”The Best Defense, Part Three: Technology”
by John Jackson Miller and Jorge Lucas
"Announced as a nominee for Secretary of Defense, Tony Stark faces his toughest foe yet -- the Washington press corps. Will they embrace Iron Man -- or destroy him? And what dirty tricks does Tony's nemesis at the Pentagon have up his sleeve?" I feel vaguely cheated by this storyline as presented in this issue, because (maybe erroneously) I had the impression from the previous two issues that Stark was a virtual shoe-in as Secretary of State for Defense, that he’d been asked to do the job and he agreed…reluctantly. However, the opening pages of this issue make it plain that Stark wants the job, and he’s working on persuading other people that he’d be a good choice – the real pointer in his favour being the President supports him…
…it gives one the feeling that Stark is being setup. Either by the Pres himself, or by a senior White House staffer (that Josh Lyman, he gets everywhere doesn’t he?). This brings a feeling of meaninglessness to the issue – after all, at the end of it one assumes Stark will NOT be in the government, so why is he being strung along at the moment? And once again, we see the blatant liberties being taken by an undersecretary, motivated by a desire for the SoS job himself, or, failing that, to gain as many favours and as much cash as possible before he’s kicked out by Stark. The blatant abuse of power and invested responsibility is shocking – and again, slightly unbelieveable. Is there no-one in the government aware of what this guy is up to? He’s spending billions, it seems, without any checks or balances on what he’s up to.
All that aside, the meat of the issue is actually pretty good – it’s an involving tale of Stark’s past coming back (and, in the video and internet age, all his prior indiscretions are available on tape or digitally for everyone to see and mull over). Stark shows off a few nice ideas, and there’s a lovely sequence of other technicians trying to cope with his old inventions and failing miserably. Looks like it’s all gonna come back and bite someone on the ass...
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