Review: Age of Ultron vs. Marvel Zombies #1

Age of Ultron vsTo say that this is a story about killer robots and superpowered zombies is only partially true.  Granted that there a lot of both of those categories running around in this book, but there is also a bit more going on as an alternate version of Ham Pym is introduced and might be another part of the clue as to what will happen to Battleworld.  This series is born from the same inspiration as most other Secret Wars tie-ins.  Without a multiverse anymore, all worlds and all realities are thrown together on Battlworld, and in this case it includes the Age of Ultron timeline as well as the Marvel Zombies timeline.  They are both harder timelines to incorporate so their inclusion here together might raise even more eyebrows.

The implementation of this idea is simple but also effective.  Battleworld is built off a number of locales, all of them somehow held together by Victor Von Doom.  To violate the borders of the locales means that Doom will not be happy and that someone must be punished for it (including as has been seen to thrown someone out of the locale.)  What happens in the outside area has not really been covered yet, except to know that it is patrolled by various others.  In this case though it is revealed that in addition to any other threats, that the Ultrons and the zombies roam the wilds looking to prey upon those unfortunate souls that have found themselves there.  With this as the setting this story is broken into two side arcs.  The first features Tigra as she explains the nature of the zone as she tries to escape from the zombies.  The second features an alternate reality Hank Pym who must choose where his exile will be to, either to the zombie area or the robot area.  Although seemingly unrelated, it seems like the two will join each other soon enough as Hank Pym might hold some information to make Battleworld go away.

This would seem to be an unlikely pairing of different sources, but it works pretty effectively here.  While the setting might be a bit bland on the surface or a giant robot vs/ zombies battle (which sounds fun in its own way) it is amplified here by the inclusion of two other characters that make this work well.  It seems unlikely, but two characters were chosen to focus around to make this series work, and the right two were chosen as they give something that zombies and robots lack, a soul to build around.

Story: James Robinson Art: Steve Pugh
Story: 8.5 Art: 8.5 Overall: 8.5 Recommendation: Buy