Iron Man must avoid the Rapture in a series from Marvel Comics

Recently, there has been a lot of talk about the Rapture. Rapture is the event where those who are worthy will ascend to the skies leaving the Earth behind and beginning the end of days. The event failed to materialize earlier this year, but in Iron Man Rapture by Alex Irvine and Lan Medina you can see what the Rapture would be like in the Marvel Comics Universe.

Tony Stark, the man inside the Iron Man armor, suffers a heart attack and comes face to face with his own mortality. In a state of depression and wanting to prolong his life indefinitely he creates a cybernetic system with an artificial intelligence. The AI starts to assimilate humans into its operating system in essence taking them to a better world. It is up to Iron Man’s friends War Machine and Pepper Potts to stop this from happening.

Alex Irvine writes a suspenseful comic thriller. The true nature of the AI and how it is affecting Tony Stark is handled well. The story is told in four parts and Irvine paces the story well with twists and turns that keep you hooked. The characters of Tony, Pepper and Jim Rhodes (War Machine) behave believably for the situations they find themselves in.

The realistic art of Lan Medina visualizes the personality of the story by capturing the dark undertones of Iron Man’s Rapture. Medina has a great sense of movement and motion and knows when to use it in the story. The characters look real and it keeps you immersed in the story. The climatic battle between Iron Man and War Machine is an exciting battle of armored heroes that keeps you moving through the pages.

The decision: Released earlier in 2011, this collection of the four issue Iron Man Rapture mini-series is a different look at Iron Man and his technological advancements and how they affect the characters in the story. Alex Irvine writes affable characters in a desperate situation, they come to life as they try to solve the problem. The gorgeous art of Lan Medina compliments the story in a stunning way acting in unison with the words on the page to create a full visual experience. Extras in the collection include some of the original penciled pages by Medina so you can see the process a page goes through before the final print.