Iron Man Noir (2010 series) #1

Comments: British Honduras would be renamed Belize in 1981.

Review: One of a series of film noir inspired reimaginings of various Marvel characters made at this time. Problem is, the title here doesn’t fit. This isn’t noir, it’s a pastiche of pulp adventure stories of the 1920s and 30s, similar to the Indiana Jones movies. That aside, it’s a pretty cool adventure, hitting all of the right notes for its genre including a fast pace, a voyage to an exotic location, and a horde of ruthless baddies. It also features the period sexism towards Pepper Potts while including her as the standard sassy woman writer/reporter the 1930s pop culture world was known for. Oddly, the story omits the period racism with no one questioning Rhodey’s being in a leadership position. Jarvis as an inventor, not a butler, gives him a more important role in the story and Namor as a pirate, disconnected from the Atlantis that figures in the plot, was a daring move. Strangest moment: Virgil’s narration ends abruptly when he is killed. All told, this is a nice little miniseries, just misnamed.