Avengers West Coast #89 (Dec 1992)
"Ultron Unbound!!!"
Writers: Roy & Dann Thomas
Penciler: Dave Ross
Inker: Tim Dzon
Letterer: Steve Dutro
Colorist: Bob Sharen
Editor: Nel Yomtov
Editor-In-Chief: Tom DeFalco
Ultron is a captive in the Vault. (How he got there is a good question,
considering he was free as of his last appearance. I think this was a
continuity error, especially since the issue didn't acknowledge his last
two appearances at all but does mention AWC #68) He's locked into "solid
Adamantium casing" but is also under constant watch. The guards are
supposed to be forbidden from bringing in anything electronic, but a
guard slips a video game in. He notes that he's been obsessed with it,
and suddenly, Ultron appears on his screen. Ultron tells him that he's
been subliminally controlling him for weeks. The guard drops the game,
and some metallic insects start pouring out of it. Ultron calls them
"robo-ticks", and they have a taste for human flesh, killing the guard.
They then swarm around Ultron, and work with him to reshape his prison,
giving him a new body. As more guards come calling, Ultron tells them
that he now has the power to cause explosions in Guardsmen armor, or any
electronic device. He then kills a whole bunch of guards. He then rants
(to no one in particular), that it was his internal molecular rearranger
that reshaped his Adamantium prison, with the help of his robo-ticks.
At the AWC Compound, the team (Hawkeye, Spider-Woman, Wonder Man,
Mockingbird, Living Lightning and USAgent) are having an argument.
They're angry at USAgent for working with the evil Commission, using an
Avengers quinjet, no less. War Machine shows up (this is right after
Tony Stark's apparent death) and offers to join the AWC. Hawk and the
others aren't entirely comfortable with this, and they ask WM if he'll
unmask. WM isn't comfortable with this, so he takes off, saying that
he'll be back at some other time, when he's had a chance to think about it.
The AWC then receives a phone call from Dr Myron MacLain, the inventor of
Adamantium. He wants to speak with Hank Pym, but he's quit the team to
do research. MacLain tells them it's a matter of life and death--he's
discovered a way to make Adamantium more easily, and is frightened for
his life. Hawkeye sends Wondy, Spi, Mockingbird and Agent to
investigate. Lightning just quit the team to concentrate on college.
That leaves Hawk and Wanda to watch the compound. Wanda asks him about
his choice of personnel, and Hawk replies that he has some things to do,
and doesn't want to make certain decisions with his soon-to-be-divorced
wife around.
The AWC arrive at MacLain's place, and he tells them that it was a
false alarm, and that they should leave. Agent doesn't buy this for a
minute, and starts running towards him. MacLain promptly slugs him
across the room. Wondy tackles him and gets hit in the face. It's a
robot! Wondy and the Agent double-team it and destroy it. Spi finds two
guards with all of their flesh eaten away. Upon examining the robot,
Mockingbird notices that it appears somewhat organic, and they all
realize at once: it must be Ultron's doing!
They call back to the Compound, where Wanda answers. Before they can
tell her who they think is involved, the screen fades away and is
replaced by Ultron's lovely mug. He starts ranting and makes the room's
defenses do his bidding. Wanda barely escapes, and then Ultron actually
shows up, blowing up various things. He then announces that he's changed
his ways--he's not just interested in wiping out humanity, but every
living thing on earth, plants and animals included! He kills AWC
employee Carlos rather casually, but says that killing individual humans
is no longer important to him--it's his eventual goal that matters.
Hawkeye shows up and hits him with an arrow that briefly scrambles
Ultron's systems. Ultron then releases some robo-ticks to kill Hawk and
Wanda, but something gets in their way--The Vision!
