Avengers Arena by Hopeless and Walker!
More and more teasers have been released from the Marvel NOW! initiative, the most recent ones have been “Lightning” and “Survive“.
Well, now that we have the revelation of what “Lightning” stands for, we’ve been patiently waiting to find out what “Survive” means.
Now we don’t have to wait any longer, seeing as to how Marvel has released details concerning a new series called “Avengers Arena” that is going to be the newest in the Marvel NOW! relaunch.
This’ll be written by Dennis Hopeless with art by Kev Walker and it will have sixteen of the Marvel Universe’s youngest heroes as they are trapped together in a reality show-like scenario that is being run by super villain, Arcade. They’ll be pitted against each other in a “Battle Royale”-style environment where they have to kill or be killed in the series.
Teens competing for survival isn’t a new concept, but series editor, William Rosemann, explains the concept like this:
“Throughout history, societies have sent their young adults against one another in competition, whether that’s in war, sports or ‘American Idol,'” Rosemann said. “Likewise, art has examined this phenomenon of the older generation sacrificing the younger generation — and also of young warring gangs wanting to prove who’s #1 — in everything from the myth of Theseus vs. the Minotaur to ‘Lord of the Flies’ to ‘Battle Royale’ to ‘Starship Troopers’ to ‘Survivor’ to ‘Hunger Games.’ Teen vs. teen competition is as old as storytelling — but now it’s time to give it the Marvel twist.”
Hopeless goes on to explain a little more about what’s going to happen in his new book.
“Arcade has spent a lot of years building “Murder Worlds” that yield very few actual murders. He’s decided it’s time to get back a little self-respect. It’s time for a new kind of Murder World. Avengers Arena is about the unlucky kids he’s chosen to help him try it out. I don’t want to give too much away, but I can promise a lot of murder in this new Murder World. These kids were chosen carefully and with specific story beats in mind. We definitely plan on taking advantage of the broad personality spectrum we have in play. Even the characters [that] die off early make their mark on the story. I didn’t throw anyone into the book as cannon fodder.”
This sounds like it’s going to actually deliver on its concept, which sounds great to me. It sounds like it’ll be pushing the boundaries of the concept. How far remains to be seen, but I’ll be checking it out. Add it to your pull list ASAP!
