A-Force 001 May 2015 Review

SPOILERS AHEAD! YE BE WARNED!

We continue with our Women of Marvel series with another Women of Marvel comic! Today, we are checking out A-Force 001 (Marvel NOW May 2015).

To catch you up…

Marvel Comics has recently launched their Secret Wars series (not to be confused with the Secret Wars series launched in 1984) which will be the end of their Ultimate series that began with Ultimate Spider-Man. The premise for Secret Wars is thus, the multiverse was destroyed and the heroes of Earth-616 and Earth-1610 were powerless to stop it. Now the multiverses are smushed together to form Battleworld, a massive patchwork planet composed of fragments of worlds that no longer exist. It is ruled and maintained by its God and Master Victor Von Doom. Doom has assigned each section of Battleworld a Baron to oversee it, said Barons report to Sheriff Strange and his law enforcers Thor Corps (an army of Thors from the various universes). Each region is a domain unto itself. Today we hear the story of Arcadia and the team of all female Avengers that protect it, A-Force.

In contrast to many comic universes, Arcadia is run by women, not because there was some cataclysmic event and all the men were gone, so only the women were left to rule. The women rule, because they simply took over. Men still exist. Women rule. The Baron selected to rule Arcadia for Doom is She-Hulk. She leads the A-Force consisting of Col. Carol Danvers Captain Marvel, Nico Minoru Sister Grimm, Alison Blaire Dazzler (really Marvel? All of the other women have amazing descriptions, but Dazzler’s is “Mutant Queen of Disco, Walking Laser light show” Come on!), America Chavez Ms. America, Medusa, and Singularity.

001

A-Force Assemble!

While on patrol one morning, Arcadia gets attacked by a megalodon (Sharknado) and Ms. America tosses that fish like she worked at a Seattle fish market. Unfortunately, it landed in the Deadlands (a wasteland full of zombies and other nasties) and her tossing it across the boarder damaged the Wall that protects the, and is a violation of Battleworld’s greatest rule. Thor Corps sends Sam Wilson, Beta Ray Bill, Thunderstrike, and a few other Thor Corps members to collect her for punishment. Punishment for breaking the rule means you spend your life protecting the Wall from the zombies, Ultron drones and even Thanos who is trying to reconstruct the Infinity Gauntlet. Baroness She-Hulk tries to plead for Ms. America’s life, but Strange turns her down saying she has to uphold the law and that the law applies to her friends too. The news is not taken well by Loki (a female Loki who raised Ms. America and Nico Minoru) or Nico who blame She-Hulk for not doing enough to save Ms. America. Nico runs away and finds a mysterious woman who fell from the sky. TO BE CONTINUED…

First impressions of A-Force is that the artwork is stunning. If it wasn’t for Battleworld and the Deadlands being on its doorstep, I would totally live in Arcadia. I adore that it is run by women, because the women were stronger and better suited to running that realm. Without reading all the other comics, it is hard to keep up with some of who these women are (some I have no idea who they are and others I recognized on the spot) or the big plot behind Secret Wars. I can’t wait to see how She-Hulk and her A-Force plays out. Who is the mysterious woman made of stars? What will become of Ms. America? We shall find out in A-Force #2!