The Invincible Iron Man #500.1

With new Editor-in-Chief, with new parent company, with new year, comes a wave of new thought from Marvel Comics. I've been avoiding Marvel like the plague for the last 10 years, the company responsible for Daken, Wolverine's bisexual son, X-23, Wolverine's female clone "daughter", the death of Captain America, the resurrection of Bucky, the "dead" Jean Grey forcing Cyclops and Emma Frost to get together, One More Day, House of M, and allowing Spider-Man 3's script to exist. Suffice it to say, I have been against everything Marvel has stood for the past 10 years that Joe Quesada served as Editor-in-Chief.

To start off 2011, Marvel has decided to publish ".1" comics, serving as a method for the reader to catch up on everything that has happened in the character's canon and also to partially setup the next story arc. In the case of The Invincible Iron Man, Marvel also decided to completely do away with their Volume system and just do the numbering straight. As such, Invincible Iron Man #500 was printed, rather than Invincible Iron Man Vol. 5 #34.

Invincible Iron Man #500.1 is a rather simple comic book story, but it recounts the entirety of Iron Man's history while also moving the plot in a way only Tony Stark could possibly do: telling his story at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. The art inside is fantastic and the writing is just as brilliant. 500.1 serves as the perfect comic book, something both longtime and new readers can enjoy. The end of the issue provides 8 images that make absolutely no sense, but of course will by the time the year is up. I'm looking forward to any other .1 issue Marvel decides to publish, hopefully one for Spider-Man that will once and for all settle what the fuck One More Day did.

Final Score: 5 cups of coffee out of 5