A Brief look at "Ultron Forever"
Once again I'll be looking at a mini-series from Marvel that has the Ultron in the title that includes a time travel element to it. Is this series as bad as Age of Ultron?
Short answer: No.
Longer answer: No. It's actually kind of fun. It's only 3 issues long & doesn't overstay it's welcome. There really isn't much to the plot of the story so I'm not sure if it would worked in a longer format. You have a form beginning middle & end. There are some twist & turns. You do get some nicer cliffhangers at the end of 1st & 2nd issues.
This story is a semi sequel to 1998's Avengers Forever at least in concept: Avengers from a few different points in the team's history are pulled together to do something. Both books ever have the 2 different versions of the same character where AF had 2 versions of Hank Pym (a at the present 1998 version of Giant Man & a past version of himself during his original run as Yellowjackets), UF has "sometime in the near future" female Thor & male Thor from the 1980's.
The other members of the group are 60's era Hulk, James Rhodes during his run as being Iron Man during the 1980's. Present Day Vision & Black Widow. The only *new* character from the book is the Captain America they use. She is from the future & is Danielle Cage, the daughter of Luke Cage & Jessica Jones. Danielle has grown up & taken on the mantle of the Captain. At the end of Issue 3, we get to see the version of the Avenger is a member of. Not sure we'll see her or her team in the anything else.
The group has been drawn together by "Doctor Doom". I put that in quote since you find out in Issue 3 that it is Doctor Doom but isn't at the same time. I'm just going to leave it at that. Doom has drawn these Avengers together when in THE FUTURE where Ultron has taken over the world. He has turned the world populous into mindless drones & has "converted" the Avengers of 2420 into his own personal group of enforcers. This reminds me partly of Futures End but these converted heroes look a whole lot better.
This mini series has elements of Age of Ultron, Futures End & Avengers Forever. It take some of the better parts of the first 2 & some similar elements of the third to make their story.
Another big selling point of this mini series is the art. I don't think I've found an book by Alan Davis that was disappointed by. The art is consistant through out & doesn't change midway like some other Ultron mini series did.
Only 1 thing that I found confusing was the titling of the books. Instead of just calling each issue Ultron Forever. They are titled: Ultron Forever: Avengers #1, Ultron Forever: The New Avengers #1 & Ultron Forever: Uncanny Avengers #1. The story doesn't change because the title did. Since they are all listed #1, it can be hard to know where to start. Once you open the book, it says which it is but until you do or if you skip of that page, you might be lost since you could be coming into the story mid way or end up reading the issues out of order.
Some of the elements of the story rely on knowledge of the Avengers history but they do attempt to explain why things are how they are (especially with The Hulk & what happens to him).
Over all a fun little mini-series. Not required reading by any means, just some fun fluff. Check it out if you liked Avengers Forever, team up stories or just want a fun easy read.
Until next time: Stay Jazzy!
-Brian
