RECAP: “Welcome to Arcadia” – A-Force #1

May 28, 2015

Female super heroes all working together to save the world? Hell. Yes.

Marvel’s Secret Wars arc is bringing us many new comics, one of the latest being A-Force. Created by G. Willow Wilson, Marguerite Bennett, Jorge Molina, A-Force is a comic following the adventures of the all-female Avengers team in Battleworld.

The story begins by showing us the beautiful world of Arcadia. Out of the collision of the universes a new civilisation has arisen, one which reminds us of the life which was once on Earth. The scenes shown to us are really peaceful; members of the A-force crew are getting on with their morning routine and there’s a market teeming with people.

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This peace is due in no small part to the efforts of the A-Force; it’s early in the morning and the team are already out on patrol through the city. Now I haven’t been reading comics for that long, but even I can appreciate the massive scope of the characters: She-Hulk, Medusa (who I recognise from Ms Marvel) as well as Miss America from Young Avengers. Also, female Loki! She-Hulk enters The Hall of Justice (awesome name) ready to lead the team against whatever dangers they have to face that day.

She-Hulk directs Miss America, Captain Marvel, Dazzler, Sister Grimm and Pixie as they battle a megalodon (a really huge shark that existed 200 million years ago). Apparently the colliding universes caused a collision of time periods too. Miss America, using her super strength throws the mega shark over the border of Arcadia and into an area known as the Deadlands.

Miss America begins to celebrate—Arcadia is once again safe after all—but the other members of the troupe seem more…anxious. Soon enough Sam Wilson of the Thors appears, one member of a group who act as the policing authority of Battleworld. Miss America has broken the law for breaching the wall that protects the rest of Battleworld from the Deadlands (technically the shark crossed the border, but whatever….). The justice system in place looks to be very black and white; even though she helped save Arcaida, her breaching the border takes priority.

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Back at base, She-Hulk tries to negotiate with Sheriff Strange on America’s sentence. Here we see how difficult it is for She-Hulk acting as the leader of the A-Force and the Baroness of Arcadia. As Sheriff Strange points out, it is She-Hulk’s job to reinforce the law, but being a member of the A-force she wants to do everything to keep her one of her teammates—one of her sisters—safe. Ultimately, Sheriff Strange does not budge and America is sentenced to spend the rest of her life in a prison on the wall which is referred to as ‘The Shield’. It might not be a death sentence, but from the looks on everyone’s faces, it might as well be. Everybody is solemn, with tears from Sister Grimm who was the closest to Miss America. She-Hulk may have done her job as Baroness, but this can’t even be considered a small comfort.

The other members of the team begin to comfort She-Hulk, Medusa reassuring her that they are all aware of the tightrope she has to balance as the leader of the A-Force and the Baroness of Arcadia. The leader’s sadness quickly turns into determination, however, as she declares their next move to further investigate. *CUE BADASS HANDS-ON-HIPS SUPERHERO POSE*

Unfortunately, it appears that not everyone is in support of an investigation. Medusa thinks that what they’re doing is just silly and begins to say what she would do as baroness—but is quickly shut down by She-Hulk (remember what was said about serpents in the garden earlier on in the comic…). The page ends with Namora of the sub-mariners discovering something at the bottom of the sea–but of course we don’t find out what exactly was discovered.

Instead, we’re presented with a shot of a grieving Sister Grimm. She notices a blue streak in the sky, and for a while she believes that Miss America has somehow escaped from prison. When the blue streak crashes to earth, Grimm doesn’t find America but…a woman who is made of stars?