One of my absolute favorite titles since the arrival of Marvel Now!, “Avengers Arena” has captured the essence of a bevy of new and old young heroes and paired it with stakes as high as you can find in any comic around. It’s thanks to the work of writer Dennis Hopeless (and the cadre of artists who have worked on it) that this book has managed to escape a rather limited feeling concept (at least initially) to become such a great title, and tomorrow, the beginning of the end is here as the final arc “Boss Level” kicks off in #18.
We’re excited to see what Hopeless gives us in this arc, as the heroes make their last ditch assault on Arcade and all will stand revealed after a little over a year of being published.
To help kick off this arc in style, we talked to Hopeless about his work on the book, the final arc, the extremely passionate fanbase of the characters that are featured, and much more. Thanks to Dennis for chatting with us, and we hope you enjoy “Boss Level.”
We’re nearing the end of Avengers Arena, and it’s a story that always felt finite in nature. Was 18 issues – or the length of the book when it’s all said and done – always the plan, or was there some flexibility in the equation depending on how the story flowed and sold?
Hopeless: This Murder World story was plotted for 18 issues from the very beginning. 3 6-issue arcs. We had contingency plans for if the sales dipped and we had to end sooner, but fortunately didn’t have to use them. We did have a couple different options on the table for what happens after issue #18. Would we just jump straight into another story with an issue #19? Would we relaunch with a new #1? Or would we move on to something completely different. I’m really excited about the decision we made there. Hopefully we will be able to announce and talk about what comes next very soon.
The series ends with the most Arcade arc title ever in “Boss Level.” With the remaining kids finally forming alliances and Apex and Death Locket on the inside, it seems like the jig is up for Arcade, but I’m sure he’ll go down with one hell of a fight. What can you tell us about this arc, and is its title something we could read into, or more just a fitting end chapter for an Arcade centric book?
Hopeless: The Boss Level arc is all about these characters making their final moves. Time’s up. They have no more room for maneuvering. You fight or you die. Just like the final Boss Level in a video game, the only thing that matters is being the last one standing when that final punch is throne. That doesn’t just go for the kids. Arcade has been playing this game too. For the first time in his super hero-killing career, he’s so close winning. All he has to do is push the right buttons and victory can finally be his. What Arcade doesn’t know is that he can’t see the whole board anymore. Death Locket and the Apex Twins are still alive and right under his nose. Only 5 issues left but by the end we’ll crown our winner.
The most recent issue, #13, was written and illustrated by the team behind much of “Avengers Academy,” the precursor to this book in many ways. How did that one-shot issue come to be? Was it always on the road map for Christos and Karl to step in for one issue, or was it something else?
Hopeless: One of the rules for the book from the beginning was that we would focus solely on the action and drama within Murder World. That structure is really fun to work within but it does create some nagging questions for the audience. Our solution for that was to tell one-shot question answering issues between the arcs. With issue #7 we explained this new Murder World, how Arcade got his powers and why he’s a bit more badass than usual. And we planned to tell our “why aren’t the adults saving the day?!” story between the first and second arcs with issue #13. Sometime in the middle of the second arc, I fell a little bit behind and the production schedule started looking a little tight. Series editor Bill Rosemann, who had edited Avengers Academy, suggested bringing Christos and Karl to do our issue #13 story as a sort of Arena/Academy crossover. Sounded like a great idea to me and luckily they were down. Christos and I talked on the phone about what questions the story needed to answer and trusted him to come up with great answers. He took the basic notion and built a great issue around it. I didn’t know what his explanations would be until I read the script. It was a lot of fun to be an Arena reader for one issue.
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Because of the rather rapid release schedule, you’ve had to work with multiple artists in Kev Walker, Riccardo Burchielli and Allesandro Vitti. How do you feel the three of them have fit together, and what strengths does each bring to the table as storytelling collaborators?
Hopeless: I’ve been so lucky getting to work with these guys. Kev mixes emotion and youth with bombastic action so well it’s like he was made for this series. I’d think following Kev on Arena would be impossibly intimidating. But somehow, all of our guys have stepped up and crushed it. Alessandro bounced so deftly between light-hearted and super dark in both of his issues. He absolutely nailed the schizophrenic tone of our Arcade back-story issue. Riccardo stepped up somehow managed to pull off the series’ darkest moment in Nico’s death scene and also its lightest in Hazmat’s shark steak dance party. And just wait till you see the work Karl Moline is doing on issue #16. Kev is the creative backbone of Avengers Arena. He drives the boat. But we absolutely couldn’t have asked for better fill-in artists.
One of the most talked about moments in comics this year was the (temporary) death of Nico from Runaways. What was the experience like the days after that issue came out, and what was the response when Nico actually came back more powered up than ever?
THopeless: That was intense. Ten issues in I thought I had a pretty good handle on how to deal with fan fury. Turns out I had no idea. I knew people love Nico, but man, PEOPLE LOVE NICO. Her resurrection was written and drawn by the time #10 shipped so I knew there was a big sigh of relief coming but I fielded a lot of hate in the weeks between. The response to powered-up magic fist Nico kicking ass in #12 made it all worthwhile. Fans seemed to appreciate the one-two punch of the thing.
Speaking of which, over the length of the series, do you feel the passion behind the fans of these characters have ultimately led to an audience that cares equally for this series? Is it something that has added to your experience as a creator?
Hopeless: We have fans of the concept who didn’t know many of these characters ahead of time. We have fans of the characters who trust the book is more than some sort of schlocky teen hero meat grinder. And we have my personal favorite group, fans who hated the concept, read out of angry curiosity and had their minds changed. The fact is that no book is for everyone and you can’t really worry about the people who hate what you do. You’ll never win that game.
I do think I learned a lot about dealing with the Marvel spotlight working on Arena. When you do creator owned work, the audience is relatively small and most of the feedback is overwhelmingly positive. At Marvel, there are fans of the characters who have very specific ideas about what should happen with them. If you stray too far from those ideas, they let you know. Arena is my first Marvel ongoing and it has been wildly polarizing from the jump. That was tough to swallow at first but I think it steeled me for the fan reaction part of this job.
Assuming everyone in the story doesn’t die a horrible, horrible death, we’ve come to grow very interested in these characters both new and old. Are there any plans for what’s next that you can share?
Hopeless: Yes! We have big plans for what comes next. Unfortunately, I don’t think I’m allowed to talk about it until the new series has been announced.
Given that the cast could die at virtually any moment in the series, I have to imagine it would be a hard book to approach as a writer who has a very character centric writing style. For you, how do you feel the experience of writing Avengers Arena has helped you grow as a writer?
Hopeless: Avengers Arena has been one of the most positive experiences of my career. I’ve never written anything with so much built-in drama. Nobody gets to hide in Murder World. The stakes being as high as they are, we got to dig right in and explore the inner depths of these characters. I’m so proud of this book. Arena is a character study told from 15 different perspectives over 360 pages. It has one big plot that runs from beginning to end and everything else takes place inside the kids slowly shattering minds. That’s a unique and challenging opportunity in comics. I definitely feel like I’ve grown as a storyteller over the course of the series. I’m not sure if I’ll know the full extent of that growth until I have a little distance and can look back on it. But I’m definitely grateful to Marvel and our editors for letting us give it a go.
