LIVE: Hopeless Battles To The Death In "Avengers Arena"

[Outside_85]

Dennis Hopeless, in my opinion, has gone out of his was to push the point that this book won't be tactless murder fest. And I'm inclined to trust him. I do really love some of these characters, but I trust that whatever Hopeless ends up dong with this characters, whether I like or not, will be done with thought, and tact.

On the other hand he is not really giving us a reason not to think it will be a murderfest either.

[magnuskn]

People should boycott this book, if they care at all about the concept of not killing off characters for shock value.

Hell, to the very concept of this book, I can only say one thing.

[CTpitch]

I will have a Songbird/Diamondback-esque rage if Darkhawk gets killed off

[Home made ectoplasm]

People should boycott this book, if they care at all about the concept of not killing off characters for shock value.

I would imagine tens of people probably will.

[AnonymousMC]

Damn. Perhaps i'm wrong then. Those stencils do look a lot more Battle Royalish than I thought would happen. They even have crazy face!! Still, I'll wait to give it full judgement.

I am generally turned of by what I see in the black & whites. This book was not on the top of my pull list but I've enjoyed Kev Walker's art in the past. Still premature, but I'm a bit surprised by what I see.

[AcesX1X]

i'm going to buy the crap out of this book. the art looks awesome.

[BrotherUnitNo_4]

On the other hand he is not really giving us a reason not to think it will be a murderfest either.

The writer stated the series is an ongoing due to getting the characters to the point where they might actually kill each other. "Primarily, it's because we need the space to get you to believe these kids would do these stuff," said Hopeless. "We need to get them to a place where they distrust and fear each other enough to let it play out. The first few issues have a different POV … it's a long game. It's not the one-person POV, it's the characters all dealing with this in their own way. What would drive them to go through this and save themselves and save their friends. Once we get to a place where the core concept changes, the book changes, but the Murderworld thing is a long story."

In terms of the overall tone of the book, Hopeless states the creative team play the emotion and fears of the characters straight. "It's almost a character study of all these kids and how they deal with this worst-case scenario," he said. "At least Arcade can appreciate where this is satirical and amusing, but it's definitely a character study."

The cast have disparate power levels, but that's something Hopeless deals with during the series. "We deal with the fact that their power levels are varied," said Hopeless, but noted that none of the cast "buy in" immediately to the concept, which helps to balance the scales.

The fact that he basically keeps saying that he's using the Murderworld framework to do a character study on teenage heroes in a worst case scenario is something I interpret as not just a kill fest.

[BrotherUnitNo_4]

I will have a Songbird/Diamondback-esque rage if Darkhawk gets killed off

I say he's one of the more established heroes at a higher risk solely due to the nature of his powers.

[kakitamike]

I'm really only in this book for Darkhawk, X-23 and the runaways. I'd rather see them in a questionable book, than not at all.

[Outside_85]

The fact that he basically keeps saying that he's using the Murderworld framework to do a character study on teenage heroes in a worst case scenario is something I interpret as not just a kill fest.

Which is meaningless if he going to kill most of them.

[Kaiolino]

i'm going to buy the crap out of this book. the art looks awesome.

Who are you rooting for? I hope Cammi wins!

[infernohara]

Next question, from Word Balloon: How is Hopeless differentiating Avengers Arena so it’s not seen as a Battle Royale or Hunger Games knock-off? A lot has to do with the individual unique circumstances of teenage superheroes involved, Hopeless says, plus the P.O.V. shifts in his series. “To me, it’s as influenced by The Running Man as anything else,” the writer says.
This may take away the hunger games knockoff aspect, but Battle Royale (the manga not the movie) shifted P.O.Vs from about 6-8 main characters as well. We got inner dialogue about what some of the others thought and why some of the others liked to even kill (mostly what made the kids unstable enough to go along with the game). So to me this answer doesn't make it seem NOT like a Battle Royal knockoff.

I mean going by the uncolored pages, it seems like this will be a knockoff of Mitsu's first kill from Battle Royale.

[BrotherUnitNo_4]

Which is meaningless if he going to kill most of them.

Roughly half, IIRC.

[Rimmer]

Hmm, no response to the 'Bird Signal...

He was banned a day or two ago, but not sure why exactly...

[0bsessions]

It's taking a lot longer for S/D to show up this thread than I would've expected.

More related to the article, I'm standing by my statement that this is going to be (Critically, at least) the sleeper hit of 2013.