Avengers Arena #2

I picked up the trade recently, so I thought I'd post my thoughts on the whole series since I started with the first.

The first issue focused on Hazmat, and this one is focused on Deathlocket (Rebecca Ryker) who is a teenage cyborg who was created for this series. The issue opens with Red Raven (the second one, apparently there are three in marvel comics.) flying upwards into an invisible force field that cracks her neck. I love how beautiful, detailed, colorful, and expressive this art is.The art really sells this book, and without it the plot would be pretty shallow and forgettable.I love the detail put into the character’s designs, like in one panel you can see the cybernetics fused into Rebecca’s skin. The whole book, even without the deaths, has such a gruesome feel.   

Becca gets her nickname from Cammi (who is noted specifically as an average human who just happens to fight in space). Rebecca’s family is shown to have been murdered in a Terminator-esque plot to kill the Deathlok’s inventor before he can create them. He saved her life, but she was taken in by the government. The others don’t exactly trust her since she is half-murder robot, but her brain/personality was actually preserved. I think it’s sort of interesting that Deathloks are becoming more popular again, I even heard there is one on the Shield TV show that’s coming into the comics!

We’re also introduced, at a campfire, to Kid Briton (a teenage version of the british superhero from another reality. I bet it’s the ultimate universe, everyone’s a teenager there! Kidding, of course…it’s actually on a known other reality) and Nara (a teenage atlantean). It’s interesting that this series both killed off teenage heroes as well as introduced new ones in a strange sort of yin-yang thing. Next we have Cullen (from a family of monster hunters), and Anachronism (who, for some reason has taken the form of a Celtic warlord. I’d like to learn more about him, seems like a cool concept...like Highlander or something.). Last is Katy, an indian girl who admits she has the lame power of floating. The issue closes out on a low note, but on the bright side we did get to see more of the original characters as well as focus on one. This issue is a 7.5/10 for me, it does a good job setting up these characters for future issues (plus killing another hero rather quickly), and I have no complaints about the art or pacing. It’s neat to see Becca be so joyful by the end, even in such a deadly situation.