Avengers A.I. #2

Avengers A.I. #2  continues a short while after the end of the previous issue.  The Avengers A.I. team is trying to figure out the origin of a new android (for lack of a better category term other than robot) named Alexis.  The Vision as usual is being his logical best, Doombot still thinks it is Doctor Doom and acting like it, Victor Mancha is uncertain about his place in the team and Hank Pym is acting cool.  It turns out that the new villain Dimitrios is another A.I. that has taken over an old fully automated Iron Man armor and is trying to wage war on humanity.  He hijacks a Sentinel to attack Washington D.C. the attack fails of course, but not before giving Doombot a couple of fun lines before it loses its head in the fight; though it appears that the true plan of Dimitrios was actually to gain control of the Vision or at least access to his communication network making his monolog available to the entire world to view.  The monologue goes on and on for pages and could have been copied from any one of Magneto’s rants about mutants replacing humans.  But in this case replace mutant with A.I. and other mechanical / electrical based creatures taking over the world.  In other words just a bit of the same old same old in the Marvel Comics Universe.  But I must say the dialogue was good and the story was interesting.  Good stuff.   

Age of Ultron #10 A.I.

Age of Ultron Book 10 AI was a retelling of Hank Pym’s life at the end of the Age of Ultron book.  I do not know if this is just an advertisement for the Ant-Man movie in production.  It could just be a prologue to the Avengers A.I. comic coming up next.  But the creative team sure wanted to re-tell the origin story of Hank Pym in a bad way.  I am sure there is a good reason here, but as a long time comic book reader I have to say there was no reason for this comic book.  Really it was a waste of effort to create and read.  But if you know nothing about Hank Pym and all his alter egos this might be worth your time to read.

Avengers A.I. #1

Avengers A.I. #1 is a new comic spinning off from the Age of Ultron mega super cross over comic series of the moment.  In this comic Hank Pym uses his genius to fight against an A.I. he accidentally created when he helped defeat Ultron.  This new fast replicating A.I. is apparently like Ultron and is out to kill all humans.  Being the first issue of a team book most of the story revolves around bringing the team together.  So far I think I like the Doombot (a robot built by Doctor Doom that is used as a stand in when the writers do not want Doom captures or blown up dramatically – there are a lot of them) the best at least it is honest with itself and others on the team.  A team consisting of Hank Pym, Monica Chang (director of S.H.I.E.L.D. A.I.), Victor Mancha (Ultron’s Son IE Ultron built him), the Vision (Victor’s older brother), and the Doombot could just be a very entertaining comic.  If for no other reason than Hank Pym is overly enthusiastic and positive about the whole adventure.  Good Stuff!

Age of Ultron Book Nine!

Age of Ultron Book Nine was kind of boring.  I am not really sure where to start.  The epic battle that started in the last issue with the 2^nd timeline the writers are calling Age of Morgana Le Fey did not happen.  There was an explosion that ended the fight apparently.  Wolverine finds Tony Stark from the Le Fey timeline babbling about how they had to stop trying to fix the timeline.  So Wolverine goes back in time and stops himself from killing Hank Pym.  They pull this off just by talking and Sue Storm shows up to add to the confusion.  The three of them Sue Storm, Wolverine and Wolverine seem to convince Pym to add a kill switch to Ultron.  Then they head back to the savage land to return home.  It appears that one Wolverine Kills the other (I did not think that it was possible to kill Wolverine with his regenerative healing factor).  Sue Storm and the surviving Wolverine head to the time platform.  This was so very disappointing the issue that promised an epic fight turns out to be just nothing but talking.  The idea of a Wolverine vs. Wolverine fight was nothing more than them moping and a one panel kill shot.  I am starting to lose my enthusiasm for this epic cross-over adventure.

Age of Ultron #7

Age of Ultron Book Seven was really good.  If it had been an issue of the Fantastic Four or X-Men (or one of the Wolverine titles) I would have been ecstatic.  Instead the story (which ends in a cliff hanger) has nothing to do with the Ultron story even if the first few pages were Sue Storm and Wolverine wondering if they had done the right thing or not in killing Hank Pym.  When our heroes return to the “present” they are attacked by the Defenders seemingly acting much like the Avengers.  It was very interesting to see the “present” heroes and how they were different from our main timeline counterparts.   Wolverine was still the stereotypical Wolverine and the Thing along with Dr. Strange seemed normal.  But Colonel America (Looks like Nick Fury), The Hulk (with Bruce Banners Brain) Captain Marvel (Jean Grey?) Cable (Cyclops) as well as Star-Lord seemed different.  The biggest change seems to be Tony Stark has gone all armor and protecting us for our own good.  I am interested in seeing how this sub story turns out but would prefer some focus on the main story.

Wolverine and the X-Men #27 AU (Age of Ultron)

Wolverine and the X-Men #27AU (Age of Ultron) was interesting and storytelling all in one.  This was the story of Sue Storm and Wolverine making their way from the Savage Lands to Manhattan to confront Hank Pym as detailed in the main Age of Ultron book.  Both characters have an interesting adventure while exploring a S.H.I.E.L.D base in search of a power pack for their stolen flying car.  Wolverine encounters the Brood and Sue spies on her family.  It turns out this small out of the way S.H.I.E.L.D base was into a little over everything.  Their actions have no obvious consequences that would interfere with the main storyline.