Friday, May 17, 2013

Age of Ultron #8

Well, this one has me conflicted.

On the one hand, this issue of Age of Ultron is the usual action-packed, mystery-laden adventure by writer Brian Michael Bendis, with lots of great dialogue and characters along the way.

On the other, it's another example of the kind of time-travel mumbo-jumbo that I'm really not crazy about.

The series has split into two fields of combat - the one in the future (not seen this time around), and the one in the present - but the present reality is completely changed because of the actions in the past by the unlikely team-up of Wolverine and the Invisible Woman.

After their trip to the past (during which one of the two killed a certain key player), they return to a world that seems only slightly better than the Ultron-devastated one they had left.

A different menace threatens humanity now, and there may be no defense against it. And Logan and Sue Richards are prisoners, suspected of working for the enemy.

So the story's a bit of a muddle, with lots of alternate reality / timeline alterations playing hob with the "real world."

The art, however, is terrific. Brandon Peterson provides the finished art, and it's outstanding, with lots of personal moments, big hoo-hah events, great character designs and a new look for New York.

Even though the story's kind of all over the place, I have to admit that it's still compelling enough to keep me coming back for the rest of the series, just to see how they untangle this mess.

Grade: A-

-----------------

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

SPOILERS AHEAD:














I think so much that COULD have happened with this series, didn't. BMB and Marvel could have:
-Developed Ultron into something more than a world-ending robot
-Not immediately "jumped" to the world being mostly destroyed.
-While I am NOT a fan of crossover events, "how" it all happened might have been more interesting than the fits and starts of most tie-ins (which I bought very few of them).

I'm especially concerned that all this ACTION! ACTION! ACTION! will be all directed to "new" characters in the Marvel Universe from other companies (You probably know what I'm talking about) but what a let down.

I'm having trouble caring about this story...

B.

Chuck said...

I'm also having trouble caring, and that seems to be the biggest problem - it's all going to be wiped away somehow by the end, and those stories are difficult to get invested in. We'll see.