An "Age of Ultron" review
Since the last post in this review series was a recap of the entire 1st half of the series there will be no "last time" recap for this entry. Plus, this is the 1st part in a 2 or 3 part review of the tie in issues.
With The Age of Ultron, there are 8 tie-in issues. 7 of them "tied into" on going series & was was a one off comic. The interesting thing with the AoU tie in issues is that they didn't directly tie into the events of the on going series. When the AoU tie in issues came out there re 2 different issues of that series that came out. 1 marked with the normal numbering & a second with the number & an added 2 letters: AU. Get it?AU meaning Age of Ultron but it could also mean Alternate Universe! This was kind of nice since if you had no interest in reading Age of Ultron, you didn't have too! BUT…. I did & picked up all the tie in issues so I might not sure if what I liked about the tie in issues has as barring on the main series.
One more thing before I get into the tie in's themselves, here are my feelings regarding Tie-In issues: you should never, ever, ever have to read the tie in issues to an Event comic. You should not have to read every issue that has the event's logo plasters on the cover to fully understand the story they are trying to tell. All major plot points should happen in the main book (sadly this does not always happen). If a major plot point happens in a tie-in book then it's not a "major" plot point. The tie-in issues are just side dishes to the main book's main course.
This is not the case with of Age of Ultron but if an ongoing title does have tie-in issue(s) to any event: they should not drop all their personal story lines, plot points, cast of characters to tie into the event. That is a major pet peeve of mine. Want me to loose interest in a book real quick? Drop everything you had been doing for the last few months to do some drastically different. A writer should be able to weave in the tie-in story points with what they are already doing in their books so they please the readers they already have & maybe gain new readers who are only reading the book because it's a tie-in issue to something else they are reading. Also, if I'm not reading the event the writer of the book should be able to tell in a few text boxes, some exposition dump or lines of dialogue all I need to know to understand why things are happening.
Now… onto the Tie in's!
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First off: Fantastic Four #5 AU, the only ongoing title that I was following that had an Age of Ultron tie in issue. The events from the AU issue & the "normal" issue kind of crossed over. Both take place IN SPACE! During the recently concluded Matt Fraction run on the series most of it took place IN SPACE! It's also sadly one of the less good runs I've read of the Four. Something was just off about it with me. I've noticed that with a lot of stuff that I read by Mr Fraction: It's either really good, ok or just not for me. The Hawkeye series that everyone seems to say is really, really good just didn't do much for me. I read the 1st collection (which collects the 1st 5 issues). I haven't bought the 2nd collection & not sure I will. Nothing really grabbed me in the first collection so why read the 2nd? Also, I've noticed that in a few series mr. Fraction doesn't do ending all that well (His Defenders run was a good book with a lack luster ending). His run on the Fantastic Four suffers from the same problem. It's also a bit confusing. BUT… the issue it self leaves with some questions: mainly what happens to Franklin & Valerie Richards? In this tie in issue is the only time were see the kids in the series. As shown here & in the main series it self: Sue Richards (the Invisible Woman) is the only surveying member of her team. Nowhere in the main series does she comment about going back up into space to get her kids. Maybe she feels it's safer up there? But they are eventually going to run out of food, air, something! Does she leave them to die?
The issue starts out sometime after the Four have left the ship. It gives as a specific timestamp on the 1st page: 288 hundred thousand light-years from Earth. 634 years, 8 months, 3 weeks, 4 days ago. The main series has the six of them (The four & 2 kids) traveling time & space but what does this timestamp really mean?
As I've brought up in my review of the main series the time scale isn't exactly stated for us the reader. I'm not even sure if the series takes place in the future or an alternate present? Then we get this massive time stamp dropped on us. So… the ship is in the past but has does it match up to the event at hand? They do countdown the 4 days in the first couple of pages & after those 4 days the Four arrive after Ultron has taken over (it does take 4 days to get there from where they are in space/time). BUT 4 DAYS?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? Ultron takes over the world in 4 days?
