Review: Age of Ultron #10
*WARNING – SPOILERS AHEAD*
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artists: Alex Maleev; Bryan Hitch & Paul Neary; Butch Guice; Brandon Peterson; Carlos Pacheco & Roger Bonet w/ Tom Palmer; David Marquez; Joe Quesada
Color Artists: Paul Mounts & Richard Isanove
Letterer: VC’s Cory Petit
Age of Ultron finally comes to an end. The Marvel event I was not excited for concludes with me still not being excited over it’s outcome. What was the point of Age of Ultron again? Even with it being over I’m left with that question.
What I Liked
Though overall I didn’t enjoy Age of Ultron, a few of the repercussions from it pique my curiosity. The biggest being the space-time continuum being broken by Wolverine’s constant time traveling to stop Ultron. Time travel has been a cornerstone of the Marvel universe since it’s early days. Why it finally decides to break after so much abuse remains to be seen. From the way it’s explained in the book, there probably won’t be a definite answer. It’s more fun to just tell stories of the impact of space-time being broken than figure out why the breakage finally occurred.
I love that Wolverine is to blame for almost everything that happens in a Marvel comic. He appears in about eight monthly comics, so might as well label him the culprit for anything that goes wrong.
I am also interested in seeing what this space-time problem brings to the Ultimate universe. We have to wait for that story to take place over in a limited series called The Hunt, where Galactus from the 616 universe crosses over into the Ultimate universe. With space-time being broken, this most likely explains how Spider-Man 2099 might find his way to the present.
What I Didn’t Like
Okay time for my long list of grievances with issue 10 and the series overall. This was titled “Age of Ultron”, but Ultron is pretty much irrelevant to everything else going on. He barely even appears throughout the series. Ultron was the catalyst for everything that happens, but this is really a Hank Pym/Wolverine story.
Here we finally see how Ultron came to overthrow our heroes and take over the world. It took a few panels for me to realize that is what I was reading. And just to prove how useless Ultron was to this overall story, he was defeated pretty easily.
Avengers A.I. is supposed to spin out of Age of Ultron. I thought there would be a better transition and setup from Age of Ultron to Avengers A.I. but we don’t get that in issue 10. Perhaps this new technological revolution that leads to Avengers A.I. will be because of the virus Hank Pym implanted in Ultron.
Finally, I can’t end my list of dislikes without bringing up Angela. With time being broken, that propels a fallen angel down upon the Marvel universe in the form of Angela? A character 75% of the reading audience has no history with? The only way her appearance will mean anything is if she brings warnings of bad things to come. Which she most likely will, and it will lead to the next big Marvel crossover event of 2014 (my guess).
Summary
I’m glad Age of Ultron is finally over. I could tell going into it that I wouldn’t like it, and I was right. I am excited for Infinity, since current Marvel NOW! books have been laying seeds for it. The only seeds for Age of Ultron were planted back in 2010 or 2011. This event lost its way when it was delayed for Avengers vs X-Men. Hopefully writers will be able to create interesting stories out of AoU going forward.
This review is written in partnership with Pop Culture Network. They can be found at their website http://www.popculturenetwork.com/
Timdogg
#ComicBookChronicles @CBChron founder. Editor-in-Chief of @thekliqnation. Comic book reviewer, podcaster #RABBLERABBLE
