Avengers Arena 2: Game On

Comic Info

Avengers Arena #8

Reprints Avengers Arena #7-12 (June 2013-September 2013).  The battle in Murderworld rages on as a new “villain” emerges in Apex.  As Apex leads the attack in her attempts to be the winner of the contest, a secret about her past is revealed.  The battles are getting bigger and bloodier as the fighting begins to come to an end…will anyone escape Arcade’s battle royal?

Written by Dennis Hopless, Avengers Arena 2:  Game On follows Avengers Arena 1:  Kill or Die.  The comic collects the five part “Game On” storyline in addition to the stand alone “Rock Bottom” story in Avengers Arena #7 (June 2013).  The book is illustrated by Alessandro Vitti, Kev Walker & Jason Gorder, and Riccardo Burchielli.

Avengers Arena is just a fun series.  With the first volume, you are left questioning if any of these battles are really happening or if this is just a controlled “joke” by Arcade who generally was considered one of the weaker enemies of the Marvel Universe.  Once again, Hopeless keeps you questioning slightly if this is all an illusion, but events in this collection indicate that these heroes really are dropping like flies.

Avengers Arena #11

In superhero worlds, the dead don’t stay dead so I can’t imagine that some of these character will remain dead past this storyline.  The book really is quite ruthless, but as a reader you’d expect the obvious, less established characters to die first…Hopeless however flips the switch by killing Juston, Darkhawk, and other Marvel mainstays.  While it is a unique approach, I wish they would do more to establish these new characters so they just don’t feel like sacrificial lambs by the end of the series.

For all the build-up, I kind of thought Katy went out like a chump.  You spent a whole issue establishing her psychic connection with her brother and then didn’t really do anything with it.  She had a grand battle planned and Nico just completely dismantled her with no difficulty.  I’m hoping that Hopeless isn’t done with Katy and Tim and that they do something in the next (and final) volume or some of the issues here were really wasted.

Avengers Arena is proving to be a fun and more edgy read in the Marvel NOW line.  I like this and I like that Hopeless is willing to provide some shocks and genuine surprises (like the Nico issue).  Can Avengers Arena be better?  Yes, but it still is fun.  Avengers Arena 2:  Game On is followed by Avengers Arena 3:  Boss Level.

Related Links:

Avengers Arena 1:  Kill or Die

Avengers Arena 3:  Boss Level