Bring on the Battle: Avengers Arena #1

Yes, just absolute yes. Now this right here is what I've been waiting for. Marvel NOW is DOMINATING our lives at the moment. There are already some fantastic heavy hitters - Iron Man, FF, Cable and X-Force, All New X-Men...just to name a few. And now Avengers Arena for me has just rocketed right up there.

Yes, we all know the story of Battle Royale (and The Hunger Games...FYI, both the BR book and film are in my top 5 ultimate faves hence all the excitement), and Hopeless gets this out of the way by acknowledging that the idea of AA came to the villain Arcade after reading "a couple of kids' books". 16 of Marvel's next generation of young heroes - including Hazmat & Mettle (Avengers Academy), Chase & Nico (The Runaways), X-23, Darkhawk, Kid Briton - find themselves zapped into kill or be killed scenario run by Arcade.

From the get go you can tell which characters are not destined for survival, not only does the cover art give this away, but you also know which characters are currently major players in the Marvel Universe. But what im really impressed with is the choice of characters - a mix of known and unknown, giving the unknown a chance to rise to the forefront of Marvels' younger generation. And for me I get to broaden my own knowledge of these characters.

I'm already loving what Hopeless is doing with with Cable, and AA doesn't disappoint. The dialogue is quick, witty and differentiates easily between each character. I'm not too clued up on all of them, but from the one's I do know, Hopeless has them on point. But at the same time this issue isn't too bogged down with text (it really doesn't need to be), all the basics are there and it gets right to the point. Although it does suffer from the same pitfull as Cable - why these characters and why this situation? There's no real explanation except that Arcade likes to see people die. This seriously can't be all? If that's gonna come later, then good, but if it's 'just because' then that's a little lame...so fingers crossed.

The artists at the moment are really owning these new series', and Kev Walker with colours by Frank Martin are on top form. This story is gonna be full of action sequences, and they are certainly up to the challenge. As soon as I got to the pages with Hazmat and X-23, I knew I was in for something pretty awesome. The colours are just brilliant. Theya re gonna play a big part in defining each character and Martin has got this locked down straight away. The scene where Mettle goes splat is beyond great...Hazmat's reaction is perfect. Although i do which this that particular scene had a whoe page dedicated to itself and that there had been no text. It definitely would have made it more powerful I think.

This is probably the first series so far where I have no conceive able idea of whats gonna happen next and how this is gonna pan out. Will they kill each other off completely? will they be saved. What the hell is gonna happen!

What would Doom do?
Whack on his best shiny cameo and hid real good in those bushes. How else is he gonna watch all this badass action happen. Keen.