Avengers A.I #3 – Review

Sam Humphries (Writer) André Lima Araujo (Artist), Frank D’Armata (Colorist)

The Story: Vision learns about a whole society of A.I living in a place called the Diamond as the rest of the team discovers how humanity resents robots now that Dimitrios just did his thing with their bank accounts.

The Review: New series have a hard time. They have to sell you their concepts, their characters, their themes and make sure they can hold on the reader’s attention for the long game. Whether they are independent titles or capes, they have much of the same trouble, though of varying degrees if they try something that hasn’t been tried before.

Such is the woe of Avengers A.I, a title that try to incorporate the idea of sentient artificial intelligences trying to be accepted as peoples by the regular populace. While the idea of a whole slew of beings having trouble being recognized isn’t anything new (cue X-Men joke), there were some decidedly interesting ideas that could be developed from such a premise. However, the previous issues never really did take advantage of the setting and the themes, which was definitely disappointing. Still, does Sam Humphries manage to make the most of it this time around?

Surprisingly, yes, as he brings a very interesting idea that truly does relate to the theme of artificial intelligence in a scene focusing between Dimitrios and Vision. Introducing the Diamond, a whole digital city full of various artificial persons and programs living in a society that is unique to them. It is a wonderful concept that gets explored in a small dose in this issue, as some of the rules, their roles and how they perceives themselves is touched upon a bit while Vision and Dimitrios share some small dialogue between each other. It’s almost a shame that the humanity versus A.I debate is one of the bigger focus of this issue, as this concept has so many potential, it demands to have more focus put on it.

Avengers A.I #1 – Review

By: Sam Humphries (Writer), André Lima Araujo (Colorist) Frank D’Armata (Colorist)

The Story: The self-replicating virus that killed Ultron is kind of becoming a problem. Thankfully, Hank Pym has a solution.

The Review: Sam Humphries is a strange beast. No, I do not think that he is a rather weird creature rather that he kind of baffles me as a writer. He seems to be able to bring new ideas to the table, to be willing to shake up the status quo in the books that he is writing, yet not all of these qualities managed to give us a book that I can truly say satisfied me. I’ve read his Uncanny X-Force a bit and I am kind of sorry to say that I was less than impressed by his tenure on Ultimate Comics: Ultimates, which made me drop the title. Why am I actually giving him a chance then when he has disappointed me a number of times?

Simply enough, it is because I like robots and Hank Pym, which made me willing to give him a chance on this title featuring both these elements. However, does he succeed in giving us an issue that is compelling enough for us readers to warrant coming back for another issue?

Superman: War of the Supermen #3 – Review

By: James Robinson and Sterling Gates (writers), Cafu (penciller), Wil Moss (assistant editor), Matt Idelson (editor)

The Story: The Battle for Earth: First, the Kryptonians are screwed. Then, the sun (turned red last week) is turned back to its normal yellow. Only 7,000 Kryptonians have survived the brief color change and the destruction of New Krypton. Now the humans are screwed. Actually, I mean really screwed. Prime Minister of Britain dead (don’t know if they’re talking about Brown or the new one). Prime Minister of Japan torn to pieces. Thousands of people dead.

What’s Good: Wow, is this issue ever fast-paced and action-packed! The story swept me along and didn’t let me go until the final splash page. It jumps from disaster to near-miss to cliffhanger, leaving corpses everywhere. On Earth, in space, in the sun….bodies everywhere. Remember last issue I said that the Human Defense Corps would never have stood a chance against Kryptonians moving at full speed? Well, here we see what happens when Kryptonians really get pissed and use all their powers. It is awesome to behold. It reminds me a lot of when Darkseid took over the mind of every Daxamite in an old Legion arc called the Great Darkness. A hundred thousand Daxamites? Seven thousand Kryptonians? It doesn’t matter. Anything more than about five and you haven’t got a prayer, not even those clever Australians with their kryptonite robots. Robinson, Gates and Cafu have shown the supermen in all their overwhelming power.

Exiles #4 – Review

By Jeff Parker (Writer), Casey Jones (Pencils), Karl Kesel (Inks), and Anthony Washington (Colors)

Some Thoughts Before The Review: I’m not quite sure what I think about having Casey Jones take over for Salva Espin. However, I’ll save any judgment until after I’ve seen what the artist can do with a full issue.

The Story: The Exiles must overthrow the machines that have made great strides towards killing most of the life on the planet.

What’s Good and What’s Not So Good: Exile’s #4 delivers in all the ways you’d expect. Jeff Parker introduces an interesting alternate world that seems rather plausible, considering how technology exists in the Marvel Universe. Furthermore, he uses that world to give each Exile a chance to shine (Polaris, as you’d expect, really benefits from the situation). In addition, Parker intelligently uses Blink to add a layer of uneasiness to a series that, so far, has been fairly light-hearted and fun. While I’m not entirely sure if Exiles will actually benefit from the darker tone that’s hinted at (since the series stands out because of it’s tone), I’m confident that Parker will find a way to make the most of it.

The artwork in Exiles #4 works a lot better than I had expected. While I prefer Salva Espin’s style, Casey Jones’ work definitely doesn’t feel out of place. Jones handles all the action well and brings out the personalities of the characters in a way that elevates Parker’s handle on the team. The more I think about it, I feel that Jones’ more realistic style might prove to be more effective than Espin’s in the long run; now that Parker seems to be moving the Exiles down a darker path.

Conclusion: I recommend picking up Exiles #4. It’s satisfying for regular readers and it can function as a nice jump on point for new readers.

Grade: B

-Kyle Posluszny