Avengers Arena 11, Secret Avengers 5, Young Avengers 6

Avengers Arena 11
Hopeless (w) and Burchielli (a) and Beaulieu (c)

Hazmat and Reptil, after escaping from a feral, trigger-scented X-23, managed to find their way to a safe zone beach. Hazmat's personality has changed pretty drastically in the time they've spent there, sending her from the angsty and complaining type to someone far more flippant and upbeat. She spends a lot of time napping and a lot of time sunbathing, particularly while Reptil worked his way back to full health. Even after Reptil was ready to move, Hazmat kept them there, not caring about the game. Reptil is worried about her but is also delicate in his handling; he knows that she lost Mettle and he knows this attitude isn't her but he doesn't know what to do about it until Cammi, Nara, Bloodstone, Anachronism, and X-23 fall out of the sky on to their beach. They explain everything that's been happening with them and Reptil explains everything that's happened on the beach. Bloodstone is furious that they've sat away from the danger with everything going on and that lives have been lost quite probably because of their non-involvement. Cammi is planning to go back out and try to find and save Nico if she's still alive and tells Reptil that he needs to snap Hazmat out of this attitude. Reptil takes the advice to heart and wrestles a sunbathing Hazmat, at great personal risk considering her radioactive body, to force her to listen. She snaps a little bit and lets some of her emotion out. As Reptil is about to give up on changing her mind, she joins up with the rest of them, ready to fight.

Definitely a little slower than the last few issues but it gives us a good sense of where we stand and a slower issue every once in a while is definitely necessary. You need something, as a reader, to balance out all of the action or else it all becomes indistinguishable. Here we get a little bit more information, particularly about where Hazmat and Reptil have been, the state of some of our characters, and the overall mood in Murder World. Surprisingly, spirits are not especially high. Solid issue. A little light on plot but still a good read for characters and to give a sense of the way that Murder World is functioning, which is made more important and relevant because we've spent so much time worrying about Katy and far less lately about what this place is. One of the really nice things about this issue is that we'd had ten full issues prior to this and issue one started with Hazmat narrating and talking about how she's always the type to complain and to judge, as complaining somehow makes her feel better. Now here, she's dancing, she's outgoing, she's making jokes. This is what Avengers Arena has done so effectively and is now able to cash in. Entirely well-done series.

Secret Avengers 5
Spencer (w) and Ross (a) and Wilson (c)

After AIM's production and dispersal of Iron Patriots, Daisy Johnson sent a team comprised of Nick Fury, Black Widow, and Hawkeye to assassinate AIM's Scientist Supreme, Dr. Andrew Forson. The three have officially received their orders and Hawkeye instantly refuses them, unwilling to kill. He and Fury argue about whether it's justified or not and whether this is a war or not before Black Widow jumps in and says that it doesn't matter; she'll be the one taking the shot and they can figure out later whose fault it is. They get into their positions, with Black Widow ready to take down Forson. Just before she can take the shot, though, she's attacked by AIM's weirdly cyborg-ish Yelena Belova, the other Black Widow. Natasha gets thrown out of her high window by Belova and Hawkeye disobeys his order to assassinate Forson himself and instead shoots a net arrow with a parachute at Natasha, saving her from the fall. Fury, at ground level, attacks the small AIM gathering himself, killing numerous henchmen before shooting Forson in the face. The three escape and are debriefed by Coulson, who is attempting to get to the bottom of the events. When Fury questions why he needs to go through all this, Coulson admits that Daisy has been removed as head of SHIELD pending an investigation and Maria Hill is back in charge. Hill, meanwhile, is having a chat with her security council liaison and discussing what should be done about the whole situation and about Daisy. Dalton, the liaison, informs her that it's a delicate scenario because they broke some very clear rules but acknowledging that would sound like siding with AIM and dishonoring Senator Ralston's memory. As a result, now they must work with AIM to try to ensure nothing like this or the Iron Patriot attacks happen again, which Dalton is sure will be made easier as AIM Island now has a permanent seat on the UN security council. He puts Hill in communication with their representative, Dr. Andrew Forson.

