A review by trike
Avengers: Rage of Ultron by Pepe Larraz, Rick Remender, Jerome Opeña
1.0
I don't like Ultron. He was okay when he first appeared back in the 1970s, but he's a one-trick pony and a one-note bad guy. He hates all of mankind because reasons and therefore wants to end us. And writers have been playing this same song for 40 years now.
The only thing they can do is up the stakes. It's fine when new technology comes out, giving Ultron new abilities. The Internet and infecting same is a good way to reboot the tale. Taking over Iron Man's armor and using it against him, also good. But randomly able to infect humans, robots, and alien immortals and turn them into Ultron-clones? That's stupid. And then releasing nano-spores so that the entirety of the Earth is an Ultron, AFTER he's completely taken over the moon Titan and somehow reshaped it into a giant Ultron face? Come on, Rick.
Plus, when Ultron takes over someone and you kill them - like when Spider-man is beheaded - is that person dead? Guess not. But who cares about explanations, because comic books. I get it, it's fantasy, but how freaking lazy do you have to be to not even attempt some handwavium?
This feels like a Cliffs Notes version of a larger story, too. Back in the day, people like Chris Claremont, Mike Esposito or Jim Shooter could set up a situation, explore the ramifications, give us a cool new bad guy, and wrap it all up in an issue or two. Check out some of those old Marvel Team-Ups and Avengers to see how he did it. How is it they take 30 pages more to tell a story yet somehow seem to have less content? THAT was the real trick here.
The only thing they can do is up the stakes. It's fine when new technology comes out, giving Ultron new abilities. The Internet and infecting same is a good way to reboot the tale. Taking over Iron Man's armor and using it against him, also good. But randomly able to infect humans, robots, and alien immortals and turn them into Ultron-clones? That's stupid. And then releasing nano-spores so that the entirety of the Earth is an Ultron, AFTER he's completely taken over the moon Titan and somehow reshaped it into a giant Ultron face? Come on, Rick.
Plus, when Ultron takes over someone and you kill them - like when Spider-man is beheaded - is that person dead? Guess not. But who cares about explanations, because comic books. I get it, it's fantasy, but how freaking lazy do you have to be to not even attempt some handwavium?
This feels like a Cliffs Notes version of a larger story, too. Back in the day, people like Chris Claremont, Mike Esposito or Jim Shooter could set up a situation, explore the ramifications, give us a cool new bad guy, and wrap it all up in an issue or two. Check out some of those old Marvel Team-Ups and Avengers to see how he did it. How is it they take 30 pages more to tell a story yet somehow seem to have less content? THAT was the real trick here.