A-Force, Vol. 0: Warzones!

A-Force (Collected Editions)

by G. Willow Wilson, Marguerite Bennett, Jorge Molina (Illustrator)

Collects A-Force #1-5.

Marvel's Mightiest Women get their own explosive series! In a secluded corner of Battleworld, the utopian island of Arcadia is fiercely protected by a team of Avengers the likes of which has only ever been glimpsed before. Fighting to protect the small sliver of their world that's left, the Amazing A-Force stands ready to take on all threats! When monsters appear on Arcadia, She-Hulk and A-Force set out to discover the source. But when they stumble upon a far-reaching conspiracy, She-Hulk is set up to violate Battleworld's most sacred rule. Now, A-Force must face the planet's protectors: The Thor Corps! A traitor in A-Force's ranks is revealed, and she won't rest until their island is razed. As Battleworld's horrors bear down on Arcadia, what sacrifices will the members of A-Force make to save their home — and each other?

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Marvel, Superheroes, Graphic Novels Comics, Fiction, Fantasy

112 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 1, 2015

About the author

Hugo, World Fantasy and American Book Award-winning author of novels and comics, including THE BIRD KING, INVISIBLE KINGDOM, and ALIF THE UNSEEN. Co-creator of Ms Marvel. Honorary doctor of letters, Rutgers University. I accidentally started a dutch baby baking cult during quarantine. Not very active on here right now, but often found on Twitter.

Reviews

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don’t have a problem with female-centric books, but this is at first, predictable and second, just another half-hearted attempt to pigeonhole the lady super heroes into one big team on one big title (see The Fearless Defenders) – it’s not an organic smushing of characters, the focus is spread thin, and aside from a few characters, most are left on the fringes of the story.

She-Hulk is the baroness of an idyllic island, but there’s trouble in paradise and a traitor If I told you that there’s a female Loki, would you believe that she’s the traitor? That’s what I thought. is in the midst, opening portals and such and causing problems with monster sharks.



Singularity, a character who is apparently a walking pocket universe, is introduced.



There’s some nice interplay between some of the characters – Cute is good and goes a along way!!





Bottom Line: Overall, a flawed, but decent Secret Wars title. I just wish Marvel could perfect the all-female superhero team thing for once.

[Louie the Mustache Matos · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a comic book series collected and curated in trade paperback format. The A-Force is yet another alternate reality twist on the regular Marvel Universe where this is an alternate Earth called Battleworld apparently under the guardianship of Doctor Doom who is considered a God. There is a little part of Battleworld called Arcadia in which She-Hulk is the Baroness and she leads the A-Force, an amalgamation of Earth’s Mightiest Female Heroes -- the lady Avengers, if you will. Theoretically, sounds fun, but there were way too many heroes to keep track of ala Legion of Superheroes, and most were really just set design. As a comic book fanboy, I love what was attempted, but the story was too convoluted for what the writer was trying to do. If she would have focused on fewer heroes, she would have more adequately given characterization which in turn would have strengthened her plot. I can’t do better than middle-of-the-road on something designed to be an alternate worlds (non-canonical) story.

[Sam Quixote · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh girl, I’m starting to think G. Willow Wilson’s only quality work is on Ms Marvel - first that Vixen crap at DC, now “A-Force”, a ‘90s-sounding lame superhero team? Though I suppose she only co-wrote this so some of the blame goes to Marguerite Bennett.

Welcome to feminist paradise Arcadia on Battleworld, policed by A-Force, an all-female superhero team led by She-Hulk. They do it right, not like dumb men! Then a series of disasters happen and She-Hulk’s leadership is challenged. Stuff is going on - what’s gonna happen next? Fart.

This was terrible, guys. The story is bollocks: a shark attacks, portals appear, a cosmic being called Singularity’s flying around, it’s all part of some ridiculously abstract plan by the most obvious villain, not that any of it makes a lick of difference in the long run anyway. Also regardless of this being an all-female book, it’s still full of brainless punching scenes - sisters fighting sisters! Brilliant nuanced takes on the characters. I guess if women ruled the world it wouldn’t be that much better after all.

There’s a sea surrounding Arcadia - and I’ll give the book this, Jorge Molina’s art is very good, this place is by far the most appealing-looking in all of Battleworld - and a giant wall enclosing it that gets punctured at one point but instead of the water rushing out, a weird rubbly path emerges in the middle of it that’s not very deep at all, allowing the threat to wander through. Ocean-level sea one minute, shallow pool mysteriously held back the next. No narrative consistency at all and I know Battleworld is a weird place but come on. It’s such a stupid scene that’s representative of the crap that is A-Force.

