I have finally gotten around to reading the Infamous Iron Man series by Brian Michael Bendis. So far I am not impressed. I have a lot to complain about, so I guess you can consider this a negative review.
First off, the art. Its great. Really it is, I like it. But the amount of copy+paste art in every other panel makes me want to tear "punch my own face", in the words of Ben Grimm. You can't just reuse one panel like three times on one page, and just enlarging it or crop it each time to trick people into thinking its original art. So cheap and lazy. This is something I never do, but there are a few circumstances in which I can understand the use of copy+paste art. Drawing backgrounds repeatedly is tedious and time consuming, so here I can forgive copy+paste. I also understand artists have deadlines, so once or twice is forgivable. However, it's done on every other page throughout the series for characters, which makes them seem lifeless and stagnant.
Second, Doom's completely out of character. I get it. He's a new man. After the Secret Wars, he realizes that being a villain is not the way and he adopts the Iron Man identity. His face is now healed and he is trying his hardest to redeem himself. But nothing even makes me see him as the same character! Just once, I want some shred of what made him so great before to peak through! Speak in the third person again please! He's just a normal guy now and I detect no hint of that higher intellect he was so known for before. Literally everything about Victor has changed. I cannot understand the complete erasure of his personality! He doesn't even talk like Doctor Doom anymore! I'm not saying this series has nothing to offer the character, it is a refreshing idea with so much potential. But it is not well executed. Good Doom and Bad Doom can still be the same character despite the new roles, but in this series he is simply a man who shares the same name as the Latverian king.
It would have been better if Bendis depicted Doom like he was in the Torment and Triumph comic! Now THAT was a work of art. Two of my favorite comic characters, Doctor Strange and Doctor Doom, team up. We get to see a truly human side of Doom but it didn't conflict with his whole evil genius over the top persona. Why couldn't Bendis keep the dramatic flare and medieval gothic aesthetic about Victor von Doom and also have him play the role of reformed protagonist?
But I do have good things to say here. Doom's face in Infamous Iron Man is not as bad as I was expecting, depiction-wise. It's not great, but its not bad; rather nondescript. I guess I can't really imagine it any other way, and at least he has dark hair. It was always a pet peeve of mine to see other artists draw him as a blue eyed, blonde Northern European guy when his mother was a Romani.
I have to complain about his physique though. Doom's drawn in this comic rather lean but I always considered him more of a heavyweight. I read online that his weight was around 222 lbs, with or without armor I don't know. In Infamous Iron Man, he looks more like 170, give or take. Remember, he's also tall.
I'm not saying the comic has no merit. There are some genuinely good moments in it. But overall, it is slow and uninteresting. I can't bring myself to care about anyone, even Doom who is my all time favorite Marvel character. But I am starting to notice this about Brian Bendis' work in general. I don't know what it is, but the stories, perhaps in an attempt to be subtle and mature, fall flat. Most of his in comic dialog is plain terrible.