In our first flashback of the main series (which takes place in issue 2 & this tie in came out after Issue 2) to how the Age started Spider-Man gives us some of the events of the take over & then was captured. When the Four reach earth it looks like how we see in the series. So… in the space of 4 days Ultron took over? This still bring up the questions: Why & How? Why was this time so different? Also, How did he do it? The series never fully answers this. You only get glimpses of how the Age started. Plus Ultron never fully shows up to give as his grand "villain explains everything" speech.
The next day (it looks like they leave during the night) the Four leave, Franklin & Valerie find the holographic "note" her parents, uncle & other "uncle" left them. They all loom sad & mopey (Franklin is wearing Human Torch pajamas). The rest of the issue intercuts between the kids getting the holonote & the Four trip back to earth.
We see the four leave the ship & using what The Thing calls a "Chronostellar Whatchamadoodle" they leave for Earth. If their mini-ship has what probably amounts to a flux capacitor then why didn't they arrive earlier? They got a message from earth to come back because it's "the end of the world" as Black Panther tells in a distress call. Use your science to travel to the time he sent it, not 4 days later!
They get back to Earth in a much more brightly colored ruined New York City then the one Bryan Hitch presents to sin the main series. They find a dead(?) Medusa on the ground & they go looking for the rest of the Future Foundation.
In the main series they have a companion book called FF which follows the exploits of the Future Foundation, the school Reed Richards has setup for really smart kids. While out IN SPACE,the four appointed an interim Fantastic Four: Medusa (of the Inhumans is Sue Richards' replacement), Ant-Man (Scott Lang is Reed Richards replacement as leader), She-Hulk (is The Thing's replacement) & Miss Thing (Darla Deering, Johnny Storm's "girlfriend" & last time replacement). The Four go to see if "The Omega Room" had been actives. It's like some super science panic room & it has not been. So… since we never seen anyone of them else where in the series what they are saying is: Everybody's dead, Reed. They are all dead. Leech, Artie Maddicks, Bentley-23: their dead. Ahura, Luna, Onome: Dead. Vil & Wu: Their are Dead. Mik, Korr, Turg, Tong: Dead. Dragon Man? Dead. Everybody is dead.
Then before they really mourn the loss, The Ultron Bots attack. I will say this : the bots here seem to be more "lively". That they have more personality then the other bots we've seen.
Then we cut back to the ship, Johnny says goodbye to the kids. Then, we go back to Earth & the Four are fighting the Bots. Johnny flies to take on the bots & explodes! Bots: dead. Johnny? probably dead. He isn't seen for the rest of the series.
We cut back to the ship & "Unca Ben" says goodbye. I'm skipping over most of the goodbye parts since I don't got much to say about them then it's nicely done & sad. In a narrative panel. Yup, 1 whole rectangle (white text on a black background) to tell use the read the fight is still going on 17 hours later.This might be the longest fight in the series. The Thing spies a man in a hooded green cloak walking around with some Ultron bots. He jumps up from his hiding spot, says his catch & pounds the ground. When he looks up, it's not Doom but an Ultron Bot wear his cap & mask. Why? This is the only bot I've seen in the whole series to personalize it's self. After the bot taunts him a bit (something the other Bots don't do): "you were expecting someone else? Doom Fell. They All Fell." The Thing then promptly knocks his block off & then he swarmed by a massive amount of Ultron Bots. The only other times I see that many Bots is on the covers. We are then to assume that The Thing has fallen.
We cut back to the ship & get Reed's goodbye to his kids. He is silent for most of it. He writes it out on a notepad & shows it to them. We cut back to Earth where Reed & Sue are being chased by Ultron Bots. Reed tries to stop the boots by rolling them in a ball, they then start their self-destruction function & EXPLOSION!!!!!! Reed is dead & the only thing that save Sue is her force field.
Sue is found sometime later (what? no waste a panel to tell us something that could have been told in a small text panel). She is found by She-Hulk, the sole surviving member of the interim Fantastic Four & nothing about this is ever said! They do talk about how they "lost everything". Sue says "No… Not Everything…" As she looks up to the sky.
