AGE
OF ULTRON (Marvel, 2013; Hardcover)
Collects
Avengers
No. 12.1, Age
Of Ultron
Nos. 1-10, 10AI, Avengers
Assemble
Nos. 14AU, 15AU, Fantastic
Four
No. 5AU, Fearless
Defenders No.
4AU, Superior
Spider-Man
No. 6AU, Ultron
No. 1AU, Uncanny
Avengers
No. 8AU, and X-Men
No. 27AU (cover dates June, 2011- August, 2013)
Writers:
Brian Michael Bendis (Avengers
No. 12.1, Age Of Ultron Nos.
1-10), Matt Fraction, Cristos Gage, Rick Remender, Mark Waid, and
others
Artists:
Pencilers- Bryan Hitch (Avengers
No. 12.1, Age Of Ultron Nos. 1-5,
10), Brandon Peterson (Age Of Ultron
Nos. 6-10), Carlos Pacheo (Age Of Ultron
Nos. 6-10), Butch Guice (Age Of Ultron
No. 10, Avengers Assemble
Nos. 14AU, 15AU), Paul Neary (Avengers
No. 12.1, Age Of Ultron Nos. 1-5,
10), Roger Bonet (Age Of Ultron
Nos. 6-10), Tom Palmer ( Age Of Ultron
No. 10, Avengers Assemble Nos.
14AU, 15AU), Phil Jimenez, and others
Colorists:
Paul Mounts (Avengers No. 12.1,
Age Of Ultron Nos. 1-10), Jose
Villarrubia (Age Of Ultron Nos.
6-9), Richard Isanove, Antonio Fabela, and others.
2013's
big crossover has been percolating for years, ever since the Free
Comic Book Day 2011 giveaway Avengers
#12.1 set up a most promising scenario. I have been a sucker
for Ultron since I was a kid, and the lure of a big Ultron attack
outweighed my disdain for crossovers and my reluctance at reading
anything by Brian Michael Bendis. Things started out really strong
here. In fact, for the first two issues, I was thinking Wow, this
may well be Bendis' finest hour. This feeling didn't last very
long.
The
core series is filled with problems, including but not limited to the
following scenes: Hawkeye casually killing The Owl's goons when he
rescued Spider-Man, which was a bummer. I liked the olden days when nobody
but the Punisher (and once in a great, great while, Wolverine) killed
bad guys. Now everyone kills villains, and it makes me sad. It would
be nice if I could share this Avengers with my 6 year old son, but I
cannot. I know, the company line is that Marvel has an all-ages line
for kids, but even my son knows that those are not the real
Avengers.
Wolverine
going back in time to change history is, of course, completely
retarded. Haven't we all read enough time travel stories to know that
this will only create a divergent timeline or something? Then we get
the tired (not tried, tired) and true everything you know is a
lie, this is reality Age of Apocalypse-esque altered present.
These are usually just lazy mash-ups, with the most recent one being
the Age of Apocalypse retread House Of M. So we have
Colonel America, basically Captain America with an eye patch. Calling
him Colonel makes about as much sense as calling Brother Voodoo
Doctor Voodoo when he took over for Doctor Strange as the Sorcerer
Supreme. Then again, it's Bendis! I guess that we should be
thankful that half of the first issue wasn't a conversation between
S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents.
This
panel is where Bendis Tourette's kicks in. The Thing says “What the damn
Hell!” First off, what does that even mean? Second, can anyone
explain to me why this line makes the book a better read than
if the Thing said “What the heck?”, “What in Sam Hill?”,
“What in the name of Sweet Aunt Petunia?”, or any of the other
more characteristic lines that the Thing is wont to say. Worse still,
Age of Ultron is the title of the forthcoming Avengers sequel.
Let's assume for a moment that the inevitable softcover of this book
is on the shelves of a mainstream bookstore like a Barnes &
Noble. Let's go a step farther and say that some 8-12 year old kid
convinces his parents to buy him this book. Do you see the problem
here? If the kid's parents don't outright confiscate this book then
they will, at the very least, look down on the medium and discourage
their child from becoming a potential lifelong reader. I am not a fan
of censorship, but I am a fan of self censorship. Stop writing
for middle aged basement dwellers, Bendis. Lines like “What the
damn Hell!” make me embarrassed to read this stuff, and if anybody
can't see why this line is stupid then you are part of the fanboy*
problem. (*Term used in the original pejorative.)
