Connect with us

Comics

Marvel Rips Off ‘Battle Royale’ With ‘Avengers Arena’

Published

12 years ago

on

Marvel was heavy on the blood with the teaser this week for a new series by Dennis Hopeless and Kev Walker for Marvel NOW! Revealed today on Marvel.com, they announced that the book will be called Avengers Arena. The series takes 16 young heroes from the Marvel Universe and pits them against one another in a Battle Royale-esque setting, organized by the villain, Arcade. Taking off the popularity of The Hunger Games, Marvel brings a bit of teenage fights to the death in “Avengers Arena”. The book will pull characters from books such as “Avengers Academy’s”, “Annihilation’s”, “Runaways'”, plus a bunch of new characters that will have to fight to survive. More on the scoop after the jump.

Hopeless said about the series, “We really got to cherry pick our cast. That was a lot of fun, almost as much fun as creating the brand new characters. I have a feeling the Braddock Academy kids in particular are going to break some hearts. Not sure if we made it clear yet, but people die in this book.”

He continued, “It’s sort of ridiculous how huge our cast is at the start. But if you’re going to kill a lot of characters you gotta have a lot of characters. There are 17 in issue one. 16 kids and Arcade. That’s quite a bit bigger than even most team books and it does make the writing a little more challenging. There’s just no way to keep everyone on the board all the time. So, yeah, we shift the focus from issue to issue. We may have two issues dedicated to the Braddock Academy and then let them recede into the background for a while so we can hang out with the Runaways.”

Walker added in the interview, “The wide age range of these characters helps, going all the way from 12-13 up to mid-twenties, and not all of them are even human. If I had 16 [different] 12 year-old girls from the same school to draw, I’d be having a nervous breakdown already. But these kids are diverse, brought together from just about every source. So it’s been fun, really.”

For more info check out the interview on Marvel.com

Related Topics:
Advertisement
2 Comments

Comics

‘Witchblade’ is Getting Resurrected This Summer in New Comic Series from Top Cow and Image Comics

Published

5 days ago

on

April 18, 2024

By

Witchblade cover

Witchblade, the popular comic series that initially ran from 1995 to 2015 and launched a TV series, is getting resurrected in a new comic series from Top Cow and Image Comics. It’s set to unleash heavy metal, black magic and blood this summer.

Look for the new Witchblade series to launch on July 17, 2024.

In Witchblade #1, “New York City Police Detective Sara Pezzini’s life was forever fractured by her father’s murder. Cold, cunning, and hellbent on revenge, Sara now stalks a vicious criminal cabal beneath the city, where an ancient power collides and transforms her into something wild, magnificent, and beyond her darkest imaginings. How will Sara use this ancient power, or will she be consumed by it?”

The series is penned by NYT Best-Selling writer Marguerite Bennett (Animosity, Batwoman, DC Bombshells) and visualized by artist Giuseppe Cafaro (Suicide Squad, Power Rangers, Red Sonja). The creative duo is working with original co-creator Marc Silvestri, who is the CEO of Top Cow Productions Inc. and one of the founders of Image Comics. They are set to reintroduce the series to Witchblade’s enduring fans with “a reimagined origin with contemporary takes on familiar characters and new story arcs that will hook new readers and rekindle the energy and excitement that fueled the 90’s Image Revolution that shaped generations of top creators.”

Bennett said in a statement, “The ability to tell a ferocious story full of monsters, sexuality, vision, and history was irresistible.” She adds, “Our saga is sleek, vicious, ferocious, and has a lot to say about power in the 21st century and will be the first time that we are stopping the roller coaster to let more people on. I’ve loved Witchblade since I was a child, and there is truly no other heroine like Sara with such an iconic legacy and such a rich, brutal relationship to her own body.”

“The Witchblade universe is being modernized to reflect how Marguerite beautifully explores the extreme sides of Sara through memories, her personal thoughts, like desire and hunger, in her solitude and when she is possessed by the Witchblade. So, I had to visually intersect a noir True Detective-like world with a supernatural, horror world that is a fantastic mix between Berserk and Zodiac,” Cafaro stated.

Marc Silvestri notes, “This is brand new mythology around Sara, and I can’t wait for you to fall in love with her and all the twists and turns. Discover Witchblade reimagined this summer, and join us as we bring all the fun of the 90s to the modern age and see how exciting comics can be. I can’t wait for you to read this new series.”

Witchblade#1 will be available at comic book shops on Wednesday, July 17th, for $4.99 for 48 pages. And it’ll come with multiple cover variants.

  • Cover A: Marc Silvestri and Arif Prianto (Full Color)

  • Cover B: Giuseppe Cafaro and Arif Prianto (Full Color)

  • Cover C: Blank Sketch Cover

  • Cover D (1/10): Dani and Brad Simpson (Full Color)

  • Cover E (1/25): Marc Silvestri and Arif Prianto, Virgin Cover (Full Color)

  • Cover F (1/50): J.Scott Campbell (Full Color)

  • Cover G (1/100): Bill Sienkiewicz. (Full Color)

  • Cover H (1/250): Line art by Marc. Virgin Cover, Inks (B/W)

Witchblade #1 will also be available across many digital platforms, including Amazon Kindle, Apple Books, and Google Play.

Witchblade comic panel Witchblade #1 cover image

Continue Reading