Review: Age of Ultron #6

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Brandon Peterson and Carlos Pacheco
Publisher: Marvel Comics

Now the survivors have split into their respective teams, with their own unique ideas as to how to stop Ultron, it's backwards and forwards, as we travel to the far-flung future and back to the early days of the Marvel Universe itself. Continuity is officially swiss-cheese!

As mentioned in my last review, the far more linear side of things is handled by Captain America's team, who've elected to travel to the far future and attack Ultron at the source. But that's frustratingly narrow thinking for a team that includes a futurist like Tony Stark. They shouldn't be thinking about avenging the havoc already wrought, they should instead be focusing their efforts on making sure it never happened in the first place. But more on that later. The future team don't really have a lot to do, truth be told. They arrive at their destination, make a bolt for what's left of New York, are promptly attacked and most likely killed. Ultron isn't known for his mercy and he shows none here. Captain America takes an especially nasty hit, which may have outright vaporised his head, but that could just be awkward art, as it was a little unclear. I did however enjoy the Iron Man beats that came before the attack. As someone who deals in technology day in, day out, Tony Stark has a unique perspective on what Ultron has done with the world in their absence. It's beautiful. Completely devoid of life, but damn does the robot do machines justice.

While I'm loathe to agree with another of Wolverine's infamous "let's murder the threat, even if it's innocent" plans, the tiny Canuck definitely has a point with his plan to eliminate Hank Pym and it's this begrudging acceptance that leaves his time-travel partner, Sue Storm, conflicted for the whole of the issue. The Invisible Woman has just suffered the loss of her entire family at the hands of Ultron and despite initially being drafted to the future team, inexplicably finds herself drawn towards the assassination side of things. This is a Sue Storm unlike any one we've met before, as she's clearly stricken with grief and willing to entertain any notion that brings her loved ones back. There are shades of the moral woman we've been reading about for the past fifty years, but like all human beings, we're oh so flawed and that leads to our favourite heroine looking the other way at a vital juncture.

The consequences of Wolverine's murderous act are likely to be far-reaching, creating a Marvel Universe entirely unlike the one we've come to know and love. What does the world look like minus one Hank Pym? Numerous adventures over the course of five decades have hinged upon the quick thinking of this man. While Logan and Sue may have put an end to the Ultron threat for the moment, they've opened a whole new can of worms, which may be impossible to put back the way they were. Just in recent memory alone, the entire Skrull invasion hinged on his involvement, he deftly led the Mighty Avengers into battle multiple times and even mentored the next generation at Avengers Academy. There's no telling which one of those situations would have proved lethal to the world without Hank at the helm. For all the evil the man unleashed upon the world, he did just as much good trying to redeem himself.

The story itself remains consistent with the previous five issues, keeping the same decompressed pace that Bendis' Avengers comics are renowned for. However, with Bryan Hitch leaving the series with last week's issue 5, all visual continuity is out the window. Peterson and Pacheco are wonderful artists in their own right, but struggle to match the realism of Hitch's issues. To look at it, it feels less like an event and more like filler. Certainly not carrying the weight that the events involved deserved. If they had been the art team from the beginning, things probably would've been different, with the story coming together as a coherent whole. But in it's current form, it's as though three series were meshed as one. Comic book publishers are becoming far too concerned with the scheduling of their series, meaning the end product gets rushed in a effort to meet a certain date. It's clearly taken Hitch several years to complete the first five issues, yet Peterson and Pacheco could've knocked this one out in the past month. It's a change of pace that's difficult to ignore.

Don't get me wrong though, I enjoyed this issue far more than the others, simply due to the increased plot progression. The heroes have felt remarkably static for the past five issues, not truly taking any action against their mechanical menace. The actions they do take here, while flawed and sure to end badly, at least they're up off their asses and doing something. The time for wallowing in self-pity is over, now it's time to kick some ass!

7 out of 10

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News: Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier Concept Art

As you may have noticed over the past few days, Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier has begun filming and as such, is leaking concept art like a sieve.

The most prominent pictures to have hit the net show Cap sporting yet another new costume, making this his third in as many movies. Admittedly, his Avengers garb had it's flaws and looked somewhat out of place in the context of the real-world heroes. I mean, when Thor comes out looking better, you know you've got a problem.

This particular model appears to be based upon Ed Brubaker's "Steve Rogers: Super-Soldier" costume, which the character wore once returned from the dead, only to find his partner Bucky filling the role of Captain America. Taking the position as Director of SHIELD, Steve opted for this paired down, basic look. Far less colour and pomp than the icon he was originally intended as.

