There's a lot to enjoy in INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #600. The pacing of the story and variety of content should keep most readers pleased, but is likely to push others away. All in all, though, it's a successful milestone, and a great final issue for Brian Michael Bendis at Marvel Comics. Read Full Review

Let's hope Bendis manages to shake things up at DC as effectively as he did at Marvel - and that Marvel finds someone as skilled to fill in the large gap helives behind in the writing staff. Read Full Review

This is the end of an era for Marvel Comics and yet it kicks off a hell of a lot of stories. Read Full Review

Like him or not, Bendis believes in his vision and created a number of "moments" in his stories. He set the table properly for the next writer to have a lot of fun with and the reader's with a sense of hope for entertaining future adventures. Read Full Review

Bendis' plotting has legacy in mind. Every big twist and reveal can be linked to work he has touched across his tenure. While most of it is focused on recent storylines, specifically those with Doctor Doom and Riri Williams, there are plenty of touches addressing events and miniseries throughout his tenure. Read Full Review

Invincible Iron Man #600 isnt mind-blowing, but its heart-warming. It ties most of its plot lines together well in the end. It leaves everything open-ended enough so that Slott has wiggle room on his book to come. The art is all over the place, which is to be expected considering the brigade of pencillers brought on. However, the final product was fun enough so that I can easily recommend it. Pick it up. Read Full Review

The comic definitely earns the price tag and then some. While it's a tiny bit late to start fresh on Bendis, or Iron Man (you're 599 issues late), it's still a great path forward for the character and for the company. Read Full Review

It was a fun issue with great action, great art, great closure, and left us with a great direction for the next creative team. The baton is passed. Let's see what happens next!  Read Full Review

Invincible Iron Man #600 serves as an imperfect finale to an imperfect series. Not every loose end is given satisfactory resolution here. It's also frustrating to see Bendis leaving just as he introduces some intriguing new developments in the Marvel Universe. But regardless, at least this issue leaves a strong foundation on which the next Iron Man comic can build. Read Full Review

The comic also features Tony getting his first look at Doctor Doom as a hero and, perhaps, sadly foreshadowing the end of the freshest arc the character has had in decades. It looks like Tony is back. With Stark's return, what exactly will happen to Doom (and why do I feel the Marvel Universe just got less interesting)? For fans. Read Full Review

This is Bendis, this is a big issue, and it's an important piece of Marvel publishing history for better or worse. I think readers should check it out if it piques their interest. Read Full Review

Though undeniably one of the most prolific modern writers in recent Marvel Comics history, this last issue shows, yet again, that Bendis still doesn't have a handle on endings, beyond gathering art teams to razzle-dazzle readers with fan service-powered set pieces. Read Full Review

If you’re interested in Iron Man, wait for the new number one, obviously. Do not buy this book. It’s a mess. It’s sloppy, it’s rushed. It barely makes any sense. It does not reward those of us who’ve been with Bendis’s Iron Man for a long time, but instead just fakes an emergency phone call, gets an Uber home, and leaves you with the bill after inviting you to dinner at the most expensive Italian restaurant around. Pass. Read Full Review

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten.

Well, that’s a wrap for Bendis at Marvel.. at least I think?!?! I think this was his last issue of his ongoings at Marvel before he starts up at DC. The issue had its quirks but as whole, did a pretty good job closing everything up and giving everyone some great cliffhangers if anyone wanted to follow in his footsteps after this.

The story kind of jumps all over the place so it may be better to pick a topic and explain that first before moving on to the next topic. So, I’ll start with Tony Stark bringing Rhodey back to life the same way he brought himself back to life: with bio tech, genius, and no hair. Somehow, which isn’t totally explained, the use of the armor, the tech, and the upgrades to both the tech and their biochemistry made it possible to somehow reboot both of their organic material as well. BUT, to my understanding, this is a one time thing. So, Rhodey and Tony are back for reals yo!

At the end of the last issue, RiRi and Toni Ho flew up to the great helicarrier in the sky to find that Leonardo Divinci was still alive and created SHIELD way back in the day. SHIELD has been around since the late 1400’s as an organization of spies to basically make the world a better place. As technology grew, so did SHIELD. When heroes came on the scene, as well as more evolved tech, SHIELD evolved with it. But with the destruction of SHIELD, Leonardo Divinci stepped back in to reconstitute the organization all over again. RiRi and Toni Ho were recruited along with Arno Stark, Miles Morales and family, Blade, and possibly the Champions to a degree, and maybe Rhodey and Tony... but I’m not sure on that one. Either way, SHIELD is kind of back!

