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U.S. WAR MACHINE #1
Mildly Recommended (5/10)
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Marvel Comics/MAX Comics
Writer: Chuck Austen
Artist: Chuck Austen, Wild and Wooly Press, and NIC Entertainment
Layouts: Victor Lopez
Editor: Ralph Macchio
Price: $1.50 US |
Based on the advance PR and Previews solicitation copy, I had no idea what to expect from U.S. War Machine. Based solely on this first issue, I still wouldn't know what to expect. The story is a bit vague, as it's difficult to piece together the basic plot with very little information. Fortunately, I not only expect the book to gain more focus and intensity with the forthcoming issues, but I know it will, having glanced at preview copies of the next two issues as well.
As Tony Stark holds a news conference to formally announce his discontinuation of the War Machine armor line as a weapons option for various militaries across the world, someone close to him, wearing War Machine armor, chases down a rogue group of AIM terrorists. They've kidnapped a young woman, and the confrontation turns bloody.
The computer-generated art certainly suits the technological tone of the title character, but it strike me as being a little stiff at times. The computer lettering seems kind of clunky as well, even intrusive. The black-and-white art suits the high-tech look of the book, though, and I'm pleased to see Marvel trying the cheaper format out.
This is one of two new titles in Marvel's MAX Comics line debuting this week. Austen's use of violence here is quite graphic, and though it teeters on the edge of being gratuitous, it does set the title character apart from Iron Man in attitude and his approach to dealing with criminals.
To be honest, if this was my only glimpse of U.S. War Machine, chances are I wouldn't be following it to a second or third issue. Austen has barely planted the seeds for what this series is really about. Fortunately, with the limited series's weekly schedule, we won't have to wait long for the book to pick up in quality.
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