by David Lobato, Reporter

Mya: "We don't know where he is"

Iron Man: "I do. Mya… I can see through satellites now!"

Iron Man: Extremis is a motion comic released under the exceptional Marvel Knights Animation label. It revolves around the “Extremis Project”, an advanced process developed by FuturePharm where Tony Stark's old friend Dr. Mya Hansen is one of the lead researchers. In a nutshell, The Extremis Project operates as follows: When a human being is injured or wounded, the person's body uses a certain blueprint in the brain as the guide to follow in order to heal itself as close as possible back to its original condition. The Extremis Project follows a procedure that rewrites this human blueprint in the brain, so now when a person is injured the entire body encases itself in a cocoon of scab tissue, and when the person is healed again it gains certain… perks. Ridiculous amounts of strength is one, electrical generation and higher levels of conductivity is another.

When Mallen, a domestic terrorist, is treated with the Extremis compound, he naturally runs about town snuffing the life out of as many souls as he can, heading towards Washington DC in his own search for revenge against the government for the loss of his family at the hands of the FBI during his childhood. Iron Man, finding he is outmatched against this new foe, must decide if he is willing to expose himself to the Extremis process to enable himself to stop Mallen…

Feeling like the comics it was based on, the story arc spans across five episodes. I found the storyline itself to be very engaging and well written, and I particularly got the giggles whenever one particular character (Beck, if my hazy memory can be trusted) gave some really deep insights into the benefits of smoking pot and eating shrooms. Some really mind-wrinkling stuff, and funny as hell!

Speaking of the characters, part of what made the narrative so enjoyable (in addition to the high level of the writing) was thanks to the top-notch voice acting. The emotions portrayed in each scene were spot-on, and the way that a character's thoughts or inner-monologue was performed was also very well done, nailing the “thinking out loud” tone without feeling forced or cheesy. The sound effects and music, while nothing particularly memorable or ground breaking, were all perfectly suitable for the contexts in which they were used.

In terms of the visuals, Iron Man: Extremis is brilliantly drawn, and presents all of the detail of a paperback comic, combined with small tweaks of animation. Admittedly this is the first motion comic I've had the pleasure of viewing, but what a great introduction to the genre! It's the ultimate lazy man's way of reading comics, and I loved it. It's also very graphic (and by that I mean in terms of violence, not the 'stating-the-obvious' fact that it features graphics"), as a particular scene involves a teenage girl sitting on the edge of town getting her head ripped off. Which means that this series is perhaps not the greatest to show to the youngsters in your family.

The action scenes were also super slick. Some of the punches and blows were incredibly epic, featuring static art inside animated frames in front of a backdrop sporting burning wreckage and so on. And occasionally the visuals would change from the 2D motion-enhanced comic stills and become fully 3D segments (particularly for flying scenes). Really great stuff all round.

The Blu-Ray edition also has heaps of behind the scenes bonus material, which I found very interesting as I got to see how the production team conducted themselves when converting a paperback comic book from a still piece of artwork to a motion comic. Also included on the disc is a trailer for The Astonishing X-Men motion comic as well (which looks fantastic by the way).

All told, Iron Man: Extremis was a thoroughly enjoyable watch, and one which I highly recommend viewing (even highly-er recommended to those who haven't read the original comics).

ComicsOnline recommends purchasing your copy of Iron Man: Extremis from one of the many stores listed at the Beyond Home Entertainment website (particularly for Australian and New Zealand residents).

Rating:

ComicsOnline gives Iron Man: Extremis 4 out of 5 super-enhanced Klan members.

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