Marvel Super Heroes 14 page 9 (Iron Man segment) by Bob McLeod & Ralph Cabrera-Jim Amash

A quiet page from a very solid artist and impeccable storyteller I’ve always followed: Bob McLeod.

This is also a very good example, in our current crazy and over inflated hobby, that you can find high (artistic) quality pages without having to pay thousand of $.

And I really enjoy this page for the strong figure and face work.

The first panel with Tony waking up from a much too short night is great. The sleepy face is spot on.

My own fav’ panel is the second one as I find it could have been drawn by Kerry Gammill. The tilted head, the hunched over position and the attention to the hands as acting tools. I asked Bob about this perceived similarities and he replied that while he loves Kerry’s art, he never consciously studied it. So let’s count this a great similar artistic approaches or solutions to storytelling needs.

The third panel is also excellent. A strong shot on a pensive Tony with the position of his hand to underline that fact. Just a super close up with great inks throughout. No backgrounds needed here as they would likely deter from enjoying the great simplicity of the shot.

A now that the billionaire playboy has tied himself up, let’s go the fancy restaurant in company of a beautiful woman. I love the work of the crowd here with many displeased to see Tony cutting the line to the table while he is quite pleased with himself as he should be.

Great acting in the fifth panel with Tony choosing what he is going to eat with his ironic date whose face is really nice. You can tell she is not the usual trust fund bimbo.

Also of note is the usual catastrophic use of French in US comics to give the illusion of sophistication. Because god forbids proper research ;) And to continue on the sophistication aspect, I don’t know what David Michelinie thought but eating cheeseburgers in a fancy restaurant in which there is a queue to attend seems most unlikely. So does the choice of wine and the answer of the “garcon” taking the order, as again, I’m sure any fancy restaurant would make sure they hire someone with the capacity of pronouncing a full “monsieur” instead of a very familiar ”m’sieur”. Unless all of the above was an attempt at humour or levity from the writer?

And then a strong partial close up on the beautiful woman, again with great inks to underline her features.

As often with great and strong inkers, they are great pencillers and at their very best while inking themselves. Well, one could be mistaken to think Bob inked himself here (I was) but the inks are credited to Cabrera & Amash here. Good job guys.

The same can’t be said about the atrocious coloring, especially in panel 3 and 6 but perhaps this was an attempt at humour or levity from the colorist? ^^

So a highly enjoyable, well balanced (in terms of angles, shots and use of backgrounds) and cheap page with the hero (out of armor, which probably disqualifies it from any interest from many collectors, which is ultimately good for me).