Posted in: Comics, Marvel Comics | Tagged: alex maleev, avengers, brian michael bendis, doctor doom, dr strange, fantastic four, HRL, infamous iron man, Marvel Comics, mephisto, project pegasus, sharon carter, shield, the thing, tony stark, victor von doom

Infamous Iron Man #11 Review: I Saw Mommy Kissing Mr. Fantastic

Okay, I'll admit it: this one is a little too Bendis.

I was pretty interested in Infamous Iron Man when it was first announced. I love a good villain book, and Victor Von Doom is perfect to host his own title. Doom taking up the mantle of Iron Man was a bit odd, but I could see Victor trying to fly right for a change after Jonathan Hickman's Secret Wars. So, I gave the first few issues a try. They were alright. They didn't wow me, but they were a decent read.

I decided to try Infamous Iron Man again today with #11 to see where the story was at by now.

Well, Victor has locked himself up in Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. under S.H.I.E.L.D. watch after something went down between his mother, Reed Richards, the Thing, and himself. S.H.I.E.L.D. director Sharon Carter called in Doctor Strange to take a look at him, and the Sorcerer Supreme takes a crack at getting into Doom's psyche to see what's going on.

Holy shit, the quips and one-liners. There are so many, and they're so bad.

Stephen Strange recites the AutoZone jingle, and I feel like that says all I need to say about this one already.

Strange just won't stop rattling off bad one-liners. It's a bit frustrating when they only seem to serve to pad out the dialogue while we wait to figure out what's caught up in Victor's iron craw.

What is it? Spoilers (though I suspect this might have been shown in recent issues): he saw Reed Richards making out with his mom. Yeah…really?

No, really. Victor is that juvenile deep down that he gets upset that Reed and his momma might be banging. Like, this guy used to be one of the world's greatest villains. Now he's trying the hero gig to honor Iron Man, and he gets put off by that.

I'm sure there's a joke in there somewhere about the Spider-Man story where Aunt May and Otto Octavius started dating.

Anyway, this has shocked Doom enough that he locked himself away in Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. He and I get to hear a coked-out Strange make an ass out of himself.

Yeah, this was pretty damn mediocre.

It's not the worst. There are some decent moments and plot points, and Alex Maleev could make a drawing of a phonebook captivating. The art in this is still really solid, even if much of it is just Strange and Doom squatting on a pair of pillows. Matt Hollingsworth has the grayed color scheme down too, so the visual theme works pretty nicely.

That being said, I can't recommend Infamous Iron Man #11. It feels like a time sink of a comic wherein Bendis has surrendered to a stereotype of himself. He's better than this, and there are far better comics to read out there. Give this a pass.

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