BADASS Comic Friday: US War Machine
US War Machine was part of the first wave of Marvel’s Max titles. These title were their answer to DC’s Vertigo line but instead of telling supernatural stories which was Vertigo’s main focus in those days they told extremely violent and curse filled stories with traditional Marvel characters. While the overall quality of the line did not hold up to Vertigo they did produce one of the most badass versions of Iron Man ever.
Lets start off talking about the format of the comic. I think that format plays an important role in the attitude you take with an individual work. I come in with a different mindset when I pick up a slick glossy floppy from Marvel compared to a deluxe hardcover version of the exact same title. The format of US War Machine was Badass. It was a regular length comic for a dollar fifty and it was weekly. They made up for its low cost and frequency by printing it in black and white and on newsprint. I’ve heard argument that newsprint is not that much cheaper than the current paper. Even if that’s true, the newsprint a cheap feel to the comic.
I’ve never been an Iron man fan. He seems like a boring rich guy who feels guilty about creating sweet weapons. Jim Rhodes, who is the star of this book, was never that much more interesting. When he took over the suit in the early 80s it was interesting to see him struggle with the suit and it created drama. After that point he was just a boring character. In the early 90s when War Machine was first introduced he had a falling out with Iron Man for some lame reason that I can’t even remember. The early 90s were full of fake Badasses. Like Rob Leifield.
But in the early 2000s, Chuck Austin (a writer who would go on to write a terrible run on X-men) decided to take all the cool elements of War Machine and make a new comic. The War Machine suit had huge guns on it. That was so sweet. He also made Jim Rhodes command a group of War Machines so that they could go kick ass together. And that they did. They shot people to pieces. They fought terrorists. This comic started coming out right around 9/11 so seeing terrorists die was even more satisfying. The actual plot wasn't that great, though it was entertaining. There was a subplot about racism that I thought was handled pretty well though what do I know. Mainly the plot allowed people in suits of armor to go around killing bad guys.
This following illustration that I’m sure is copywrited by Marvel will hopefully sum up the entire series
.
Lets start off talking about the format of the comic. I think that format plays an important role in the attitude you take with an individual work. I come in with a different mindset when I pick up a slick glossy floppy from Marvel compared to a deluxe hardcover version of the exact same title. The format of US War Machine was Badass. It was a regular length comic for a dollar fifty and it was weekly. They made up for its low cost and frequency by printing it in black and white and on newsprint. I’ve heard argument that newsprint is not that much cheaper than the current paper. Even if that’s true, the newsprint a cheap feel to the comic.
I’ve never been an Iron man fan. He seems like a boring rich guy who feels guilty about creating sweet weapons. Jim Rhodes, who is the star of this book, was never that much more interesting. When he took over the suit in the early 80s it was interesting to see him struggle with the suit and it created drama. After that point he was just a boring character. In the early 90s when War Machine was first introduced he had a falling out with Iron Man for some lame reason that I can’t even remember. The early 90s were full of fake Badasses. Like Rob Leifield.
But in the early 2000s, Chuck Austin (a writer who would go on to write a terrible run on X-men) decided to take all the cool elements of War Machine and make a new comic. The War Machine suit had huge guns on it. That was so sweet. He also made Jim Rhodes command a group of War Machines so that they could go kick ass together. And that they did. They shot people to pieces. They fought terrorists. This comic started coming out right around 9/11 so seeing terrorists die was even more satisfying. The actual plot wasn't that great, though it was entertaining. There was a subplot about racism that I thought was handled pretty well though what do I know. Mainly the plot allowed people in suits of armor to go around killing bad guys.
This following illustration that I’m sure is copywrited by Marvel will hopefully sum up the entire series
.
posted by DOOM805 at 12:44 PM
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