Age of Ultron #5
I’ve been generally pissing on this major Marvel event and I’m going to keep on doing it, because it deserves it. Lets start with the cover to show how off this series is. It depicts characters in completely incorrect costumes. As a whole, Marvel seems to be having issues keep costumes consistent in Marvel NOW! *cough* Captain America *cough*. Wolverine is in his blue and yellow and Storm is mohawkless and her classic costume, while Iron Man is in his dark armor and Black Widow isn’t disfigured. Was this cover made for something else? Was the story something else?
Well the interior doesn’t get much better.
The heroes know what they need to do, head into the time stream to stop Ultron, but do they head to the past? Do they head to the future? How about spend the entire issue debating that? Yup! For $3.99, we get an entire issue that could have been handled in a few pages.
That’s the theme of this event, decompressed story telling to the point of irritation. There’s a reason this comic is coming out two to three times a month, yes $8 to $12 each month. Nothing happens! Five issues in and this could have been a much more entertaining comic with a faster pace and condensing of the story. Pages and side events aren’t needed, entire pages are dedicated to running. It’s frustrating.
I’d like some of that art if Bryan Hitch’s art was up to his usual quality. Something is off, so off. Overall, I’m pretty sure five issues in and this major event has been phoned in art and story.
At this point, I’m just waiting to see how they fit Angela into this mess.
Story: Brian Michael Bendis Art: Bryan Hitch
Story: 6.5 Art: 6.75 Overall: 6.5 Recommendation: Pass
Avengers Assemble #14AU
Just when I was about to give up on everything related to Age of Ultron comes this tie-in comic. Focusing on Black Widow and the moments of Ultron’s first attack the issue is the brightest spot of this event. In fact, it’s just a solid comic.
Black Widow is on vacation, hanging out on the left coast in San Francisco. Like we’ve seen in other tie-in comics we get the first moments of the Ultron attack. Like a good disaster movie, we’re then taken into the moments as people scramble, destruction is rampant and the action is ramped up.
This is that cool sequence as the hero races to save people and dodge the enemy. But what’s great about it, is it brings a humanity to Black Widow that some times is missing.
Before the chaos, before the destruction, she’s just spending time with friends. Nothing crazy comes out of it, but her thoughts, her reaction to hanging out humanizes the character and also creates sympathy for her as far as what she deals with and experiences.
The issue also explains why Black Widow is now scared.
Overall, reading this just made me wish this was how the main series was paced and how it was presented. In the page we got a lot of humanity, lots of connection, empathy, loss, and action. Something the main series misses with its excessive talking the leads to nothing.
Story: Al Ewing Art: Butch Guice
Story: 8.5 Art: 7.5 Overall: 8.25 Recommendation: Buy
Ultron #1AU
Remember the Runaways? It’s the formerly fantastic comic that featured kids that currently really isn’t being used at all in the Marvel universe (other than trying to kill some of them in Avengers Arena). So this comic deals with that burning question you have, “what happened to Victor Mancha from that series in the Age of Ultron?”
I understand Victor’s father is Ultron, but unless he will play a bigger role in the main story, I’m pretty sure this comic wasn’t needed. Lets focus on the story though.
The comic involves Victor and some other survivors hiding out from all of the Ultrons. That’s about it actually. Victor struggles with the fact he’s part machine and attempts to figure out how to tell the people he’s living with.
But, again, that is it. The comic really seems to be either a tie-in we didn’t need, or it’s a story that could have been told elsewhere.
Many of the tie-in comics so far have told the back story to other characters we’ve seen. Like the Black Widow in the issue above, or how the Fantastic Four came back to Earth, or a bit about Spider-Man. They’ve fleshed out the story we’re already reading in the main series. This one doesn’t answer anything. It’s a tangent that doesn’t answer questions we’ve had, or add anything so far to the main story.
Maybe as the story progresses there’s more to it, but for now, this is a decent comic that I didn’t see a point as to why it exists.
Story: Kathryn Immonen Art: Amilcar Pinna
Story: 7 Art: 7 Overall: 7 Recomendation: Read
