Spotlight: Age of Ultron #8

(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

REVIEW: FANTASTIC FOUR #1

(w) Matt Fraction
(p) Mark Bagley

I've never been a big fan of the Fantastic Four. They've always existed in a weird middle ground for me -- somewhere between science-based adventure books and superhero-filled action titles. For some, the mixture of pulp and 'weird science' is a welcome alternative to comic books that provide only one or the other...not me. I don't 'gel' with the Fantastic Four, though I've tried for years to figure out why. Turns out it's the writing.

Fantastic Four #1 is just good fun. After a few years of concept-heavy storytelling from the masterful Jonathan Hickman, Matt Fraction brings his signature style to Marvel's first family. The issue starts off with a "One Year From Now" full-page spread featuring what looks to be a de-Thing'ed Ben Grimm, then we're thrown 2 million years into the past where Reed Richards gets seriously injured for the first time since the accident that gave him his body-stretching ability. It's all very bombastic and 'in your face', which would normally go against Fraction's more subtle nature, but at it's core, this story is about something universal, something we can all relate to -- family.

Recognizing their need to balance life as a family and as super-powered heroes, Reed convinces Susan, Ben, and Johnny Storm to take a year-long vacation (with, "Less action. More adventure," as Reed puts it) in a vessel that can travel through all space and time. The catch is, Franklin and his older sister Valeria will be accompanying the team. The young Franklin Richards indirectly drives Fraction's story, as his distressed emotional state during his parents' absence leads Reed to develop one of the team's old ships into a multi-dimensional classroom wherein Franklin and Valeria can learn from first-hand experience as they jet off through worlds and times unknown. Oh, and because it's a time machine, too, they'll just return minutes after they've left even though it'll feel like a year for Richards & Company. It's a high-concept idea that comes in an extremely easy to swallow form.

After reading Marvel NOW! Point One, I was mainly just interested in reading Fraction's FF, but after this debut issue of Fantastic Four, I will most certainly be following the adventures of Marvel's first family as they steal away through the multiverse in search of adventure and knowledge. If nothing else, 'Marvel NOW!' is most assuredly bucking my usual preferences, which was kind of the point in the first place, right?

GRADE

8/10