In the first issue of The Invincible Iron Man‘s new Legacy Bendis wastes no time in kicking the story into high gear. This issue starts off with giving fans a run down of whats been going on in the world of armored avengers. F.R.I.D.A.Y., Tony’s personal A.I. explains that since Stark has fallen into a coma he has had Riri Williams take over, as Ironheart, while Victor von Doom has also taken on the mantle of Iron Man to try and redeem himself. So if you havent been keeping up with either Invincible Iron Man or Infamous Iron Man this is the perfect jumping on point.

*WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD*

The comic starts off with The Stark International Sciences Expo where we find Amanda Armstrong, Tony’s mother, introducing Riri to the adoring crowd. Meanwhile, MJ is confronted by Mr. Lynch, chairman of the board of directors for STARK International, who tells Mary Jane that the board is officially takin over the company.

Next, were taken to Ryker’s Island where we discover that with S.H.I.E.L.D. gone, the prison couldn’t hold all the dangerous villains that had been brought in by Doom. This section of the issue is really interesting since the artist switches from Caselli, who did the art on Invincible Iron Man, to Maleev, who did the art on Infamous Iron Man. We see Doom arrive on the island to search for clues on where the inmates could have gone, when he is then confronted by The Thing. Ever since Doom has taken on the mantle of Iron Man, Ben Grim has been skeptical of his long time adversary and it seems this wont change any time soon, since we see Grim tell Doom he will never redeem himself.

We then cut back to Riri and the gang to discover that Tony Stark’s body is missing. And while the group tries to decide what they can do to find Tony we are once again pulled to a new scene that finds a strange man emerge from a pod to crawl across the room and don Tony Stark’s classic suit. Whether this man is in fact Stark remains to be seen, so it seems we will have to wait for the next issue to find out.

Overall this issue had a strong start to what has been hyped as the biggest Iron Man story of all time. The story did a good job of setting up the mystery of what has happened to Tony Stark and it gave a good update on where are main heroes, Riri and Doom are at this point. The dual artists on the comic was a great touch as it combines the arcs of Invincible and Infamous Iron Man well. However, I am worried that the arc will have difficulties covering all the plot lines laid out in this issue but I am hopeful to see where it goes.

Rating: 8.8 genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropists out of 10

–  Jacob Campbell