According to Dennis Hopeless, Avengers Arena is meant to be an ongoing series, as he had stated in this interview he gave

http://www.mtv.com/videos/interview/864570/marvel-now-dennis-hopeless-first-ongoing-series.jhtml#id=1698744

To be honest, I really don't see it, unless as I stated in my other topic, that this isn't real and that when all but one of the characters die, Arcade simply resets the virtual world and it starts all over again, or he simply kidnaps another bunch of young heroes and start the process over with them.

I ask this, because Arcade says that this will last 30 days, when he said that and hearing it was to be an ongoing series, what came to me was it would be like 24 with Jack Bauer, except instead of it being 24 hours it would be 30 days 30 issues, with each issue following the characters throughout each day.

what we get is

Avengers Arena #1 Day 29 / Day 1

We get a preview of what happens on the 29th day, so we know that Hazmat & X-23 Survive till this day, why show us this if it's not going to end, unless as I stated above, Arcade repeats the process.

Avengers Arena #2 Still Day 1

Granted, only 30 secs has passed, but as it's only the second issue, I kind of expected it

Avengers Arena #3 Day 8

Avengers Arena #4 No day specified

Avengers Arena #5 No day specified

Avengers Arena #6 No day specified

Avengers Arena #7 Take place before Murderworld

Avengers Arena #8 - Game On Part 1 of 5 No day specified

------------------------------

Solicitations - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,8, 9,10 ,11 ,12, 13, 14, 15NPY

Previews - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9a+9b, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15

On top of that we also have what happened in Avengers Arena #3, where Cammi, while being interrogated, was kidnapped in full view of Abigail Brand, who is the leader of S.W.O.R.D, who are the equivalent of S.H.I.E.L.D. How long do you think it would take them to find her and the others using all the technology at their disposal and what if they get S.H.I.E.L.D involved in the search. To me that just adds another time limit to this series, because S.W.O.R.D won't stop until they find her and indirectly the others

My question to you is

Do you believe that Avengers Arena can sustain itself to last 12, 18, 24 issues as Dennis Hopeless stated, considering everything I mentioned.

@animehunter:I think maybe 12 issues. Maybe less. All I care about is if this is real or fake. I loved Mettle :c

I'm amused by Issue 8's quote of IGN's issue one review (the scores have diminished since then from "good" to "okay," and issue one only got a 7.3). If their solicit is "someone said we're actually killing people, and we so are" then I have little hope for new depth and intrigue in coming issues.

Also, can someone more knowledgeable about comics confirm how typical it is for a new series, which started biweekly and went to monthly, to return to biweekly after a couple months? Is that indicative of anything, or incidental?

Issue 4 Preview

Synopsis:

• Issue #4 = The Runaways vs. Avengers Academy!

• Plus: What is up with Chase and Darkhawk?

Issues 2 & 3 "sold out," despite a drop off in readership of 40% from issue one to three?

And upon further thought: I have seen stacks of both issues sitting on shelves in both comic shops and bookstores.

Right, but given the drop off in sales (Diamond sales) does that mean Marvel intentionally published 40% fewer copies of issue 3 than issue 1?

@akbogert said:

Right, but given the drop off in sales (Diamond sales) does that mean Marvel intentionally published 40% fewer copies of issue 3 than issue 1?

Marvel tends to print pretty close to order. It's hard to judge the strength of a new book's sales by its second and third issues, because those issues are being ordered before stores have had the first issue on their racks. Once the sales data is out for issues 4 and 5, I think we'll have a better understanding into how well the series is doing.

Selling out on the distributor level is a good thing for Marvel, and is what drives their second printings. Since demand is not universal, there may still be stores that have first prints of issues 1-3 sitting on their shelves, but if Diamond is sold out and Marvel is doing a second printing, then there are retailers who are looking for those issues for their customers.

I believe it was Quesada and Jemas who enacted Marvel's no overprint rule when they took over in 2000. They have made exceptions (and will tout it when they do), but for the most part, they print to order. It's a pain for retailers, because if demand spikes after the final order cut-off, there's no extra supply from where they can up their orders.

@impossibilly: Alright, thanks for the clarification. I'm happy to see declining numbers but between the reprint and the unreliability of the first couple of issues' numbers (which you also mentioned), I'm trying not to read anything into the data that isn't actually there.

When you say they print close to order, does that mean that this second printing could actually be a much smaller number than the first? Just that they got enough requests for it that they are printing some more copies, but not necessarily 20 or 30 thousand of them?

@akbogert said:

When you say they print close to order, does that mean that this second printing could actually be a much smaller number than the first? Just that they got enough requests for it that they are printing some more copies, but not necessarily 20 or 30 thousand of them?

Yes, that's correct. In general, second printings are a much smaller print run than the first printing. This can lead to funny* listings on Ebay, where I saw someone trying to sell a "New 52 Batman #1 Rare Third Print Variant" for three times its cover price.

