Hero or Villain?

In Invincible Iron Man Issue 6, Tony Stark's relationship with Amara Perera has deepened. We find them in bed together. The two then go out to eat at a diner. Mike Deodato's sketching and Frank Martin's artwork, coupled with this phase of the relationship, make me look at Amara completely differently. She doesn't seem so innocent or classy anymore. 

But then, Tony Stark doesn't look so earnest, so willing to break down the barriers to be a man who's worthy of her either. To me, he looks more like a villain.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with Mike Deodato and Frank Martin's artwork. Nonetheless, it makes me feel completely differently about the characters that penciler Dave Marquez and colorist Justin Ponsor got me to care about. Suddenly, I no longer love, or respect Tony Stark and Amara Perera as much as I once did.

Dragon Dave

Radioactive Amara Perera

In Invincible Iron Man Issues one through five, author Brian Michael Bendis introduced us to Dr Amara Perera. She's every bit as smart as Tony Stark, and classy enough to refuse a kiss on their first date. Later, she warms to him, but Dave Marquez's sketching and Justin Ponsor's coloring made her seem like an elegant yet innocent young princess. Her skin is chocolate brown, yet gentle and supple. Clearly, it's her natural skin color.

In Invincible Iron Man Issue 6, colorist Frank Martin depicts Amara as a surfer girl. Either she's just sat under a sun lamp for a few hours, or Tony Stark's Iron Man armor has developed a radiation leak. Amara, run, do not walk, to your nearest dermatologist. 

Hurry!

Dragon Dave

Superheroes Read Books

In Invincible Iron Man Issue 3, a battle with Madame Masque, and an encounter with Doctor Doom, leave Tony Stark shaken. When Dr Amara Perez leaves the laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute for Technology (MIT), she finds Tony Stark in her office. Crouched by a bookshelf, he tells her that, right now, he'd rather be with her than anyone else. As he puts it:

"I can't shake the idea
 that becoming the man that would actually deserve you
 would be very good goal in life at this stage of the game."

Tony Stark may have a protective suit of armor, but Amara Perez can't help but notice how he's cast off all barriers in her presence.

After seeking solace from her, Tony Stark knows he needs to do a little research on what Doctor Doom has told him about the powers Madame Masque now wields. So he heads over to the Sanctum Sanctorum of Doctor Strange.

The print version of this picture really doesn't do it justice. But in the electronic version (included free with purchase of Issue 3), you can see Doctor Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum in all its majesty. Candles hover in the air, and burn on the floor, illuminating floor-to-ceiling bookshelves. It's the kind of library I'd love to have someday. Only, as I can't levitate, I'd want a solid wood ladder on wheels connected to a brass rail.

I'm not sure if writer Brian Michael Bendis consciously intended this, but one theme that emerges from Issue 3 is the source of a superhero's power. Dr Amara Perez is one of the smartest scientists of her generation, but she didn't reach her exalted post, get her learned papers accepted in the most prestigious journals, or make her important, world-changing discoveries without lots of study. Likewise, Doctor Strange works incredible feats by merging science and (what we call) magic, but he couldn't do so without the need to study. 

And then, remember how Tony could have sat anywhere in the room. Instead of taking a comfortable chair, he sits on the floor next to Amara's packed bookshelves. 

In today's culture, we place so much emphasis on what a person does that we tend to forget all the effort that lies behind one's actions. Achievements are like icebergs: others can only see the smallest, most outward portion of all the work that went into them. Enthusiasm, instinct, and natural talents can carry you far. But to develop your intelligence and abilities, study is required. 

There's a reason Dr Amara Perez and Dr Strange keep those books close by. There's a reason Tony sits by them. They're not just there to impress other people. Instead, those books the foundation of these superheroes' powers and careers.

Naturally, Justin Ponsor had to color each and every one of them.

Dragon Dave

Dr Amara Perera: Tony Stark's New Love Interest

Tony Stark's holographic Girl Friday, and Whitney Frost, or Madame Masque, make big entrances in Invincible Iron Man Issue 1. But Amara Perera, a brilliant biophysicist from Sri Lanka, really captures your heart. Right away, you can tell how hard Tony Stark is working to impress her, when he buys out the entire rooftop restaurant for their first date.

Yet she's not impressed by his extravagance, as this profile shot readily demonstrates.

While guarded, she's clearly intrigued by his interest. As the evening winds on, she softens toward him.

After dinner, she even confesses that she has conceived of a cure for the mutant gene. This is something she's never told anyone else, or even written down, for fear that the government might requisition her invention, develop it, and force all mutants to take it.

Later, they repair to the top of Tony Stark's headquarters. Atop the high-rise, as she enjoys the catered dessert, she pretends not to see Lady Thor arrive for a coincidental visit. 

Instead, she warns him that should he have engineered such a chance meeting, she would leave immediately. She doesn't want him to impress her with his powerful resources and friends. She wants to see the real him.

I like how penciler Dave Marquez drew Dr. Amara Perera, and how the panels show the progress of her gradual softening toward Tony Stark. I also like how Justin Ponsor colored her, such as her luminous entrance, her shadowed face when she's pushing him back, and the highlights in her hair when she's confiding in him. I look forward to seeing how Tony Stark's relationship with Dr. Amara Perera develops in successive issues. I'm also interested in discovering how writer Brian Michael Bendis may make her conceptual cure into a reality all of Marvel's marvelous mutants must confront.

Most significant of all, perhaps, is how Bendis surrounds Tony Stark with three completely different women whose personalities pop off the pages of Invincible Iron Man Issue 1. They're all smart, beautiful, and powerful in their own way. Way to celebrate Girl Power, Brian Michael Bendis!

Dragon Dave