Posted in: Comics, Review | Tagged: aaron stack, comic book reviews, iron man, Machine Man

REVIEW: 2020 Machine Man #2 — "For All The Yuks, This Is The Equivalent To A Clip Show"

Published Thu, 19 Mar 2020 16:00:34 -0500

(Marvel Comics, creative team: Christos Gage, Andy MacDonald, Dono Sanchez-Almara, Tom DeFalco, Mike Hawthorne, Adriano di Benedetto, Erick Arcienega, Travis Lanham)

Ever since at least Nextwave, the character Aaron Stack has been a guilty pleasure like Damian Wayne or some incarnations of Deadpool — a quote engine running amok and spreading prodigious but ultimately cartoonish amounts of violence. Here, his character is put under the microscope in a debate about self-determination that borrows a playbook from Ali in Zaire. There are a lot of great laughs here in Gage's script and the artwork from MacDonald, Sanchez-Almara and Lanham delivers these moments in a gonzo Kirby-meets-Crumb style that's fun to watch. Sadly, for all the yuks, this is the equivalent to a clip show, sampling moments of past issues and mixing them into a pastiche. It's not bad, but it's weighed down by a largely forgettable back up story and its own treading water to keep pace with the ongoing storyline. Not bad, but it is a dot release instead of a new kernel. RATING: HONORABLE MENTION.

2020 MACHINE MAN #2 (OF 2)
CHRISTOS GAGE & TOM DEFALCO (W) andY MACDONALD & Mike Hawthorne (A)
Cover by NICK ROCHE
• Machine Man is fighting to save his true love, but will he be able to defeat – himself?! Outdated and overpowered, Machine Man goes head-to-head with the updated X-52 model!
• Will Machine Man be able to overcome or will he find himself paved over in the name of progress?
• Plus, part 2 of a backup story by legendary Machine Man writer, Tom DeFalco and artist Mike Hawthorne!!