REVIEW: “Age of Ultron” #2

(Marvel Comics, 2013)

Review by Chris Ambrosio

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Illustrator: Bryan Hitch
Colors: Paul Mounts
Letters: Cory Petit
Editor: Tom Brevoort

Hey guys I’m back with a review of Age of Ultron issue #2!

I reviewed this issue quite quickly because I am working on a very large review coming sometime next week a double issue review on issues #16 and #17 of Deathstroke. Hope you guys like a little Slade Wilson.

The first astonishing issue of Age of Ultron left the readers with many unanswered questions, which we find out the protagonists and supporting characters are pondering themselves. Ultron’s extreme onslaught brings on a feel that is like no other we have seen before.

Bendis on his own trying to find his own pace, not being able to use much dialogue within each panel.  Although there is a lot more conversing with this issue, Bendis now starting to bring in the character development we have all been dying to see. Our heroes are now showing their true faces toward this catastrophic event, literally (explained later in the review). We see how Bendis reveals the living conditions of the surviving heroes, they aren’t striving to live they just want to take down the tyrant Ultron with them before death.

Like the first issue this book starts off with a beautifully illustrated 2 page splash, located in San Francisco , to add onto the pages the last few panels a hooded woman is seen walking around in the apocalyptic debris.  Moving along through the panels a gunman is shaded into context, the gunman then starts to negotiate for “whatever” the mysterious woman has. A conflict arises between them where the mystery figure antagonizes him saying he is not a man because he hasn’t shot her yet, he points the gun firmly toward her head, the hood is removed and we see a mutilated face, it is the Black Widow.  “SPAK”, a bullet goes whistling through the gunman’s head, as the panels move upward the marksman is no other then Moon Knight. Marc Spector (Moon Knight) and Natalia “Natasha” Alianovna Romanova (Black Widow) are communicating through sign language to keep stealth about them. This whole ordeal has taken place on the West Coast triggering the thought that Ultron has laid waste to all of America, maybe even the world.

Natasha and Marc are now traveling through the rendered city, in stealth mode, to not be spotted by the patrolling Ultron bots. The policing bots spot pedestrians and announce “SUBMIT OR PERISH”, the innocent people try and run from the bots but are cut to shreds due to laser eyes. Marc and Natasha are now inside of what seems like a barber shop, a chair is moved and a tunnel is revealed, turns out to be one of Nick Fury’s underground bunkers (from the Skrull invasion). Dialogue is passed between our new characters, mostly of death, Marc states that they are going to die but not without taking the Ultron bots down with them.

This is just what I was looking for the character development we have all been waiting for, to see detailed thoughts of how the characters are dealing with being in a destroyed world. Most of the protagonists now are showing this, there is nothing they can do without a plan. How are they going to take the killer bots down? Struggling to survive in a world where the super humans and mutants have close to no power, all stuck in hiding and fearing for their lives.

Cutting the scene to under central park where the remaining figures are hiding out, Spider-Man is the basis of the next couple pages. Parker goes on to introduce himself (addressed in the end of the review), the other heroes are questioning him about how he got caught by the thugs from the first issue, and he then goes on to explain. Parker heard all of the commotion going on outside, he saw a flashing white light where his “spider sense” did not activate. Parker woke up to being drugged and bad guys talking @#$%, like they always do because that is all they can do according to Tony Stark. Logan asks if they said anything important, Parker explains that the thugs were talking about selling him to Ultron. A conflict rises in the underground bunker, discussing why they would need Spider-Man, Luke Cage suggests maybe they just WANT him. Parker goes on to say that they need to do something about the Ultron apocalypse; Stark offers that surviving is something. A speech bubble is put into perspective saying “no, it’s not” only because they did not have a plan, until now! The voice bubble was from Captain America who has now stood up from his original fetal position. In his hand there is a broken shield, symbolic to the book, Caps shield represents America, and the broken shield, a broken America.

Remaining hero lineup as of now in the AU; Black Widow, Moon Knight, Spider-Man, Dr. Strange, Quicksilver, Emma Frost, Iron Fist, She Hulk, Valkyrie, Luke Cage, Hawkeye, Monica Rambeau, Wolverine, Sue Storm, Beast, Storm, Daisy Johnson, Iron Man and captain America.

What can Captain America’s plan be? Do you guys think it can really stop the Ultron bots? We will find out in the next installment of the AU “The Plan”. Now let’s talk about some art.

Bryan Hitch delivers, as always beautiful art, but now with reading the second issue I am starting to notice some things that can be tweaked. Hitch seems to be working more on the landscapes then on the actual characters, which wouldn’t be much of a big deal if it wasn’t so awkward to look at a lopsided Luke Cage, which wouldn’t be much of a big deal if Mounts simply shaded in the areas that were off a tad bit, instead he goes on to darken things that are fine already. Although Hitch is on the right track with the spreads of the rendered cities and collapsed buildings and corpse filled streets, creating a very dampening mood which is what they are going for in the AU. What you get from the AU is a very Walking Dead feel, maybe this is what they’re going for because of how popular the Walking Dead has become.

The AU still has some areas to cover; even so Bendis has worked on the characters and their development much more, there are still black areas where I am lost. Now we know what happened to Spidey, great, what about the other characters they have only said about 15 words. To give AU the benefit of my good nature, it still has 8 issues, the book has a very interesting feel one unlike we have ever seen in the Marvel Universe before is what is keeping readers hooked. Fact is, the team on AU has not even touched base on the big picture. With the plot waiting in the wind, they are going to need something big and shiny to be any different than any other Marvel event. This can turn out like so many other titles that we have seen, heroes going back in time and stopping Ultron from ever being built. Like we haven’t seen that before a million times, what can Bendis do to stop this? Seeing the preview cover to issue #9 of the AU (as seen below) I think that Bendis is sending this series into the same predictable direction. I won’t knock it until I read it though and I advise you all to do the same.

Addressing the Peter Parker Otto-Spider-Man conflict I can’t believe I have been so clueless, Peter Parker is still Spider-Man In this series because of how long this series was on hold, while in the works Parker was still the “web slinger” we all know.

Out of a 5 I give this comic a 3. Why did its score go down well because I can’t see at the moment where they can go with it, how is it going to be different than anything else we have seen from the Marvel Universe? I gave it a 3 because I don’t want to completely bash it until I see how it unfolds.

Thanks guys for reading hope you enjoyed it, also give this series a try after all it isn’t so bad if you like a lot of destroyed things. I said that this issue can be following In the same footsteps of some previous comics, but hey, I can’t read the future maybe something mind blowing will occur and will leave us all speechless!

Make sure you join me again next week for my big Deathstroke project, it is one of my favorite works ever and I want to express that in a very long review of my two favorite current issues, stay tuned for my “JUMBO REVIEW”.

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PREVIEW COVER FOR ‘AGE OF ULTRON’ #9:

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Follow Chris on Twitter @grivpls for his personal thoughts on comics, videos games and movies!