AGE OF ULTRON: BOOK EIGHT.
Ok so if you need to catch up then follow this link for my last review on book seven, or read on for a brief “history lesson” and full review of book eight!:- http://www.comicconventions.co.uk/age-of-ultron-book-seven/#more-2305
Following the events of previous issues, Wolverine and invisible girl have gone back in time and killed Henry Pym -the inventor of Ultron -But they have returned to a world which has been radically altered due to the changes in time, they found themselves fighting… well, fighting.. themselves! Among other faces such as Dr Strange, Hulk and Cable who are together known as “the defenders”! The new band of heroes defeated the time altering team and delivered them to the man in charge… Mr Tony Stark, along with his army of iron men! Writer Brian Michael Bendis is doing this new Ultron plot justice as he continues to deliver enthralling story-lines and scripts for some fantastic heroes. This is by far one of the most original and exciting comics of marvel now! And it wouldn’t be the same without Brandon Peterson behind the bristol boards, the art works in perfect harmony with this often gloomy and post-apocalyptic plot, as does the colouring by Paul Mounts who deliberately delivers some brighter colours in the abscense of hope, and the lettering is also spot-on… especially Tony Starks electronically inspired speech bubbles! The timing is smooth, and matched with the flow of the panels makes for a reading experience like that of a movie scene. I felt that the sfx could have stood out a lot more, considering the way in which the story escalates into all out war-fare, but the rest of the comic is on-point as far as I’m concerned.
This new-age Iron man is so advanced in his technology, that Jarvis has become psychic and he’s able to pull files from Wolverine and Sues memories! A clever way to give Tony all the information he needs, although it seems too much for him to take in all at once and he has the captured duo in seperate interrogation rooms, ready for drilling. This issue does give us the back-story of the new Tony, explaining why he looks so disfigured, it is also a vital piece in this cryptic puzzle, giving us alot of information to think about for ourselves! You will most certainly be left wondering whether Wolverines actions were right, as the world that’s been created since the shift in time is a dark and very troubled place on the brink of a very different war, and so man-kind is clearly facing more earth-shattering re-percussions.
It is refreshing to see some humour amongst the doom and the gloom too in this issue, the relationships between the heroes and the defenders is portrayed in a way that any comic-book fan would wish to see. The defenders have been ordered by Stark to stay out of the interrogations and they are not pleased about it, in fact they dis-obey the order and storm in regardless of the consequences! As Stark ponders the “what-if’s”, and how he might have dealt with ultron if only he had a hand in the decisions that Wolverine and Sue were left to make. He is left thinking the worst and tries to kill Sue for what they did as she tries to escape but much, much bigger things are happening -of course now Tony blames them for all of it!- as Morgana Le Fey descends from the skies on the back of a dragon, backed by a flying army of dr doom war-lords! So the war is raging and it’s not looking good for any of the heroes, or planet earth for that matter…
By Dylan Butcher. 
Brian Michael Bendis Brandon Peterson Paul Mounts
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