Ultron 1

ultron 1 AU

Today, Ethan and Taylor are discussing Ultron 1, originally released April 10th, 2013. This issue is part of the Age of Ultron crossover event. Click here for complete AU coverage.

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Ethan: In the aftermath of terrible, unexpected events, it’s good to find comfort in familiar places and situations. Ultron’s instant and total takeover of the world qualifies as a pretty terrible and unexpected event. For the lead character of Ultron #1 – Victor Mancha – this catastrophe is a unique blend of insult and injury. Not only has Ultron killed off Victor’s former teammates the Runaways, but Ultron is  also Victor’s father. Add to this the fact that a visitor from the future once warned that Victor would bring about the destruction of the world and the death of its heroes, and you’ve got a pretty complete package of misery. Writer Kathryn Immonen and artist Amilcar Pinna explore how Victor copes with all of this by returning to his roots as a teenage hero.

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Age of Ultron 5

age of ultron 5 AU

Today, Shelby and Drew are discussing Age of Ultron 5, originally released April 10th 2013. This issue is part of the Age of Ultron crossover event. Click here for complete AU coverage.

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Shelby: Why is it always time travel? If you have a science-y plot in a comic book (especially a Marvel book, it seems) odds are pretty good that time travel with either be the basis of the conflict or the solution. Personally, I hope we never figure out how to travel through time. Travel to the past, and the most innocuous action could alter the future in unimaginable ways; travel to the future, and your knowledge of what will happen will color the actions you take in the present. It all seems too risky. It would appear that Brian Michael Bendis disagrees with me; not content to limit himself to one kind of time continuum manipulation, Age of Ultron 5 has the team traveling to the past AND the future to resolve this Ultron problem. What could possibly go wrong? Continue reading

Fantastic Four 5AU

fantastic four 5AU AU

Today, Patrick and Jack are discussing Fantastic Four 5AU, originally released March 27th, 2013. This issue is part of the Age of Ultron crossover event. Click here for complete AU coverage.

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Patrick: How do you say goodbye? I believe that we don’t have a choice in matter — our goodbyes tend to come out in ways that most honestly get to the heart of our relationship with the person we’re saying goodbye to. There’s always a sense of obligation, like you’re trying to impart one lasting image of yourself in the person’s brain. Something to remember you by. While the rest of the Age of Ultron event seems interested in telling the stories of heroes pulling themselves up by their bootstraps, Fantastic Four lingers on goodbyes, and finds some touching honesty in the process. Continue reading

Age of Ultron 6 PREVIEW

age of ultron preview

Age of Ultron 6 comes out on April 17th, 2013 and is written by Brian Michael Bendis with Art by Brandon Peterson and Carlos Pacheco. Click here for our complete Age of Ultron coverage.

The superheroes live up to their end of the foreign exchange program by sending the Avengers to Ultron City. I expect most of the issue will involve Iron Man getting black-out drunk and hooking up with an Australian chick in a hostel and Captain America calling home to ask for more money. Also Hulk smashing, because: obviously.

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Age of Ultron 2

age of ultron 2

Today, Ethan and Drew are discussing Age of Ultron 2, originally released March 13th, 2013. This issue is part of the Age of Ultron crossover event. Click here for complete AU coverage.

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Ethan: In recent years, after the financial markets fell screaming into their perennial nosedive, the city of Detroit hasn’t done so well. Workers who had spent their lives with a company were laid off, branches were closed, businesses died, buildings were abandoned. Over time, the violence of the changes and departures faded as the temperatures, wind, and microorganisms went to work. Materials that we associate with longevity — brick, stone, even plastics — took on a distinctly alien appearance of decay. The effect even got a name — “ruin porn” — and photographers from across the country flocked to capture the scenes. Reading through the second issue of Age of Ultron evokes the same mix of wonder and horror, albeit the decay is in much fresher stage, and the characters are fictional. Bryan Hitch continues to deliver impressive vistas of metropolis in its death throes, and writer Brian Michael Bendis fills these images with sparks of life as the heroes try to find their place in the new world.

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Age of Ultron 1

age of ultron 1AU

Today, Patrick and Drew are discussing Age of Ultron 1, originally released March 6th, 2013. This issue is part of the Age of Ultron crossover event. Click here for complete AU coverage.

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Patrick: Y’all remember Battlestar Galactica? Until the show’s premise became too complicated to be expressed in a few simple sentence fragments, each episode would begin with the following titles projected across the screen:

The Cylons were created by man. They evolved. They rebelled. There are many copies. And they have a plan.

It’s exactly enough information to tease the world of the series. Yeah, there’s a lot more to it than that — this description makes no mention of the last scraps of humanity drifting through space in outdated battleships, or God or gods or Starbuck or Frak. It doesn’t have to: the purity of the threat represented by Cylons is so elemental and to render the rest beautiful, beautiful set-dressing to this central conflict. Battlestar would go on to tell a hundred compelling stories based of that clean slug-line, replete with rich themes and psychologically complex characters. Brian Michael Bendis’ Age of Ultron looks like it will have a great deal in common with BSG, the first such indication is a straightforward and agonizingly clean premise: “Hank Pym of the Avengers created an artificial intelligence known as Ultron. It hates humanity… and it has returned.” Game on.

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