Speaking of Bucky, the former sidekick appears to have made the transition from page to screen almost entirely intact. While I'd never personally envisaged Sebastian Stan in the role, even in the first film, Marvel have nailed the look. Metal arm, check. Long shaggy mane, check. All looks in order here.

Last but not least, we get a feel for Anthony Mackie's Sam Wilson aka The Falcon. The character has long been a partner to Captain America, but has fallen into obscurity in recent years. I'm genuinely excited to see him dusted off for the big screen treatment. His costume, while not as colourful as his comic book counterpart, looks far more in keeping with the world of SHIELD. It's all about sleek leather jumpsuits with those guys. The wings themselves are appropriately high-tech and I expect to see him gliding gracefully throughout the film. Now, whether he'll talk to his pet falcon, that's another thing entirely.

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Review: Age of Ultron #5

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Bryan Hitch
Publisher: Marvel Comics

We reach the halfway point of Marvel's 2013 summer event and the story that's been quietly simmering for four issues finally boils over, bringing us to the crux of the series - time travel. After last issue's big Vision-shaped discovery by Luke Cage, namely that big bad Ultron isn't even in the same time-frame as our heroes, the survivors weigh up their options from the comfort of Nick Fury's super-secret Savage Land hideaway.

Once arriving, the question isn't so much how the heroes will strike back against Ultron, but when. As it turns out, Fury has been stashing one of Doctor Doom's old time platforms for a rainy day and it doesn't get more rainy than a shower of shiny golden robots systematically destroying the world. If memory serves correct, said time platform doesn't affect the current timeline, merely create a new alternate one. I vaguely recall a Fantastic Four annual hinging on a future Johnny Storm coming back to avert a tragedy, but rather than save his own family, he merely created a world where they continued to live. But that might just be my fanboy mind picking holes in Bendis' chosen plot device.

With the method of the remaining heroes' kamikaze mission decided, they then have to choose the perfect moment to strike at Ultron and the survivors are of two minds on the matter. While the linear side of things is covered nicely by Nick Fury's strike team, heading off into the far-flung future to attack the Ultron directly responsible for this assault, the far more interesting approach comes in the final pages, as Wolverine declares his intention to travel back and kill Hank Pym (aka Ant-Man aka Ultron's creator), before he can birth this monstrous AI upon the world. The small hairy canuck aims to misbehave and there's no telling what affect he'll have on Marvel Universe continuity as a result.

As explored in the opening pages, to much wordier effect, Pym himself had even considered travelling back to a time before Ultron and warn his past self of the horrors his creation will inflict. But as correctly pointed out by his fellow scientists, Tony Stark and Reed Richards, where does one draw the line when "correcting" past mistakes? Do they leave it at Ultron or do they travel back even further and stop Hitler from kickstarting World War II or do they go back even further and knock that insidious apple out of Eve's hand. The message Bendis is trying to relay is that altering time is a slippery slope and there's no clear end in sight. As much as the ability may aid the heroes in this time of need, it's just as likely to be abused by the wrong people. Hell, in this case, the heroes ARE the wrong people. They want to murder a founding Avenger!

Age of Ultron #5 marks a profound turning point in the course of this series, not only with the changing stakes of the situation, but behind the scenes as well. The first half of this ten part story was written nearly three years ago at this point, making for numerous visual and character inconsistencies in the opening salvo. Wrong costumes for the most part, but wrong characterisation entirely in Spider-Man's case, who fails to reflect his new "Superior" attitude. Like most characters in the book, their current status quo's weren't even an inkling in their creator's eye while Bendis was writing and Hitch was illustrating way back in 2010. As such, issue five brings to a close Bryan Hitch's work on the series, gracefully departing with some fine work, before the story kicks into another gear entirely. I'll miss the consistency of his artwork on the book going forward, but I'll be grateful for an up-to-date artist who isn't trying to jam old ideas into present day continuity. It's Marvel NOW, not Marvel THEN.

The story itself continues to tick over, giving us enough to keep our interest, but not really engaging at the same time. There's an inherent flaw in time travel stories, whereby at the back of your mind, you know everything will snap back to "how it should be". Marvel have so many plates spinning at the moment, I can't believe they'd let a three year old pet project dictate their entire line's future. This is basically Bendis wrapping up a few loose ends from his legendary run on the Avengers franchise. It's more of an encore, than a beginning. Play the hits one last time, then respectfully leave the stage. After all, Jonathan Hickman's Avengers series has shot off in another direction entirely. So much so, Age of Ultron is squarely in the rear view mirror, even as it continues.

