Whitney Frost: Tony Stark's Masked Villainess

In Invincible Iron Man Issue 1, we meet a woman engaged in industrial espionage. At least, that's what she appears to be doing, as a man hands her a suitcase. In doing so, he's betraying his employer, A.I.M. (or Advanced Idea Mechanics), in the hopes of substantially supplementing his income. But we never see what's in the suitcase, or why the woman wants it.

As it turns out, this mysterious woman is acquiring several things. We can only assume they are technological inventions she plans to put to some important use. The second item she collects is from a business division Tony Stark owns in Osaka, Japan.

In this panel, she's just leapt out the plate glass window of a skyscraper, and is pursued by several of Tony Stark's employees. Presumably, after she shoots them, she has a way of landing.

She's not just snatching inventions from A.I.M. and Stark Enterprises. Later, she emerges from Doctor Doom's castle in Latveria. She shoots off with her rocket pack, another briefcase clutched to her chest. 

Penciler Dave Marquez does some fine work, capturing the female form, the technology, the frantic action, and the intricate mask that covers her face. But the way the contents of the suitcase glow, the way her mask blends in with her skin, the flare of her burning rockets, the way the artificial day of the high-rise contrasts with the natural darkness of night in the second picture, and the way the castle and surrounding landscape fade into the distance in the early morning are all due to Justin's coloring.

I look forward to reading more issues of Invincible Iron Man, and seeing where Brian Michael Bendis takes the series. I'm also interested in learning about Whitney Frost, also known as Madame Masque. I gather she's a classic foil for Tony Stark, having appeared in stories shortly after Stan Lee created Iron Man. One thing's for sure. As Whitney Frost collects the items she needs, and assembles and uses them for her intended purposes, I know she'll look terrific doing so, thanks to the penciling efforts of Dave Marquez, and the coloring of Justin Ponsor.

Dragon Dave

Iron Man's Girl Friday

In the new Invincible Iron Man Issue 1, Tony Stark has a new assistant. Her name is Friday, and she is a Holo-A.I., or an artificial intelligence that manifests herself as a hologram. She's every bit as intelligent as the A.I. J.A.R.V.I.S. in the Iron Man movies, and as beautiful as the flesh-and-blood Pepper Potts. She helps him by reigning in his impetuous nature, and reminding him of practical matters. Her task is to help him accomplish his goals, and as Tony Stark can sometimes be his own worst enemy, she's got her work cut out for herself. Yet she seems to know just what to say to keep him in line.

I really like how Justin Ponsor colored Friday. He gives her a pink color scheme, yet she looks like a real lady. He gives her a degree of transparency, yet not enough to shout that she's unreal. 

Of course, you know she's not real when she shows up as a disembodied, floating head on the battlefield. But in that way she helps Tony Stark out too. After all, if you saw a talking, floating head next to a man in armor, that might just keep you off your A Game, don't you think?

Dragon Dave

One Invincible Cover

My friend Justin Ponsor is one of the premier colorists at Marvel Comics. So when I saw that he was helping launch the new series of Invincible Iron Man, I had to check it out.

The first issue I picked up had a pretty awesome cover. It made me want to look inside, so I did. Then I saw this bad boy. I quickly discovered that Justin had actually colored this cover, which instantly made it more special. Given the level of detail required, covers usually take much longer to color than interior pages. So if Marvel asked him to do the issue and the cover, the management is going all out to produce a spectacular first issue.

From what I can tell, there are actually eleven different variant covers floating around out there, so there are a lot of fans hungry to pick up this first issue of the new Iron Man series.

Here's another big surprise. Open the cover, and there's another whole cover for you to enjoy, this time without all the print to obscure the detailed drawing. Another plus: for this first issue, the outer cover is much thicker than usual. So it feels more like a real book, instead of a flimsy comic.

I don't have many wraparound comics in my collection, so when I noticed that the back continued the story begun on the front, I was even more impressed. That's twice as large a beautifully drawn and colored image as I was expecting. And just as the first page reproduces the cover without the titles, the last page reproduces the back cover on interior paper stock. So you not only get a full issue, but two wraparound covers! 

You know, If you were so inclined, you could separate one of the covers from the issue, and put it up on the wall. It's perfectly suitable for framing. But that might be going a bit too far. After all, what true comic lover would dare take apart a beautifully made comic like this, even if it was colored by Justin Ponsor?

Dragon Dave