(Oct. 2002) "Sympathy for the Devil,
part three." Cover art:
Michael Ryan. Script: Mike
Grell. Art: Michael Ryan/Sean Parsons.
Ho-hum. Tony Stark/Iron Man
battles Ty Stone in DreamVision....again.
We just saw this -- what, almost 20 issues ago? After easily rescuing Rumiko,
Tony sends her off on "a mission" -- to convince city authorities to
shut down the power to the entire grid serving Ty's virtual reality system. She
succeeds, and Ty is last seen walking around in pitch blackness. My opinions on
the art really hasn't changed, although Ryan/Parsons' Iron
Man is sure sweet! Kudos to 4 of the 5 letter
writers in this ish -- they are A.I. contributors!
Hube's Recommendation: 
1/2 repulsors!
Fan Reaction:
Hube, I disagree with your rating of IM #58. I thought it was a great
issue! The artwork was credible...everything from Ty Stone's demented
kingdom in Dreamvision to Iron Man himself! Agreeably, the story didn't
utilize Tony's noggin' all too much, but in comparison to the past 7 issues
(where Tony's solution has been to punch, repulsor or unibeam a problem), in
this issue he thinks out a very logical way to shut Stone down. This issue
is at least worthy of 3 and a half repulsors, if not 4 for just being a REAL
victory for Stark. (And, you've got to admit, the art HAS improved;
Parsons does a pretty darn good job in this issue, and Ryan has improved as well
as far as facial anatomy is concerned.) --
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Fan Reaction 2:
Hube, I have to agree with you and disagree with the the letter writer (above).
It's not that the issue was bad, but it's been done before. Just a re-hash of
the last Ty story with a corny end (this great genius didn't think about the
possibility of a blackout, losing power and NOT have a backup plan?). As for the
art, to each his own. I like my Iron Man clean, slick and clear. Ryans stuff is
too messy and as a story teller he's difficult to read. --
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Fan Reaction 3:
Hube, i preferred the black+white original take of this story -- it was shorter.
I gotta say I'm heartbroken at the state of IM since Sean Chen and Busiek
left the scene, sales over this period must have hit freefall. I've witnessed
bloated manga forms, uninspired stories and ugly unsleek armor designs. I look
at a recent IM issue and compare it to any issue vol. 3 1-30 and see the vast
decline in creative ability. Huge chunks of continuity formed over the last few
years need to be ripped out and destroyed not least the revealing of Stark as
IM. And let's have a campaign to bring back the beautiful Heroes Return armor or
the classic armor with modifications with a great artist to render and an
enthusiastic creative writer to scribe. --
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