6 out of 10

Weekly Round-Up 23/08/2012

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #692

A nerdy high school student visits a laboratory with his class, only to be granted superpowers. Sound familiar? Well this time, it's Peter Parker on the outside looking in, as one of his demonstrations inadvertently creates a new hero by the name of Alpha! However, that is where the similarity ends, as Alpha quickly goes off the rails and uses his newfound powers for all the wrong things! What was initially touted as Spidey's first sidekick, soon becomes an in-continuity What If story. With no pretense of a secret identity, Alpha uses his abilities to do what we all would - make money, impress girls, make fools of jocks, etc. This was a fun opening chapter to a story that I'm sure will have dire consequences for our favourite wall-crawler. The bigger Alpha's profile gets (and his ego at that), the more attention he attracts... 8/10

GREEN LANTERN: NEW GUARDIANS #12

This series has always struck me as the odd one out among it's Green Lantern brethren. The premise of all the Lantern Corps uniting as one sprang out of Blackest Night, where it was used most effectively. At that time, the team consisted of only the most high profile of Lanterns, whether it be Hal Jordan, Sinestro, Carol Ferris, etc. These were the proverbial cream of the crop. However, this ongoing series has basically been surviving on scraps, as all those other characters are busy elsewhere, giving the impression this is strictly the B-team. To my surprise, it wasn't as bad as I expected. As their first year draws to a close, so does their conflict against the almighty Invictus. But that isn't the real narrative meat of the issue. Instead, we finally find out who stole all those Lantern rings way back in Issue 1 and just what they hoped to achieve by sending them to Kyle Rayner. These reveals are far more satisfying than any random slugfest with a musclebound villain. The issue ends on an ominous note, leaving me dying to know what role this team will play in the DC universe going forward. 7/10

ULTIMATE COMICS: THE ULTIMATES #14

This book is a mess, plain and simple. Whether it be the plotting, telling an insane story about States succeeding and Texas threatening to nuke the rest of America. More so, the art varies wildly from page to page. One reveling in realism, another boldly stylised, as if it were straight from a cartoon. In a year where "The Avengers" is pulling in a billion dollars worldwide, how does the series that inspired it flounder so badly? Also, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention quite how ugly the redesigned costumes of Captain America and Iron Man are. Both are clunky and cumbersome, which is the last thing you'd expect icons to be wearing. This book reminds me alot of Squadron Supreme post-JMS. It's ugly, directionless and missing the magic that made it a must-read in the first place. This is the reanimated corpse of a once great series. Avoid at all costs. 1/10

UNCANNY X-MEN #17 

Despite falling smack dab in the middle of AvX, this arc has been more of a side story about the Phoenix Five (still intact at this point) taking down long-time foe, Mister Sinister. It's actually rather handy the focus of the event isn't on this adventure, as it would undercut everything the main series was putting across. While the combined might of every single Avenger struggled to make a dent in one of the Phoenix Five, Mister Sinister keeps ALL FIVE captive for an entire issue. Admittedly, there's a panel that proves the Phoenix is too powerful to contain, but to have such an unstoppable force...stopped, is a little strange. The majority of the issue falls to the remainder of Cyclops' Extinction team i.e. Psylocke, Storm, Magneto and Danger, as they plot to sneak their way into Sinister's castle and liberate their comrades. The teamwork on display is fantastic and even with all the ulterior motives flying around, these are combinations that work. Infact, this issue features my favourite Psylocke moment ever, bar none. I've never liked the character before, so to hear myself laughing out loud at her antics was a complete surprise. I'm positively begging for that to be her new catchphrase. It'd rival "it's clobberin' time" and "flame on". 8/10

Avengers vs X-Men #5 Review

Marvel's latest summer event ends it's first act with a game-changing issue! When last we saw the company's two most popular superhero teams, they had both found their way to the Moon, the Phoenix Force drawing ever closer and the two sides locked in combat over the fate of the Mutant Messiah and soon-to-be-host, Hope. Captain America wants to take her as far away from Earth as possible, Cyclops wants her to embrace the power and reignite the ailing Mutant race. All the while, fan-favourite Wolverine hovers in the background threatening to gut her like a fish incase this all goes wrong. Never have the heroes of the Marvel Universe ever disagreed to such a degree. The superhero Civil War was a petty spat in comparison. In Avengers vs X-Men, the fate of the whole world hangs in the balance!

