A-Force #1Comic Book Recap/Review

A-Force #1 Recap/Review – Welcome to Arcadia, Garden of Battleworld.

 

A-Force #1 Comic Book Recap

The the vast oceans of this planet, isolated from the forbidden domains of Battleworld… there is an island.  It is red roofs and friendly dogs, green hills and water blue as heartache.  It is bells at dawn and bells at dusk, rising towers of stone and silver, clay and chrome.  It is its people, the good, the bad, and all the rest of us – doctors and lawyers, teachers and thieves, scientists, artists, musicians and mystics, brothers – and sisters-in-arms – heroes, and villains.  Family, and friends.  In the shadow of the shield, with the sun on the sea… there is an island.  In the wilderness of the world, Arcadia is a garden.  But even gardens have serpents.

[Related: Click Here For The Complete Marvel’s Secret Wars 2015 Reading Order Checklist]

The day begins in Arcadia without much incident.  She-Hulk, Baroness of Arcadia, starts her day by checking in on the island’s patrol team – the A-Force. They haven’t found anything, until a massive shark suddenly leaps out of the water and attacks the patrolling heroes.  A-Force Assembles, and a battle begins.  Captain Marvel starts off the fight, easily knocking the beast back with her mighty strength.  But the shark is able to grab a hold of Ms. America.  Luckily she is saved by Nico Minoru, also known as Sister Grimm.  Nico is able to save America with the use of a quick spell that skewers the shark, while Dazzler is able to knock the shark onto the city streets.

Ms. America has had enough.  Sharknado here just tried to murder her and her friends.  She picks up the beast easily and hurls it, clear of Arcadia, over the wall, and into the zombie infested Deadlands.  America is pleased with herself, but Pixie knows the girl just made a terrible mistake.  In a flash, Sam Wilson, one of Battleworld’s many Thors, appears before the young women.  America Chavez has just violated Battleworld’s greatest law.  She has breached the shield and endangered everyone under its protection.  And worse, she has broken the sanctity of Doom’s borders.

She-Hulk is contacted by Sheriff Strange.  Jennifer is the local authority in this area, and must impartially enforce Doom’s laws.  America violated the most sacred of rules by throwing the shark outside of Arcadia’s borders.  When She-Hulk questions the justice of these laws, she is tersely reminded that these are God’s laws.  They do not bend to protect friends.  Strange orders her to honour her role are this areas lawgiver.  She-Hulk must send the girl to serve in defence of the Shield that she just damaged.

Jennifer goes to America, and is devastated that there is nothing she can do.  Loki arrives, and demands an explanation.  The Asgardian is close with America, as the young girl serves with Nico as Loki’s ward.  When the goddess learns what has happened, Loki comforts America, but there is nothing that can be done.  The Thors arrive, and begrudgingly, She-Hulk speaks.  “America Chavez… called Ms. America… by the mercy of Doom, for violation of the of the First Law, you are sentenced… for all the days of your life… to the prison of the Shield.

As America is taken away, Loki and Nico are visibly shaken by this.  Jennifer tries to apologize, but Nico is furious and leaves with Loki.  The other woman are understanding of She-Hulk’s plight, as they know their leader does all she can to protect them from Doom’s wrath, but Jennifer is not satisfied.  Something trespassed on Arcadia today, and She-Hulk is intent on finding exactly what happened.

[Related: Click Here For The Complete Marvel’s Secret Wars 2015 Reading Order Checklist]

Medusa offers some advice about leading the small island, but the Baroness rebukes her.  Jennifer makes it clear that she is the leader here, and will not be questioned by her subjects.  She-Hulk orders the Sub-Mariners to be summoned to her presence.  Namor, Namorita, and Namora answer the call, and offer their aid to Arcadia.   The shark that attacked the island was a Megalodon, one of the largest predators to ever exist on Earth, and one that should have been extinct 2 million years ago.  They seek answers in the ocean depths.  One way or another, they will find the serpent that has entered their garden.

Elsewhere at the Bishop Lighthouse, Nico cries, thinking about her lost friend.  Suddenly, she sees something fall from the sky.  She assumes it is America, but is surprised to encounter a woman of an entirely different nature.

A-Force #1 Comic Book Review

Hello and welcome to Comic Island!  My name is Arden, and thank you for watching my recap, and review, of A-Force #1.

Alright, so here we go.  I didn’t plan on covering this comic this week, but I’m glad I wound up doing so.  This was the first of the Secret Wars tie-ins I’ve had a chance to check out, and boy, was I really impressed overall.  I didn’t know what to expect out of this series.  An all girl team of heroes was an interesting idea but could have easily come off as stale or forced.  But it was on the whole quite well done.  A-Force strikes me as a comic not pandering to girls, but just as a good issue overall that can be enjoyed by everyone.

I don’t really have any complaints to voice here.  It’s all mostly good.  This comic features stellar artwork, excellent writing, and a solid cast of characters.  We get to see just a phenomenal host of Marvel’s best female heroes, ranging from popular choices like She-Hulk and Captain Marvel, to more obscure characters like Nico Minoru from the Runaways or Pixie from the New X-Men.  And if this cover is any indication, we can expect many more awesome appearances in the future.

Blink and you’ll miss dozens of cameos, including Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, Maximus, and even the Enchantress.  The comic is also jam packed with great little moments of action and drama, as well as important hints about the true nature of Battleworld.  We get a good sense of the wall and the rules surrounding people who live in this strange new world, as well as the unusual nature of how Battleworld functions day-to-day.  Characters make casual references to modern pop culture and seem to accept everyone’s choice of costume without question or the original context from which these outfits were created – suggesting that modern film still exists in Battleworld, as well as a history of some form to explain everybody’s origins.  Many different versions of heroes and villains crop up here that were once dead or quite different from how they were before Secret Wars.

[Related: Click Here For The Complete Marvel’s Secret Wars 2015 Reading Order Checklist]

I don’t know how this all comes together, exactly.  It seems like Battleworld reflects the entire multiverse happening at once.  Doctor Who did something like this with the twelfth Doctor a few years ago, and that’s how I’ve been thinking of Battleworld.  It’s a world where all of Marvel is happening at the same time in one place.  Planet Hulk, Spider-Verse, Old Man Logan, and many, many other stories are all crammed into this one little planet, and somehow, it all functions under the harsh enforcement of Doom.

Don’t worry, I assume more definitive answers are on their way.  This is the tip of the iceberg and more will be explained as the story unravels.  In the meantime, I rather enjoyed this story.  For those of you wondering who this woman is that appears at the end of the comic, that is a person named Singularity, a new character.  To me, she kind of looks like Eternity, a cosmic being with powers on the same level of the entity that represents Death.  If I’m right, then her presence here is very interesting indeed, and I’m excited for what comes next.