Been a while since I did a comics review. One of my favorite reads lately has been Invincible Iron Man by Matt Fraction (writer), Salvador Larocca (penciller), and Frank D'Armata (colorist). I'm usually an occasional Iron Man reader, sometimes finding it hard to relate to the character of Tony Stark. He's a billionaire, I'm broke. He's a genius inventor, I just figured how to text on my phone. He drives to work in one of the most powerful weapons on earth, I drive a '91 Olds.
The current storyline is what grabbed me the most. Tony Stark was not only the aforementioned billionaire playboy, but was given charge of the US's top peacekeeping force, SHIELD. An alien invasion led to Tony losing everything, and being hunted for precious information stored in his brain. Stark begins deleting information from his technology-enhanced mind to keep it from falling into the wrong hands. This causes him to slowly lose his greatest weapon, his intelligence. As a result, Tony experiences an examination of his life as he needs to use less advanced versions of his armor developed through the years.
I've had a year of trouble and loss to put it simply, so I find I can understand what Tony Stark goes through in this past year's worth of stories. It reminds me of a storyline from the 80's where Tony's alcoholism caused him to lose everything he had, even giving up his Iron Man identity to a trusted friend, while we slowly watched Stark rebuild his life. When we hit rock bottom, we usually find out who we really are as we rebuild ourselves, hopefully stronger than before.