Avengers West Coast #90 (January, 1993)
"Death Valley Daze"
Writers: Roy & Dann Thomas
Penciler: David Ross
Inker: Tim Dzon
Letterer: Steve Dutro
Colorist: Bob Sharen
Editor: Nel Yomtov
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco
The Vision confronts Ultron and tells him to surrender. Ultron tells
him that there's no reason for them to fight, them being robotic family
and all. (Interesting line: "We should be allies--two superior life
forms, keeping each other company--for millenia after all organic life
has perished from this planet". Ultron has a very human need for
companionship!) Vizh refuses, and Ultron unleashes those nasty
robo-ticks on him, but they can't penetrate his skin. Vizh then melts
them with his solar jewel. A furious fight ensues, but Ultron is way too
much for them, burying Vizh and Wanda under a building's rubble and
knocking the archer out with one of his own blast arrows.
He then finds what he was looking for: a bunch of his old bodies that
had been collected by Hank Pym for study. Ulty plans to use them as the
first members of his new lifeform for the earth, namely extensions of
himself. As he's flying away, he encounters the rest of the Avengers.
He dodges most of them, but as Mockingbird flies a quinjet right at him,
he flips around and grabs her as a hostage. The Vision digs his way out
of the rubble, having saved Wanda. He's still in his robotic state, not
having any feelings for her other than as a teammate. Vizh tells the
team that he had heard about Ultron's escape from the Vault and the theft
of some Adamantium, so he figured he'd show up at the Compound. They
manage to put a trace on Ultron thanks to his old bodies; Hank had put
electronic tags on them. Hawkeye is frantic at Bobbi's disappearance,
telling Wanda how much he loves her.
Hank Pym is working in his desert lab when Ultron breaks in. He has
MacLain with him, and is starting to demand something from Pym when Hank
attacks him. Ultron is immune to Hank's Pym Particles, and so Hank can't
shrink him. After Ulty slaps him around a bit, he demands that Hank
build him a new mate.
The AWC have finished their trace--Ultron's stopped in an area where
Hank is. Everyone knows this means trouble. Hawkeye vows that they'll
avenge any more deaths that Ultron causes.
Ultron has Pym and MacLain as his mental slaves, and has Mockingbird
strapped to a table. Mocky thinks that Ultron is going to "robotize"
her, like he did to the other Avengers back in their last tussle. Ultron
senses the AWC's approach and promptly shears a wing off their quinjet.
Ulty sends out his old bodies to fight the AWC, and there are a lot of
them. Hawkeye drinks some kind of serum and then wades into a whole
pile of them. The rest of the team think he's gone nuts, but then he
suddenly bursts up to 30 feet tall. Clint has become Goliath again! In
order to rescue Bobbi, he's taken back his old ID in order to gain more
raw power. They start to charge the lab, and demand that Ultron hand
over his hostages. Ultron then says that while he'd like to kill them,
he was going to leave that for his new bride: Alkhema, aka War Toy!
Ultron says that Clint used to know her as Mockingbird. Alkhema vaguely
resembles Bobbi, and utters the immortal line: "Hello, Clint, darling.
Would you like to be killed first--or last?"
Avengers West Coast #91 (February, 1993)
"War Toy!"
Writers: Roy and Dann Thomas
Penciler: David Ross
Inker: Tim Dzon
Letterer: Steve Dutro
Colorist: Bob Sharen
Editor: Nel Yomtov
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco
Alkhema zaps Clint and knocks him out. She asks her hubby Ultron what
they should do next, and he suggests that they kill the Avengers (of
course, earlier Ultron had said that it was a waste of time to kill
individual humans when he had his goal of worldwide destruction to
fulfill. And of course, his wanting a wife was another impulse that got
in the way of his destruction of all life...). The Agent and the Vision
attack Alkhema, and she promptly wipes the floor with them. She talks in
the same speech pattern as Bobbi--using a lot of one-liners and taunting
her opponents, but she has the added tendency of being utterly ruthless
and bloodthirsty. (Great line, as she belts Agent "Then again, I find
hitting YOU a distinct pleasure.")
Clint shrank down to ant-size and started looking through the lab. He
zoomed back up to 15 feet to try and dig out Hank Pym, and found a big
plate of Adamantium. He then passed out from the quick size changes.
