A-Force Vol 0: Warzones by G Willow Wilson and Marguerite Bennett

A-Force Vol 0: Warzones written by G Willow Wilson and Marguerite Bennett and illustrated by Jorge Molina is a series that, having begun during the Secret Wars event, will be continuing afterwards. Hence this volume being numbered 0, presumably so as not to have two volume 1s in a row.

An all-new book featuring Marvel's Mightiest Women! In a secluded corner of the Battleworld, an island nation 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 shoulder to shoulder, ready to take on the horde!

The whole Secret Wars and Battleworld thing remains deeply confusing after having read this volume. Perhaps a bit less confusing than in Captain Marvel and the Carol Corps. A relatively nice and peaceful area of Battleworld is guarded by A-Force, a large team of female superheroes headed by She-Hulk. There are a lot of heros that only appear in the background (or on covers...) with the main speaking/plot-driving roles going to She-Hulk, Medusa, Lady Loki, Niko, Captain Marvel, Dazzler and Ms America. And the newbie who isn't named until near the end.

Aside from the fact that the whole Battleworld thing is baffling, the plot in this volume of A-Force was all right. I mean, it wasn't bad but it wasn't that exciting either. And the culprit was hardly a surprise (but possibly wasn't supposed to be). But it was more or less a self-contained story, which I appreciate. I also enjoyed getting to know Dazzler a bit, since she's not a character I've read before. The Thor force didn't make more sense than it did in Carol Corps, but the choice of characters to Thor-ify was interesting.

The main thing that bothered me, after the general confusion of Battleworld, was actually the art. I liked how Molina drew She-Hulk's face in Dan Slott's run, but in A-Force there were just too many boobs almost falling out of costumes, and more butt emphasis than necessary. I mean, it could have been worse, of course, but I still didn't appreciate the level of sexualisation. Especially with Nico, who is under-age. The issue isn't that her costume is revealing, it's that her boobs really did look like they were about to pop out most of the time. Not cool.

Other than that, Captain Marvel had some crap dialogue, but there were a lot of good one-off quips by other characters, particularly those in cameo roles. I liked the new character too, the girl made of the night sky that you can see on the cover. She-Hulk's narration was also good and the introduction to the island of Arcadia where it's all set was actually pretty clear. (It's everything else going on in Battleworld that was confusing.)

I enjoyed A-Force and I would recommend it to fans of any of the characters I mentioned above, or of female superheroes in general. I am looking forward to reading the ongoing series which I am sure will have a less confusing background setting. I also kind of look forward to finding out some of WTF was going on in Battleworld when Secret Wars comes up on Marvel Unlimited.

4 / 5 stars

First published: December 2015, Marvel
Series: A-Force, collecting all the Secret Wars issues (and preceding what will be an on-going series)
Format read: Trade paperback
Source: Real life book shop