The Invincible Iron Man: Execute Program (Issues #7-12)
By Daniel and Charles Knauf
Penciler: Patrick Zircher
Inker: Scott Hanna

(Disclaimer: I might spoil some stuff in this article.)

With the success of the Iron Man film, I found this time to be more fitting than ever to go back and read one of the mini-series that I never got around to finishing. For this reason, I purchased the “Execute Program” TPB the other day. The book itself was average, but there were some high points: Tony Stark is almost put away for life in prison and then almost dies, Captain America’s head almost gets crushed like a packing peanut, and we find out the nemesis is just some kid (well, yes, he has bloodlines to significance, but he’s still nothing remotely brawny or creepy). But none of that’s the point I’m trying to make.

I bought the wrong series.

Apparently what I was looking for was in “Iron Man: The Inevitable,” not “Invincible Iron Man.” I cannot quite remember the series title, but it was around issues 6-10. So it was a surprise to me when I was on about the second book of the series and only when I realized that the plot was not familiar at all did I look at the cover more closely and realized I picked up Invincible Iron Man instead of The Inevitable. Oh, how being observant does pay off.

Regardless, I’d like to talk about how pleased I was with the Iron Man ilm. When I first heard the announcement, my first thoughts were that it would either be along the lines of Batman Begins / Spider-man or Daredevil / Catwoman. I was overjoyed when it was the former. I even became a little fidgety in my seat when the post-credits bonus footage came on. That might be the first time I’ve gotten fidgety at a theater in a good way. But Robert Downey Jr. was the absolute perfect choice for Tony Stark, and the film was filled with so much badassery that I don’t see how anyone could not like it. In fact, I ‘m a little bit afraid that there was so much badassery that Iron Man will reach a mainstream status among little boys and girls everywhere. I don’t like that. I want Iron Man to continue to be a niche-ish superhero. I don’t want random people screaming the shit out of themselves when the trailer for the next Iron Man film comes out (a la Dark Knight). That kind of buzz ruins the fun for me. Am I the only one that feels that way?

But on the same token, I must say that I do think it’s awesome how much respect comic book films have gained within the past several years. Even if the respect is generally sticking to the film industry, I’m hoping this will put a light in some people’s heads that possibly the roots run deeper than film . . . I don’t know where I’m going with this mini-rant. I think the point is that success is often bittersweet, especially when something is held dearly to me. I want to see it do well because I’m a big fan of it, but I don’t want to see it do too well because then EVERYONE will become a fan of it. This kind of reminds me of Napoleon Dynamite. It was such a great film, and I wanted to see it do well, but then that blew up in my face and it became the most over-quoted film since Star Wars.