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Another Look At Generations: Iron Man And Ironheart (Spoilers)

Published Mon, 28 Aug 2017 12:30:22 -0500

Last updated Mon, 28 Aug 2017 12:34:28 -0500

Last week, new Bleeding Cool reviewer The Drill reviewed the upcoming Generations: The Irons featuring Iron Man and Ironheart. We ran the review, but I wanted to seek out the issue in question so I could see for myself. And I did, but came to a different opinion.

There are two big things about the issue in question, which were reflected by The Drill, but I had a different reaction to both. The first that it did things differently to the other Generations book by having a modern-day character go to the far future to meet their counterpart rather than the past. And that very little "happened" and what conflict occurred was over in a page.

Firstly, one of the complaints I have come across is that the formula is turning off readers. Just as with the Convergence two partners from DC Comics a few years ago, once you've read one, you've read them all. You knew the structure and where it was all going, In Generations, that has been the cosmic cube sending modern-day characters to the past to meet the original legacy holder of that name, get involved some way in their story, then disappear, having learned something — something that may then affect them going forward.

And having read the same thing a number of times, having Odin shag the Phoenix was a welcome relief. Just something else.

Well, Generations: The Irons does do something else. It takes Riri Williams to the future to meet the ancient Tony Stark, now Sorcerer Supreme and discovering his world, his future, and also her own legacy.

That is something different for the character — for the story and ideal for the character and her desire, like Tony Stark, to be a futurist who now gets to see the future. Sending her to the past just wouldn't fit.

As to the critique about a lack of conflict — there are conflicts of expectations, world views, and perspectives. But this is a place where the future won. It's, thankfully, not some fascist state. It's not perfect, but problems are handled. And new solutions to old problems, from hunger to super villains popping up, have been found. Tony Stark, rather than the man who opposed Ulysses, has embraced that way of thinking again — dealing with problems without attacking them, but anticipating them, so that they will already be solved. And the heroes help him in that endeavour.

The Marvel Universe won. And somehow, Riri knows she helped; and it looks like she has learned something to propel her forward. It's not a bad thing that it didn't follow the standard plot of hitting things a lot while shouting snarky burns; it's a welcome relief. And it gives the Marvel characters something to fight for rather than some Days of Future Past.

I do share The Drill's critique that all the events didn't show what happened to the ordinary people. Almost everything is seen with the perspective of the "up above", though that does preserve a mystery for the future, with only occasional Easter eggs dotting around to suggest what might have been. And yes, the changing artists do distract, but the colourists must take credit for, between them, doing their best to keep a consistent tone for the future as seen. And the cover is a complete 180 degrees from what the comic book actually is.

But while it may not be what you are expecting, in this case, with Riri Williams, that may not be a bat thing at all.

Generations: The Irons with Iron Man and Ironheart is published by Marvel Comics on September 6th, by Brian Michael Bendis, Marco Rudy, Szymon Kudranski, Nico Leon, Will Sliney, Scott Kudlish, Nico Leon, Dean White and Paul Mounts.

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