This is a big week for comics; lots of worthwhile books, "Spider-Man 3" comes out tomorrow (look for our review tomorrow as well), and the first shot of the Iron Man armor from next summer's "Iron Man" was released. Let's do "Iron Man" first.

Left: "Iron Man" movie armor - Right: Iron Man cover by artist Adi Granov

It's a bit low res for the first big reveal of the armor, but I really like the design. I read that director Jon Favreau was using the spectacular artwork by Adi Granov as a template, so I knew that the suit would have that classic-yet-high-tech look. It still looks like a drawing to me though, so we won't know for sure that it works until it's in motion. It's definitely a good start. Iron Man may not be a top tier character with mass appeal outside of comics like Spider-Man or Batman, but he could be fantastic on film. You'll have to forget "The Rocketeer" and think of him more like a Harrier that's shaped like a man. "Iron Man" needs to have action on par with jet combat movies, although with a villain like The Mandarin there may not be an opportunity for elaborate chases. I'm hoping he can move and fight like an athlete in the armor as well as fly, and the repulsor rays are a must. He needs to be dealing lots of damage with the repulsor rays. The Iron Man armor is kind of the comic-equivalent of Boba Fett's armor in that it has a plethora of weapons and gadgets hidden all over it. This could be a spectacular film, but I'll wait for a trailer.

Three Whedon books came out this week, and after reading them in succession it occurs to me that they all have that Whedon voice almost to a fault. Brian Michael Bendis has a similar problem in that many of his characters speak with the same "voice", but since Whedon's writing has such a unique cadence and vocabulary, the similarities between titles stand out even more. It's not a criticism really, just an observation. If you like Whedon's writing, you should pick up all the books he's on currently (ASTONISHING X-MEN, BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER SEASON EIGHT, and RUNAWAYS) because they all deliver that "Whedon sound". Speaking of BUFFY, is he going to eventually bring back every villain from the series? I like the comic, but it seems like rather than creating a new "big bad" (to use the Whedon vernacular) he would rather use villains we know from the show. We've seen Amy, a hint of Dark Willow, Ethan Rayne, and Warren, and it's only been three issues. Farming from the mythology of the show is an excellent idea (and it connects the two very well), but don't bring back Adam with the 3.5" disk drive in his chest. He was the absolute worst villain. In the letters section of issue #3 it's mentioned that what started out as a 22 or 23 issue run for the comic has turned into almost 50 issues. That's easy to say when you're at issue #3 and sales are up, but we'll check back on that at issue #10.

WORLD WAR HULK is ramping up with a couple issues this week, and while it may not be a big Marvel crossover event like CIVIL WAR (although the size of that checklist in the back would argue otherwise) it's interesting that Marvel continues to make villains out of their heroes. What's happened to the Marvel villains? Where are the Dr. Dooms and Apocalypses nowadays? Why are the biggest villains all of a sudden Iron Man and the Hulk? The story with Hulk is that the Illuminati made up of Tony Stark (Iron Man), Reed Richards, Dr. Strange, and Black Bolt (Professor X and Namor are also included but not for the sake of the Hulk story) decided that it would best if they shot the Hulk into outer space. Yeah, it's kind of out of left field, but that's what they did. So the Hulk got shot into space, became a gladiator/emperor, married, impregnated his wife, and then had it all taken away. Now he's coming back to Earth with all his "warbound" gladiator buddies and he's super pissed! He seems quite intent on killing the above mentioned "good guys" and anyone who stands in his way. Not only that, but he's wielding a large assortment of gladiator weaponry. The Hulk punching things was never really enough to hook me, but give him a sword and an axe and I'm there. Time will tell if it's much ado about nothing or if he's a legitimate threat, but I'd like to be there when Reed Richards explains why he thought it'd be cool to shoot Hulk into space. I'm hoping it doesn't end with Hulk turning back into Banner and Black Bolt slapping him.

To all you DC guys out there, I know that 52 ended this week, and there's probably a whole lot going on with that. Honestly, I got off 52 a long time ago and have only been tracking it passively, but I'm working on getting some of the hardcore DC folks I know to put something together about 52 in the coming weeks.

Here are my picks from this week:

• Darkhorse
• • Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Eight #3 - There's a panel where Buffy is dressed as a nurse between naked Angel and naked Spike and all three are chained together with this weirdly explicit sexual metaphor in the background.
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  • Hellboy: Darkness Calls #1 - It's the long-awaited sequel to The Island, and finds Hellboy in a bathrobe and sandals.
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• DC
• • Batman: Detective Comics #832 - Lots of people with animal heads. I thought Paul Dini was still writing this, but Royal McGraw is credited as writer for this issue.
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  • Green Lantern #19 - I still dislike Daniel Acuña's art and coloring, but I like Geoff John's Hal Jordan so I'm stuck with it.
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• IDW Publishing
• • Transformers Movie Prequel #4 - Not much happens throughout this series, and I can't imagine it being required reading for the movie.
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• Image
• • Spawn #167 - Since the Apocalypse this is starting to feel more and more like Ultimate Spawn (which may be a good thing).
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• Marvel
• • Astonishing X-Men #21 - I don't know. This arc is better than the last two, but this book just doesn't feel as important as it did during the first six issues.
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  • Avengers: The Initiative #2 - For a Marvel comic with a bunch of new characters and people I've never heard of, it's still pretty good so far.
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  • The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born #4 - Not really living up to the promise of "new material", but I do like the mythology they include at the end of each issue.
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  • Ghost Rider: Trail of Tears #4 - This book feels very un-Marvel and un-Ghost Rider for that matter, but the Garth Ennis writing and the Clayton Crain art keep me coming back.
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  • Iron Man #17 - Even though I know they are doing it to coincide with next summer's Iron Man movie, I like that they are bringing back The Mandarin and not focusing on post Civil War Tony.
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  • The Incredible Hulk #106 - I don't usually buy Hulk comics, but this World War Hulk thing interests me so I picked this up. Seems to be mostly She-Hulk, though.
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  • Marvel Zombies vs Army of Darkness #3 - Really? Zombie Howard the Duck? Really...
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  • Omega Flight #2 - Lots of fighting (and in Canada), but I'm not totally sold yet. I'll give this series one more issue.
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  • Runaways #26 - First it was Wolverine now Molly gets the drop on The Punisher as well. Whedon continues to mine Buffy dialogue for this, but it works.
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  • Ultimate Fantastic Four #41 - The end to the worst story arc in UFF so far, but I see that the Silver Surfer is next (and just in time for the new movie featuring...the Silver Surfer!) *sigh*
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  • World War Hulk Prologue: World Breaker - Like I said, this interests me so I'm doing some catch up and this is one of those kinds of issues. It even has the requisite checklist in the end.
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