The
brightest spot in this book is Mark Waid reviving Henry Pym as
Ant-Man. There has been way too much Pym hate going on for the past
few years, and I am glad to see things coming full circle and Pym
assuming the heroic mantle once again. I hope that we see more of the
real Ant-Man in action.
The
artwork and coloring are all really good throughout the book.
Colorists never get much in terms of props from me, but that is not
because I don't appreciate their work. Quite the opposite, a good
colorist is like the electric company or cable- you don't notice it
unless they're not working properly.
 |
| Oh look...a character who was dead for five minutes makes a clever dead joke. Haven't seen one of those for a while, and they just get funnier every time. |
The
predictable Bendis fumble occurs toward the end of the mini-series.
I've said this many times before but it bears repeating: Bendis has
some good ideas but he always fumbles the ending. Why? If he can map
out a long, structured story, why do his endings always come up
short? It's even more maddening than some of his dialogue. Who is
Angela, and why should we even care? This is not explained in the
story, and it is assumed that you should know that she is a Neil
Gaiman creation from Spawn. Come on!
This
isn't the worst thing that you could read, but it certainly could
have been much, much better. If a civilian asked me to recommend an
Ultron story, I would steer them toward the Kurt Busiek and George
Perez arc Ultron Unlimited from Avengers #0 and 19-22,
originally published in 1999. That remains the gold standard for
Ultron stories as far as I'm concerned. I wanted this to be the be
all, end all of Ultron stories, I really did. It just wasn't.
Junk
Food For Thought rating: 3 out of 5.
The
OCD zone- While I am thrilled that the digital code is longer on
a piece of cardboard glued into the book block, it is now behind a
sticker which you have to peel to access. This leaves the sticker
looking bent once you are done, and, as such, is an OCD fail. The
book comes shrinkwrapped, so there is no need to “hide” the code
behind a sticker. I don't know, there might be more to the digital
code process than I am aware of, I am just speaking as a consumer.
DVD-style
Extras included in this book: Age
Of Ultron #1 Variant by Marko Djurdjevic
Age
Of Ultron #1 Variant by J. Scott Campbell & Nei
Ruffino
Age
Of Ultron #1 Variant by Skottie Young
Age
Of Ultron #1 Variant by Mike Deodato & Morry Hollowell
Age
Of Ultron #1 Variant by Ed McGuiness & Marte Gracia
Age
Of Ultron #2 Variant by Jung-Geun Yoon
Age
Of Ultron #3 Variant by In-Hyuk Lee
Age
Of Ultron #4 Variant by Fenghua Zhong
Age
Of Ultron #5 Variant by Adi Granov
Age
Of Ultron #6 Variant by Carlos Pacheco, Roger Martinez,
Jose Villarrubia, John Buscema & George Roussos
Age
Of Ultron #6 Variant by Greg Land & Gurihiru
Age
Of Ultron #7 Variant by Leinil Francis Yu & Frank
Martin
Age
Of Ultron #8 Variant by 7th Orange
Age
Of Ultron #9 Variant by Jorge Molina
Age
Of Ultron #10 Variant by Mark Brooks
Age
Of Ultron #10 Variant by Salvador Larroca & Laura
Martin
Age
Of Ultron #10 Variant by Joe Quesada, Klaus Janson, &
Richard Isanove
Age
Of Ultron #1-10 Variant by Rock-He Kim
Page
of Marvel AR codes along with digital code.
Paper
rating: 4.25 out of 5. Good weight coated stock paper. It has
that shriveled effect which pisses me off, though. American paper
mills tend to use really green trees and do not allow them to
properly cure. The result is a book where the paper gets all
shriveled and wavy once you crack the cellophane. My house is a 100%
climate controlled environment. There are no humidity issues in it.
My other collected editions not made in the United States or
Canada do not have this problem, so stop it, US printers!
Binding
rating: 5 out of 5. Sewn binding on a US made hardcover? Yes
please! Marvel had some problems with US made books with sewn binding
5-6 years ago, so I am thrilled to see the bugs all worked out. The
book lays perfectly flat. The book block doesn't appear to flex
within the squared casing, but I don't mind, so long as it lays flat!
Hardback
cover coating rating: 3 out of 5. Gone are the foil stampings and
faux leather grainy textures of the hardbacks of yore, in are the
dull matte finish hardbacks with images printed on them. This
wouldn't bother me if I didn't scuff it. I handle my books gingerly,
and for it to scuff with reasonable handling sucks, especially on a
book with a $75 MSRP. It might not even bother you, but it bothers me
and anyone else who would bother reading this far down in The OCD
zone.
