Another one I got bored with and had to put away for a while. I was looking for more of a last man standing brawl fest kind of thing. And there is some of that. But the book is more of a, well, I don't want to say drama, but...drama. It's about these characters and how they change through this experience and through their interactions with eachother. One you realize that and get to know the characters a bit, it is actually pretty good. I would even say well crafted. And the relative fringe-ness

So much better than I was expecting. Like a superhero Hunger Games with a lot of drama. I wish my local library had the second one though. This ended on a cliffhanger.

Reading Infinity: The Hunt led me back to Avengers Arena, yet another series I had forgotten I already owned a copy of but had yet to read. The premise of the mini-series is a straight-up Battle Royale redux using Marvel characters. But given it mostly involves younger characters with very limited exposure makes for rather difficult reading since I don't know who these people are.It makes sense that they placed Arcade at the heart of this. He's a bit of a caricature of a character since he's alw...

This is the first “Avengers Academy” book I’ve read, so I had no idea who most of these teen characters were. There’s Wolverine’s crazy-assed clone, X-23 and a jerk Captain Britain, beyond that it was all new - a kid that turns into reptiles, a girl with wings, a metal dude, a girl who throws off radioactivity, a half-cyborg kid, a Scottish kid who’s possessed by a um, rage demon and an Atlantean girl (from here it’s the old version of the Gilligan’s Island theme song) “and all the rest” here on...

Longtime readers may remember that we looked at the first issue of this series some time ago. That ended with one of the lowest scores ever given to a work of fiction on this website. Unfortunately it turned out that first issue was the high point of quality for this series. Everything proceeded to drop like a stone from there.The series follows the story of the villain Arcade as he kidnaps multiple teenage and young characters of the Marvel universe to pit against one another in Murderworld. De...

Sometimes comics are thought-provoking, with character development, intricate plots, great world-building - just as good or better than your average novel.And sometimes it's just wholesale cheese/violence. A bloodbath, if you will.This book is more of the latter than the former. (Though it definitely does attempt at the former.)Arcade gathers 16 superpowered kids into a Death to the End arena. If it sounds like Battle Royale or Hunger Games, it's because that's what it is.I truly love my comic b...

I'm surprised by how much I enjoyed this! I went in feeling kind of iffy about it, but I'm happy with the turn out. This comic did a great job of character development, which is something that I haven't seen be a key role in many of the comics I've read. Most of the comics I've read are pretty plot driven. It was a nice little switch up. I did feel like at times this story didn't flow very well. It kind of seemed scattered all over the place. Either way I had a good time reading it and if I can

Just when I was considering dropping all the Avengers titles (and I've dropped a few), I got to read this. Lord of the Flies meets The Hunger Games meets Battle Royale meets Brian K Vaughan's Runaways, Vol. 1: Pride and Joy. Braddock Academy, Avengers Academy, Runaways, Blackhawk and Cammi are kidnapped by a superbly re-imagined Arcade and are set-up to kill each other within 30 days in this astoundingly well written and just as well drawn, young heroes series, indeed probably the best young Mar...

You try and poke me awake.*sleepily* Mrfhg. No, go away. I don't wanna review this. You poke some more. Then you resort to a bucket of water.ARGH! Fine, I'll do it already!I didn't understand a second of what was happening, because I do not know these characters. They try and give me some origin stories to help me understand these obscure teenagers, but that only enrages me more because they don't do it very well and I would have preferred actually getting to know them in the storyline as oppose...

Can't even finish this....this is just garbage...not even fun garbage...just straight up trash.

I'm a sucker for all-out-killing survival stories, so I'm not surprised that I enjoyed Avengers Arena. This is my first Marvel read, and I was glad that I didn't know any of these characters beforehand since it was interesting to see these teenagers' true colors unravel throughout this story. The character development was mostly good; the characters' personalities & abilities were very individual and unique: some I loved (Nico) and some I hated (Hazmat).If you're in the mood for a story about Hu...

3.5 starsSo Arcade kidnaps a handful of obscure and slightly-less-than-obscure super-powered teenagers and throws them into the seemingly inescapable Murder World, an arena in which they will be forced to battle what Arcade throws at them and what they throw at each other (because human psychology).I can't say that this is very original, BUT it is pretty original in the superhero world. I mean, it had obvious Hunger Games overtones and some Lord of the Flies undertones, but I wouldn't necessaril...

Its like superhero hunger games... And ya know what?It kinda works.

Fun readA fun and action packed read with interesting characters. Could do with a bit more murder though as that's what it's about...

You know what I like about Avengers Academy? It’s upfront about its bullshit (and it is bullshit). It doesn’t hide the fact that it’s blatantly riding the wave of The Hunger Games, nor that it’s ripping off Battle Royale’s logo/cover – it doesn’t even try very hard to work on the numerous characters in the story because they’re there just to die! It’s straight up exploitative comix, and it’s not bad. The laughable X-Men villain Arcade has somehow captured 16 young (and unmemorable) superheroes,

I don't know who these kid superheroes are who are getting bumped off left and right, but damn do I love it. We've got broken necks, decapitations, disintegrations, death, death, death, and some pretty cool little heroes. Some of them are knock-offs of the greats (like a girl clone of Wolverine known as X-23, and an arrogant punk called Kid Briton) and some of them are the silliest of the silly (like Reptil, a guy who turns into dinosaurs), but as their story is being told here, they are surpris...

Starts out with some decent momentum and a shocking kill. Then it slows down into a confusing mess.I don't know hardly any of these kids, and what's more I don't think half of them existed until this book. Which according to the premise makes them cannon fodder, and means I shouldn't invest any emotional energy into paying any attention to their needs or even their names.Then there's the leaden "introducing our gang and their back stories" sequences. I get the book has to get around to them some...

Dennis Hopeless lives up to his last name with this bandwagon series about teenage death games. Kids from Avengers Academy, Runaways, Braddock Academy, and other corners of the Marvel Universe find themselves abducted by Arcade. With amped-up powers and a deadly new Murderworld, the master gamesman kills Academy member Mettle just to prove how serious he is. Sadly, this first-issue act is the only useful part of this volume. While Hopeless tries to introduce new characters and display the Marvel...

This was quite a treat. Such a fun book! I do admit I have a soft spot for Battle Royale scenarios, but Dennis Hopeless, Kev Walker, and Frank Martin really nailed it. Let me be clear right off the bat: I didn't rate this 5 stars because it's a deep book with lots of substance--I gave this 5 stars because it knows exactly what it is and goes all out with it. It's just a very fun book, and if you go in expecting some dumb fun like I did, you will enjoy the hell out of this. If you go in expecting...

Dennis Hopeless is so underrated. This and his runs Spider-Woman and (young) Jean Grey just further prove that. I had heard a lot about this book in comic circles but I never got around to reading it but having just finished Avengers Academy I realized this book was kind of a sequel and I am thoroughly enjoying it!