Age of Ultron is Marvel's big event for 2013 and after the stream of disappointing events that have been coming from the publisher in the past few years, I was fairly sure I would sit this one out. However, after seeing the shiny retro cover, and hearing that Taskmaster had a role to play (I LOVE Taskmaster), my will power gave way again. So, how much regret do I feel after buying this issue? Surprisingly little. Age of Ultron #1 is a flawed read, and I'm still very sceptical about the rest of the event, however it's a solid opening issue.
Age of Ultron is written by Brian Michael Bendis who has been teasing the event for quite some time in his Avengers run. In this first issue he manages to set the scene of this apocalyptic reality under Ultron's rule, but unfortunately not much else. While there is some fun action in this issue if you're looking for actual story, you're better off elsewhere. It was a slightly strange decision to give us no information on how Ultron took over, or where the other heroes are. I get that Bendis may want to keep things mysterious for now, but still he could have given us a hint because in the end keeping the reader totally in the dark does more harm than good. The issue will definitely hold your attention until the interesting final panel, but it's hard to get too involved in a story you know little about.
On the other hand Bryan Hitch's artwork is for the most part top notch, his work is well shaded and dark enough to fit the tone of this reality. As per usual with his work there does seem to be a disproportionately long arm or leg from time to time, but overall he delivers some nice panels - definitely better than John Romita Jr.'s art that we had to suffer with in the opening chapters of AvX.
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