All-New, All-Remote Avengers #23 – ‘Fuel, Burning Fast’

Posted on by phil.wrede
Iron Man faces off with The Leader, in the same room where The Leader nearly disassembled Klaw. At the top of the page, this comic strip's title, "All-New, All-Remote Avengers Presents... 'Fuel, Burning Fast'," is visible.
Iron Man hypothesizes as to The Leader's true identity, and The Leader takes these hypotheses as an opportunity to monologue about himself.
Iron Man tries to fire a repulsor blast at The Leader, but his enemy tells him that his mental powers are preventing Iron Man's armor from functioning at its full capacity.
Iron Man tries again and again to attack The Leader, but has no success. Then, The Leader takes control of Iron Man's armor.
Iron Man fights back for control of his own armor, and just as he regains it, The Leader takes flight inside of the small room.
The Leader temporarily turns off Iron Man's armor, but it reboots just in time for Iron Man to fire off a repulsor blast, and stagger his foe.
The Leader redoubles his own efforts, and locks Iron Man motionless inside his armor.
Luck is with Iron Man, and he breaks out of his stasis just long enough to shoot a double blast of repulsors from his hands.
As Iron Man takes the battle to The Leader, he hears some unexpected voices, and awakens to find himself on his back, outside of the A.I.M. facility.
On the top half of the page, we see Iron Man surrounded by his friends - Black Panther, Shatterstar, Spider-Woman, War Machine, and Domino - as he struggles to his feet. On the bottom half of the page are the credits for the comic strip, citing the Unsplash users whose photographs were the background art, the ownership of Marvel by Disney, and the figure photography/script/lettering by me, Phil Wrede.

Here we are! Part 6 of the big A.I.M. base assault! The end of this battle (and this storyarc) is in sight!! Read Part 1, and Part 2, and Part 3, and Part 4, and certainly don’t forget Part 5 to get caught up!

The Leader was one of the first Marvel antagonists that I really remember sticking with me, after I read the story in which he was introduced (Tales to Astonish #63, if I’m reading my trade paperback table of contents correctly?). The reason was a pretty simple one: after his gamma radiation-based accident, he devoured books with a relentlessness that I could only aspire to. What he did with that knowledge, that wasn’t anything I was interested in getting up to, but the reading! That was pretty great! And, the way he spoke! He was such a perfectly conceived opponent for the Hulk. Two different kinds of over-the-top characters, destined to battle one another, forever!

That story probably had a greater impact on me than I realized, for in any medium of writing, one of my favorite things to do is set two distinctly opposite personalities against each other, and watch as their dialogue collides. Iron Man and the Leader are a pretty great example, here, I think! At a certain point, I barely even have to think about what I’m writing, and the lines just arrive like little gifts from the universe. They need polishing, of course, but when the wave of inspiration crests, the best thing you can do is hope to ride it!

1 thought on “All-New, All-Remote Avengers #23 – ‘Fuel, Burning Fast’”

  1. Pingback: All-New, All-Business Avengers #82 – ‘It Ain’t Me’ – PizzaRat dot Net

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