IronHeart by Eve Ewing

If you're not yet familiar with Marvel Comic's Riri Williams let me familiarize you: Created by Brian Michael Bendis and debuting in the 2016 Invincible Ironman series, Riri Williams is a teenage genius. While attending M.I.T., 15-year old Riri designs and builds a suit of armor similar to Tony Stark's Iron Man armor. After her public debut, she's endorsed by Tony Stark and later becomes the lead character of the Invincible Iron Man series after Tony Stark is put into a coma and then goes missing. In her short run time, Riri briefly became leader of Latveria, joined the superhero team known as The Champions, and brands herself as "IronHeart."

An important part of Riri's story is that she suffers from PTSD and survivors guilt after surviving a drive-by shooting that killed her best friend and her step-father when she was 10. The tragedy of these deaths is, in part, what fuels her desire to become a hero. The first story arc in Eve Ewing's IronHeart series touches on a lot of these aspects. In the first issue of IronHeart, Riri builds herself an A.I. to assist her the same way Tony Stark has his A.I., Friday. Scanning her own brain patterns in order to create her A.I., Riri is shocked when her A.I. takes the form of her deceased best friend, Natalie.

Much of the IronHeart series is about Riri's past and how it still directly shapes her present. Beyond her A.I., the first caper of Riri's solo series involves another young woman Riri met in high school. Throughout the story arc Riri receives vivid flashbacks as her current experiences trigger traumatic events from her past. Despite these experiences and the recommendations of the characters around her, Riri refuses to seek help or assistance in these matters. And that is the crux of the IronHeart series.

Riri is smart, tough, and capable, and the series does a great job of letting us know that. She is passionate about helping her community, but we as the audience can see that Riri is overwhelmed and needs help yet she keeps refusing it. It's familiar and relatable, especially to those of us struggling with mental health issues. Riri expects to be able to shoulder every burden that's thrown at her- after all, that's what superheroes do, right? 

IronHeart is a reminder that asking for help isn't a weakness. It's a reminder that even the best and brightest can't do everything alone, and that sometimes you need to reach out in order to save the world.