I like a lot of these characters - Shulky, Ms America, Sister Grimm, and even Kamala Khan makes a brief appearance too - but they’re so badly written here. She-Hulk is bland, Nico is beyond annoying and everyone else comes off as completely one-dimensional. They’re female superheroes - that’s their characters!

This Secret Wars tie-in was complete garbage. The A stands for Awful.

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprisingly quite good for one of these Secret Wars crossovers. Jorge Molina's art is pretty snappy. Very reminiscent of Jim Cheung. Stars pretty much every female character in the Marvel universe. The story is irrelevant, but the interactions between the characters is great.

Received an advance copy from NetGalley.

[Sesana · Rating 3 out of 5]

The only real problem I had with this book is that there are far too many characters. Yes, it's technically a team book, but in actual, ongoing team books, that should even out as characters who star in one story become supporting characters in the next. In a limited miniseries like this, you end up with a handful of characters who are allowed to make an impact while the vast majority are little more than decoration. I'd say that there's at least half a dozen characters who don't get more than a couple of panels in this book, which is kind of a shame.

The story itself is actually fairly good. It's built around a theme of (chosen) family, and uses the rules of Battleworld. Which I'm still learning, as I'm not reading Secret Wars as it goes on. I learned more from this particular miniseries about how Battleworld operates than I have any other. There's a real emotional heart to this story, with the caveat that you probably already have to know and have some attachment to these characters to get that in just a few issues. If you don't already know and love Ms. America from Young Avengers, are you going to care about what happens to her in issue one? If you're not already attached to Nico from Runaways, are you going to feel for her? I'm honestly not sure.

In the end, this enormous crop of Secret Wars miniseries are going to be sorted into two categories, worth it and don't bother. This one absolutely goes into the worth it pile.

[Terence · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Battleworld island of Arcadia is defended by A-Force. A-Force is a team of warrior women led by She Hulk.

Recently problems have been occurring outside the normal and A-Force must discover the cause before their home and team are destroyed.


A-Force is an interesting bunch because they take most of the toughest Marvel women and put them on a team together. In this Battleworld it appeared they lived in an Amazonian sort of way where the women lead and the men are the lesser citizens even though that's never explicitly said. I noticed characters like Namor, Black Bolt, Captain America, and the Winter Soldier helping in the background while the talk focused on Arcadia's heroines. They are a good team and I especially appreciated that they didn't simply have a Secret Wars tie-in ending where Doom's strength of genius stopped all that was happening.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sweet story, with a touch of emotion and loss that doesn't normally show up in the "bro" comics.
Oh is that so? Marguerite Bennett does poetry in her comic scripts? This oughtta be an interesting ride...


While some complain that there are too many women in this comic to do each of them justice, that's a weird criticism to lay on such a book: too *many* women. Yes not all of them get an arc or even a personality; neither do the guy-heavy a Avengers or X-Men when a big-team book gets together.

But isn't it cool that we get to see the breadth (if not the entirety of depth) of the female super-heroes in Marvel, for a rare occasion? When was the last occasion like this - Lauren Sankovitch's Girl Comics anthology? No wait, there was Brian Wood's mediocre X-Men (ugh).

Like these great heroes we haven't seen together:

[Though why Jennifer is still rocking the 80's high-cut swimsuit is beyond me]

The adventure is a simple mystery, with portals and crossing forbidden borders, betrayal and the threat of being overrun by the zombie hordes:

[zombie Green Goblin's looking pretty good these days]

Couple of questions I have after reading half of the Secret Wars book and a couple of tie-ins:

1. How did Doom remember so many of the heroes and villains to be able to recreate them? He's always holed up in his castle, and he doesn't keep a copy of the Encyclopedia of the Marvel Universe on his bookcase. *I* don't even remember half of these folks without prompting. I mean, even Snowbird [she's in the back row with that spectacular headpiece and matching neck cape]? Maybe Doom secretly kept a spank bank for them all.


2. Did Doom decide which costume each player would have? If so, again how did he know Captain Marvel went militaristic, but didn't see She-Hulk's new getup? Did he let his subscription to Super People magazine lapse?

And one last question: with such a wide range of female heroes represented, where the hell was Doreen?

