War Machine Versus Ninjas

In Invincible Iron Man 6, Brian Michael Bendis depicts Tony Stark's friend James Rhodes in his War Machine armor, investigating the Stark facility infiltrated by Madame Masque. There he is attacked by two beautiful, but deadly, ninjas. This time, they're ladies.

This photo of Mike Deodato and Frank Martin's artwork suffers a little from light reflection on the right hand side. But you can still compare how differently Dave Marquez and Justin Ponsor treated a similar scene in my earlier Ninja post. Take a look at the ladies' legs, for example. There's no detail in their musculature. You can barely see their feet.

There's much less depth and vibrancy than in the Ninja scenes by Marquez and Ponsor. The skin tones seem particularly flat by comparison. And there's so much black. Ordinarily, I would wonder if that was due to the Inker. But no one is listed as Inker for the issue, so it must be down to artist Mike Deodato or colorist Frank Martin.

I battled with light reflection while taking all my photos of Issue 6. Either that's got something to do with the change in art style, or I suddenly forgot how to use my camera.

Dragon Dave

Iron Man's Ninja Beach Bash

In Invincible Iron Man Issue 4 by Brian Michael Bendis, ninjas attack Tony Stark at night.
So Iron Man takes the action away from an apartment building to the beach, where he can fight them without risking civilian casualties.

I love the old comics of the 1970s and 1980s, in the time period often called the Bronze Age of Comics. This was before computers made their way into the hands of the artists, and comics were still drawn and painted on paper. I love the handmade look of those old comics. As the artwork was less sophisticated, I think often the writers worked harder to pack more plot into their stories. But what amazes me about today's comics is how much darkness artists like Justin can pack into a picture. All the dark colors in the sky, the sea, the sand, and yet all those elements stand out in a way they never could have back in the good old Bronze days.

Iron Man's artificial intelligence/operating system, Girl Friday, even uses the armor's chameleon circuits (Like Doctor Who's TARDIS, only these function far better) to color the outer plating black, so that's more darkness in the picture for you.

Faced by hi-tech ninjas, whose cybernetic suits can instantly adapt their fighting techniques, Iron Man's new armor reshapes into a modern Samurai warrior. The armor even manufactures a sword so he can take on the ninjas on even terms. Wow!

I'm betting Justin had just as much fun coloring these scenes as Dave Marquez did drawing them. But then, one should always do one's best for ninjas and samara warriors.

Dragon Dave