And next we jump to The Hood, Parker Robins, whose possessed by a mystical demon named Nisanti. His goal was to take over the world by taking over Stark International and spreading through the globe along with all of Tony’s enemies. He compared his take over to Fisk and how he took over the underworld of NYC except his would be on a more worldwide scale. But, as the Hood was forcing the acting Chair of Stark International to sign over the company, Doctor Doom appears to put the kibosh on his plans along with a dozen or so Doombots. Tony and Rhodey also show up on the scene with some extra Iron Man Suits also putting the kibosh to the Hood’s plans. Tony seems confused that Doom was acting as him and Doom is confused that Tony is still alive. Either way, they both stop the Hood and Doom ends up going back to Latveria to rebuild. We still aren’t told why Victor was acting like Iron Man but we are left remembering he has an unborn son on the way. I personally love Doom and I‘m totally interested in that dangling carrot for the future.

And we almost end with Tony and Rhodey flying back to Stark Tower where they find Tony’s real mother, who was a secret agent for SHIELD and a real Rockstar, trying to fight off Tony’s actual biological father, who happened to be a Hydra secret agent. Howard Stark adopted Tony to help hide him from SHIELD and Howard needed help hiding his own son Arno from space aliens ( old story for another time) so it was a win-win. Anyway, Tony’s bio-dad brought Hydra agents to the party so the Champions, Tony, Rhodey, RiRi, Toni Ho, Arno, Blade, Miles-Spidey, Leonardo Divinci in a flying suit of armor ( yup that one), and even MJ, who was running Stark International, help fend off Hydra.

Tony shows everyone he’s back and alive. We kind of wrap everything up and put a nice bow on Bendis’ run but he decided to leave an awesome cliffhanger for the next creative team to run with if they wanted. We jump to the future to see some girl contact Nightcrawler in need of help from the Sorcerer Supreme. She asks for Dr. Strange. But when he appears, he says “ now that’s a name I haven’t heard in a long time. My name is Doctor Anthony Stark... and I am the Sorcerer Supreme.” I WANT TO SEE THAT STORY!

Well, as you can see that was a packed 40 page issue 600 that wrapped up Bendis on Iron Man as well as many of his other titles. The issue was meaty to say the least but did a pretty good job of concluding as many loose ends as it could. I also feel like it left great starting points for the next creative team if they wanted to run with it. However, like most people to start a new job, they will probably want to take the book in their own direction. I don’t blame them for that. Personally, I want to learn more about Doom and his kid. I want to learn more about SHIELD and Leonardo Divinci. I really want to see this future scenario with Tony as the Sorcerer Supreme. There are so many good loose threads that I hope the next creative team pulls on but we shall see.

This issue was mainly there to put closure to all that Bendis did in a variety of titles mixed together including Miles, RiRi, Doom, Tony, some of the SHIELD stuff, and so much more. It was a pretty good culmination to anyone that was a diehard Bendis fan that really didn’t want to see him go. I can also only imagine how hard this issue must have been for Bendis to write. I know he’s excited to move on to new ideas and adventures in DC but Bendis did so much at Marvel for so long. The memories and family he made their shined through in this issue. Sure, it had its dumb little jokes that made no sense like “Mazinger Z infinity killed Sue Dibny” which I have no idea how that is a code phrase or how some Japanese mech tv show killed Elongated Man’s wife... but overall, I could read an underlining tone of sadness throughout the writing. To be honest, there should be if he truly cared about the characters he created... and I think he did.

Thank you for a good run Bendis. Thank you for these characters you created. I wish you good luck at DC and I really am excited for what’s to come there. If you are a Bendis fan, you got to pick this up. If you are a collector, it’s issue 600 and it’s oversized so go grab it. If your an Iron Man fan, you should grab this too. And of course if you’ve been following along, it would be silly not to grab this too. It was a fun issue with great action, great art, great closure, and left us with a great direction for the next creative team. The baton is passed. Let’s see what happens next!

If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace more

I found this to be a better goodbye from Bendis then his final issue of Spider-Man. It recaps a lot of the character through the A.I. based on Tony's personality. We see Tony react to Doom as a version of Iron Man as well as Riri. There are a few plot holes that are completed in a satisfying, but not spectacular way. The art has vast differences throughout that is not really separated by chapters so can be a bit jolting. Most of it does look good. There were only a few times I got lost in what the art was trying to tell. The end reveal felt like is was trying to copy a move from Jason Aaron's run on Thor by revisiting the story in Generations. It was a grand spectacle for a final issue. It does not feel like a spectacle that I think most will regret missing if the cost of the issue gives you pause however. If you have been big into Iron Man recently some of the bonding moments and views of various armors and allies working together to fight Hydra makes for cool moments and you will enjoy. For the rest go ahead and wait to read it on unlimited. more

Brian Michael Bendis spent eight issues setting up six major stories (plus many smaller mysteries) and refusing to develop them. Each deserved a full arc for resolution. Now they're all abruptly chopped off in a single double-sized issue. And just to make sure that things are extra train-wreck-y, art duties go to a rapidly-spinning carousel of A-listers. That ensures that the issue lacks a consistent artistic vision and comes out extra super disjointed.

My vote for "favorite train wreck moment" goes to Mike Deodato refusing to let Alex Maleev have the "Parker Robbins is really a demon" point to himself. And Bendis and the editors just let him poach it!

