The new Marvel Now title Avengers Arena has started with a flurry of surprises, compliments and complaints. The cover has been promoted quite heavily over the previous Now books so it is not fresh for most. I always liked it then and feel I cannot retract its quality now it has finally been released. It reflects the theme of the book as well as the tone because it is based on the movie poster for the classic Japanese movie Battle Royale. The theme, according to the movie, is to take a bunch of school kids and make them fight for their lives, which appears to fit quite well for the youngsters of the Avengers featured on the cover. The tone is set up to be a dark one because if we are to be true to the film then there must be death, which is a chilling possibility for a book about young superheroes. The cover is surprisingly accurate to the movie poster because it features the same font and style of the title and also the black white colouring with the red cross. It is a great school picture as there are easily recognisable heroes such as Mettle and Red Raven who cannot hide their powers. There are also people with powers on display such as Reptil and Hazmat and those who are showing their weapons such as X-23 and Anachronism. This is a mix of a class as there are people here from obscure pasts and titles but it does not take away from the uniqueness of the shot. This cover is distinctive in the way it reflects the book in many ways as well as looking very impressive. Will it be true to the film and have only one survivor left? It is a scary possibility but may just be the case.
House Of Flying Scalpels 