There are times when second printings will have a larger print run than first printings, but that's usually when a low-selling title makes big news and sells out quickly, like when Alpha Flight #106** was released.

But in the case of Avengers Arena, and any of the titles that are getting the Marvel NOW! sales push, I think it's safe to assume that the second printings are smaller print runs.

*Funny in a face palm kind of way.

**Please forgive that very dated example. It was the first that came to mind.

@impossibilly: Haha. Well, good to know. Thanks for explaining!

@animehunter said:

Issue 5 Preview

We get a glimpse of Braddock Academy itself, from the preview we can ascertain it located in the UK/Britain and run by Captain Britain.

Synopsis:

• The Braddock Academy vs...themselves?

• Plus: What is up with Chase and Darkhawk?

That Nico vs. Reptil variant cover for issue 5 would have made a lot of sense as the cover for issue 4. I thought Dave Johnson's cover to issue 4 was cool, but I really don't like it when the cover doesn't match up to the interior content.

@Sharkbite said:

The covers from Arena have all been homage to something else in media, and none of them have been literal for the story thus far.

Issue #4 was a reworking of the Ali vs Foreman 'Rumble in the Jungle' poster.

I doubt you'll see really any covers for this series that correspond with the interior; the title exists almost on shock value alone, so spoilers kill sales.

I get that they've all been homage covers; I just think the cover to issue 4 would have been cooler if both characters featured on the cover were in the issue, instead of just one of the characters.

^ You might want to clean that up a bit, haha. Some duplicates and random links.

No one has talked about Issue 6 today. I've had to dig deep to find out anything.

And that Hazmat with Reptil thing is stupid on so many levels, but whatever...I'll wait a few months before raging over that, haha.

@akbogert: Just placed some news in the Body Count topic.

@animehunter: Aye, saw that. Thanks for the scan ^_^ I'd read what happened (and to some extent why) but now the SHUNK and Game On connection makes more sense.

I think if you compare this ending with the things folks said about the last issue, there's some interesting discussion to be had, particularly as regards Hopeless' views on the worth of character development and the extent to which fleshing kids out serves a purpose beyond making their deaths more shocking.

I have a question

Does anyone know how long the effect of Trigger Scent is supposed to last?

Because it could go a long way to give an idea to how many days are left. As we know from issue #1, on day 29 Laura/X-23 is attacking Hazmat with the full intention of killing her and nothing will stop her from doing so, not even being burnt alive by Hazmat.

What this tells me, is that Hazmat still has the Trigger Scent on her and that this would be a good indication of how long they have left on Murderworld.

This is the worst comic series ever.

@stumpy49er said:

Yea, mostly based on the concept.

When were talking about comics though, concept is a HUGE obstacle, if you're NOT ok with the concept then chances are you're not going to like the book. I'm a Marvel fanboy so I read everything they produce. I try and give everything they do a chance before I condemn it because my mind has been changed on many occasions. This was exactly what I though it was. I read up to issue 4. I will catch up with it eventually but it's not priority anymore. There's too much going on in the Marvel Universe for me to even care what happens in this. I guess my issue too is that I only care about two characters appearing in the book and if Nico dies..so what, it's not like Marvel was actually doing anything with her and I sincerely doubt that X-23 will die. There's no risk involved. Marvel doesn't really care about these characters, which is probably why they are the cast. If they want to impress me, do the same thing with the REAL Avengers.

Looks like six pages spent not telling us anything of interest, but maybe that's just me? I already got the whole "Arcade is sick of being the butt of the joke" from his spiel in the first issue -- I don't need to be shown him being mocked to get that. *shrug*

More importantly, looks like this issue is going to take rating hits for the art, for sure.

New solicitations available

Issue 10

GAME ON" PART 3 OF 5! Nico’s valiant stand…against Sentinel? June 5th 2013

Issue 11

GAME ON" PART 4 OF 5! Hazmat’s new romance…with Reptil? Featuring the debut of guest-artist Riccardo Burchielli (DMZ)! June 26th 2013

Issue 12

THE SHOCKING FINALE OF "GAME ON"! PART 5 OF 5! • Apex squares off in bloody battle against...you’ll have to see it to believe it! • What does Death Locket see on the very last page that will freak you out? • Plus: Arcade makes popcorn to eat while watching the big fight! Oh, what a jerk! July 10th 2013

Issue 13

Issue 14

It begins here, the last story arc of Season One! The contestants have fought one another, now can they put aside their feuds and battle Arcade? August 2013

Issue 15 - No Page Yet

New information regarding issue 13 & 14

Issue 13

Hank Pym searches for the kidnapped Avengers Academy students…by the special guest creative team of AVENGERS ACADEMY’s Christos Gage and Karl Moline!

FINALLY WE GET TO SEE SOMEONE SEARCHING FOR THEM

Issue 14

It begins here, the last story arc of Season One! The contestants have fought one another, now can they put aside their feuds and battle Arcade?