Iron Man: Viva Las Vegas #1

Comments: “Marvel Knights.”—Cover. Title comes from a popular song by Elvis Presley. Story takes place in Earth-80734.

Review: Odd little item: Written by Jon Favreau, director of the first IRON MAN movie and illustrated by Adi Granov, this thing is a disappointment. The story isn’t very interesting though a first issue generally just sets everything up, herein featuring Elsa Bloodstone, an infrequently used character outside of AGENTS OF NEXTWAVE; the vignette aboard the plane where Iron Man’s heroics meet a negative reaction was offbeat but a bit underwritten. I think more could have been said on the European versus American worldviews. And while we’re supposed to side with Tony, it’s hard to deny that he really didn’t need to kill the hijacker; usually he isn’t so bloodthirsty. But it’s Granov’s painted art that does this comic in: he is great for covers, showing heroes posing for posterity, especially Iron Man as his style suits all-metal characters. He falls a bit short when portraying living, breathing human beings. Everything is static, he has a lot of trouble conveying movement which is a debit for a superhero story.

The big question is, where is this set? With Favreau’s involvement, one would naturally expect it to be placed in the MCU—but it isn’t. The giveaway is that no one knows he is Iron Man. Shellhead is referred to as Stark’s “bodyguard,” one who never seems to be around Tony but flies in after disaster strikes. This is a throwback to the early days of the hero, 1960-70s, unmatched in the MCU. Plus, there’s no romantic relationship with Pepper either; she an employee—a valued one but still an employee. But it’s not Earth-616 either, as Tony Stark drinks and chases women like a horndog. In issue #2, Iron Man mentions having met Fin Fang Foom before, which did not happen in the MCU either. So Marvel, recognizing the differences between this, the MCU, and 616, chose to give it its own numbered universe.