Ultron wipes out Wondy and Spider-Woman as Alkhema asks the immortal
question, "Tell me, Ulty, are ALL human beings as easy to squash as this
bunch?" Ultron is immediately annoyed to be called "Ulty" (good thing
he's not reading my summaries...) and thinks that he left too much of
Mockingbird's personality in when he created her. Wanda divebombs them
with a quinjet, which does absolutely nothing. Ultron pulls her out of
the wreck and is about to kill her when Goliath comes along and whacks
them with the big Adamantium plate that he found. He's got them reeling
when he shrinks down again, against his will. Ultron then declares that
they're wasting time here, when they should be wiping out humanity.
Alkhema wanted to kill them, but agrees to go along with Ulty ("Stop
calling me that!") for now.
To Clint's great surprise, Bobbi emerges from the lab, alive and
unharmed. Turns out Ultron just wanted to copy her brain patterns, and
didn't actually transform her. She and Clint embrace and decide that
they don't really want that divorce after all. Pym and MacLain are also
OK, and Hank realizes that Ultron is probably flying towards a secret
weapons center. He figures that the U-Man is going to try and blow up
the depot (containing nuclear and other weapons) and set off a reaction
that could reignite volcanoes and such.
Hank knows his son well, because that's just where Ultron and Alkhema
are heading. Alkhema tells him that she's not there to take orders, that
she's independent. Ultron is not entirely happy with this. After wiping
out some planes and cannons, she tells him that she doesn't like his plan
of killing everyone on earth quickly--she'd rather do it one person at a
time, "slowly and painfully". He tells her to obey him, since he created
her. She responds by zapping him. ("Why, Ulty--I do believe we're having
our first quarrel!")
The Avengers arrive and engage our Adamantium lovers. It's a fierce
battle, with the Avengers barely hanging in. Alkhema actually proves to
be a better fighter than Ultron! Ultron then uses his ever-handy encephalo-
beam to enslave Agent and have him attack Clint. Ultron finally talks
Alkhema into helping him, assuring her that there will be plenty of
humans to kill even after the nuclear nightmare he wants to set off.
They see an open missile silo, with the Vision strapped to rocket. They
know it's a trap, but Ultron figures that they can't be hurt. But the
joke's on them--they've turned the Vision's body into a magnet that
attracts Adamantium! They then launch the rocket, where it blows up in
the earth's atmosphere. They figure that couldn't kill them with the
explosion, but that they've launched them out into space. The Vision
turned intangible at the last second.
Comments: This was actually a pretty good storyline, much better than
Roy's previous crack at Ultron. It focused completely on Ultron, for one
thing, and he seemed much more powerful and frightening this time
around. I loved the intro of Alkhema, whose banter with Ultron was
amusing and whose bloodthirsty attitude was chilling. Roy actually
seemed to enjoy working with this set of characters, and everyone had
something to do, although Wonder Man got very little screen time, thanks
partially to all the weirdness that was happening to him in his own
book. The Wanda-Vision angst was pretty well done, and bringing back
Clint and Bobbi was also nicely handled. Making Clint become Goliath
again was also inspired. While the Agent and Clint still butted heads,
you could see a certain respect growing there as well. The main thing I
didn't like was the lack of development given Ultron. There was all
kinds of psychological stuff there to use, but it was thrown out there
without much elaboration. Ultron clearly has a need for company, for
approval, yet still can't get over his hatred of humanity. I liked the
Ross art, though it was messy at points. In his brighter moments, he
reminds me a bit of Michael Golden. He's great with faces and with
women. Overall, despite some campy moments (robo-ticks???), this was a
solid story from Roy & Dann.
I'm in the home stretch here. There's an appearance in a AWC annual to
deal with, the Vision miniseries to summarize, and then a bunch of
stories that sort of featured Ultron. They include fake Ultrons, Ultrons
in dreams, Ultrons in flashbacks, and future alternate Ultrons. Stay tuned!
--Rob Clough, historian undying