Avengers Arena 17, Captain America Living Legend 3, Thor: God of Thunder 15

Avengers Arena 17
Hopeless (w) and Walker and Gorder (a) and Beaulieu (c)

We're one issue away from the end of Avengers Arena and the stakes have never been higher, which is saying a lot for a series which started with a guy with a metal exoskeleton exploding. The survivors are a day away from the final day of Murder World and tensions are running high. X-23 is still tearing through Hazmat, her consciousness blacked out from the trigger scent. Anachronism saves Hazmat by attacking X-23, who he blames for killing Nara. Reptil attacks Anachronism. Nico is trying to kill Cullen, knowing that, with the ring off, he's the strongest one left and Darkhawk Chase is watching her back. Cammi takes down Chase swiftly and rips the amulet from his chest, becoming Darkhawk herself and stopping Nico from killing Cullen. Meanwhile, below the surface, Arcade used Chris Powell's lingering sickness from stasis as a chance to escape. Death Locket and Chris go to get some water, leaving Katy to hack Arcade's system and shut down the game, which she will do as a pragmatist wanting to leave the island, despite her killer attributes. Unfortunately, Death Locket and Chris leave her alone long enough for Arcade to chime back in and convince Katy that she can be the winner of all of this and the video footage he has and will release will show her as the strong survivor of the games, not as the villain who killed without remorse. It's too tempting for her and she locks Tim out, allowing the games to continue. The issue ends with Hazmat going critical.

This is a series that has had absolutely no downtime since maybe the first few issues, when we were still getting to know our competitors (geez, remember Kid Briton? That was something). Even then, there was plenty going on in terms of the events on the island and the character-building. It's no surprise, then, that the last couple of issues would come down to almost non-stop action and compelling character moments. Everything this series has asked boils down to these last couple of decisions. What is the cost of survival in this world? What are the ramifications of being the bad guy? How do you play a game that relies on your worst side coming out? Finally, as an audience, who are you rooting for? One of the most impressive things Hopeless has done has been to make every character compelling and sympathetic. There's not really anyone left I don't want to survive. There are people who I had no knowledge of previously and who are going to be the biggest losses if they die. Granted, we're mostly down to previously known characters (mainstays like X-23 and our Runaways) but there are still a handful of Hopeless' creations and people who Hopeless has developed over the course of this series to a point that they're as or more compelling than anyone else out there. Exciting times and nerve-wracking times as we head to our final issue.

Captain America Living Legend 3
Diggle and Granov (s) and Diggle and Robson (w) and Alessio (a and c)

Volkov has been locked underground in a Russian facility since his return from space, where he seemed to have taken on a passenger, some sort of alien comprised of dark matter that wreaks havoc with human minds. In the past, it led to the death of nearly everyone in the Russian facility, encouraging them to kill themselves even if it was against their own will. The facility was sealed off and a soldier on the premises at the time, Gridenko, is now a colonel with the Russian army, tasked with bringing a squad back there and recovering the Deus project and, if possible, Volkov. He is, understandably, not thrilled with the assignment and says so to the Minister of Science, who has organized the mission. As soon as they get on site, other soldiers start transforming into the metal-like entities shown attack Cap and Doctor Fox at the end of last issue. The Russians' bullets have no effect but Cap shows up and his shield instantly destroys the enemies. After some half-hearted attempts to arrest Cap and Fox, Gridenko and his men relate the history of Volkov and the area. Fox realizes that the vibranium in the shield must be interfering with the dark matter and is effectively what's keeping them all human now. The team goes to destroy the Deus project but the one of the metal beings inside manages to evade the thrown shield, allowing it to sail out past him, leaving the group unprotected. The issue ends as Cap begins to transform.

Another solid and interesting issue as the plot begins to take shape and some questions start to get answered. There's a shift here that's leading the threat from something more scientific to something more science fiction, which is a neat little shift with a kind of classic science fiction set-up. My constant compliment of this series has been the way it's seamlessly developed background characters into real people with fully-fledged lives that you assume they'd go home to if they survived beyond their one line of dialogue (okay, very few of them do that). It continues and it kind of all pays off here as Gridenko is rather the ultimate example of someone developed through quick lines of dialogue and who then promptly went on to be a developed and necessary character. After seeing him for a page or so in 1973, we have a real and useful sense of who he is as we come to the present day. Frankly, I felt good for him because he was a colonel now! That dude worked at it! Way to go, Gridenko, I was rooting for you. It's things like that which have really cemented the series for me and made it something unique and enjoyable. Excited to go into the last issue of this one.

Thor: God of Thunder 15
Aaron (w) and Garney (a) and Svorcina (c)

Malekith is still running rampant through the nine realms, his legion always a step ahead of Thor and his League. They've managed to catch up and end a few of the dark elves following Malekith but by and large, the mission is failing at every turn. Thor takes a time out to try to get his team to work more favorably together by making everyone go an Alfheim tavern and bond while he makes out with Waziria, the dark elf on their team. The bonding seems to work at least a little and the team sets out for Jotunheim, land of the giants, to find Malekith chasing the other hiding dark elves. The fight is going well until Malekith launches himself into the mouth of the League of Realms' giant Oggy, killing him from the inside out. As Thor swears revenge, the team is dismayed to find that Malekith has managed to find favor with the dreaded frost giants of Jotunheim, adding considerable might to their side.

I'm a little torn on this arc as yet. On the one hand, I'm a little cynical from the get-go because I tend to roll my eyes a little at obvious sales ploys. I think this is a pretty good story and one that differs enough from Thor: The Dark World to justify its telling. However, it's hard to separate it from the fact that a major motion picture starring Malekith just came out and this is a clear "get the fans of the movie to buy the comic" move. I can't complain too much about that, though; comics are, after all, always a business and you do what it takes to survive. On top of that, this Malekith is a far different one than the one in the movie, who hates everybody and hardly wants to talk about his feelings. The comic Malekith is quite the chatterbox, more crazy than serious. Also, while I find the plot engaging and interesting, it's hard not to shrug a little at the League of Realms, which seems like a cliché at best and a silly conceit at worst. It's not so unbearable or anything that it's not worth reading but it rather seems to weaken a story that was working previously. Why the Congress of Worlds decided that they needed to present a united front to the realms against what is unquestionably a menace in this universe is beyond me. I would get the League if this was a more delicate issue and the realms needed to show how vast their support was but here, it feels like this is a guy whose downfall everyone benefits from. Now it just feels like a way to show us there are different realms and those realms don't really like each other but what an unusual foe who would bind these guys! I don't necessarily hate the characters (I also don't necessarily love them - it's hard not to seem them all as pretty stereotypical characters, despite their fantasy origins) but I think the idea that they have to be teamed up weakens the premise of the book, which is otherwise pretty strong. I have, you guys, some conflicting emotions about this story.