Iron Age Omega #1

Cover by Ariel Olivetti

Iron Age Omega #1 (August 24, 2011)

Writer: Rob Williams

Penciller: Rebekah Isaacs

Inker: John Livesay

Colorist: Andres Mossa

Letterer: Dave Sharpe

Well, I finally read a comic that featured Dazzler as a character. So I can cross that off my bucket list.

Other than that, I wasn’t bowled over this issue. Admittedly, the only other Iron Age comic I read was Iron Age #1, which I did enjoy but it’s been quite a while since I read that, so I don’t remember any real connection between this comic and that one.

I know Tony Stark is time traveling, as he is wont to do, and trying to prevent something awful happening (awful being the destruction of the world and the deaths of all of his friends) at the hands of the kind of pathetic and dying Dark Phoenix. He wasn’t pathetic as a villain, per se; it was just kind of sad to see Avengers pitted against this old, wasted, cancer-ridden guy in a wheelchair. I know he had his robots doing his fighting but still, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the guy when he realized his plan went awry.

Anyway, what I liked best about this comic was the inclusion of many different Marvel characters all brought together for one pretty well-drawn and crafted fight scene. There was Luke Cage, Hank Pym, Cyclops, Captain Britain, and of course, Dazzler.

Say what you want about Dazzler (she has stupid powers and was birthed purely out of a ham-fisted attempt by Marvel to cash in to the disco craze) but I want to like her. I don’t know why. I think I feel sorry for her because everyone makes fun of her so much. I want to believe in her! You never know when you may need to convert sound into light.

The ending was a bit maudlin on Tony Stark’s side, but I guess when he got sober, he became very sobering (see what I did there? God, that’s embarrassing). While I was impressed with Isaac’s characterization and handling of the pretty epic climatic fight scene, I wasn’t particularly enthralled by the storyline. It was bit heavy-handed for my tastes. Ah well.