More Iron Man

Newsarama says that there will be a second, ongoing series for Iron Man starting right before the movie this summer. It will be written by Matt Fraction (awesome) with pencils by Salvador Larocca (also awesome). The solicitation:

THE INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #1 Written by MATT FRACTION Pencils & 50/50 Cover by SALVADOR LARROCA 50/50 Cover by JOE QUESADA A bold new ongoing series for the biggest hero of 2008! IRON MAN! You know you love him! And as the summer's most anticipated movie boot-jets its way into theaters, here's the perfect jumping-on point for new readers and Iron Man fans alike! Tony Stark – Iron Man, billionaire industrialist and director of S.H.I.E.L.D. – faces the most overwhelming challenge of his life. Ezekiel Stane, the son of Tony's late business rival and archenemy Obadiah, has set his sights, his genius and his considerable fortune on the task of destroying Tony Stark and Iron Man. What's worse, he's got Iron Man tech, and he's every bit Iron Man's equal and opposite…except younger, faster, smarter…and immeasurably evil. Rising star writer Matt Fraction (IMMORTAL IRON FIST) and superstar artist Salvador Larroca (UNCANNY X-MEN) join forces to repulsor-ray your comic books to a cinder! 32 PGS./Rated T+ …$2.99

I have to say that it does sound good. The creative team is beyond decent and of course timing it with the movie makes sense. But, will it be in regular continuity? It doesn't sound like it, does it? Or am I wrong? And can Iron Man support another ongoing series? We've seen a bunch of mini-series over the last year+ and those have done OK, but not as well as the regular series, which still isn't one of the best selling Marvel titles.

Yes, I'm going to ask it again. Yes, I know the answer is MONEY. But WHY are they throwing down another comic book title instead of just using their time and energy to make the current Iron Man series more appealing? They did it with Captain America (from the start of the Brubaker run we saw a huge upturn in readers for the title). Do they think that the regular title is too far along for new fans to jump in? Or maybe they've done such a great job of making Tony a bad guy that they want something that will be more directly related to the movie. Now, I don't blame them for doing more Iron Man stuff with the movie coming - movies sell more comics - even if the movie is Ghost Rider. But a new ongoing? I dunno...