As cut back to the ship where Franklin comments there wasn't a goodbye from his mom but then he thinks to something I skipped that was earlier the comic when she said said good night to him before they left. Then Valerie questions her brother if they are going to see their parents again. He doesn't answer her. The comic ends with a zoom out on the ship & as I mentioned earlier are never mentioned in the the rest of the series. So… the kids are stuck back in time & out in space. Now it has been stated that the kids are smart (They are members of the Future Foundation after all) but do they know how to fly the ship? I know a whole bunch of the ship seems to be automated but can they override that stuff? All these questions & more from the series are left unanswered which is general theme to Age of Ultron.
One last thing: Sue plays a major part in the later part of Age of Ultron but as far as I can remember she doesn't mention anything about her kids in the series. Anywhere. They could of dropped in a line of dialogue here or there about her wanting to get back to her kids but no. They are not such lines in the series. They might as well be dead.
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The next tie in issue that was released was Superior Spider-Man #6 AU. What to really say about this issue? not much. I frankly think it's one of the weaker ones of the bunch. It's not that it's written by a bad writer. I have many issues of comics written by Christos Gage (who is not the normal writer for the book, Dan Slott is). It's not that the art is bad. It's my favorite art style but Dexter Soy does a good job (not sure if he is the artist for the "main" title but I doubt it). The cover by Marco Checchetto looks cool. It's that nothing of any real importance happens. One could easily skip over this book & be none the worse for wear. Frankly, one could skip over all the Age of Ultron tie-in books & not be missing out on anything. BUT I didn't since I have I'm reviewing them! :)
Before I get into the book it's self. Let's talk about the Wall Crawler for a moment. I've brought up my feeling in regards to him in a past post but I feel that Spider-Man to be boring. I have a general apathy towards him. Nothing about him really grabs me like other characters do. This does not mean I don't own Spider-Man comics. It's kind of hard to not own any but most of the comics that I have of his were bought for other reasons. Mostly it's either I heard the story was good & it features a character or characters that I enjoy. I have a whole swath of Spider-Man comics from the 80's. Why? Black Cat was featured prominently in them. I've liked things that feature Spider-Man. The 90's cartoon: awesome! The Sam Raimi movies: those were good (yes, Even the 3rd one. It wasn't that bad). I caught a bit of the Andrew Garfield helmed Spider-Man movie on TV & thought was pretty good. But in the comics I'm just apathetic on the character. I'll flip through the comics at the coif book store every so often but I'll rarely pick it up.
It's also a weird time in the Spider-Man comics at the moment. Spider-Man isn't really Spider-Man, He's Doctor Octopus!
Yeah!
He was dying of something & as a way to cheat death he went all Freaky Friday on his foe. They swapped bodies & "Doc Ock" died. But the mind of Peter Parker was still around some how. Otto has tried to purge it from the body which looked to have worked. But then there is a soon to be relaunched Amazing Spider-Man which looks to have Peter Parker back in control but I'm not sure if Superior Spider-Man is being cancelled. As I've said I don't follow the book. It's confusing.
BUT… getting to the issue it's self. This tie in takes place after Issue 2. The sort of confusing part is that in the main series it's never established or hinted if the events of Superior Spider-Man (the body swap) has happened. Maybe Otto is really good at playing along & fooling everybody OR the writer of the series just didn't feel like doing all that stuff. He used "classic" Spider-Man. In this issue you actually get Octo-Spidey's inner monologue so you know it's Otto in there.
We start off with him being mopey. Why? Everybodys dead. He thinks he should happy since all people who hated him are also dead but then so is his at one time wife Aunt May (yeah, Doctor Octopus was married to Aunt May for awhile) & Mary Jane are dead. As mentioned in the main series, Octo-Spider-Man slept through the start of this age. He felt he should have been able to avoid this since it was Ultron who did this. Why? Because Ultron is a Robot & he's "a Master of Machines!" Uh… no. I think that's another guy.
Iron Man comes by in a armor less Tron inspired suit & tells him that he might be able to help out. Tony Stark doesn't have much hope in the plan Luke Cage is planning (the plan they come within & use in Issue 3). So… he bring up that while he was head of SHEILD he had planned out various countermeasures. One being a bomb thingy which when turned on would open a portal & would push a whole area into the Negative Zone!
