4 issue test #36 - Champions

OK Marvel, we need to talk. In 2015 you did Secret Wars III, in 2016 you did Civil War II because the movie was coming out and in the wake of that, you’ve done a relaunch, only a year after the last one! Marvel Now (yet another recycled title) launched a few new titles with new creative teams. Unlike with DC Rebirth and the last Marvel relaunch, I’ve been more cautious picking new titles. There are only 2 I plan to cover. One is Jessica Jones (next week my friends) we also have Champions

And yes, it’s another title with the younger Avengers written by Mark Waid, who was less than impressive with his All New All Different Avengers title. But Waid still has some residual goodwill from Archie to allow me to give this a fair shot. Is it worth the read? Let’s take a look

#1 opens with ANAD Avengers trying to stop a train, they succeed but there’s a lot of damage done. Ms. Marvel wants to help but Falcon stops her, without Tony they don’t have the money or resources they used. Ms. Marvel takes this personally and quits. I don’t know why Ms. Marvel being angry about property damage seems to crop up so often but it’s not consistent with her solo series, at least not to the extent displayed here.

She makes contact with Nova and Miles Morales aka Spider-man, who have also quit the team, sick of in-fighting, something that’d be particularly traumatising for Miles, given how close he was to the major battle. I also find it a little insulting Ms. Marvel called it a dumb war, she lost friends over her choices, one of whom was also gravely injured, she should not be taking it this lightly.

Anyway, Spidey says he knows a guy who might also be interested in forming their own team who will campaign for real change. Far as I know, Miles has never met Amadeus Cho aka the Totally Awesome Hulk. Anyway, he’s trying to rescue some mine workers. The roof is unstable, the air intake is thin and there’s water above them. Ms. Marvel and co provide support and they rescue the mine workers. They say they’re going to see about fixing the mine shaft but we don’t see it

Cho has an idea for a 5^th member, they arrive at the house of the Vision, remarkably human-like. Hulk reverts back to Cho to not break the furniture. Viv, daughter, I think, of the Vision, is the new recruit. She’s plugged into the Network and can instantly alert them of trouble. Such as a hostage situation in the Baltimore Shipyards. The guy on the ground is a weirdo in clown makeup (guess Joker made that all the range) and he’s talking to a client by encrypted transmission. The 4 arrive so Not Joker releases the crate containing the hostages into the water.

Spider-man tries to grab it but it’s too heavy. Nova brings Not Joker to a crowd and tells them to call the cops whilst he goes back to help. The only way for the Hulk to grab the crate is if it reaches the bottom so Nova accelerates its decent and the Hulk takes the container to shore. As people record the hostages to show the police, Not Joker takes one of them as a hostage. Fortunately, our heroes handle that easily but one of the hostages didn’t make it. The Hulk lets loose until Ms. Marvel stops him. She makes a speech to the crowd that does kind of show that this is a book with political elements to it. The hashtag #champions begins spreading.

#2 opens with our heroes enjoying some camp food. Spidey is impatient but Ms Marvel explains she organised this trip to help team-building, hopefully resulting in some combo-moves they could use. We get a recap of the powers of the main 3, I really don’t care to recite them. They ask The Hulk how high he can jump. Apparently very high, he’s gone for the next few pages. Viv has wi-fi, I thought this was established in the last issue, moving on.

Ms Marvel b*tches a bit, the Hulk finally lands but is quickly attacked by young Cyclops, thinking the Hulk was attacking, after some hijinks everything turns out ok. Cyclops was inspired to join them and since he was on the cover of the last issue, him joining the team was inevitable

“Didn’t we just fight a civil war over pre-emptive justice” (Future Cyclops is regarded as a villain by many)

No, not really. You fought over rescuing a prisoner, the rest of this was done through words or between Tony and Carol in the final battle.

Anyway, Viv points out he was quick to jump in to fight an ‘enemy’ 5 times his size and he joins the team. Oh, and the Hulk and Viv kiss, I know this is a footnote but it’s a footnote in the issue too.

The aftermath of this is relatively boring, Viv didn’t really understand the sensation, moving on. Viv hears some #champions alerts in the Asian country of Sharzad, they have usually been protectors of human rights but there are reports of an invading military force killing children on the streets. The Hulk has a ship that can get them there. As Cho and Ms. Marvel argue over leadership. Nova, presumably wanting to stir the flames volunteers Cyclops

A group of girls are cornered by the terrorists and rescued by the team but there are reinforcements incoming and the presence of public American heroes could send the wrong message. The leader of the girls has an idea. The girls come out to meet the reinforcements with Ms Marvel with them in disguise as the rest of the team prepare to take them out from beneath.

The plan works and the terrorists are forced to retreat. They promise that they will let the team know if they return as they take off. More arguing ensues over leadership with Cyclops’ credentials seeming more real. Their ship is hit by a rocket.

Nova saves the ship from crashing but his helmet is damaged and only works in short bursts, despite Viv’s attempt to fix it. Turns out the vehicle they’re using is a refitted spy jet, and it was passing over an Atlantean base, that’s why it was shot down. Despite best efforts they’re soon captured and put in tubes which will all flood if any of them break out. There is a system to introduce oxygen into the ship but Viv would have to be partially tangible to use it and she would be caught.

Cyclops tells the others to break out so they can defend her and they do so. They leave and fly off with a tease that the newest member of the team is Gwenpool. One of the many Gwen Stacey knockoffs they invented a few years back.

So, that was Champions #1-4? What did I think?

OK, let’s start with the political element. It’s hard to judge exactly what might p*ss people off when it comes to political stuff but from what I can tell it’s largely inoffensive. The speech about the strong routinely dominating the weak from the first issue is relatively common and not something I’d worry about. Plus there’s something to be said about linking the people of Sharzad to Ms. Marvel’s own experiences and heritage.

I also think that unlike the Will Pfeifer Teen Titans book the use of hashtags isn’t annoying here. I think it’s because they use it as a driving force rather than have it just happen in the background for no real reason.

As far as characterisation goes, I’m not reading the Totally Awesome Hulk but I’m told he acts a little out of character, not all that familiar with Young Cyclops, although I’m not fond of the concept that brought him here, know very little about Viv, and I’ve felt that Spider-man, Nova and Ms. Marvel are characterised about how they were in ANAD Avengers and I still feel Ms. Marvel’s person is a little OTT.

The second issue is the most interesting, it is entirely a character story, allowing you to get to know the characters and introduce Cyclops to the team. This issue shares more than a passing resemblance to an issue of the Young Justice comic, the original one. Whilst the framing was slightly different there and there was a sub-plot going on that made little sense, I think the character work there is better because it focused on more than just a group dynamic. Superboy getting used to the idea of eternal youth for example was interesting. But I digress, this is an inferior copy of this idea but it’s still a good one to have. I just wish they’d done more character work with it outside of that ending.

#4 was the most fun to read, the threat wasn’t super-dark like it was in #1 and 3 and it allowed for characters to play off each other a little whilst heightening Cyclops’ leadership potential.

The artwork is stylised, a little exaggerated which may not be to everyone’s taste. In truth, though, I honest and truly don’t mind it at all and I think it provides a nice energy to a book

Rating

#1 6/10

#2 7/10

#3 7/10

#4 8/10

Overall 7/10

Recommendation: This is a recommendation, especially if you’re sick of the way big teams are being treated at the moment. 

Images/clips used in this review are from Champions and belong to their respective owners. All images in this review are subject to fair use