[Maria Kramer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have no idea what the background of this series is - Weird alternate universe, I'm guessing? Alternate timeline, like House of M? - anyway, that doesn't matter. This book's good, clean, shark-punching fun. It's great to see so many Marvel-ous (get it?) ladies kicking butt. Looking forward to more.

[Grace Arango · Rating 5 out of 5]

FREAKING HECK YASSS!!!!

This prequel bind-up was PERFECTION! Such a great kick off to a series! I seriously cannot believe I left the A-Force just chilling on my shelf for so long - THIS WAS SOOOOOO GOOD!

Whether you love Marvel comics or not, if you love kick-ass ladies and female friendships THIS IS FOR YOU SO READ IT!!

[Sana]

ZOMG. NEED IT LIKE AIR.

[Heatherblakely · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow!

This was BALLER (my word for 2016, apparently). My favorite character gets banished at the very beginning, so boo on that, but this whole thing was great. WHO RUN THE WORLD? STRONG WOMEN WITH SUPERPOWERS WHO GET SHIT DONE. And now I have a ton of characters I love and want to read more about, so hooray for that! So much reading to do.


FEMALES ARE STRONG AS HELL (but America, bb, why did you have to throw that goddamn shark)

[Jonathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little bit of...



With a little...



And then some...



Surprisingly not terrible.

[Bambi Hyde · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was a little confused because I didn't read secret wars but I was still able to follow along enough to enjoy the story and the characters.

[Izza · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars | OH MY GAWD. How didn't i read this sooner? A-Force is an all-woman superhero team protecting Arcadia and it's amazing.

[Diz · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story has some touching emotional moments. Especially the relationship between Nico and Singularity was fun to read. The only problem I had with the story is that the climax wrapped up too quickly, and there didn't seem to be any real danger at the end.

[Brian Poole · Rating 3 out of 5]

A-Force was one of the more interesting tie-ins to the recent Secret Wars event.

A-Force introduces an all-female Avengers squad (a team that will continue in the rejiggered post-Secret Wars Marvel Universe). On Battleworld, She-Hulk is the baroness and chief protector of Arcadia, a peaceful island nation. She also leads A-Force, charged with protecting the prosperous community. Key allies include Captain Marvel, Medusa, Dazzler, the female Loki, Nico Minoru and Ms. America.

An attack by an odd sea monster leads Ms. America to inadvertently breach the border of a neighboring kingdom. That brings down the Thors (the police force of Battleworld) on Arcadia. Ms. America is taken into custody, even as more incursions onto Arcadia pop up. The mysterious Singularity, a cosmic-powered young woman of few words, falls into the action and points the way toward a traitor in Arcadia. An epic clash with a neighboring zone jeopardizes the island’s survival.

Before A-Force had rolled out, it was the subject of misplaced criticism about its goals. Writers G. Willow Wilson and Marguerite Bennett aren’t pushing any kind of agenda here. They craft a fast-moving, involving story populated with interesting characters. A-Force succeeds because it’s not trying to be self-consciously “feminist.” Instead, it quietly stands as a nice achievement in broadening the diversity of the comic book tent by allowing two talented female writers to present a kick-ass superhero story that just happens to star a team of female heroes.

Men exist in the world of A-Force. A few well-known male characters are seen in small roles, including fighting alongside the army of predominantly female heroes in the climactic melee. The focus on a handful of strong, colorful female characters is welcome. She-Hulk and Captain Marvel have been Marvel staples for years and the writers depict them as strong, decisive leaders and fearless warriors. Dazzler, an oft-maligned character who is nonetheless a fan favorite, is used rather well. Her powers pop and she adds a fun personality to the proceedings. Medusa and Loki deepen the drama, Nico remains one of the best creations of the past decade or so and Singularity is an intriguing new addition. The story makes the most of its Secret Wars setting, giving readers a distinctive perspective on the massive saga. It’s smart, entertaining work that sets up the ongoing series rather nicely.

Jorge Molina, with support from inkers Walden Wong and Craig Yeung, gives A-Force a sturdy visual grounding. His female character work is strong, projecting the power of the women without saddling them with impossible Barbie doll physiology. He handles the action sequences well and infuses some drama into the quieter moments. If a couple of his big battle scenes get a tad muddled and some facial expressions tend toward caricature, overall it’s good work. Superstar colorist Laura Martin does her usual first rate job, making effective use of dynamic color contrasts while coming up with some nice effects that enhance big moments.

