Age of Ultron #3

You have to give credit to writer Brian Michael Bendis - he likes to work with a big canvas.

For the Age of Ultron mini-series / event, he's operating in the present-day Marvel Universe - but one that has been devastated by an overwhelming attack by the robot Ultron (who apparently has an vast army of doubles).

He's destroyed most of New York and other major cities, he's apparently killed the majority of the world's super-heroes, and is in the process of finishing off what's left of the human race.

As with the previous two issues, the amazing artwork is provided by Bryan Hitch, with Paul Neary inking and Paul Mounts providing the color. It's amazing work - no one does widespread destruction and larger-than-life cityscapes like Hitch. Throw in powerful character designs and you've got work by one of the best in the business.

The story has the remaining heroes acting out of desperation, trying to find a way to fight back against overwhelming odds. It's a compelling story - but there are problems with the continuity.

Spider-Man is apparently Peter Parker, unlike the repellant current story in his comic. He's also unmasked - didn't they learn anything from the last time that happened? The number of heroes who have (apparently) been killed leads one to believe that the story will have to end with some kind of reboot, wiping out some of the more terrible events that have happened.

Of course, there's plenty of time to explain these things away or resolve the problems - but it's going to be a tall order.

Despite those problems, it's been an outstanding series so far, and I'm anxious to get the next chapter.

Which is a lot more than I can say about most event books these days.

Grade: A-

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