PREVIEW: Avengers Undercover, #8

[CBR News]

EVERYTHING CHANGES AS WE JUMP THREE MONTHS LATER!
• After last issue's huge reveal, what else has happened in the 90 days since the events of issue #7?
• Why is Hazmat working for Madame Masque...and maybe Mystique and Sabretooth?
• And how does this issue's cliffhanger change everything again?


Full article here.

[weezer17]

Dennis Hopeless has got to be Marvel's greatest new talent. Loved Avengers Arena and Cable and X-Force, and Avengers Undercover has been great so far.

[king of hybrids]

the inclusion of mystique has made me realize something... it was cammi who suggested the undercover thing right, then for some reason was caught trying to escape.

are we sure that was cammi with anachronism and hazmat, and not mystique (or raze even) honey trapping any would be infiltrators?

[javi150190]

Hazmat was the one who proposed the Undercover gig

[Bdor24]

I am so sad this series is ending so quickly. I'm just hoping that a writer picks up some of these characters instead of consigning them to purgatory. Deathlocket and Cullen deserve some time in the sun!

[Punisher007]

Yeah, and does something with them that doesn't include pointlessly killing them off, or dragging them through the mud, or having nothing but misery in the name of "angst" and to cash in on THG/BR. Vaughn and Yost did that, and they didn't have to resort to unrelentingly bleak and depressing as their go-to style. CATXF was good though.

[Zartan's Brother]

Man, I could handle Cammi and Deathlocket potentially turning into super-criminals, but let Hazmat, Cullen, Aiden, and the Runaways come out of this as heroes!

[Bdor24]

Yeah, and does something with them that doesn't include pointlessly killing them off, or dragging them through the mud, or having nothing but misery in the name of "angst" and to cash in on THG/BR. Vaughn and Yost did that, and they didn't have to resort to unrelentingly bleak and depressing as their go-to style. CATXF was good though.

Did you even read Arena and Undercover? Because that isn't quite how it went. Hopeless showed a great deal of restraint when it came to character deaths. With the exception of Red Raven (and possibly Reptil), all of the deaths had a purpose to the story. Mettle's death drove Hazmat's character arc forward and proved Arcade was just as dangerous as he said he was, Kid Briton's death changed the chemistry between the groups, Nico's death and subsequent resurrection led to amazing fight and added character progression, Nara's death was the tipping point that unleashed chaos on the final day, and Apex's death ended the fighting. It could have been a neverending bloodfest, but it wasn't. There wasn't a death every issue, or even every story arc, and the majority of the characters got out.

Same with the 'dragging them through the mud' bit. The things that happened to the (still living) already-established players provided some much needed character progression. Before this series, Nico and Hazmat were fairly static characters, and now they're changing. It brought Cammi out of purgatory and it ultimately put X-23 back into the X-men comics where she belongs. Arcade suddenly became a genuinely dangerous villain. As for the other, new characters, the trials they faced and how they reacted to them served to establish them in the Marvel Universe and gave future writers a bunch of new toys to play with.

The only thing I'll agree with you on is the dark tone, and even then, you exaggerate. Those books are dark, yes, but not overtly depressing. There's banter and jokes and lots of morbid humor if you bother to look closely and pay attention. Read Avengers Arena #13 and Avengers Undercover #2 if you don't think so, because those the best examples. And even if it is dark at the end of the day, so what? There's room in the Marvel Universe for a dark tale or two. Just ask Magneto or X-23 or the Superior Spiderman. It adds variety to the brand and allows people with different tastes to enjoy a good Marvel story.

I'm not saying you should like Arena or Undercover. Everyone has different tastes and opinions, and I respect that. But just because you don't like them doesn't mean that everyone agrees with you, and it doesn't give you leave to trash them online.

[Fokken]

Dennis Hopeless's Avengers Arena gave me Nara.
I regret nothing.




RIP gurl.

[JaggedFel]

Dennis Hopeless has got to be Marvel's greatest new talent. Loved Avengers Arena and Cable and X-Force, and Avengers Undercover has been great so far.

Please Ewing craps all over him

[Fokken]

Please Ewing craps all over him

Friends don't let friends crap all over each other.

Straight up GRODO Baggins.

[Starfish]

I'm not sure about Hazmat and Aiden, but I wouldn't be too surprised if Cullen ended up joining the Runaways after this.