As I am only beginning my reviews with issue 5, I feel I should sum up my feelings on the entire event so far to give the best picture of how it is going. Unfortunately, I'm not coming down on it favourably. Ever since the first issue, these typically rational heroes have been acting like colossal jerks. Captain America inexplicably declared war on the X-Men and is talking about imprisoning the entire Mutant race, behaving wildly out of character. Cyclops has come off like a religious zealot, giving himself over entirely to a cause bigger than himself and putting the whole world in danger in the process, behaving wildly out of character. The only person who's actually acting IN character is Wolverine, but his goal of murdering Hope is so despicable, you really wish he would act out of character and try to save her instead. He's betrayed the X-Men at every turn and is actively aiding in snuffing out Mutantdom's last chance at a future. It was never going to be easy for Marvel to find a reason to have their most popular franchises go to war...and they still haven't found it.

This issue inparticular takes place almost entirely on the Moon, taking place over a matter of minutes. Hope keels over in pain at the impending arrival of the Phoenix Force, while the Avengers and X-Men simply hit each other like simpletons for twenty pages. There's an occasional plea by Captain America to Cyclops to stop this madness, but even in such a rational request, everyone is still committed to their own course of action, with no attempt at compromise. You'd think as they're on THE MOON, what's the harm in letting Hope take on the power, see if she can contain it and if not, have Wolverine use those claws he's been sharpening for the past four issues. Ultimately this issue is just another horrible example of Marvel smashing their favourite toys together and seeing what happens, regardless of whether it makes sense.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the schizophrenic creative team behind this series. All of Marvel's top tier writers have taken a crack at writing an issue a piece. I'm assuming that there was a huge group meeting to discuss where exactly the story was heading, but even then, these are wildly different writing styles and inner voices being used with every passing issue. A Brian Michael Bendis comic is a very different beast to a Jason Aaron comic, as it is to an Ed Brubaker comic and so on. They all have their various strengths and weaknesses and as a result, they never come together as a cohesive whole. This particular issue was written by Matt Fraction (famous for his work on The Invincible Iron Man, The Mighty Thor, Defenders, etc). He's well known for taking a step back from the emotional core and focussing on lofty bigger ideas of a grand scale. Considering he's got two superteams on the surface of the Moon scrapping it out, whilst a cosmic force moves ever closer in an attempt to consume them, you could certainly say he's guilty of that here. He does however frame the issue around a lovely metaphor where Hope questions whether she's the pilot of the bomber or the bomb itself. Amidst all the needless violence, I did appreciate such sentiment.

Ironically, the art is the one aspect of the series so far to remain consistant, with John Romita Jr handling every issue of this Act. However, the only reason he's been able to manage this feat is by turning in shoddy half-arsed art that conveys the bare minimum of detail. To be fair, I'm not saying it's the series itself that's bringing this out in him, as he's been coasting on "deadline" art for the past ten years or more. Only in very rare cases has he produced anything even remotely beautiful. For the majority of series he's worked on, he'll turn in whatever he's managed to accomplish in that timeframe, which isn't a whole hell of alot. This actually reminds me alot of his work on the recent relaunch of The Avengers. For the first 12 issues or more, he turned in some of the worst art I'd ever seen and if not for the similar style, would've had me wondering whether this was the same guy who wowed me on Amazing Spider-Man all those years ago. I'm not decrying the art as absolutely horrible, merely functional. There probably won't be any images from this series that stand out as a classic visual of our time, which is a real shame considering the monumental subject matter. I'm far more interested to see what Oliver Coipel achieves in the upcoming second Act.

Finally, the issue ends on a shocking cliffhanger, which I'd be an idiot to not address. So if you're not wanting to know what happens, please do not read beyond this point and go about your business. As established in the most recent issue of Uncanny X-Men, the Phoenix Force was definitely responsible for Hope's birth and the subsequent arrival of the "Five Lights". Not having her acolytes on hand at the time of it's arrival, the Phoenix Force possesses the five members of the X-Men's Extinction Team. Cyclops, Emma Frost, Namor, Colossus and Magik have all become living avatars of the Force. After their abrupt transformation, they take the broken Hope in their arms and abscond back to Earth, with their great work still ahead of them. This is actually a fantastic concept for the remains of the series and quickly dispells the notion that the Avengers have been utterly superior up until this point. The X-Men were losing, but now they've changed the game entirely and laid claim to the moniker of Earth's Mightiest Heroes. It'd be extremely easy for Marvel to make these possessed X-Men the villains of the piece and have the Avengers striving to stop their genocidal plans, but I'd be far more interested if their motivations weren't as simple as wiping Humanity off the face of the Earth and instead had the Phoenix wanting to bring about genuine change on a global scale.

6 out of 10