Avengers Arena #2 : Deadly Allies
Writer: Dennis Hopeless
Artist: Kev Walker
Colorists: Frank Martin w/ Jean-Francois Beaulieu

Where the premise of Avengers Arena and the shocking death of Mettle in issue one supports the critical view of AA as destroying established characters deemed inconsequential in the face of an easy payoff of gore and tears, issue #2, ‘Deadly Allies’ focuses on establishing some history for an unknown element in ‘Death Locket’, the cyborg tween Becca Ryker. The issue feels like an odd juxtaposition, as we now find ourselves outside Haz-Mat’s head as she deals with the repercussion of losing Mettle so quickly after being thrown into Arcade’s fishbowl.

Just as shocking is the way Hopeless decides to use another relatively unknown, independent character to illustrate the ironic nature of Murderworld, even if it is only shocking to those of us who thought random deaths would be too predictable this early in the series.

Daddy Issues

While a stunned Becca postulates on her tenuous situation, we learn that her life has been shaped in more ways than one by her father, Harlan Ryker, the creator of the Death-Lok programs. It’s her father’s words that come to mind in this strange and deadly scenario.

The themes Becca finds meaningful match the points of subtle irony that lies under much of the issue. While Becca witnesses a frightened Red Raven decide to fly away instead of staying to fight, she remembers her father  advising that “if you back someone all the way into a corner you can watch their whole life boil down to multiple choice – fight or flight.” Red Raven dies because unbeknownst to her Arcade has shut off the island from escape by flight and she crashes into an invisible force field, breaking her neck and crashing back in an inelegant heap. It’s another quick shock and death of a little known character, the exact type of death people assumed would litter the series in the outcry prior to the debut.

Red Raven’s response to being backed into the corner spurs Becca to interpret the situation, as she unsheathed her knife but ultimately responds to the shock of Mettle’s instantaneous destruction (and bumping into a clumsy Death-Lok/Becca).  By trying to escape the way we assume she’s used to under normal circumstances causes Red Raven to die. I understand the irony that underscores R.R.’s death, and it is another illustration that surviving Murderworld is going to require more than the usual response from these young heroes.

Fight or flight, in general isn’t a multiple choice question. It’s a reflex that is designed to have a relatively high percentage of success, but that is only true under normal circumstances and when tracked over large populations and a good deal of time. Becca herself isn’t even given the choice of fight or flight when her first life or death stress appears – her cyborg programming takes over and instantly goes on the offensive, creating an interesting complication for the inexperienced 14 year old.This does reinforce Murderworld as a virtual Galapagos, but it is truly unnatural selection as Arcade has imposed the limits of survival and the rules of the game.

What we learn from Becca’s Day 1 experience is that she’s carrying the stigma of her father’s creation with her as she is a literal Death-Lok (and is dubbed Dethlok-ette by a stoic Cammi, who is much more suited to solo survival than Becca.) Becca misinterprets the pronunciation and dubs herself Death Locket when asked her name later, another cue to how out of place she is in Murder World as she isn’t familiar with what a Deathlok is or the true nature of her father’s work.

By having Becca focus on idioms her father instilled in her we learn she’s as inexperienced as she is young, but it is promising that she is observant enough to recognize situations, such as the two camps being created from the Braddock Academy and the Avengers Academy students.  Death Locket is put through an emotional ringer, as the issue ends on a final ironic note, as the day she woke up from being refashioned as the first living Death Lok, her father’s attempt to save her life, is the day she is kidnapped by Arcade. While everyone else is familiar with the deadly nature of Death Loks and has been schooled in some fashion of combat and survival, Death Locket is a true fish out of water.

The point of any exercise in good fiction is for a protagonist to be put through a gauntlet of trials, and Hopeless went to great lengths to show just how much Death Locket has faced in a short period of time. Whether or not people will find her interesting will depend on what is done with her from this point on, but the potential is there for Becca to become a young underdog to root for to become a strong female character, like the others featured in the issue. Her naiveté may make her susceptible to schemes from those who might appear to be friends at first and to make enemies quickly, but she’s already survived a bombing and now possesess capabilities she isn’t even aware of.

As Hopeless said the series is driven by the heart of the characters and not to designed around the bloodshed, and this issue works in concert with the premise, while still exploiting character death to further of character building. I don’t want to be accused of giving Walker too much credit, but in an issue that begins and ends on ironic notes it feels totally excusable as another spoonful of irony that breaks the fourth wall.