IRON MAN: NOIR review

(Reviewed by Melody Werner)
Iron Man: Noir is a 4 issue long miniseries published under Marvel's Noir imprint in 2010, following a pulp noir version of Iron Man (as one might ascertain from the title). Written by Scott Snyder (Batman, Wytches) and illustrated by Manuel Garcia, with covers by Mark Fyles. IMN could've just been a knockoff Rocketeer and nobody would've complained one bit. Instead, we get a new, interesting take on pulp noir that revolutionizes the style of comic, while also keeping what makes it so fun to read.

The art is easily the least polished part of the series. It's not horrid or anything, but it's not so great either. It's serviceable enough, but it's the weakest aspect by a long shot. The action and character designs are pretty cool though, and the pages are detailed enough to know it obviously wasn't some hack job. The covers are pretty kickass.

The plot in IMN is excellent and compelling. Each issue leaves off with a twist that makes you want to immediately read the next one. They're technically cliffhangers, but since it's long been finished, going into it now you wouldn't have the whole "DAMMIT JUST COME OUT!" feeling like I was having with Chew at time of writing (I'm going to leave the next bit raw and unedited, so as to preserve my original piece as much as possible)--by the way, DAMMIT JUST COME OUT, CHEW FINALE. I WANT TO READ THE FINAL ARC SO I CAN GIVE YOU A 10/10 AGAIN. That off my chest, the story in this series can be really unpredictable at times, except when conventions of the genre call for something. Which is fine with me, though that may be because I enjoy those standard conventions. You may not, so your mileage may vary.

The characters are interesting and as usual with alternate universes like this, I love seeing how they take established characters and change them to fit the theme, like Namor. Btw, Namor is fantastic here, so if Marvel does another Noir wave and does a Namor Noir series, sign me up. Actually--just sign me up for more Noir, I adore that imprint. Anyways, the dialogue is for the most part really good and snappy, but there's a bit that really grinded my gears towards the end where Iron Man literally explains his character development--why?! That's so lazy and insults the reader's intelligence. Show don't tell; you were doing it fine literally everywhere else, Snyder, my man.

Iron Man: Noir is a cracking little title all around. Fans of Marvel and fans of pulp noir alike will find themselves getting a lot of fun out of this one, along with fantastic writing. It's a great less-than-an-hour read, definitely worth checking out. Iron Man: Noir gets a 9/10.

Awesome

Summary:
An excellent miniseries with a compelling and unpredictable narrative, neat takes on established characters, cool action, cool character designs, good dialogue, decent art, badass covers, and interesting characters. The art and dialogue could be much better and they hold it back from being full-on fantastic, but it's still very much worth the read. 

(originally posted: 7/13/2016)