REVIEW: Age of Ultron

So, Age of Ultron...

Age of Ultron #1 Copyright Marvel

Age of Ultron was one of Marvels most anticipated series of comicbooks in years, what with the menace that is Ultron razing Earth only a handful of heroes remain to stop him. However, since release, it hasn't been heralded as the most fantastic series.

The seeds to this series were sown back in 2011 in the Avengers (issue #12.1) meaning that the probably release date for the series was meant to be before the launch of Marvel now, which personally seems more likely because of the amount of "hints" to the consequences of this series. 

The series starts in a modern day New York in a Terminator Judgement Day style setting, the world destroyed and a handful of heroes trying to figure this mess out. The initial book in the series isn't the typical "event set-up" that usually happens. However #1 throws up something many people will consider a continuity issue, I'll go ahead and say it, noone is sure if Spidey is Ock, or Peter. The general consensus is that Age of Ultron is written to have been released prior to Marvel Now and possibly before AvX as well.

Issue #2, in my opinion doesn't add a massive amount to the plot, it's more of the same as issue #1 introducing more characters and adding some more "how do they survive" plot points. Then culminating in the "plan" that Captain America claims he has.

The next few issues are the "plan" being played out, I'm going to be honest, many of the middle issues aren't great, they are very slow paced and don't add a massive amount to the plot very quickly. This is where my biggest gripe arrived whilst reading - why did it have to be a 10-issue story (ex. tie ins)? Much of the plot could have been shrunk down into two issues at most (reducing the story to 8 issues). 

The story heats up at issue #6, with lots of fight scenes and a surprising team up between Wolvie and Sue Storm our favourite Superhero mum. Another hint towards this series having meant to have been released in 2012 is the white Nick Fury, as many books have represented him in the Black Samuel L. Jackson version from The Avengers movie. 

Time Travel is used a fair amount in #6, causing some troubles for Sue and Wolvie in issue #7 and #8, causing Wolverine to develop another plan, because he fucked up. #9 deals with that too, essentially culminating the story, with #10 revisiting the #12.1 story from the previous volume of The Avengers. #10 I think is really only there to announce the arrival of a character with a completely different set of skills...

My Opinion:

It's a difficult one, there are some parts of the series that I enjoy and some parts that I felt could have been amalgamated into a single issue (#1 and #2 for instance), which meant that some parts of the series could have been shortened and the series made to be a 6-issue or 8-issue series. 

Infinity, for instance, is a 6-issue series. With the initial book and the final book to be oversized books they are essentially shortening an 8 issue series. Bendis/Marvel should have done that instead with Age of Ultron, the plot may have seemed a little quicker. 

Finally, I think the story was a little poor. It seems to me that it's another of those events that are in the "cause and effect" genre, the effect of which is yet to be seen. Although, some effects are seen in Hunger but in the regular 616 universe we are still seeing signs that things are happening, or are going to happen. But all we know is that there is something wrong with time. 

What makes me wonder further is that in Battle of the Atom there were mutants from the future using time travel - will that also cause damage?

But anyway, my rating. I think I'm going to give it:

6/10

Not the greatest of series, there are some gems in it but the length and story just let it down. It's too much of a leapfrog to the next event, whatever that may be.