This issue was an excellent beginning to the long awaited sequel. Avengers Undercover is focusing on the lives of the survivors and showing how each has had their life change, for better or worse, in the fallout of Murderworld. Any worry that the story is going to focus more on the Masters of Evil and not enough on our beloved characters has been laid to rest. Everything is made much or intriguing by the tagline on the cover, "Which hero becomes a villain?" And you know what? I don't have a clue. Read Full Review

There is so much potential that you see from this first issue of Avengers Undercover. We've seen the damage, we see that conflict of interest between them considering how Avengers Arena mentally affected them, and we see just where this story is heading with a clear direction. We know now why they are infiltrating the Masters of Evil, and we now know the risk. So from here we will see how the longer the teens spend undercover, the more they descend into darkness, and as they start to build relationships with these multi-layered criminals, the line between good and evil blurs. The risk will always be that getting exposed will spell their end. Knowing Dennis Hopeless is writing we can expect that no punches will be pulled when action calls. Read Full Review

At the time of its reveal, a ton of people accused of “Avengers Arena” of being a lazy cash-in onThe Hunger Games.While I'm still pretty sure the cash-in part is true (though I really have no opinions on that matter one way or the other) Hopeless and Walker have been anything but lazy. “Undercover” proves that without a gimmick leading them like Murder World. “Avengers Undercover” proves itself as a worthy, likely superior, successor to “Arena” and, even though I think there's one character in particular whose actions here are too much of a reach, it's an excellent example of Marvel's stable of skillfully-crafted young characters. Read Full Review

The art and the writing will keep me coming back, I just hope they pick up the pace a bit. Read Full Review

Avengers Arenawas the surprise of 2013. My hope is that after people read that book,Avengers Undercoverdoesn't have to be a surprise hit. I'm very excited for where this book is going and Hopeless and Walker haven't lost a step since the end ofArena. Read Full Review

This issue may not have had the shock value of an issue of Avengers Arena, but it was nice to see all of the surviving members back again, and to see how the events of Arena changed them. The writing and art are fantastic and consistent with the previous series which makes everything flow quite well from that series into this one. This issue does some great set-up and I feel like all the characters have the potential to be the subjects of amazing stories. This series seems like it has a lot of potential, and I can't wait to see where it goes. Read Full Review

Overall, the first issue shows promising and I really enjoy it. It just funny that there aren't enough undercover in the issue, but I'm sure to see that starting next month. Read Full Review

Avengers Undercover will serve as a smooth transition for fans of Avengers Arena. It has a familiar (if reduced) cast and the same creative team. And right away, this series capitalizes on the drama that comes from surviving a hellish gauntlet and returning to the real world. However, this issue doesn't do enough to establish the new status quo. And the strong character drama might not mean as much to those who didn't follow Arena. The first problem, at least, is soemthing that will hopefully eb addressed over the coming months. Read Full Review

That said, a first issue is supposed to sell you on the series. The entire premise of this series -- the "undercover" element -- isn't even touched on. From a series-building perspective, it's great to take it slowly, but from a series opening perspective -- not so much. While it's always a pleasure to read a creative team that already has such a handle on their world and their concept, "Avengers Undercover" hasn't fully sold me on anything just yet. Read Full Review

As someone who was familiar with Avengers Arena, this was a nice little preview of things to come in Avengers Undercover, a bridge between new readers and those of us who followed from the arena. This book is for sure worth getting into, but you might want to wait for the arc to really start before pulling it weekly. Hopeless took us on a great ride through Murder World and I expect he has bigger plans in this series. The art is all too enjoyable, and the mystery of things to come will make this a great addition to your pull list in a few weeks. Read Full Review

Undercover is merely a continuation of awesomeness from one of last season's most criminally overlooked books. Do not sleep on the kids again. Read Full Review

This issue feels to me like a story that Hopeless & Walker really wanted to tell, but knew they had to set up for first. Many readers hated the journey taken in ‘Arena', as well as lamenting the deaths of Darkhawk, that Sentinel kid and ol' what's-her-name, but had they jumped straight to this point, the backlash would have been even stronger. As someone who has been knocking around the Marvel Universe since Tigra was the newest Avenger, this story takes risks in the vein of a Steve Gerber or a Chris Claremont, stretching characters past what we know about them to make them into something new and different. I expect many fans will still be angry about it, but Avengers Undercover #1 is a strong start for an interesting premise, with good art and some great characterization, earning a very impressive 3.5 out of 5 stars overall. I'm in for at least six issues of a book I hadn't intended to read, a testament to how good this one reads. Read Full Review

The art from Kev Walker is an interesting choice. While the spine of this story is dark, Walker’s visuals are bright, even over the top in some panels. The pencils themselves are nothing special, a factory-like comic art style mixed with a dash of manga and a smidge of indie work like Ghost World. The art tells the story, but little else. I also found Walker’s human faces to either be overloaded with expression, or else dead eyed. Overall, it wasn’t awful, but nothing to be excited over. Read Full Review

Most of the use of setting and continuity of tone, as a result, is suggested by Jean Franois Beaulieu. With a color scheme presented by the colorist in order to keep a consistency in terms of tone and theme, Beaulieu uses a lot of neat techniques to complement Walker's art in the best way possible. With a good presentation of shading, a great range in terms of diversity and an approach to brightness and darkness that accord itself very well with the characters and the script, there is a certain lack of restraint, but also a certain beauty to the approach with colors in this issue. While it doesn't do the best of jobs at opening up a new series, this issue still manage to bring some enjoyable qualities thanks to the characters and the generally good art that compose it. Not great, but certainly acceptable. Read Full Review

Avengers Undercover #1 reads more like an epilogue to Avengers Arena than a debut issue of a new series. Considering Hopeless and Walker's good work with these characters in the past, it will be exciting to see them in a new setting but we haven't gotten to anything exciting just yet. Kev Walker remains a great fit for Hopeless' style and the tone of this book. A lesser artist wouldn't be able to keep a slow issue like this one afloat. Arena stumbled similarly at its debut until Hopeless really hit his stride and it became one of Marvel's most entertaining books. Here's hoping that's what we're in store for with Avengers Undercover. Read Full Review

Once all this isout-of-the-way, Avengers Undercover #1 quickly tries to take this new status quo and point it towards Baron Zemo and his Masters of Evil. Its too early to tell just how this direction with play out, and the “Undercover” part of the book isn't touched upon at all. That all said, Hopeless does keep his firm grasp on the cast, and Kev Walkers character designs and pencils channel both emotion and personality. I just needmore meat in this series to keep reading. Read Full Review

Writer Dennis Hopeless takes what's left of these poor kids after Murderworld and prepares more pain in Avengers Undercover #1. Although he does a serviceable job of bringing new readers up to speed, it's a lot of talking head exposition and pulls the story down a bit. Read Full Review

I just wanted the survivors to get a break after what they’ve been through but this is Comics I guess. Sad to see Cullen Bloodstone becoming a villain and X-23 was notably absent. Really excited for this comic