Comics this week!

I was tempted to make my pre-game five selections the five Avengers related books that are out this week (Avengers, Avengers Arena, Avengers Assemble, Secret Avengers, and Uncanny Avengers) but I've decided against that. However, I didn't decide TOO much against that. If I were the kind of guy who bets on my picks (if there are people out there betting on my picks, that's the most amazing thing I've ever heard. Also, who are you betting against? I would love to find that out. Not so much because I have insider info but more because it seems REALLY easy), I'd say that the Avengers selection method is a pretty solid one and that, in this case, you're probably only 1/5 wrong.

Avengers 11
I've gone back and forth on this book, particularly where pre- and post-game selections are concerned. They've been solid and I've really enjoyed the book's willingness to test its audience. On the other hand, we're not getting nice tight arcs, we're getting a long involved story so it's hard to pick out specific pieces of that story as highlights. Still though, it's a consistently entertaining book and it's one that I typically seem to come away from satisfied. I will say, I come away most satisfied AFTER I've written my post for it down. Only at that point do I really feel like I have a whole grasp on the issue. Any students out there should know that THIS is why you write essays.

Avengers Arena 9
I can't get enough of this book. I can't put my finger on what's so great about it (other than to say that Hopeless isn't stupid; The Hunger Games is a runaway success for a reason) but it's kept me excited about the book through eight issues. I was skeptical about this series when it started and I felt that, at best, it would carry a few interesting issues and then run out of steam as the main conceit became less novel. It turns out, on the other hand, that my imagination simply isn't up to par because that was what I though would be a best case scenario. Instead, it's a thoroughly entertaining book with thoroughly entertaining characters doing just horrifying things.

Secret Avengers 4
I'm still not sure where I'm going to end up landing on this book. I'm not sure how I feel about brainwashed heroes doing things for SHIELD (as someone who is opposed to brainwashing and typically opposed to SHIELD) and I'm interested to see how it holds up over the course of a series. There are still a number of teased characters yet to be included (namely Winter Soldier and Hulk) which could open a whole new playground for our team. It's certainly an intriguing book but I'm not totally onboard with it yet. If fans don't start coming away from every issue with something new at this point, it's going to be hard to sustain.

Uncanny Avengers 8
I'm having some trouble believing there have already been seven of these but it seems like there have been. I love the feel of this book, both sinister and dark and also disarmingly retro. There is more narration and more nods to the history of comics than you'll see in many books but the story itself has been imbued with a real horror to it, particularly the business with the Red Skull. There's a real appreciation of Marvel history here, both in the telling and in the characters, that doesn't come through in a lot of other books (not that it needs to in other books, just that it feels new and rather loving here). On top of that, the team certainly isn't a perfect one and they're being thrown into situations that are more dangerous and bigger than most other stories, even Avengers stories.

Thor 8
Modern and future Thor look to finally enter the fray together as they pursue Gorr to his Godbomb, where young Thor is enslaved with many other gods. On top of the promise of seeing two to three generations of Thor fight alongside one another (reason enough to read this book) we have an interesting plot with an interesting and seemingly unbeatable villain. Good news for Thor, Thor seems to be the only one who's ever survived an encounter with Gorr, so three Thors v. one Gorr is probably a pretty good fight. What am I saying, of COURSE it's a good fight, there are going to be THREE GENERATIONS OF THOR AVAILABLE FOR A TEAM UP.