James Rhodes For President

Most of you probably know Colonel James Rhodes from the Iron Man movies, if not the comics. You may also remember the posts I wrote awhile back, when I covered his adventures as War Machine in Invincible Iron Man Issue 6. In Civil War II Issue 0, Colonel Rhodes has a meeting with...well, let's just say it's with a very important man.

Writer Brian Michael Bendis comes up with an interesting notion here, that billionaire Tony Stark might buy his way into the Presidency of the United States. Isn't it interesting how some people spend their lives destroying people, companies, and anything that would limit their company's personal power, and then, later in life, decide they want to "give back?"

Unlike Tony Stark, James Rhodes isn't like that. But then, that's why we love him.

Dragon Dave

Groovy War Machine

In Invincible Iron Man 6, Mike Deodato and Frank Martin's art provides a vivid contrast with that of Dave Marquez and Justin Ponsor. Take this image of James Rhodes in his War Machine armor, for example. Colorist Frank Martin seems to adore orange and black: those colors suffuse nearly every page. By comparison, all other seem muted. As you may have noticed in the earlier posts, the comic nearly becomes black-and-white, with silhouettes, and blazing light, mostly in the orange spectrum, that washes out much of the detail. 

Justin Ponsor colors each frame like a realist, evoking everyday color without, for the most part, enhancing it for effect. Frank Martin's color super-saturation, and his love affair with orange, make me wonder if at heart, he's a child of the swinging 1960s. Justin's work is forever, and for everyone. Frank Martin's color style appeals to the wild child. As Austin Powers might say, he's groovy, baby!

Dragon Dave