Avengers Arena 7, Thor: God of Thunder 7

Guys, I totally blew it. When I was plotting out the beginning reviews of my week, I had initially planned to do Age of Ultron stuff on Wednesday but I pushed it to Thursday, giving way to the avalanche of Avengers-related comics. Then I completely forgot that Avengers Arena was out and that it would tie into Avengers-day EVEN BETTER than Hawkeye and that Hawkeye could tie just as nicely with either Thor or Fantastic Four. INSTEAD, I put Hawkeye with Secret Avengers and remembered Avengers Arena too late. Oh well. I guess this concludes another message about things that only bother me.

Avengers Arena 7
Hopeless (w) and Vitti (a) and Beredo (c)

One of the things that has pushed itself into the background of this series is the main antagonist. That's not something I'd've expected to say, given the conceit of this book. I'd have expected to see Arcade just littered throughout this book with the young heroes struggling to fight against him or trying to get messages out to their older counterparts because, quite frankly, Arcade's always been a bit of a joke. Instead, the threats have been real and serious and Arcade typically has only appeared to give directions or to alter environments over a loudspeaker system. The good writing and interesting plot and brilliant character bits have gone a long way to cover up the fact that it is Arcade behind this and not make the reader question that, but it's hard, when you pull back, not to wonder how Arcade got to be like this. In a way, it doesn't matter. We know he IS like this and the kids, after Mettle's explosion, know it too and that's what drives the book. However, this isn't Magneto or Loki or Ultron. At some point, we have to ask "wait, why is this a threat? When did Arcade get this powerful?" Issue seven seems just about a perfect time to do that.
We get a flashback to Arcade's 29th birthday party, a huge event that he throws and invites a bunch of supervillains too. He explains to his assistant, Miss Coriander, that his biggest disappointment in the parties he's thrown in the past is that he's missed out on the supervillain gossip while he entertains as host so this year, he's wired the whole place to hear and record everything. Bad idea, as it turns out, because everyone finds Arcade a joke but enjoys the food and entertainment at the party. He hears all about how everyone thinks he's pathetic and he attacks Constrictor, which more or less puts the party on a downward spiral. Then, at his own request, Miss Coriander attacks him with a flamethrower and Arcade winds up in the hospital (fun fact: Batroc is at the party so this book significantly upped its own chances of appearing in my top three picks at the end of the week). There, Miss Coriander gives him a copy of The Hunger Games (which he's already read) and he gets depressed about how much of a joke he is. He gives Miss Coriander murder island and a helicopter then retires to his bar. He's attacked there by Constrictor and seems about ready to give up, but remembers a prank giant-hammer in the roof, which he tricks Constrictor into activating. His joy over the successful attack heartens him and he heads to the newly dubbed Coriander Island to enlist her in another Murder World. She goes above and beyond, creating the entire island we know throughout the series underground in Antarctica and wiring the entire environment to respond to Arcade's suit (assuming he keeps his battery charged). She also rigged up the teleporters to snag the kids. He attempts to kill her (old habits) and she teleports away, saying she's still out of his league.
It's a really brilliant origin for the series. Hopeless has created Arcade as newly re-inspired but still with something to prove. He's also expertly made sure that we know that Arcade is incredibly powerful here but still his regular self on the surface while also letting us know that this is really all Miss Coriander's hand. Maybe she has the malice, maybe she doesn't, but she's the brains in the organization. For a reference that MIGHT work with people who read comic books, she's the Dr. Girlfriend to Arcade's Monarch. It's all superbly done and, again, I find myself raving about this book. This has to be pretty much my biggest positive surprise of Marvel NOW!

Thor: God of Thunder 7
Aaron (w) and Ribic (a) and Svorcina (c)

After a quick trip away from Thor's story with the Gorrigin last issue, we return to find present Thor being scolded by the older, wiser, and "more exquisitely bearded" Thor of the future. He's mostly scolded for how dumb future Thor finds him but, all in all, future Thor is heartened to see his younger self. There's a good deal of fun dialogue here between the annoyed future Thor and the somewhat floored but ultimately passive present Thor. It does make you wonder the fireworks that future Thor and past Thor would light together (hopefully we'll get that in the end) but it's a nice examination and weird sort of retrospective (and whatever the future perfect of retrospective would be) about Thor's evolved/evolving personality and intelligence. One of the things I've been saying since the beginning of this series is that I've appreciated seeing all the various stages of Thor. It's nice to have the future Thor to compare against and to learn that, although present Thor is much evolved and far more likable than past Thor, present Thor still has a ways to go on his personal journey.
Anyway, present and future Thor are preparing to head out to meet Gorr on a planet all his own at the edge of the universe. Future Thor reveals that Gorr has been taking Asgardians as slaves to work on his planet on something Thor's not aware of. Now, strengthened by present Thor's appearance and the sudden disappearance of Gorr's shadow-creatures, the two plan to set off and confront Gorr again. There's more good dialogue, mostly with future Thor berating present Thor and the two commiserating over how much they hate time travel and love drinking. Meanwhile, past Thor, in a surprise twist, is also captured by Gorr and enslaved. Gorr explains to his underlings that he wants Thor front and center when their creation is complete, that he wants Thor to drive in the final nail. It's a bit of a twist, and harkens back to the present and future Thors' talk of hating time travel, because suddenly past Thor has been pulled out of the timestream to work for Gorr. Aaron's already addressed the idea that future Thor should remember present Thor turning up by having future Thor wave it off, saying he can hardly remember what he did that morning, let alone what happened over ten thousand years ago. It's a fair enough explanation and is worth mentioning because, otherwise, you get annoying internet comic-bloggers asking why it hasn't come up yet (don't you, All-New X-Men?). The issue ends with the cosmic librarian questioning a god who has revealed that he helped Gorr at one point. The god is hesitant to admit what it is he is god of ("baubles and ballerinas" and "pancakes and tambourines" are both offered) before quietly saying that he's the god of bombs and we get an image of Gorr's endgame. Impressive issue, though it may have been a little given away by the title of this new four-part arc: Godbomb. Still pretty good and this series continues to improve. Fun book with a lot of action, more great Esad Ribic art, and some real questions and plot being set up.