This book is still a little hard to get a full read on. I'm never really disappointed by it and the the issues themselves tend to move quickly enough, but I never come away from it feeling altogether satisfied either. It's not a case where I'm not satisfied because the ending is so shocking or is so traumatizing or moving or whatever, which would leave me unhappy but pretty satisfied (or at least emotionally exhausted); instead, I come away feeling like I'm not getting a good grip on the story or the characters. The particularly strange thing here is that I know, when I pull back enough, that plenty happens in each story and that I have at least a bit of a sense of each character. I do think we haven't focused enough on character but it's only been five issues and there's been a ton of plot; striking an appropriate balance isn't ever easy. Still, it often leaves me uncomfortable and fidgety and I can't put my finger on why. My best guess would be that I don't have a feel for the characters in their roles in this book and that's making it a bit harder to warm up to it.

Young Avengers 6
Gillen (w) and K. Brown (a and c)

Prodigy, one time New X-Man, has taken on a job as tech support in an unnamed company, but one that's fascinating nonetheless. His calls revolve around telling people how to dismantle Skrull bombs, how to stave off an attack from Elektra, etc. He's a depowered mutant after M-Day but the knowledge he gained with his mutation (which allowed him to absorb and mimic knowledge and skills of other mutants) stayed with him, even though he lost the powers, which left him a genius. Also at this company but working in the factory area is former Young Avengers Speed, twin brother (also psychically created by Scarlet Witch) of Wiccan. He uses his powers to quickly assemble everything he needs to assemble, leaving him done a week's work within moments. He meets up with David and the two talk over noodles and, the next day, coffee. Speed relates all about the problems he had with the Young Avengers (mostly their penchant for do-goodery and their inevitable break-up) and asks David why he's working such a terrible job if he's a genius. David, a bit bitter, explains that his time as a poster-boy for Cyclops during the Schism didn't make him particularly popular with people and few jobs are open to him as a result. He intends to do this long enough to simply retire, leaving the hero world (who he feels used him and everyone else) behind. They arrive at work in the second day of their friendship (first full day, if we're being picky) to find that someone had broken into the company to steal the components. The security camera shows someone dressed as the Patriot committing the crime and staring into the camera. Speed calls Eli's house and learns that Patriot hasn't even been leaving the house, let alone committing crimes in unnamed company, and Speed offers himself and David up as surveillance for the company to try to catch the guy. When he breaks in that night, Speed attacks him but is pretty quickly brought down by what appears to be a psychic attack. Speed gets up in an attempt to run from the mysterious not-Patriot but is caught even as the not-Patriot moves zombie-like to him. He reaches out a gloved hand and touches Speed's shoulder, causing him to disappear instantly. David is understandably startled and gets only cryptic answers from the not-Patriot. He pulls a glove off, revealing a lack of a hand and tells David to accept the glove if he wants Speed back. David refuses and calls him insane. The not-Patriot tells David he's in denial then disappears himself, leaving David alone as the issue ends.

I feel like these summaries are longer than any other summaries I write for other books. Here's the thing you need to know if you're reading this summary and not this book: the issues never move slowly. For all that happens, for all the character and all the story and all the suspense and all the brilliance, the book have not once felt like a chore to read or like it's adding anything that doesn't warrant adding. There's no amount of wasted space, even in the pauses and the silence. It's an entirely impressive title in a lot of ways and cramming in so much story and character without making the reader's head explode is an unenviable but totally worthwhile task. This book features Kate Brown as the artist and colorist and, like New Avengers last week, the change in artist from one who I can't stop praising to another works totally well. Her art is solid and it's a great change for an issue that changes things so much. I love McKelvie's art but it's a smart decision, like the one New Avengers made to swap out Epting for Deodato last week amidst an issue that slowed things down a bit, to switch artists to show that this is a different story than the one we've been reading, requiring the reader to look at it differently. It's the same book and the great dialogue and the strength of the characters as seen through dialogue and actions shows that perfectly well, but the change in art lets you know that we're in a different scenario entirely. Also, Kate Brown's art is pretty perfect for this issue and the colors feel similar to the palette we've seen through the series so far, though a little more muted and less solid. Another great issue.