Uncanny Avengers 8AU, Fearless Defenders 4AU

Uncanny Avengers 8AU
Remender and Duggan (w) and Kubert (a) and F. Martin (c)

I can't help feeling, again and again, that the AU tie-in books are stronger than the AU series books. That might not necessarily be a really bad thing (though it's a little hard to argue the point) because the event is producing good comics somewhere. It is weird, though, that I understand more about the Age of Ultron event from reading the side books than I understand from the Age of Ultron main title. Not about the "Ultron is here, go back and time and kill Hank Pym bit." That plot is really easy to understand (if a little hackneyed) despite the series' insistence that it's not and they need to spend four issues telling you all about it. However, this issue goes out of its way to explain the dynamics of the new world that's been created by Hank Pym's death, showing us more than what the main series had, which had pretty much been "LOOK, NOW HE'S COLONEL AMERICA AND HE HAS AN EYEPATCH AND LOOK OVER THERE, WASP IS CAPTAIN MARVEL WASP." Here, Remender and Duggan attempt to explain how some of the relationships in this world work and how the world itself functions without the Avengers (I'm going to be honest, I still don't see how Hank Pym dying ends the Avengers in total. I know he was a founding member and he did a lot of big things here and there but, let's be honest, he's Hank Pym). On top of that, we understand a good deal more about Eimin and Uriel's upbringing at the hands of Kang and what Kang's plans are.

Kang is trying to raise Eimin and Uriel (this seems to happen before their attack in UA, not to be confused with AU) to be prepared to kill human. He wants them to kill Colonel America in this dimension (which he also knows is inconsequential, just like the audience of AU) to get some practice. Meanwhile, Steve is going to talk to Havok, the leader of the Morlocks, underground in the hopes of bringing Caliban, who has killed someone, to court. He and Alex and Rogue (Alex's wife in this dimension) argue a bit about mutants and humans and everything else before Uriel and Eimin attack. Cap leads them away from the Morlocks and is starting to lose the fight when Alex intercedes. He gives Steve time to escape before getting sliced in half himself by Uriel. Rogue attacks Uriel and is fatally wounded, but absorbs his memories and finds out about their past at the hands of Kang. She tries to talk to him as she's dying, trying to get him to understand how evil Kang is and how he and his sister are being used. She starts to get through to him but Kang directs Eimin to finish Rogue off. As punishment for letting Steve escape, Kang sends the Apocalpyse twins back to the mutant camps to learn to hate humanity some more. It's a good standalone issue that serves as a solid addition to both AU and UA. Can't ask more of a tie-in book than that.

Fearless Defenders 4AU
Bunn (w) and Jimenez and Kesel w/ McConnell (a) and Fabela (c)

This one was a bit less telling. It still follows the basic functions of the the tie-in; we learn a little about the world of AU while also focusing on a character from the Fearless Defenders. In this case, we learn an awful lot about Hippolyta. Ares rules Latveria under the guise of Dr. Doom and we find out that Hippolyta, who is Ares' daughter, was killed by her own daughter who had decided her mother wasn't fit to rule the Amazonians. Ares then sought retribution on the Amazonians for killing his daughter but Hippolyta knows that it was Ares who stoked the fire in her daughter, even if Hippolyta's death wasn't his goal. And Caroline le Fey wants to meet Dr. Doom who is her father. So there are some daddy issues abound. However, I can't say there's too much more.

We learn a bit about Hippolyta, who is probably the character who has most risen out of the ashes (literally and in terms of the Marvel Universe) from this Fearless Defenders team. We also learn a bit more about the AU universe, including the state of Latveria and its people, and what has happened to Mjolnir (it now rests with Ares, though it's "worthy" magic has dissipated now that Thor has died, which I would say isn't really how Mjolnir works but whatever, I'm not a Mjolnir historian, despite my wishes). Oh, and Caroline le Fey has a sort of Cable-like origin story but without the "raised in a hellish war zone and forced to adapt" bit. Instead, she was sent to the future by her mother to be raised by wealthy followers of her mother. Okay, I'm reaching a bit for plot pieces so let's just wrap it up. If you're trying to complete your AU collection, pick this up or if you're a diehard Hippolyta fan. Otherwise, worth a miss.