A review by pickett22
Avengers Arena Vol. 1: Kill or Die by Dennis Hopeless
2.0
I read this because Laura. I read a lot of things because Laura. She gets hauled along as a background character a lot.
There are a couple of things I don't quite understand. In Avengers Academy, Laura and Hazmat were not friends anymore. Laura was very angry, and told Hazmat never to come near her again. So why are they friends here? Or at least allies.
Also, I'm really unclear as to why the kids divided into factions to begin with. The red dude died and Hazmat got angry, got it, but how did that lead to everything else? Why did they split up? Why are they suspicious of each other? There are several kids in this group who would be smarter than this, and they are just not acting like themselves, so I find myself questioning everyone's motivations. A couple of them I don't know, so maybe those ones would get into the game, but I dunno. I'm not buying it.
Also, I'm really, really sad that the first murder that was kids' doing and not Arcade's was in a fight about who liked who. It's both boring and degrading.
But all that aside, I read it for Laura. And despite the confusion as to why she's taking orders from Hazmat when she a.) HATES her and b.) is better at survival than Hazmat is, Laura was written fairly well. Her diction was consistent with how she's always been written (unlike what she sounds like right now in the Bendis run) so it actually "sounded" like Laura. And as much as I hate Arcade for using the trigger scent, it was the one thing in this book that made sense. I understand that motivation. The rest, not as much.
There are a couple of things I don't quite understand. In Avengers Academy, Laura and Hazmat were not friends anymore. Laura was very angry, and told Hazmat never to come near her again. So why are they friends here? Or at least allies.
Also, I'm really unclear as to why the kids divided into factions to begin with. The red dude died and Hazmat got angry, got it, but how did that lead to everything else? Why did they split up? Why are they suspicious of each other? There are several kids in this group who would be smarter than this, and they are just not acting like themselves, so I find myself questioning everyone's motivations. A couple of them I don't know, so maybe those ones would get into the game, but I dunno. I'm not buying it.
Also, I'm really, really sad that the first murder that was kids' doing and not Arcade's was in a fight about who liked who. It's both boring and degrading.
But all that aside, I read it for Laura. And despite the confusion as to why she's taking orders from Hazmat when she a.) HATES her and b.) is better at survival than Hazmat is, Laura was written fairly well. Her diction was consistent with how she's always been written (unlike what she sounds like right now in the Bendis run) so it actually "sounded" like Laura. And as much as I hate Arcade for using the trigger scent, it was the one thing in this book that made sense. I understand that motivation. The rest, not as much.