Editor's Note: Invincible Iron Man #15 arrives in stores tomorrow, July 1.

"World’s Most Wanted, Part 8: The Danger We’re All In"

In this issue of Invincible Iron Man Matt Fraction continues his "World's Most Wanted" storyline with an eighth chapter that sees the story begin to show slight signs of being a little stretched out beyond its natural lifespan.

In fairness, the issue is still quite an enjoyable one, with Fraction choosing to concentrate on the book's central relationships rather than pushing the plot of the larger story forwards to any great degree. We see an emotional reconciliation between Tony Stark and Pepper Potts, as the full extent of Tony's mental deterioration becomes unsettlingly clear; we see a frantic Maria Hill attempt to recruit the Black Widow to her cause; and Madame Masque finally makes her move on our hero -- in more ways than one.

Fraction's grasp of the book's characters remains solid, and he comes up with some interesting insights this issue. In particular, his treatment of Stark's intelligence as a superpower in its own right makes perfect sense for the character, and helps to reinforce the impact that the loss of his intellect will make on his ability to play his superhero role in future. The scenes between Hill and the Black Widow are also tense and compelling, even if it does seem a little out-of-character for Natasha to be so unwilling to assist the desperate ex-S.H.I.E.L.D.-agent.

Still, there's a sense that the issue doesn't have quite the same sense of immediacy or density of ideas that we've seen in previous instalments.

Perhaps it's the lack of any big action set-pieces or memorable confrontations that makes the book feel a bit thin. Salvador Larroca and Frank D'Armata might be a solid art team, but even they struggle to inject many of the more static scenes with any real energy. Having said that, they do manage to capture the tenderness of Pepper and Tony's relationship well, with a genuine romantic frisson to their scenes together.

An attack of H.A.M.M.E.R. agents provides a brief moment of exciting action, but it's over too quickly to leave much of a mark in the memory. Even the confrontation with Madame Masque feels like more of a tease than anything, setting up the next phase of the story more than adequately but not providing any real meat to get our teeth into here -- and that's quite a good description of the issue as a whole. Whilst I'm definitely still interested to see where Fraction's story leads, and I'm still enjoying the interactions of his characters, it's difficult to point to anything in this issue that really makes the most of the book's potential.

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