War Machine: Weapon of S.h.i.e.l.d. (Secret Invasion)

Anyone enjoying the Knaufs' run on Iron Man Director of SHIELD will probably find this switch up a little disappointing. The title was taken over here for 3 issues, and then canceled, as Fraction's new Invincible Iron Man came onto the scene and replaced it.Don't be fooled by Adi Granov's continued cover work suggesting any kind of continuation of the more adult, espionage tales preceding it. This is pure comic-booky-nonsense. A strange and cartoony version of War Machine who just likes to get in lots of fights. If your an action fan, it had better be of the cheesey superficial variety with no weight to it, because that's the kind found here. No layered character development. The only redeeming moments were a few shots of Rhodey's past and childhood. And a few moments with the Red Guard were reasonable, but all this came after an over the top beginning.It's not as good as Greg Pak's series War Machine, which follows right out of this (this was meant as a transition, and you can tell it's just tie-in filler). Though Greg Pak's series was a little short of its potential as well (and as such canceled pretty quick too) at least it had reasonably decent art most of the time and some creative ideas.As a Secret Invasion Tie-in, this was also a short tangent, as formulaic as the other tie-ins (insert Skrulls resembling power sets of popular characters).This is a non-essential story even die-hard fans will find themselves without any interest in a re-read.

War Machine is a great tie-in for Secret Invasion. I love how you get to see how he grew up in South Philly. I also like that you get to see why War Machine's armor didn't malfunction like Tony's did at the start of the invasion. The Russian rumble was something I really enjoyed. Not only does he blast armadas to pieces in space, but you also get to see why he hasn't been around in a while.The artwork is awesome & the story drives this to put War Machine back on the map. I especially like the message from Tony. Do yourself a favor & Do Not miss this Secret Invasion tie-in.

Really I was waiting a better and deeper story and I just find some kind of large pilot for a new series. Too slow and just the surface compared with the Avengers Initiative comic and not really needed to understand Secret Invasion.Only interesting thing is Tony Stark's contingency plan based on Rodhes and the rare superskrulls attacking Russia.Sean Chen do quite well illustrating mechas but Christos Gage seems to short in comparation with the main series were War Machine was part of (Initiative), four numbers saga with some combat as excuse to make Jim Rodhes leave The Initiative and join a new own series.The comic includes a classic number with two stories [Iron Man #144 (1981)]A normal 96 full color pages that used Secret Invasion as excuse to made itself look more important than really is.

This book was interesting and a great tie-in to Secret Invasion, The art was well drawn and the story was good, my only complaint was that it was short and the ending didn't give the feeling of conclusion and left me wanting more.