Despite all the strikes against them, I did find a few of this issue's payoffs enjoyable. Rhodey's resurrection was straightforward and satisfying (if not all that logical), and uniting Miles and Riri almost made the SHIELD 2.0 idea interesting.

Moving forward, though, this issue leaves a bumper crop of dangling plot threads that are potentially toxic. If nobody on Earth ever speaks the words "Tony Stark, Sorcerer Supreme" again, I'll die happy. About the only thread I'd be interested in seeing continued is Doom vs. Hood, because it's the most flagrantly unfinished story. more

If some of these ideas stick with future creators and canon this will probably warrant a better grade, until then it just seems like Bendis was throwing all the ideas he didn't have to explore at this book in hopes someone decides to do things with them. He's been toying with Tony Stark Sorcerer Supreme for a while, he pretty much continued a little of Miles' story as well. Overall, it was not horrible, but really makes you wonder what the whole search was for in the first place. It's almost like everything wasn't needed. This whole arc wasn't needed. And I personally loved the Doom/ Iron Man idea and it really came to a lackluster end here.

Like most Bendis comics, this felt like a chore to read with bloated, unnecessary dialogue. This has become Bendis's signature style. While they make this comic as a jumping on point, despite being the finale of an arch, you should avoid this book and wait until Slott's run starts. Hopefully, Dan Slott can bring something promising to the table, which Iron Man has lacked for years.

I was shocked and disappointed when I first heard Bendis was leaving Marvel (my faith even surviving "Civil War II), but after his farewell tour, I'm kind of like...thank fuck. This issue is woeful. It's like Bendis just sweeps all his post Civil War II Iron Man work away in an issue that substitutes solid storytelling with an absolute fuckload of exposition via dialogue. Riri and Victor have been the subject of some great comics in the last year or so, but she is nowhere to be found and Victor has the entire post-Secret War slate supposedly reversed. And, and Rhodey is alive again, because exactly no one was clamouring for his return, but, back to square one. I think I'm so turned off by this horseshit that I am considering skipping out on Slott's Iron Man relaunch. If you enjoy comics that are good and make sense, please do not read this. more

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The-MJP - Aug 7, 2018

Victor's story was good, Rir's wasn't

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That was bad. This was Bendis farewell issue, not Iron Man's 600th issue. And that is why this feels russed, poorly executed and sloppy. Art is nice, but this just doesn't make any sense when looking it by it's story. And Rhodes is back. WHY. WHY. WHY. WHY DID YOU KILL HIM BENDIS ONLY TO RESURRECT HIM LIKE ONE YEAR AFTER?

Skip Search for Tony Stark. It is very bad. Jump right to Slott's issue and hope it is better. And if you wonder why Tony isn't in coma anymore,you won't get anymore answers buy reading this.

Bendis run in Iron Man was absolutely terrible, lacking direction and almost immediately after he took over replacing him with Riri Williams. This gave way to some really awful subplots, some of which come to head in this issue, narrated by Tony’s Artificial Intelligence construct.
I pray that the next writer retcons the melodramatic subplot about Tony being adopted, resulting in Tonh having not only a totally unnecessary mother but also a totally unnecessary father now. When writers want to create some easy dramatic interest they pile up on the long lost parents, sisters, wives, sons, daughters. This story takes a lot of the issue.
Mary Jane was brought in to Iron Man, but nothing interesting was done with her. It’s as if she were a highly paid talent that no one in Marvel knows what to do with now that she is persona non grata in the Spider Man franchise.
As for the villain we get... The Hood, one of Marvel’s worst villains and a Bendis favorite, with his motley crew of laughable villains including Armadillo amd the Sphinx.
Rhodey comes back and the Doctor Doom Story also gets some closure. Bendis work in Doom was much more interesting, yet the character never really felt like Doom. The ending here is very predictable for Doom.
If this is the best that Bendis came up with for Iron Man, no wonder he felt the need for a creative reset and bolted for DC.
I’m not a Bendis hater, I really love his Avengers and X Men run, but his Iron Man was painful, up tp the last issue.
There is very good art. more

3-4 pages in and is already full of all the stuff you hate about Bendis, from walls of inane dialogue to utter contempt for what his fellow writers write in the small parts of this shared universe.

Oh yeah, he had one of the artists copy the Wally West Barry Allen hug from DC Rebirth -- and this is also a coda to his Miles Morales run -- and while the whole Tony Stark is really adopted thing can be placed at the feet of Kieron Gillen, Bendis managed to grab that ball and somehow make it all worse.

The last page of the main story uses the same art as the first page of this issue... and the fucking coda is directly lifted from one of his X-Men annuals from about 3 years ago!!! It's almost apropos that his last marvel pages ever are just copypasta.

Ultimately a mediocre issue, fitting for a mediocre run.

PRESS S TO SPIT ON LEGACY. more