For fans who need to be selective about which Secret Wars tie-ins they buy, A-Force is a good bet.

A version of this review originally appeared on www.thunderalleybcp.com

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The 90’s called and they want their Super Team back!

I don’t even know where to begin with this convoluted mess. This is a Secret Wars book, so basically anything goes in this alternate universe. On the planet of Battleworld, there is a peaceful island nation called Arcadia, populated mostly by female superheroes. Each region in this unique planet is a domain unto itself, with distinct borders that must not be crossed, ruled by godlike Victor Von Doom and policed by Sheriff Strange and the Thors.

Arcadia is governed by She-Hulk, who is a Baroness. Her patrol for watching their nation’s borders are Medusa, Dazzler, Captain America, Loki, America Chavez and Nico Minoru. When a huge prehistoric shark inexplicably attacks Arcadia, She-Hulk calls her team into action with her catchphrase “A-Force Assemble!” In the heat of the battle, the shark is thrown by one of the team members into another of the planet’s domains, which immediately prompts a visit by one of the Thors. This member is then exiled by Sheriff Strange, leading to dissent within the team. She-Hulk discovers there is a traitor in their midst when a portal that had sent the shark is discovered. When the traitor is revealed later, a hero loses her life keeping the Thors away, and the traitor portals zombies from yet another domain to attack Arcadia. The Baroness gets to yell “A-Force Assemble!” again, while all of Arcadia’s heroes fight for Arcadia’s future, and a brand new character shows everyone the extent of her powers.

The artwork is a mix of good and bad. First the good: Singularity is beautifully colored, and Loki is especially well drawn, with some fantastic details as emotions play over her face. The composite picture of five faces combined into one was striking, and I loved the variant art by different artists between the chapters. The so-so: the front cover, while awesomely drawn, is misleading. Singularity is drawn as a sexy adult, when she was quite clearly younger in the series, and other heroines are drawn in when they play little to no part in this storyline. The bad: some of the battle scenes had muddy coloring, as blobs of color were supposed to represent people in crowds.

Now for my many random observations and/or criticisms of this series: Pixie is shown as one of the heroes out on the original patrol, but then is dropped completely as a character- I don’t think she got a single line. Loved seeing so many of the Runaways after just reading the book- Nico was one of the main characters and then Molly, Karolina, Gert & Old Lace were shown in crowd panels. So many cameos- Jessica Jones defending Luke and their baby, Hulking & Hawkeye, Black Bolt with Medusa, Spider-Gwen & MJ, Kamala as Ms. Marvel (Wilson writes for the Ms. Marvel series), and Gambit with his arms around Rogue.

At my first read through I rolled my eyes at some of the plot, but on a second reading I discovered the little details and cameos that elevated this series for me at the end. I still believe the story was much too confusing, but at least it was FUN mess.

You can also read this review on my blog: https://graphicnovelty2.com/2016/04/1...

[Shelley · Rating 4 out of 5]

The A-Force, an all female Avengers team in Warzone Arcadia , is on the case when monsters start invading the city. This was a terrific adventure, filled with fantastic characters. I wish America had been in more, but storywise, that's my only complaint. I wasn't crazy about the art generally--seemed largely exploitative, which is extra gross in story for women. The one exception is Singularity, who was impeccably colored. I loved the relationships, and the five issue arc was perfectly paced. I loved seeing all the amazing female Marvel characters in the final battle and finding the ones I knew (Kate! Spider-Gwen saving MJ! Kamala and Dazzler talking fanfic!)--not to mention the handful of men who made it in: Bucky, Steve, Luke Cage, Hulkling, Zombie Hulk. And possibly Iron Man, though isn't there a female Iron Man? Could go either way. Still, it was startling to see Bucky, in a somewhat feminized (twisted) pose, and then see the other guys! In a fun way, though. This is one I might buy.

[sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven't read Secret Wars yet so I didn't really understand the Battle World stuff, but honestly I don't think you need to read Secret Wars before going into this.

There are so many amazing characters in this including some of my favourites like Nico and America! I just loved that this was an all women avengers team, SO GREAT.

Overall this is a super fast, entertaining read and i really enjoyed it!!

[Marie the Librarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the all female avengers! But it was a bit too fast-paced aaand I missed a more thorough introduction of the characters. Im not an expert in marvelverse. But it was very cool with all the girlpower!

