Avengers Arena #4 – Review

By: Dennis Hopeless (story), Alessandro Vitti (art), Frank Martin (colors)

The Story: The kids reap the fruit of their actions.

The Review: The more I read this series, the more I appreciate what Hopeless is trying to do, but the less interested I become in wanting to read it.  It’s a strange conflict, for sure.  Look—given that Hopeless wants to write a story about kids trained to be superheroes and pitting their survival instincts against their ethics, you can hardly complain that there are casualties involved.  But you do have a right to protest how those casualties come about and their overall value.

I particularly hated the deaths of Mettle and Red Raven because I found them casual and pointless.  And while Juston and Darkhawk aren’t necessarily dead (as Hopeless points out on the recap page with some glaring question marks on their faces), you didn’t get to know both of them very well before they got taken down either.  Hopeless continues the pattern of attacking the less prominent characters first, which makes this series a bit of a sordid popularity contest.

Avengers Arena #3 – Review

By: Dennis Hopeless (story), Kev Walker (art), Frank Martin (colors)

The Story: In these circumstances, I doubt anyone’s up for a snipe hunt.

The Review: It’s easy enough to say you’ll deliver an objective critique, but when you’re actually writing one, it’s amazing how many of your preferences influence whether you see something as successful or not.  My coping strategy tends toward self-brutality; I constantly question whether I think something doesn’t work because of its quality or just because I personally don’t like it.

So reviewing Avengers Arena has been something of a trial.  I abhor graphic violence in any kind of fiction, even when it has a point (which is why I steer clear of Kick-Ass), and I really hate to see anybody die.  In two successive issues, this title has engaged in both, and it’s been difficult suppressing my gut reaction of disgust and delivering a substantive review of the series’ merits.  From the comments, I see I’m not the only one.

Avengers Arena #2 – Review

By: Dennis Hopeless (story), Kev Walker (art), Frank Martin & Jean-Francois Beaulieu (colors)

The Story: Anyone up for s’mores and a rousing chorus of “Kumbaya”?

The Review: My biggest concern for this title, and one that a lot of people share if the comments to last issue’s review are any indication, is that it will basically be a gore fest and little more.  Unlike quite a lot of folks, I have no pre-existing attachment to any of these characters, but I have really very little interest in seeing kids get killed.  As recent events have shown, we have too much of that kind of thing going on in the real world already to care for it in our fiction.

The signs are definitely not good if you’re hoping for any redeeming value to this series.  After Hopeless carelessly disposed of Mettle with the least fanfare possible last time, he almost immediately repeats the act in the first few pages of this issue, getting rid of another hapless youth in the same sudden and emotionless fashion.  Granted, there’s a twisted poetry in it, but you’re more likely to see the twistedness and none of the poetry.  In fact, it just seems mean on the part of the writer.

Avengers Arena #1 – Review

By: Dennis Hopeless (story), Kev Walker (art), Frank Martin (colors)

The Story: The young heroes of the Marvel U learn there are worse places than high school.

The Review: Since my fellow reviewers have all this Marvel NOW! stuff pretty much covered, I really haven’t had a chance to get in on the fun or make comment about it.  While it’s pretty clear that this whole move is a direct response to the success of the DC relaunch, Marvel’s strategy for revitalizing their line is fascinating because it’s generated a sense of revitalization without actually having to do much reviving.

From what I’ve read, it seems like Marvel is hardly abandoning their overall emphasis on popular brands and titles; nearly all the fresh batch of titles revolve around the Avengers or X-Men (plus the Fantastic Four).  What makes them groundbreaking from the old guard of Avengers and X-series is Marvel has attached their most interesting creative teams to the books and allowed them to execute some very unusual premises.