![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
Matt Fraction on Iron Man
Marvel.com has posted an interview with Matt Fraction that will, I think, be interesting to Iron Man fans and haters alike.
Marvel.com: In your eyes, who is Tony Stark and who is Iron Man?
Matt Fraction: Tony Stark is equal parts James Bond and Chuck Yeager—a pioneer, a test pilot, an engineer, an adrenaline junkie visionary. He's a man that lives at the intersection of science, experimentation, and extreme physical danger, trapped in the body of a suave, sophisticated, elegant, ladies' man. He's a cool exec with a heart of steel, right?
Iron Man is the future of humanity, of post-humanity. Iron Man is the ultimate achievement in what we, as humans, can become. Iron Man is a vision of man as a self-made god.
Marvel.com: How has Tony's image changed post-CIVIL WAR?
Matt Fraction: Post-CIVIL WAR, I think Tony is wracked by the weight of a terrible moral choice he made. He believes in the ends but absolutely doesn't believe the price he—and all of his friends—had to pay was worth it. His arrogance and self-will ran riot and there's a piper or two to pay out there with his name on it.
And that's really our primary objective: making everyone fall in love with Tony Stark again.
I'm really excited by this interview because I think Matt Fraction really gets this character. I was reading-nodding-reading-nodding.
I'm less excited by the prospect of buying another freakin' Iron Man book. He really is becoming the new Wolverine! If you're really dedicated to following the character (I'm so not that dedicated and btw, thanks![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
scans_daily) you'd have to pick up: Iron Man: Director of SHIELD, Captain America, Mighty Avengers and New Avengers.
And if you're even more dedicated, there's: Marvel Adventures: Iron Man. Marvel Adventures: Avengers, Ultimate Iron Man and The Ultimates. Not to mention World War Hulk, the Illuminati, the upcoming Secret Invasion, Iron Man: Viva Las Vegas, Iron Man: Enter the Mandarin. etc etc etc.
I think we're close to overexposure critical mass. JUST IN TIME FOR THE MOVIE. Funny how that happened, eh?
So, why this book is good news, even if it only lasts ten issues (if that!):
1. Fraction is interested in accepting as given everything that's happened in the last few years and moving forward with it. He's not talking retcon, he's talking real character development - finally exploring the moral and ethical quandaries that have been glossed over in the other books.
2. It's going to be a superhero book. The core IM book, excellent though it's been since the relaunch (la la la Execute Program? What's that?), is essentially an espionage thriller. It wasn't subtitled Director of SHIELD by accident. Brubaker's Captain America is essentially the same kind of book. Bendis' books are all feeding into Secret Invasion, and use Tony as the de facto leader of the superhuman community. None of them are really interested in the everyday adventures of Iron Man. Fraction's book will be different - somehow an Iron Man: Superhero sized hole in the market has developed.
3. It might just shut some people the fuck up! This one is key for me because I am seriously getting sick of the tired Iron Fascist cracks. Can we please talk about something else? Or even have a polite conversation about comic books and not American politics? Come on internet, let's try something new and exciting.
4. Exploring the idea of man-as-god through Iron Man is a really cool idea. Particularly because it ties into worship of technology, capitalism and power. (And as an addendum to this, I've been thinking that you could do an awesome Nietzschean reading of Civil War, where Tony is the Over Man and Cap is the Last Man).
5. So is exploring the idea of post-humanism through Iron Man. (See Extremis and Hypervelocity). Pushing the limits of humanity with technology is kind of the point of the character. I've found that the worst interpretations of the character are the ones where the writer digs the tech, but doesn't get that the tech needs to impact the human body, needs to change the human body. The armor exists to augment human flesh - it's an effort of self-directed technological evolution.
And here's why it might be bad news:
1. It's freakin' Iron Man, not Spider-Man or Wolverine. I don't think the character has the fanbase to support so many different books longterm, even with the boost from CW and SI. The book may be doomed to (glorious) failure.
2. Oversaturation may turn people off of the character. Hello 90's!
3. Ok, my one worry is the emphasis in the promotional material on Tony's playboy lifestyle. His bed-hopping has been somewhat downplayed in recent years, in favour of telling other sorts of stories. I think that sacrificing those stories in favour of sexy time is a losing proposition, considering the character has never had a higher profile - even if many fans hate IM, they're interested in where he is now.
