Avengers: Ultron Forever #1

Writer – Al Ewing
Artist – Alan Davis
Inker – Mark Farmer
Colours – Rachelle Rosenberg

Al Ewing and Alan Davis deliver the start of a new mini-series that nobody was asking for, one that exists simply for the fact that there is a movie coming out featuring the villain as the big bad.  With the talent on board it is no surprise that the book is quite enjoyable even though we have seen this story many times before, most recently in Avengers and the Age of Ultron event.  The story is solid, the dialogue and the characterizations even more so and the book looks great thanks to Davis, yet it feels like a rehash in this opening chapter and that in itself is a bit of a shame.  There are some good things about it namely the Black Widow, the Vision, the Walt Simonson-era Thor and the current Thor.  The weakest links of this cobbled together team of Avengers is the young Hulk and the future Captain America who is the daughter of Luke Cage and Jessica Jones.  These two just seem like the poorest of choices to be found in all of Avengers history from which to pull from with James Rhodes as Iron Man close behind them.  Rhodes is not that bad in and of himself, but when he breaks out the roller skates, you immediately stop taking him seriously.  It may have been added to give the book a little levity, but it failed to do so which is strange coming from Ewing.  On Captain America and the Mighty Avengers, Ewing has been doing a great job in crafting a very exciting title with some genuinely funny moments.  Here, it simply does not work.  The only other thing that is mildly intriguing in this book is the mystery of just who Doctor Doom is.  The Vision recognizes him but refuses to reveal Doom’s identity for the moment, and it is this little riddle that makes things just a little more interesting.  The first issue of Ultron Forever is decent, but not much more than that.

3 out of 5

Wolf Moon #5

Writer – Cullen Bunn
Artist – Jeremy Huan
Colours – Lee Loughridge

Everyone and their dog is converging on Rayburn in the hopes of catching a piece of whatever animal it is that is slaying the townspeople.  Hunters of all kind are showing up, not knowing that what they seek is indeed a werewolf and they are soon in for the surprise of their lives.  It makes sense then that Rayburn is where Dillon and Cayce need to go.  Cullen Bunn and Jeremy Huan are starting to wrap up their little slice of horror and it all starts here.  The werewolf is still out of control and nobody is any closer to killing it now than they were earlier, but if Dillon and Cayce have any say in the matter, it will all end much sooner rather than later.  While it always seemed like Dillon had a bad run in with the wolf, we now get to see Cayce’s history with the creature and hers might be even worse.  It is a small wonder that she is even in any frame of mind to go hunting the creature, but then it is probably the only thing other than Dillon which is keeping her sane.  Bunn fills the book with a lot of tension and suspense and the horror of this creature is made quite palpable.  For his part, Jeremy Huan really illustrates this book beautifully with each issue looking better than the last.  The book is also very quickly paced and as such takes no time to read it at all which is the only bad thing about it as you want it to last longer than it does.  All in all, a fun book with some good action and horror to satisfy all.

3.5 out of 5