Issue(s): Iron Man #7, Iron Man #8, Iron Man #9, Iron Man #10
Cover Date: May-Sep 97
Title: "Look back in anger" / "Rebel, Rebel" / "Rebel without a cause" / "Dead man walking" / "Magical mystery tour"
Credits:
Jeph Loeb, Scott Lobdell, & Jim Lee / Jeph Loeb / Jim Lee & Jeph Loeb - Writer
Whilce Portacio & Ryan Benjamin / Whilce Portacio / Ryan Benjamin / Terry Shoemaker / Whilce Portacio & Terry Shoemaker - Penciler
JD, Scott Williams, Saleem Crawford, Sandra Hope, & Peter Guzman / JD & Homage Studios - Inker
Michelle Upchurch - Assistant Editor
Michael Heisler / Ruben Diaz - Editor

Review/plot:
Starting with issue #8, Jeph Loeb is fully writing this title with no credited involvement from Jim Lee. And Whilce Portacio isn't even doing partial pencils on issues #8 or #9. Lee will still co-write issues #11 & 12 and Portacio will co-pencil #11. But it definitely isn't a Lee/Portacio book with some help anymore, it's a book that Lee and Portacio somewhat contribute to. And it's a similar situation on the other Heroes Reborn books (Lee will stop penciling the FF, and Rob Liefeld is fired from the other two books). Which means the main reason for doing this reboot - having the Image stars give their take on Marvel's classic characters - is no longer in effect. We're getting - especially on the writing side - creators that been on these books without any special event. I mean, Scott Lobdell? Come on. I don't know if that really mattered to sales or to fans: as i said earlier, i don't think in 1997 anyone really thought the Image guys were "hot" anymore, and this is just following the usual Image pattern of a book getting a lot of hype for the #1s and then petering out. But if there was ever any point to any of this, it's over by now. And that's reflected in some of the books - certainly Liefeld's replacement on Avengers, Walt Simonson, is all about acknowledging that this is a fake universe, and Lee did the same kind of thing in FF #7 (and the rest of that series is setting up for the crossover finale).

But Iron Man mostly continues to deal with mundane stuff. These issues deal with the very uninteresting character Rebel O'Reilly. The deal is that O'Reilly's death while testing the original Iron Man (aka Prometheus) suit is probably what caused Tony Stark to become such an asshole. And now it turns out that O'Reilly didn't really die, and, more importantly, the reason he seemingly died was because he took the suit on an unauthorized mission to the Soviet Union prior to the test.

So does that allow Stark to forgive himself, beginning on a path of redemption and non-jerkitude? Maybe! It doesn't really excuse him for Gordon Gekko-ing half of New York out of their jobs, and there's no specific point where he tries to make amends.

As for Rebel, he was resurrected as a cyborg by Hydra. Which in this universe was secretly run by Dr. Doom; the Mandarin that we saw earlier turns out to just be a robot. Iron Man learns about Rebel's missing past through the tired and nonsensical "enter his brain but if he dies, you die" trope.

I'm only paying this much attention to Rebel because he's the second most important Heroes Reborn native (and it's a distant second, and the first isn't even that important). He'll start in his own book when Marvel revisits this universe in 2000, and then he'll appear briefly in Thunderbolts.

After that, Iron Man and Rebel go and beat up Titanium Man and Crimson Dynamo, and then Hydra & the Mandarin. That's when Dr. Doom reveals himself, seemingly killing Rebel again. This is issue #11, so we're at the final issue before the crossover finale, and now the book gives in and goes along with the idea that we're in a fake universe. The fight between Iron Man and Doom activated Doom's time machine, and they travel through time, seeing various events from their original Marvel histories.

Note the implication that Rama-Tut is Dr. Doom, an idea that was discarded in the main universe.

There's a subplot where Bruce Banner turns Doc Samson and She-Hulk into their gamma-powered selves. And Terrax receives the call of Galactus. There's also a scene with Air-Walker in the year One Million B.C.

Quality Rating: D

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: The very end of issue #11, at Rebel's funeral, as the Watcher appearing as a lead in to the Heroes Reunited crossover. But the events of the other books can be happening simultaneously (with some in-and-out crossover cameos, e.g. some of the FF appear here to help with examining Rebel).

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