2020 Ironheart #1
Written by Vita Ayala and Danny Lore
Art by David Messina and Mattia Iacono
Letters by Joe Caramagna
Published by Marvel Comics
Review by Robert Reed
‘Rama Rating: 5 out of 10
Pulling double-duty bridging both the A.I.-driven Iron Man 2020 event as well as the Champions-centric Outlawed event, Riri Williams has to adapt to a world in which teenage superheroes are no longer allowed in 2020 Ironheart #1. Written by Vita Ayala and Danny Lore, with art by David Messina and Mattia Iacono, 2020 Ironheart #1 is a story about a girl going through some familiar growing pains, wrapped up in a plot about artificial intelligence.
The story begins with Riri and her A.I. best friend, N.A.T.A.L.I.E. waiting to meet their other best friend Xavier King from the Greyhound station. While the three catch up with one another, the automated Intellicars in the area begin to go haywire, attempting to run over civilians, requiring Riri to step into action. David Messina’s lineart is strong throughout the comic, with clean bold lines and some really dynamic poses that make this opening sequence the best in the issue. One highlight in particular is a panel where Riri saves a child from being hit by a runaway car, as Messina does strong work with his motion lines to emphasize the car’s speed. Colorist Mattia Iacono gives the background a bold red color, and utilizes an orange color hold around Riri to make her pop off the page.
Unfortunately, after this exciting opening sequence, the plot veers into unremarkable territory, hamstringing itself in the midst of two separate Marvel events. When Riri and N.A.T.A.L.I.E. discover that the source of the attacking cars comes from within STARK Unlimited, Riri wants to adhere to Kamala’s Law by reporting the employee and leave it to the company to resolve the issue, while N.A.T.A.L.I.E. wants to deal with the issue themselves.
There’s an immediate sense of familiarity here that hurts the book’s momentum — Ayala and Lore do a good job with making the dialogue realistic, but outside of a scene between Riri and Xavier in the final pages, you feel like this could be a conversation between any two friends. There’s a lack of specificity to the characters here that is frustrating. For most of the issue, you can figure out exactly what’s going to happen, up to the final image. There’s nothing surprising here, and the execution isn’t strong enough to overcome that.
Even on the art side, there are problems. Iacono uses a light bloom effect, typically accompanied by a lens flare for most of the high-tech items on the page. This works well in some instances, such as Riri’s boots that launch her over the air in a car, but when Riri goes into STARK Unlimited, the stylistic choice becomes noticeable and distracting. Additionally, because N.A.T.A.L.I.E. is colored with whitish blues and purples, she often fades into the background when surrounded by screens. That’s an interesting idea – the A.I. disappearing into the tech around her – but at times it just feels muddled, especially when juxtaposed against panels with a more varied color palette.
Muddled might be the best word to define 2020 Ironheart #1. There are some great ideas presented here, and in the places where everything works, it really shines. But all too often, the book feels like something readers have seen a million times before, and in a two-issue miniseries, that’s a missed opportunity. Outside of completists for the Iron Man 2020 or Outlawed events, there isn’t really any attracting factor for people to grab onto as nothing that makes Riri Williams a special character is given the spotlight here.