johnkmccubbin91's Age of Ultron #9 - Book Nine review

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    Making Things Right

    This series has been nothing short of disappointing, and after all the time it took to come out, having originally been announced a couple of years ago it's a real shame. With only a couple of issues left I seriously hope that it goes out with a bang, but that's asking a lot from this series.

    Plot

    After the hero's of this new world have been destroyed by Morgan Le Fey, and her army, Iron Man warns Wolverine not to try and change time back to the way they were. Meanwhile as Wolverine is about to kill Hank Pym in the past, another Wolverine interjects, having something to say.

    Review

    To be honest I wasn't sure whether to love this issue, or hate it, as it started terribly, but then really picked up, becoming a very interesting issue, and if it wasn't for the terrible start it could have been the best in the series so far. Brian Michael Bendis did an excellent job of changing the past sequence that appears later in the issue, but the first seven pages having little to no dialogue, something that Bendis has done previously in this series, wasn't a good thing, and really hurt the overall quality of the issue. This also didn't allow for much to happen, which yet again showed that the series has been way to long, and could have easily been better at a shorter length. It's a real shame really, as Bendis can produce brilliant stories, having written some amazing crossovers in the past, like Siege, and House of M, whilst also currently writing fabulous series in the Marvel NOW! concept, with All-New X-Men, and Guardians of the Galaxy both being brilliant, making me question what went wrong here. I do however have to give him some credit, as although the start was terrible, the dialogue throughout the rest of the issue was brilliant, and although the issue overall was slightly dull, it did have it's moments, and could have easily been better with minor changes.

    I was really happy with the art on this issue, as Carlos Pacheco returned to do art in the past sequences, whilst Brandon Peterson once again did the art for the present sequences. Pacheco's art on the past sequences was one of the things I loved about the last few issues, and although Peterson's art is still brilliant, Pacheco's is much better, and I really missed it on the last issue. Now before I continue talking about Pacheco's art I'll talk about Peterson's, as considering his art opened the issue it's the natural place to start. I actually much preferred Paterson's art in this issue, as although it wasn't quite as good as Pacheco's, it was much more impactful, and dramatic, and the way he drew the decimated New York City, and it's fallen hero's was brilliant. I also loved the layout in this sequence, as it as well added more drama, and overall Peterson did a fantastic job. Back to Pacheco's art, which although not as impactful as Peterson's, was much smoother, and appealing. I really loved how Pacheco redrew this amazing sequence, showing different view points this time round, which really made it much more unique. I also loved how he drew the two Wolverine's, and loved how the second had a more retro costume on, which was awesome. Pacheco also did a brilliant job of showing the character's emotions, and especially on Pym, who you could tell was both confused, and conflicted.

    Now the rest of my review won't be quite as long as it'd usually be, as with not as much happening in this issue, there's obviously not as much to talk about. I'll start with the decimation of this new world, and it's hero's, and although I've already talked about this a couple of times, I'll go into more detail this time. What I liked about this sequence was that it showed that even if you take Ultron out of the equation, there's still always something just as bad around the corner, and this time it was Morgan Le Fey. Now as I said the sequence was very impactful, and amazing to look at, but I just can't help but think that it'd be much better if it had more dialogue, which would make it last a bit longer, instead of feeling like a flash in the pan.

    During this we did however get some proper dialogue, and although it took seven pages to happen, we got a very interesting conversation between Wolverine, and Iron Man. Now I really didn't like this new Iron Man in the last couple of issues, but I have to say that I started to like him slightly in this one. He seemed much more human, and emotional in this issue, and although previous issues showed him as this mistrusting character, who was verging on becoming a tyrant, this issue showed that he did care about the fate of humanity. I also liked that he talked about time travel, and how even though changing things back may be the right thing, it's too big a risk, and would severely damage time.

    As shown on the cover we got two Wolverine's in this issue, but unlike the cover they were both in different uniforms. Now although I was disappointed that both Wolverine's didn't fight each other, the conversation they had was extremely interesting, and one of the best things about this issue. What I loved best was how the Wolverine that was about to kill Pym was naturally mistrusting, whereas the other Wolverine was much more calm, and collected, something you don't see too often from Wolverine. I also found it very interesting how they reacted to what Pym, and the Invisible Woman (Sue Strom) had to say. There was however one thing that I questioned about this sequence, and that was how this didn't create a paradox. To be fair that question was also something I asked when Wolverine killed Pym in the first place, but with both character's crossing each other's time stream it just screams paradox, and I'm seriously shocked at how Bendis can easily dismiss these things, barely mentioning them.

    Final Verdict

    This issue wasn't bad, but it was yet again far from brilliant, which was a real shame, as there were parts that were brilliant, but unfortunately they were ruined by terribly parts. There were interesting things in this issue, as well as some imactful things, but the pacing was still very slow, and overall the issue was a disappointment. I would only recommend this issue to anyone who's been getting the series so far, as otherwise it's a waste of money, as the series as a whole has been one big disappointment.

    Rating: 3/5

    2 Comments

    Avatar image for dubyanw
    DubyaNW

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    There are several ways to kill Wolverine. Wolverine does not posses any of them. This book started out great, now it's just stupid.

    Avatar image for johnkmccubbin91
    johnkmccubbin91

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    @dubyanw: Sorry for the late reply. I don't think I mentioned about being able to kill Wolverine, more the fact they didn't fight. I agree with the later part, though it was never really great in my opinion.

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