmen Carnero’s art continues to sing with this kind of story. Her paneling keeps the character moments flowing, the action scenes exciting, and the more high-concept elements of this issue provocative. She draws the absolute daylights out of M.O.D.O.K., filling his singular, giant head with so much expression while still maintaining his character-defining, gremlin-like grotesqueness. The colors excel at capturing the tonal swings of this issue while blending them together cohesively, once again nailing one of the more experimental pages at the end of the book.