(w) Brian Michael Bendis
(a) Alex Maleev; Bryan Hitch & Paul Neary; Butch Guice; Brandon Peterson, Carlos Pacheco & Roger Bonet with Tom Palmer; David Marquez, Joe Quesada
This is what disappointment truly feels like.
I defended Age of Ultron in nearly every review I wrote about the series. And while it has indeed been a fun and generally enjoyable ride, Age of Ultron #10 simply fizzles out where it should have been explosive. And one vague, surreal explosion doesn't count after nine issues of build-up.
** SPOILERS AHEAD. THOUGH, YOU PROBABLY READ A LOT OF THIS ONLINE ALREADY. **
Why do I not like Age of Ultron #10? Let me count the ways. One: there are far too many artists on this issue. Two: introducing Angela in the final pages is such an obvious grab for money that I nearly slammed by laptop's screen shut in frustration. Three: this issue is the epitome of anticlimactic.
There are ten different artists credited to Age of Ultron #10 with no guide as to who has drawn what. Sure, I've got some idea based on what I've seen in other books, but overall, it's extremely jarring to see one issue go through so many different styles. Now, Bryan Hitch, Brandon Peterson, and Carlos Pacheco were featured throughout issues one through nine, but that was for a reason. Hitch drew the original timeline, Peterson drew the 'Age of Iron Man' segments, and Carlos Pacheco tackled the sequences set in the past of the Marvel universe. There were three distinct styles for three distinct parts of the story, and generally, it worked well. The only reason that I can imagine Marvel had for employing so many artists was the nature of the story's conclusion. And even if they did -- which is highly unlikely -- the experiment was not worth it because it looks bad.
Angela, Angela, Angela. Everyone is so excited about Angela, and it turns out her presence in the issue amounts to little more than a cameo. Now it makes sense how Bendis was able to "write" a special new part for the character. I phrased it like that not because I believe Bendis can't write, but because it's not a real sequence. Angela's appearance is just her inner monologue with a two-page spread by Joe Quesada as the backdrop. That's not enough. That's just pandering. And I'm sure there are those out there who loved seeing Angela on those final pages. But if you're unfamiliar with the character, this 'epic conclusion' is just confusing.
Which brings us to the fact that Age of Ultron #10 is the most anticlimactic ending to an event Marvel has produced since...well at least before House of M. The biggest revelation we get is that the multiverse is now bleeding into itself, meaning various universes will cross over with relative ease. While this is a big change in status quo, there's only one single splash page that's interesting. The rest is panning images of space and bright lights. It might be menacing and mysterious, yes, but these are the final pages of Age of Ultron.
The big battle we get is basically a reprint of Avengers #12.1 from two years ago, and though it ends differently here than it did before, it's just a big letdown. Alright, sure; the Avengers defeated Ultron before he ever started his apocalyptic invasion of Earth. But we knew that was going to happen. What we needed here was something bigger to keep the momentum going now that the event is over. Unfortunately, Marvel thought giving us one glimpse of Galactus and a spread of Angela would do the trick. And even though the crossover nerd in me did summersaults when I saw Miles Morales facing down Galactus 616, it was a fleeting emotion because the only real reason it was included was for that specific reaction, not because it had anything to do with Age of Ultron.
Age of Ultron wasn't a huge failure. Bryan Hitch's artwork for the first five issues was fantastic, Carlos Pacheco's style fit the 1960s sequences perfectly, and the goal of the entire narrative was achieved by the end of Age of Ultron #10. Brian Michael Bendis set out to create an grand story about the dangers of abusing technology we don't understand. Unfortunately, this sentiment becomes hollow when the lesson isn't learned. Wolverine isn't punished for basically unraveling all of time and space, while Hank Pym believes he can correct the errors in Ultron's programming instead of understanding that creating and manipulating consciousness -- biological or artificial -- isn't right. So what was the point?
Bendis threw the biggest players in the Marvel universe through the ringer for no reason. The characters don't truly grow because they haven't learned from their mistakes, which makes it all the more obvious that the true endgame of Age of Ultron was to allow Marvel to dig into it's plethora of fan-favorite characters with far more ease. This might sound harmless at first, but it means the characters were simply props throughout this event. All the tie-ins, all the deaths; none of it technically matters. And that's a problem. As an event, Age of Ultron was mediocre. As the final issue Age of Ultron #10 was completely lackluster.
GRADE
5/10
(w) Brian Michael Bendis (a) Brandon Peterson
** SPOILERS ABOUND. DO NOT READ UNLESS YOU ALREADY KNOW OR DON'T CARE **
As of this issue, we should really change the name of this series from Age of Ultron to the more fitting Brian Michael Bendis' Tale of Time Travelling Trepidation. Last issue, we got a good look at the world as it is now that Wolverine murdered Hank Pym in the 1960s. Ultron never came to be, the Defenders are Earth's primary defense force, and Tony Stark apparently runs the damn world. But at least everyone's alive, right?
