Age of Ultron #1
Age of Ultron is Marvel’s next big event and while many were worried that it was going to flop on AVX levels of ridiculousness, it hasn’t. No trust me, this isn’t AVX, it’s much, much, better. (So far)
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis | Artists: Bryan Hitch & Paul Neary & Paul Mounts
Cover: Hitch & Neary & Mounts | Publisher: Marvel
Hawkeye has been getting a lot more love recently it seems, and this isn’t a complaint. Hawkeye is badass and everyone needs to remember that, so we open with Hawkeye doing just that. Being badass. The world is clearly in a dark place and our one Avenger who’s been showing a lot more moxie lately is in there doing the nitty gritty hero rescuing. If this turns out to be Hawkeye vs. The World (much like the Marvel Universe vs. the Avengers turned out to be) this would be okay. It’s nice to see that even when everyone else uses gun, a bow and arrow (combined with a very skilled user) still prevail.
The action scenes from Hawkeye’s entrance against the baddies carries on throughout the entire issue, keeping a reader in rapt attention. There’s no preamble so it’s hard to say how a new reader unfamiliar with the Avengers or Ultron will jump into it, but the two sentences at the very front that do give somewhat of an explanation seemed sufficient enough (at least for the purpose of this issue). This was one of the first indications that this might just be a really riveting event though. It’s a busy little issue. There is a lot of action happening, and not a single page is boring. The blurring effect on a few of the pages when the action gets a little “shaky” adds to it, and you can almost feel a little exhausted from reading- it’s pretty intense. Only the first and last page are full page panels which especially for the last page, add emphasis as to the severity of their situation because they are so silent and boy do they all have it pretty bad.
Bendis so far has a wicked cast of heroes for his little epic and that’s the second indicator of good potential. Hawkeye, Spider-Man, Luke Cage, She-Hulk, Iron Man, Emma Frost, Wolverine, Beast, Sue Storm, and Captain America, sound like a dream team that hasn’t been explored enough. Not all of them debut in this issue, but for those with enough understanding of these characters know that having all of them trapped underground biding their time against Ultron know that tensions will rise and conflicts are going to occur within as well as against their ulterior foe. Bendis, being a writer who’s big on character and dialogue, he has a lot of opportunity here to get some darker stuff (dark for Marvel) out there and put everyone’s beloved characters out on the ropes (there’s bound to be at least one character that’s your favourite in there), and it’s this great potential for character development and boundary pushing that gives excitement for what Age of Ultron might entail. It’s also lucky that Bendis has a great counter-part in this with Hitch as the penciller. Hitch is not unfamiliar to team books or action pages either so it all balances out incredibly nicely. There’s no cosmic force here that’s going to change/break anyone. It’s Ultron who has a vendetta against humanity, and it’s about humanity trying to hold out and hopefully muster up and fight back.
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis | Artists: Bryan Hitch & Paul Neary & Paul Mounts
Cover: Hitch & Neary & Mounts | Publisher: Marvel
Hawkeye has been getting a lot more love recently it seems, and this isn’t a complaint. Hawkeye is badass and everyone needs to remember that, so we open with Hawkeye doing just that. Being badass. The world is clearly in a dark place and our one Avenger who’s been showing a lot more moxie lately is in there doing the nitty gritty hero rescuing. If this turns out to be Hawkeye vs. The World (much like the Marvel Universe vs. the Avengers turned out to be) this would be okay. It’s nice to see that even when everyone else uses gun, a bow and arrow (combined with a very skilled user) still prevail.
The action scenes from Hawkeye’s entrance against the baddies carries on throughout the entire issue, keeping a reader in rapt attention. There’s no preamble so it’s hard to say how a new reader unfamiliar with the Avengers or Ultron will jump into it, but the two sentences at the very front that do give somewhat of an explanation seemed sufficient enough (at least for the purpose of this issue). This was one of the first indications that this might just be a really riveting event though. It’s a busy little issue. There is a lot of action happening, and not a single page is boring. The blurring effect on a few of the pages when the action gets a little “shaky” adds to it, and you can almost feel a little exhausted from reading- it’s pretty intense. Only the first and last page are full page panels which especially for the last page, add emphasis as to the severity of their situation because they are so silent and boy do they all have it pretty bad.
Bendis so far has a wicked cast of heroes for his little epic and that’s the second indicator of good potential. Hawkeye, Spider-Man, Luke Cage, She-Hulk, Iron Man, Emma Frost, Wolverine, Beast, Sue Storm, and Captain America, sound like a dream team that hasn’t been explored enough. Not all of them debut in this issue, but for those with enough understanding of these characters know that having all of them trapped underground biding their time against Ultron know that tensions will rise and conflicts are going to occur within as well as against their ulterior foe. Bendis, being a writer who’s big on character and dialogue, he has a lot of opportunity here to get some darker stuff (dark for Marvel) out there and put everyone’s beloved characters out on the ropes (there’s bound to be at least one character that’s your favourite in there), and it’s this great potential for character development and boundary pushing that gives excitement for what Age of Ultron might entail. It’s also lucky that Bendis has a great counter-part in this with Hitch as the penciller. Hitch is not unfamiliar to team books or action pages either so it all balances out incredibly nicely. There’s no cosmic force here that’s going to change/break anyone. It’s Ultron who has a vendetta against humanity, and it’s about humanity trying to hold out and hopefully muster up and fight back.
A Look Inside
