Avengers Arena

Avengers Arena 1-18

I doubt if Battle Royale was the first book of its type, but it’s the one most people think of as the progenitor.  The genre’s taken its name from it, after all.  Avengers Arena is Marvel’s foray into the category.  It makes no bones about its inspiration; The cover of issue one is a homage to the movie adaptation.  (There are a number of cover homages throughout the run, summarized nicely here.

Not issue 1, but I love the Deodato art.

It really is a compelling formula.  Gather a number of unsuspecting players (usually teenagers) and force them to kill each other.  Let the reader get to know each of the characters so that their deaths hurt more.  Make sure someone survives to beat the system.

Dennis Hopeless hits all the beats here, and quite effectively.  Marvel gave him leave to kill a number of C-listers, and he provides enough backstory to make them sting, even though I had never heard of most them before.  Nara’s death, in particular, was surprisingly poignant despite the sappiness of the narration.  Still worked.  

For a battle royale, there are surprisingly few deaths - over half of the kids make it through.  That's okay; This is primarily a character piece, focusing on the relationships between the players as they deal with an insane situation.  By the end of the series, each of them had ceased to be plot device cannon fodder.  I was invested in their fates, and genuinely wanted them to make it out alive.  It’s a testament to Hopeless’ writing.  I was happy to hear that their stories would continue in Avengers Underground, which I’ll be reading tomorrow.

Kev Walker does most of the penciling, but the release schedule of eighteen issues in one year necessitated a few fill-in artists.  All of whom were fine to good.  

Regret buying? No

Would buy again? Yes

Would read again? Yes

Rating: Good