Invincible Iron Man Volume 2: The War Machines Graphic Novel Review

After the aptly titled reboot of Invincible Iron Man, I’m hungry for more.

That was a book that fully reinvented the character whilst giving him a much-needed fresh lick of paint.

Following on directly from that graphic novel is Volume 2: The War Machines.

Throughout this review, we’ll be discussing whether it’s worth checking out or if you’re better just sticking with the first Volume.

There will be some spoilers here so if you haven’t had a chance to read it then I suggest you skip to the score and come back after you have.

With that out the way let’s get into our breakdown of Invincible Iron Man Volume 2.

The War Machines Review

As you’d expect, The War Machines is centred around…well…War Machine.

In the same way that the initial graphic novel in the series reinvented Iron Man, the second volume follows suit and paints Rhodey in a new light. Here is a man that is sick of living in the shadow of Tony and throughout the graphic novel he really is given the spotlight.

War Machine is my second favourite Marvel character (right after Hulk) and as someone that’s often overlooked, it’s nice to see him get some focus for once.

The work isn’t solely centred around him though and the graphic novel bounces back and forth between the army lieutenant and Tony Stark.

Stark is still coming to grips with his newfound relationship and the fact that Doctor Doom is. IW a good guy. These moments add some awesome comedic sections to the work early on and it leads to an opening that allows the reader to pick up right where they left off in terms of the story.

From the off, I very much feel that if you enjoyed the first volume then you’ll instantly like this too as it easily rivals it in quality from the get-go.

Go Get Em Tiger

What I love about the book is that it also expands upon the side characters too. Mary Jane Watson, now Stark’s P.A. gets some brilliant dialogue and she acts as an excuse to bring Spider-man into the story too.

Seeing him team up with Iron-Man on a quest to rescue Rhodey really makes this a page-turner and they perfectly balance the quest with Rhode’s fight for survival against some cybernetic ninjas.

Unfortunately on the most part the villains of the piece very much just feel like they’re Iron Man in different coloured armour and it leaves them lacking their own personality.

This is a big problem that I find with villains in the MCU and a lot of the time they end up just being an evil version of the hero in a similar sort of costume.

Whether it’s Kilmonger and his Gold Black Panther uniform, Iron Monger or Whiplash, the villains definitely feel less distinct than they could be and I feel that’s a problem here.

It doesn’t really derail the work but it does leave the threat feeling slightly lacklustre.

“Is Tony Stark Dead?”

After a big run-in with the villains, Tony is thought to have perished.

Obviously, we know this isn’t the case but the book goes a solid issue without revealing his true fate which is a nice little direction to take things.

Though we don’t really get an explanation on how he survived (this is comic books after all) it still allows certain things to shift within Stark Industries, namely Mary Jane’s job role.

She becomes the CEO of the company and it’s a nice switch up to see the fiery redhead in the role. It echoes Pepper’s time as the boss and really adds some dynamism to the corporate side of things which allows Tony to go all out as Iron Man.

Mary Jane Watson

What I love about this storyline is that it really fleshes out the side characters including Mary Jane Watson and Riri Williams.

They all get big roles and fun moments that show the title can succeed without just being centred around the main man.

The book does end on a cliffhanger (as do most second volumes) but there’s still enough here to leave you asking for more.

The Verdict

Overall this again is another brilliant addition to the series.

Though it doesn’t quite live up to the prior volume it feels like the perfect follow on and I’m genuinely excited to pick up the concluding volume in the trilogy.

This was another great graphic novel and it gets an…

8.5/10