Avengers Undercover 3, Iron Patriot 2

Avengers Undercover 3
Hopeless (w) and Green II (a) and Beaulieu (c) and Caramagna (l)

Cammi is furious with Cullen that he brought them to Arcade without asking any of them, saying that it should be their choice if they want to go seek revenge. The team is divided on the issue but doesn't have much time to fight it out because any sort of plan needs to happen now, as Arcade has opened a new "Murder World," which is essentially just crazy old billionaires paying to fight to the death. The team splits up with one group going to shut down Arcade's power and the other, along with a near-comatose Hazmat, distracting Arcade. Arcade is thrilled to see them, talking to them about how high they'd all risen and how they'd never get that high again, himself included. Just as they're nearly defeated, Death Locket manages to fry the high processing computer near Miss Coriander that powers Arcade and suddenly he's back to just being a guy. They pound on him but don't quite go to killing until Hazmat wakes out of her stupor and recites the words Arcade said to the group when he killed Mettle: "Whatever you say, kid. Welcome to Murder World." She fries him as video is relayed to Baron Zemo, Madam Masque, Hellstrom, and Constrictor.

Story
Things continue to heat up in AVENGERS UNDERCOVER as these would-have-been heroes turn to murdering Arcade amidst the least debate about revenge maybe ever. Even Cammi, who believes they should have all been asked prior to being sent to Arcade, relishes in the revenge part. The turn, of course, is that Hazmat goes the extra step and destroys their enemy (we, I suppose, don't necessarily know he's dead, but that seems hard to come back from) without any sort of debate, though her teammates have varying degrees of shock and horror on their faces (important and well done by Timothy Green II, which, I think, may be the name of a Disney movie?). Between this and the video sent to Zemo and the others, who excitedly watch the outcome, there are plenty of great places for this series to go and it's off to a strong start. 5/5

Characters
There's a lot happening in this issue and much of it is plot-based but that doesn't mean Hopeless doesn't have time to establish some character in here. There's a slight look at everyone if just in their willingness to fight or the way the others regard their willingness to fight (there's a fun moment where Death Locket eagerly volunteers to help fight her way through the billionaires to reach the control panel and she's met with surprise by her teammates). It's rare that a story so plot-heavy and so revenge motivated, particularly surrounding a team, manages to bring out its characters so well but that's what we have here. Hopeless, of course, helped himself enormously in AVENGERS ARENA by making all of these living and breathing characters but dropping them into a new series would only require a new reader to know the most basic of facts about them to really become invested quickly. Solid work. 5/5

Writing
The tone of the book is what it needs to be, nothing particularly outstanding about what's created here as the key to this issue is all in the story and the characters. The dialogue flows pretty well and each character has a unique voice and attitude. I don't know that there's a lot more that Hopeless needed to do here to improve on his story or characters through the writing or the tone or what have you but he does solid work nonetheless. 5/5

Art
The art is appropriately chaotic as the kids rush through the new Murder World on something of a time-sensitive mission. The emotions of these characters are what drive the art here as everyone brings a different level of reluctance or of anger to this journey and it all comes out in their faces, leading up to the important reaction shot of Hazmat's attack on Arcade. Great work by Timothy Green II who, as I stated before, may be the same Timothy Green who had an odd life in a Disney film that I find myself disappointed to discover I know so much about. 5/5

Miscellaneous
Not a ton to add. Really like this book so far just as I really ended up liking ARENA. I also think the team that Zemo has pulled to be his new Masters of Evil is an interesting team-up. Should be fun to watch as things unravel.

Total score: 5/5


Iron Patriot 2
Kot (w) and G. Brown (a) and Charalampidis (c) and Cowles (l)

Iron Patriot is underwater, the suit malfunctioning with Rhodey still in it. His last hope is to eject out of it, though the eject is pretty specific in that it will launch the suit like a rocket while ejecting its operator. Rhodey points it out at the monster stomping around the water, effectively taking it down, as he makes a last push to swim to the surface. He barely makes it but passes out as he gets there. Meanwhile, his father Terrence has been captured by terrorists (though he put up a fight) and his niece Lila, who evaded the first round of captors, gets picked up as well. Things go from bad to worse as Rhodey is picked up in a helicopter by two men claiming to be journalists but working for whoever is behind the attacks that have struck all over the country. They drop him off in New Orleans where he nearly passes out from compression sickness before being approached by an armored individual, the apparent mastermind behind all of this.

Story
IRON PATRIOT is off to a hot start as a full-on attack on America has been the driving force behind the start of the series. There's so much happening story wise but Kot does a good job making it manageable to understand while also making it chaotic enough to see how rampant it is. It's a tough line to walk, one where Kot needs not to overwhelm the audience with information right at the start of a new series but does need to show just how serious the problems are, particularly in a book for a non-A-list character. So far, so good. 5/5

Character
Most of the characterization in this issue comes from the actions that these characters take. Rhodey acts to take down the monster while trying to save himself as a second priority, Terrence chooses his moment and takes down one of his kidnappers (until the second one gets the drop on him), and Lila cleverly evades capture and learns as much as she can about her grandfather's abduction before being fooled by more terrorists acting as police. There's nothing particularly outstanding about any of the character developments here, nothing that would shock to the core or anything, but everyone acts in a very specific way and it gives a great sense of our players in this book so early on. Every book doesn't need to have a shocking revelation for a character, it just has to make sure the characters acts in an appropriate way for that character and Kot is doing a good job maintaining status quo as the plot drives things forward. 5/5

Writing
The tone here, one of desperation and chaos, shines through and carries the writing of this one. There's some narrative and some dialogue that helps put things in perspective and establish our characters but the key here is the tone, one that shows us just how bad things are. The book reads extremely quickly with so much action and so little dialogue and narrative but it's not an insubstantial read for that. It's just the sort of book that will surprise you when the end comes because you assumed you had only read maybe half an issue only to find, nope, plenty happened and they just covered a whole issue. Well done. 5/5

Art
I had some opinions on Garry Brown's faces last time out but they don't really persist into this new issue as everything Brown does, with the assistance of Charalampidis' colors, adds to the tone and the desperation of every situation. The faces, the emotion, the action, it's all well drawn here and it adds to the story rather than taking away from or simply maintaining. For now, it seems Brown is perhaps the perfect guy to draw this book. 5/5

Miscellaneous
I don't have a lot of experience with Ales Kot, having only seen him on books like SECRET AVENGERS recently but the experience I had had given me pause. I'm surprised and delighted to say that this issue stepped right over that pause and turned out to be a pretty great read. Of course, the series will still hinge on the reveal of the bad guy (got some suspicions on that front, as I'm sure anyone reading this book does) and the purpose of these attacks, but as a stand-alone couple of issues, these have really worked.

Total score: 5/5