Age of Ultron 10 AI, Ultimate X-Men 28

Age of Ultron 10 AI
Waid (w) and Araújo (a) and D'Armata (c)

Age of Ultron is over and has left our universe in much the same place as it was before. Sure, Ultron is gone now, possibly for good (though probably not, amirite?), and there are cracks in the space-time continuum but we'll probably get to that later. For our purposes, everything is pretty much back to normal. But I know what you were asking yourself: what does that mean for Hank Pym? Haha, just kidding, you weren't asking yourself that and I knew all along you weren't. Good news, though, Marvel has an answer anyway. Pym has seen what happens (kind of?) in a world without him. Frankly, both worlds are in trouble. However, after some serious existential crisis-ing, he realizes that the world he's in is very slightly better than the world he's not in, but not really because of Pym the straight-laced inventor. It's better because of the hero he's been when he's unleashed his creativity and imagination. We get a look back into his life where his parents, simple, hard-working folk, try to get Hank to focus on practical problems, preferring he ignore anything imaginative for imaginative's sake. His grandmother though, a science-fiction writer, fosters that creativity and applauds it. After her death that, as a child, Hank could not stop, he settled in to doing uncreative science, which is likely a bit of an offense to scientists. We get a little run-through of his life that culminates in an examination of his need to fit in and to live his life by the standards set by others for him. Enough of that, he decides, and chooses to improve lives with science and with hero-ing again, after a bit of a vacation from that life. Get ready for ol' Hank Pym to join the greater Marvel scene again! You're excited, right? No, I know.

Despite everything snarky I said above (which was largely directed at Hank Pym, except for the uncreative science being offensive to scientists. That's kind of a real qualm but super minor because I am not a scientist), this was a pretty good comic. Mark Waid is getting a lot of well-deserved praise for everything he touches these days and this book is no different. He's writing probably the best Hank Pym in the Universe right now, maybe ever, between this and Daredevil. Obviously Tom DeFalco is a comic-writing pro/legend, but it kind of made me wish that Waid had written Ant-Man Season One back when that came out. He clearly has such a defined sense of the character, even if it's a little different than any sense anyone else may have had. I know I go on about this a fair amount but the show Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes was a pretty fantastic representation of Hank Pym. It's easy to look at Pym and see someone who has kind of a crappy superpower and real psychological problems but, as horrible as this sounds, not very interesting ones. Also, he hit his wife that time which really has gone a long way to scarring his reputation. However, looks like EMH gave him and like Mark Waid has set aside for him makes him a far more interesting player on the Marvel field. He's due for a little resurgence, especially with Avengers A.I. on the way (which this book is certainly a prelude to, even going so far as to show Pym fiddling with an old Doombot head) and with Edgar Wright's very exciting movie seemingly confirmed for a 2015 release. If Waid or someone with a similar grip on the character can keep writing him, we could be in for a nice reversal on Pym soon.

Ultimate X-Men 28
Wood (w) and Asrar and Vlasco (a) and Bellaire (c)

Okay, so Psylocke wasn't officially dead after Farbird dropped on her. But she was dying. As she dies, she leaves Jean Grey with some ominous words; her mission had been to oversee the extinction of mutant-kind and, though she failed in her death, she sees in Jean a mutant who could oversee that extinction anyway. With Psylocke dead, the tensions dissipate quickly. General Ross sees what's been happening (they've also lost quite a few men as a result of the sentient seed's actions) and knows this has gone beyond anything he wants a part in. He says that if the government still wants to take down Utopia, they'll have to find another way, hopefully a more diplomatic one. He advises Kitty to keep her head down and stop scaring people, even if it's just with great innovations like the sentient seed and with a peaceful community. Kitty refuses his advice and they part. Jean is astounded to find no one upset in the wake of this attack; instead, everyone seems genuinely happy that the attacker has been discovered and stopped and forgiving of those who had been under Psylocke's control (there's a panel that shows, from a distance, Kitty and Mach Two embracing). Kitty calls Jean in to talk and reveals that they've known she was Jean Grey since the moment she came to Utopia and that they have no plan to be absorbed by Tian. She says that they might have been intrigued by a collaboration, two sister nations, but that the deception Jean used and her insistence that Tian is the superior nation and the way of the future has all but pushed that out the window. Jean is furious with Kitty and thinks it's a stupid move. Jean, enraged, lights into the Phoenix, which does not frighten Kitty, who still asks her to leave. As the issue closes, we see Farbird, acting under Jean's orders, returning to Tian to activate "Project Supersonic," a project that will bring us into our next arc, "World War X."

I've been a big fan of Ultimate X-Men all around and I think this ending was something pretty astounding. After months of priming readers for a big fight between Utopia and the military, Kitty ends up able to stay true to her word of fighting back without fighting (though the sentient seed certainly does a bit). This is the Utopia that she had promised, one that is peaceful and just wants to exist as a safe-haven for mutants, a community. Of course, readers hungry for action out of this book will likely get their fill with the next arc which seems like it will be led by someone decidedly less hopeful than General Ross (weird to say that, but we're talking about Ultimate Ross, not regular type Red Hulk). This book moves with expert timing and is one of the best out there for creating tension and a real atmosphere. I also get the feeling, though this is hard to promise as someone who is pretty invested in all these books, that it would be an easy book to jump into. It might be a little tricky if you've never heard anything about the Ultimate Unvierse before, just as anything now would be, but there are only a couple of basic facts you need to know and they come out pretty naturally every issue or so. And yes, that is a recommendation, you guys.