Friday, April 12, 2013

Age of Ultron #5

Something happens in this issue of Age of Ultron that I really, really like.

It's the return of one of my all-time favorite characters - Nick Fury. As in Sgt. Fury (of the Howling Commandos) and the first leader of SHIELD - the one whose creative "parents" include Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, John Severin, Dick Ayers, Jim Steranko, Howard Chaykin and many, many more.

None of which is to take away from the new Samuel L. Jackson version of Nick Fury. He's a fine, entertaining character, now ported over to the "regular" Marvel Universe by some serious writing gymnastics - but since I was a kid in the '60s, the original Nick Fury is the "real" one to me.

So as the world nears its final destruction at the hands of an army of countless Ultron robots (my heart breaks to see Austin under attack in this issue), it's great to see the possible solution being devised by Marvel's greatest warrior.

This series has been blessed with strong writing from Brian Michael Bendis and incredible art (so far) by Bryan Hitch - and I say "so far" not because I expect the quality to drop, but rather because the art next issue will be by Brandon Peterson, another outstanding talent we don't see enough of.

I still have the unsettling feeling that I know where this is all going, but it's been mighty entertaining (if quite grim) getting there. Recommended!

Grade: A

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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Some thoughts:

-I thought the NIck Fury bit was awesome as well. I find the SLJ & the original version nearly interchangeable, mostly because of...

-I think the Fury we see is a LMD. Not sure why, but it would make sense.

-Similar awesomeness was witnessed in Secret Warriors. Very clever plot (and would probably require some leaps for a traditionalist like you) but a great storyline. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_Warriors

-Ennis' Fury Max has been fun, but not for everyone. Some of the work to introduce other Marvel characters (Punisher, Barracuda) during the Vietnam Era feels overly contrived, but it's still fun...

B.

Chuck said...

B, I agree, the two are pretty much interchangeable. I was glad to see the original because I've had a terrible feeling that, with the creation of the SLJ Fury, the original was going to go away forever. I still think that may happen.

And I'm a big fan of "Secret Warriors" - excellent work by Jonathan Hickman. I haven't read the recent Fury MAX series. Can't buy everything. ;-)