1 Problem: They don't have a controller to the one they have. Why not? You think the controller would be near the device so you could pick both up & run with it. Maybe that's why they don;t have a controller? So you just can't run off with it? What Stark need is some "negative zone tech" & says that that stuff is hard to come by since the Fantastic Four's HQ is gone. No… I'm pretty sure it's still there. There is a building in Issue 1 that looks a lot like the lower half of the Baxter Building. I'm sure you could scrounge up some tech from that. Plus, this is a post apocalyptic Marvel story! The Baxter Building has got to still be around! It's an at least 30+ year transition to have it factor into your story!
Stark has "heard" that a guy at Horizon Labs (Octo-Spider-Man's day job) has some of that stuff. Stark wants Octo-Spider-Man to:
A. Go to the Lab
B. Find the pieces for bomb thingy's controller
C. Put it together
Then Quicksilver will run around Ultron's base, place a bunch of the bomb things around it. They push Ultron's base into the Negative Zone & hope he in there at the time. Which as revealed later on in the series: He's not even in this time period. Octo-Spider-Man things this a risky plan but goes along with it anyways!
Octo-Spider-Man goes off to Horizon. Thinks he'll be hard to get in but since we can see the building has massive holes in it: That shouldn't be a problem. We also few skeletons skittered around. This would be the first time we've seen any dead bodies about in New York. On the next page we get a nice close up on one!
We also find out that Octo-Spider-Man only went with the plan so he could get to his lab. He then starts to going about how he'll turn Ultron's forces against him since as has been brought up: HE IS THE MASTER OF MACHINES!
What's the first thing he does when he gets to his lab? Turn on stuff which of course alerts 3 floating Ultron bots. This of course has the bots come into the Lab & they says the series tagline which leads us to a fight scene. He takes down 1 bot which cause them to bring in more Bots. With those bots there he attaches a… uh… thingy. It's some Spider-Man themed bot that attached to the Ultron bot chest & overrides it to be come a Ultron Bot with Octopus arms sticking out of their back. The "infected" Ultron Bots start to the other Ultron Bots. In a text box it says that he is mentally controlling the infected Bots with HIS MIND! I will say this: they do look kind of cool but don't appear anywhere else in the series.
He then sends one of the Octo-Ultron Bots to Ultron's base. The bots basically walks into the base & almost reaches who we find out later to be the top of Vision (controlled by Ultron from the Future) but is stopped. By what? Ultron of course! This stop cause pain to Octo-Spider-Man. Vision must have better anti-virus software then the Bots do. This also cause Octo-Spider-Man to release control of the Ultron Bots.
Since he has been defeaten He goes back to the original plan of getting the controller for Stark. This a mid of Ultron Bots shooting lasers at him. He run over to a cabinet. He either finds a part of a controller, or the controller it self just sitting there. BUT then it blows up after being hit by a blast from the bots. Then like in Issue 1 everything starts to shake & we cut to outside with a bunch of Ultron Bots doing their best Sentinel impressions agian. They once again do their best Care Bear Stares which cause the building to blow up!
And he dead right? No. Not sure how he surveyed that explosion. Last time it clearly showed him outside when it happen. This time he was clearly shown as being inside. He gets outside (somehow) and sadly walks back to tell Stark that he didn't get the controller. BUT he could have if he wasn't being self centered.
He lies to Stark about there "not being enough time" . Stark tries to tell him that it was a longshot & wouldn't have worked anyways. Octo-Spider-Man said that it would have. But didn't say "it would have worked if I wasn't be a self centered jerk". There is some final thoughts by Octo-Spider-Man about that friendship is magic & can over come death.
Where does this issue leave us? Where we were at the beginning. Not was gained with this issue. At least with Fantastic Four we got to see what they were doing before the age started & saw where the kids are. But this issue I'm not sure what to make of it. I have no "good" take away from it. All the the other tie in books I can thing of at least 1 good take away or a way to make it batter but with this one I don't.
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That's the first 2 tie in issues before we jump back into the main series next time I'll be review the 1st actually enjoyable tie in issue. We also see what Ultron's older son is doing in this age. Until then: Stay Jazzy!
