Invincible Iron Man Vol. 2: The War Machines

by Brian Michael Bendis

[Quirky Cat]

I think this is the last issue of the Invincible Iron Man run, but man has it been a great run! We know that this isn’t the end of Iron Man, obviously, since his series is getting rebooted alongside the Avengers and a dozen others. It looks like many of the plots and characters introduced in this series will continue on in their own way as well, which is fantastic.
Also apparently this is an anniversary issue, which explains why there are so many people involved in it. You can check the description if you want, but it includes people like Brian Michael Bendis (I’ll miss his writing for Marvel), Jim Cheung, David Marquez, Mike Deodato Jr., Mark Bagley, Leinil Francis Yu, Daniel Acuna, and I can’t keep listing names off like this. But it’s a lot of people! All of whom have famously helped to shape Iron Man over the years, which is why it’s so cool to see them all working together like this.
This issue wraps up a lot of the concerns and questions that they’ve been dancing around for so long, so don’t worry there won’t be any nagging cliffhangers. I’m actually really relieved about that. Whenever I hear about a series reboot I get anxious that the plot won’t be fully resolved in time.
While I’m content in knowing that Tony’s plot is going to continue on as expected, I’m really curious about many of the other characters of this series. What will happen to Riri and the team she’s recently started working with? It sort of seems like that group will be getting their own series, but I’m not certain about that. And what about Doctor Doom? He’s got a few plots still up in the air, from the obvious (his character changes) to the concerning (his ex and their child). I do hope that plot carries over into another arc, and I’m not feeling terribly fussy for which one it’ll be.
There are a ton of cameos in this issue, but most of them are the same characters that have been showing up for a while now (Riri, Mary Jane Watson, Blade). There are a couple of surprises too, but I’ll let you read those on your own.