Invincible Iron Man #11

In his first Iron Man story arc, Matt Fraction established Tony Stark as a master chess player capable of holding his own with Reed "Smartest Guy in the Marvel U" Richards. Now Tony is taking on the Dark Reign of Norman Osborn in "World's Most Wanted."

Four issues into this 12-part epic, the game still seems a slow and cautious one. Osborn, intent on getting his hands on Tony's list of registered superhero identities, has laid the blame for the recent Skrull invasion at Iron Man's armored feet. So Tony is on the run, deliberately distancing himself from his friends, yet subtly (and sometimes not so subtly) nudging them in the directions he needs them to go. It's hard to say where all this is headed just yet, but still fascinating watching Tony maneuver all the pieces on the board: by-the-book former S.H.I.E.L.D. director Maria Hill, now one bad-@$$ revolutionary/saboteur; War Machine, goaded into a fight with Tony (why do we never tire of watching the good guys spar?); Pepper Potts, now with her very own Iron Woman suit, which is also the biggest and coolest iPod ever (96,000 songs!); and Henry Hellrung, out of his depth but a welcome addition to the story. I enjoyed what I've read of the Order so far and Henry's leadership there. And how can you not love a hero who used to be Tony Stark's AA sponsor?

But my favorite part of this issue, and probably of this whole story so far? Tony Stark's shiny new Gmail account.

I'm a big fan of viral marketing, of all the wacky new ways storytellers are finding to make readers/viewers a part of the worlds they create. "The River Tam Sessions" got me even more excited to see Serenity, and I've enjoyed recent sitcom tie-in websites featuring (fake) hair accessories and Alan Thicke. As soon as Tony began describing to his friends how to use his secret doomsday Gmail account, I knew Fraction was letting us in on Tony's game.

So I went to Gmail. I tried and failed to log in to the secret account. And then I did what any good 21st century fanboy does: I cheated. I googled. And sure enough, someone on a message board had figured it out. The log-in info was a clever bit of misdirection, but an e-mail sent to Tony's address got a response. I had to try this myself. I spent a ridiculous amount of time staring at my screen, pondering just the right message of support to send to a fictional character on the run from a crooked government agency. [I rolled my eyes the whole time. - R] I settled on a Whedon reference.

The next day I checked my inbox and found an email waiting from "Sue." Sue Donym. It was my very own secret message from "T."

Fraction, you're just my kind of cheeseball.

- JC