[Sam Poole · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was fine. It's cool to see an all-female cast. Still- secret wars is kinda dumb and the art here was way too sexy and the body types were wildly homogenous

[M. Lomeli · Rating 4 out of 5]

I only gave this 4 instead of 5 because I don't like that this collection didn't not have a preface or run down of the characters as I've encountered in many other graphic novels. Also, it's not established that this is an alternative universe?? There were several characters in the story whom I was not familiar with and had no idea about their entangled relationships or what their powers were; but they way the story is written, it's as if the writer assumes the reader is familiar already. That aside, the story is great! I particularly like how She-Hulk is written, with her moral and legal struggles, she makes a great leader in A-Force. The fight scenes are great and with a provocative roster of heroines. It all makes for a great balance of humor and action. Definitely looking forward to the next stories from A-Force.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. So She-Hulk is the baroness of Arcadia. The piece of Doom’s battleworld where all the women stay. Also she is the leader of A-Force, their super hero team. Someone has been doing some shady ish behind the scenes trying to take over as baroness. This story was short and sweet with some heart and some good artwork. A solid little tale.

[Ellen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was exactly what I wanted - a team up of all my favorite female Marvel superheroes. But I was missing a lot of context because it’s part of the big Secret Wars évent so for me it felt rushed since I was missing information. Seeing everybody together at the end was super cool though, and the ending was sweet.

[danielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

nico and storm <3

[Simone · Rating 3 out of 5]

Se volete leggere la mia recensione, cliccate qui! http://ascwblog.blogspot.it/2017/08/a...

[Ma'Belle · Rating 1 out of 5]

I love all of the characters in this book, and I love G. Willow Wilson's contributions to the Marvel universe. So I was really looking forward to seeing so many great heroines interacting, and was proportionally disappointed when I got into it, only to find out it is not a starting point whatsoever and is a huge mess in terms of script and panel layout.

**edit** I forgot got talk about the panel layout in my initial review, but this was something that bothered me the whole way through. If you know what the "Marvel Style" of writing and drawing comic books is, where the artist actually tells the whole story, and then the writer lazily draws in little speech and thought bubbles to somewhat match what it looks like is going on, then you should be able to see this happening in the worst way in A-Force. SO MANY TIMES there would be a character who stops mid-sentence and then has disappeared on the next, followed by someone else saying the second half of another statement that doesn't actually fit with the first fragment at all. And if you think you've been reading comics for enough years to intuitively navigate the intended panel order? Think again. Layouts that seemed to go single-page actually needed to be read top-down from the second page first, and sometimes there seemed to be some spiral-shaped order to the text, but the shape and placement of the panels did not indicate this. Agh. It's hard to describe in words, but hopefully I'm not the only one who felt this way.

I've had zero interest in the whole Secret Wars thing, but without having some of that context, this book and the world in which it takes place makes no sense. I literally said aloud at the last page, "WTF did I just read?!"

The final issue (#5) had some good cutesy jokes, and I'm really glad to see Nico, America, Loki, and She-Hulk et al showing their love and interpersonal conflict so much. Those elements alone almost warrant a higher rating in my review, but really I'm just pissed at Marvel editorial board for teasing us over and over with strong titles led by hilarious and interesting ladies, only to throw the whole multiverse in a blender over and over.

[connie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5 stars

Not my favourite Marvel comic, but I will be picking up the next volume. The cast is incredible, the art is beautiful (albeit the panel layout gets a bit confusing, especially during the fight scenes that take up two pages), and I'm sure it'll get less confusing as the series goes on and I adjust to the Secret Wars setting.

Admittedly, one of the big reasons I picked this up was for America. Her time in A-Force was brief, but she was exiled the True America Way, and for that, I'm grateful. It was also nice to see some of the Runaways in here, too- Nico! My baby! Her emotions are still very all over the place, but when you take into account all the shit she's been through since the start of Runaways... well, you kinda get why she cares about those she's closest to. Also- SURPRISE HULKLING. YAY.

I also liked the very brief Spider-Gwen sighting, where she swoops in, saves MJ's life, and they then proceed to flirt with each other. Anyone who tries to convince me those two won't end up together can talk to the hand.

[Csenge · Rating 4 out of 5]

I appreciated the color tableau of "badass female heroes of the Marvel Universe" (some of my favorites popped up in there!" Not crazy about the story, but I guess they had to kick it off somehow. Curious how the post-Wars issues will go.

[Theo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Super fun. Loved all the heroines and the message. Art wasn't my favorite; it was very Marvel-event style.