I just read
Iron Man: Director of SHIELD last night and over lunch today. It covers the issues of Iron Man's comic between its Civil War and WWH tie-ins, and it throws in the first appearance of SHIELD, an Iron Man/Nick Fury team-up, and new Official Handbook profiles on Iron Man and SHIELD, too. The modern story itself follows Tony as he takes over SHIELD, butts heads with Dum Dum Dugan due to his corporate managing style (although he ultimately earns Dugan's loyalty--and, dare I say, admiration--by showing that his heart is in the right place), and generally acclimates himself to his new responsibilities. The second issue of the trade is particularly good, featuring a story that starts us off in medias res, with Dum Dum getting antsy as some "important people" arrive on the Helicarrier and Tony isn't there to greet them, and ultimately ends with a really poignant plot twist that I won't spoil in case anyone wants to read it.
Anyway, the modern stories are great, and they feature beautiful art from Butch Guice and slightly less impressive art by Roberto de la Torre (but next to Guice, most people are less impressive, so it's by no means
bad). The classic issues included were cool too, although I had the same problem I always have with Silver Age material--namely, the writing is just loud and hokey to an obnoxious degree. But looking past that, it's easy to see that Stan Lee really did have some genuinely great ideas back in the day--HYDRA is itself a remarkably strong concept that was executed well, if a bit overly arch, and continues to be a great stalwart of Marvel's villainous landscape today, easily adjustable to be relevant in any era. It was interesting to note in the classic issues that SHIELD's initial weapons designer was none other than Tony Stark, too; that gives his assumption of SHIELD's director chair something of a nice symmetry that I didn't even know about before and strengthens an already strong story.
My one complaint about the modern stories is that I really wish I could've seen more about the Mandarin's return. It seems like we see him in the prison, he recovers his rings, and then suddenly he's heading up a biotech company in Nebraska out of nowhere. Couldn't we at least have seen how he gets his new hands?
Anyway, that small quibble aside, this was a great trade that I'd recommend to anybody who enjoys comics like Checkmate or Captain America.
In fact, between this, Brubaker's Cap, and JMS' Thor, I think the Avengers' big three are probably stronger than they've ever been before all at the same time. 
