AGE OF ULTRON enters the halfway point with a dialogue heavy issue. Does it change things up and give us what we’ve been waiting for? Not yet…but it does contain some very interesting material.

Here’s the official description from Marvel:

The super hero survivors of the Ultron devastation follow a trail to the Savage Land in the hopes of finding a way to survive or turn the tide of the Ultron apocalypse. But with half the Marvel heroes dead, what chance do any of the survivors have? The choice that will forever change the course of Marvel history! 

AGE OF ULTRON #5 is technically a good comic. I’m just disappointed that the title robot once again does not appear. It’s an interesting move to build such great hype on an unseen antagonist. The atmospheric approach worked for the previous installments, but it was starting to wear thin. This issue is by far the most dialogue heavy, but it does finally get things into motion which should begin to pay off in the next issue.

Brian Michael Bendis doesn’t fail with the writing. The last issue ended with an idea of how to beat the robot menace…by erasing the thought from the past. I’m sure some readers agreed with such a notion, since it technically would work. But Bendis opens this issue posing a question…how far should it go? If you can go back in time and stop something from being created, why not go back in time and stop Hitler before World War II began? Or my personal favorite spoken by Reed Richards, “Smack that apple out of Eve’s hand.” It’s an interesting dilemma the reader is faced with. Should one have the right to change the the past for the betterment of the future? This is not an action heavy issue, but one of dialogue explaining the two plans to stop Ultron. Some scenes stand out, such as Tony Stark’s insane ramblings about the Vision, really gives the reader an uneasy feeling. The last page will also have you very interested in how things will play out.

The other big thing about this issue, and only action piece, is the Ultron-bot invasion of Austin. We see that not all of the world has been taken over, Bryan Hitch’s art captures that scene beautifully with a fantastic splash page. Besides that, everything is great as always with the only complaint being that Reed Richards looked rather off in the opening. The main cover is a pretty standard shot of the heroes assembling, not bad at all. Variant number one is a stunning image of Iron Man in the Mark II armor, definitely a great cover to pick up. My personal favorite however is the Ultron variant. Never before has the robot looked so evil and powerful. (Well, besides Annihilation Conquest.)

Overall, another solid issue in the AGE OF ULTRON event. It’s not action heavy and once again the title robot does not appear, which may put off some people. I found it to be quite an engaging read however. There’s a certain desperateness with the heroes, you can see and feel it. With the plan to get Ultron in motion, I am however expecting these next five issues to be filled with excitement and Ultron action. The ball is in Marvel’s court, we’ve had five issues building up to this point, it’s time to deliver.

4/5

My name is Daniel (@Destroyer_199), the main guy for comic reviews here at Unleash the Fanboy. I was born in 1995 in the Big Apple, spent my formative years in Staten Island, and currently reside in the awesome state that is New Jersey.