Wrong.
The true tragedy of Age of Ultron is how the end of all things can push us to places we never believed possible. If faced with the hypothetical question, "Would you eat another human if you were about to starve to death?", most people will explain that there's no way they could ever be persuaded to eat a person, no matter the circumstances. While not necessarily a lie, per se, this is a misconception we tell ourselves is true because the fact is that we have no idea what we would do in the most dire of situations. Wolverine and Sue Storm knew what they were doing when they travelled back in time against the wishes of the rest of the Ultron survivors. Unfortunately, it was a most dire situation, and they felt pressured to do something most dire in response.
Age of Ultron #8 gives a ton of insight into how much the Marvel universe was screwed up by Wolverine and Sue Storm's actions. Recently, Bendis posted a long explanation of exactly how things would be different as a result of Pym's death. The list is astoundingly long, and all from just one character. Everyone is alive, but their lives are significantly worse. Tony Stark runs the planet, but it's not a prestigious job. In fact it's a curse because this new timeline is still in a state of constant paranoia after the Skrull 'Secret Invasion', and before that, a loosing war against the supreme magic of Morgan Le Fey. The Avengers broke up in their infancy. Captain America is only a violent shadow of his former self. Thor is dead. The world is in a police state.
Wolverine believed anything would be better than the apocalypse he left and only succeeded in betraying the legacy of everyone he ever loved. By killing Pym and changing the course of history, Wolverine and Sue Storm nullified everything they and their friends and families have ever worked to achieve. Any victory, any success, any happiness was eliminated and replaced with a new lifetime of struggle, fear, and hopelessness. In their attempt to save the lives of everyone they knew, Logan and Sue cheapened all of their existences.
On the surface, Age of Ultron feels like Brian Michael Bendis just going through the time travel motions and jacking up the action level to compensate for the level of timey whimey talk. But under the initial layer of fun time-space disruption, there's a message about the cost of rewriting history when the going gets rough.
GRADE
8/10
(w) Brian Michael Bendis (a) Brandon Peterson and Carlos Pacheco
At ten issues, Age of Ultron has a lot of wiggle room. Brian Michael Bendis' decompressed style shines through here, as each chapter moves the story forward, but at a deliberately steady pace (unlike, say, the 'jump in head first' attitude of events such as Siege and Fear Itself). Which is interesting, because Ultron had already won before the first issue began. It's a testament to Bendis' talent, that he's able to tell a story backwards and still make it feel familiar and organic. Age of Ultron #6 marks the beginning of the second half of this event, and this is where everything changes.
**SPOILERS AHEAD, YO**
Carlos Pacheco and Brandon Peterson begin their art duties this issue, and for once, it actually makes sense. I had a theory -- a few months back when it was announced that the artistic team would change midway through the series -- that the change would have to do with time travel and/or dimensional travel. Lo and behold, that's exactly the reason. It's not a fill-in job or because Bryan Hitch couldn't produce more pages. It's because that's what the story calls for, and that's the best reason.
Last issue, Nick Fury led a team into the future on a mission to destroy Ultron and retroactively fix the past. Wolverine is skeptical, to say the least, and decides to go rogue and jump back in time to kill Hank Pym, thereby eliminating Ultron before it's even created. Because nothing bad has ever come from messing with the past. Wolverine does posit, on several occasions, that without Ultron, the future has "got to be better than what we left."
That's a silly sentiment.
And Logan, of all people, should understand this basic principle. Is he not the one going ape-shit in All-New X-Men over Beast bringing the original X-Men into the present? I could look past this if Brian Michael Bendis wasn't writing both titles. ANYTHING that changes in the past can (and usually does) have major ramifications to the future. It's not a difficult concept to understand, and Wolverine is letting his emotions get the better of him. Again, I could look past this if it hadn't happened to the X-Men numerous times throughout the franchise's publication history, but it has.
Honestly, Ultron's devastation merits extreme action. I understand that Bendis has written these characters into a situation that they've never encountered before, one that they do not have a solution for, one that can't be fixed by punching and shields. This ordeal has broken these heroes, and they don't know what else to do. The problem is that Bendis' insistence that story trumps character backfires on him here. Wolverine has never been about "what if"s and "could have"s. In any other story, he would have joined Nick Fury in the fight for the future. It's hard to get past this unconvincing character flaw because Wolverine's journey into the past is pivotal to this issue's narrative.
It's going to be hard for Bendis to dig his way out of this one -- even if Wolverine recognizes his mistake, the fact still remains that he did it. In the years he's been featured in Marvel comic books, Wolverine has never crossed the line unless he needed to, unless there was no other option. It's a shame that such a popular and revered character is being used so flippantly.
GRADE
7/10
(w) Brian Michael Bendis
