Last week, one of the most hyped Marvel crossover events in recent years came to an end when ‘Age of Ultron’ #10 hit shelves. While it had some redeeming qualities, the general consensus was that it was a bit of a let down for not really being what it said it was going to be. And though the effects of the event will be felt throughout the Marvel Universe for quite some time, it just left an unsatisfied feeling in the hearts and minds of True Believers all over the world.

But before the book is completely closed on the ‘Age of Ultron’ saga, an epilogue issue hit shelves this week from the masterful Mark Waid. The ‘Indestructible Hulk’ writer took over for Brian Michael Bendis to give us a closer look at Hank Pym, founding Avenger and the man behind the creation of one of the team’s greatest enemies, Ultron.

At first, I thought that we’d be getting answers to the question of where Hank Pym was during ‘Age of Ultron’. While reading the series, that was a huge glaring question that was left unanswered. Well, that still goes unanswered here, but we do get something worth checking out.

In essence, Waid was brought on for this issue to do what he did for Bruce Banner in his Marvel NOW Hulk book. Pym had been a sad sack for nearly a decade like Banner. Things didn’t exactly go his way a lot of times and he desperately needed a win. One of the few good things about ‘Age of Ultron’ was that Pym got his win. And it was a HUGE win. So what this book does is show us the effects of that win on the one-time Scientist Supreme.

One of the big things that I appreciated about #10AI was that it delved into the origin of Hank Pym, not Ant-Man. To my knowledge, we never really got a story about Pym in his younger days leading up to his time as an expert scientist. With heroes like Spider-Man and Iron Man, their history is built into their origins. Peter Parker was a smart kid who visited a lab and got bit by a radioactive spider. Everyone knows that story, but all anyone knew about Pym was that he was a scientist who one day invented cool stuff that turned him into a superhero. There was no background or motivation in that story like there is with Peter, so it was cool to see Waid explore that part of Pym’s life.

Another thing that was cool to see was Hank Pym having fun. Using tactics like the brain punch and using his own hair to tie up bad guys was flat out fun. Usually, we see him as a teacher or as a recluse in his lab toiling over his latest experiment. It’s been a while since we’ve actually seen him venture out into straight up heroics, so it was nice to see here.

Overall, like the rest of ‘Age of Ultron’, this issue was not what I was expecting, but in the end, unlike ‘Age of Ultron’, I found myself enjoying this book. In fact, I might even check out ‘Avengers AI’, the upcoming team book featuring Pym, whenever that comes out.

Final Score:

 

 

AGE OF ULTRON #10AI

Written by Mark Waid

Art by Andre Lima Araujo & Frank D’Armata

Cover by Sara Pichelli & Marte Gracia