Marvel.com: In your eyes, who is Tony Stark and who is Iron Man?
Matt Fraction: Tony Stark is equal parts James Bond and Chuck Yeager—a pioneer, a test pilot, an engineer, an adrenaline junkie visionary. He's a man that lives at the intersection of science, experimentation, and extreme physical danger, trapped in the body of a suave, sophisticated, elegant, ladies' man. He's a cool exec with a heart of steel, right?
Iron Man is the future of humanity, of post-humanity. Iron Man is the ultimate achievement in what we, as humans, can become. Iron Man is a vision of man as a self-made god.
Marvel.com: How has Tony's image changed post-CIVIL WAR?
Matt Fraction: Post-CIVIL WAR, I think Tony is wracked by the weight of a terrible moral choice he made. He believes in the ends but absolutely doesn't believe the price he—and all of his friends—had to pay was worth it. His arrogance and self-will ran riot and there's a piper or two to pay out there with his name on it.
And that's really our primary objective: making everyone fall in love with Tony Stark again.
I'm really excited by this interview because I think Matt Fraction really gets this character. I was reading-nodding-reading-nodding.
I'm less excited by the prospect of buying another freakin' Iron Man book. He really is becoming the new Wolverine! If you're really dedicated to following the character (I'm so not that dedicated and btw, thanks
scans_daily) you'd have to pick up: Iron Man: Director of SHIELD, Captain America, Mighty Avengers and New Avengers.And if you're even more dedicated, there's: Marvel Adventures: Iron Man. Marvel Adventures: Avengers, Ultimate Iron Man and The Ultimates. Not to mention World War Hulk, the Illuminati, the upcoming Secret Invasion, Iron Man: Viva Las Vegas, Iron Man: Enter the Mandarin. etc etc etc.
I think we're close to overexposure critical mass. JUST IN TIME FOR THE MOVIE. Funny how that happened, eh?
So, why this book is good news, even if it only lasts ten issues (if that!):
1. Fraction is interested in accepting as given everything that's happened in the last few years and moving forward with it. He's not talking retcon, he's talking real character development - finally exploring the moral and ethical quandaries that have been glossed over in the other books.
2. It's going to be a superhero book. The core IM book, excellent though it's been since the relaunch (la la la Execute Program? What's that?), is essentially an espionage thriller. It wasn't subtitled Director of SHIELD by accident. Brubaker's Captain America is essentially the same kind of book. Bendis' books are all feeding into Secret Invasion, and use Tony as the de facto leader of the superhuman community. None of them are really interested in the everyday adventures of Iron Man. Fraction's book will be different - somehow an Iron Man: Superhero sized hole in the market has developed.
3. It might just shut some people the fuck up! This one is key for me because I am seriously getting sick of the tired Iron Fascist cracks. Can we please talk about something else? Or even have a polite conversation about comic books and not American politics? Come on internet, let's try something new and exciting.
4. Exploring the idea of man-as-god through Iron Man is a really cool idea. Particularly because it ties into worship of technology, capitalism and power. (And as an addendum to this, I've been thinking that you could do an awesome Nietzschean reading of Civil War, where Tony is the Over Man and Cap is the Last Man).
5. So is exploring the idea of post-humanism through Iron Man. (See Extremis and Hypervelocity). Pushing the limits of humanity with technology is kind of the point of the character. I've found that the worst interpretations of the character are the ones where the writer digs the tech, but doesn't get that the tech needs to impact the human body, needs to change the human body. The armor exists to augment human flesh - it's an effort of self-directed technological evolution.
And here's why it might be bad news:
1. It's freakin' Iron Man, not Spider-Man or Wolverine. I don't think the character has the fanbase to support so many different books longterm, even with the boost from CW and SI. The book may be doomed to (glorious) failure.
2. Oversaturation may turn people off of the character. Hello 90's!
3. Ok, my one worry is the emphasis in the promotional material on Tony's playboy lifestyle. His bed-hopping has been somewhat downplayed in recent years, in favour of telling other sorts of stories. I think that sacrificing those stories in favour of sexy time is a losing proposition, considering the character has never had a higher profile - even if many fans hate IM, they're interested in where he is now.