We’re nearing the end of 2016 and I thought I might take
this time to talk about one of my favorite ongoing Marvel comic books of the
year, “Champions” written by Mark Waid with art by Humberto Ramos. Marvel Comics
has been suffering from an identity crisis lately (not to be confused with DC’s
event, “Identity Crisis”). They can’t decide whether they’re a comic book
publisher that wants to cater to new readers, casual readers, or hardcore fans.
All-New All-Different Marvel only lasted about 12 months before Marvel Comics
re-launched all their titles again with Marvel NOW (for the second time). Marvel
readers are struggling to stay invested in all their favorite characters and
titles when their stories are constantly being interrupted by crossover events
and company-wide rebranding. In the aftermath of a very disappointing Civil War
II crossover, a number of Marvel fans have decided to give it a rest for a
while and that is honestly a shame because they’re missing out on one of the
company’s most promising new titles. “Champions” is spinning out of the events
of “All-New All-Different Avengers” & “Civil War II” and features the Marvel
universe’s younger superheroes: Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan), Nova (Sam Alexander),
Spider-Man (Miles Morales), Totally Awesome Hulk (Amadeus Cho), Viv Vision (daughter
of the Vision), and young Cyclops. Our young heroes are completely fed up with
the Avengers fighting each other every few issues and they want to actually
make a difference in the world. The Champions are here to handle issues that
the Avengers and Ultimates are too busy to focus on. They are millennials who
want to use their superpowers to deal with social issues like human trafficking
and gender apartheid in the Middle East. It’s a modern team utilizing social
media and hashtags without being too in-your-face about it. The Champions are a
team with a lot of heart and the series has a charm about it that been missing
for most comic books in Marvel’s line-up.
THE GOOD
“Champions” is a breath of fresh air for Marvel Comics. This series delivers on the promise of last year’s All-New All-Different Marvel. The team features a cast of new and different characters that have only been in Marvel continuity for less than a few years now and to see them all together for the first time is exciting. The roster carries over the three youngest members of the ANAD Avengers but also adds some newcomers. Ms. Marvel, Nova, and Spider-man are all disillusioned by their experiences as Avengers during "Civil War II" and decide to splinter off into their own team. They are later joined by Totally Awesome Hulk and Viv Vison in the very first issue. The team’s initial debut and mission statement is simple; they’re out to stop the bad guys but they’re going to do things the right way. Unlike their older counterparts, the Champions want to actually fight for justice instead of fighting each other. They even gain large amount of support on social media after stopping a group of human traffickers and adopt the hashtag: #Champions. This hashtag serves as their bat-signal for the following issues. We even get some hints at future team members like Scott Summers, Riri Williams, the all-new versions of Falcon and Wasp, and Moon Girl & Devil Dinosaur. As the second issue picks up, we see the newly formed Champions on a camping trip to get to know each other little better. If they’re going to work together as a team then they’ll have to know each other on a personal level as well as learn each other’ powers. Most teenage superhero teams really shine when it comes to their character interactions and “Champions” is no exception. The second issue is all about the characters’ personalities playing off each other and getting a feeling for the team’s dynamics. This is also when young Cyclops is introduced to the group. (If you haven’t been keeping up with Marvel continuity lately then you probably didn’t know that the younger versions of the original X-Men team have been brought to the present day in attempted to change the current state of the X-Men team. Needless to say, it didn’t work very well and now younger versions of Cyclops, Jean Grey, Beast, Iceman, and Angel are stranded in the present day. This is the younger Cyclops who’s trying make a name for himself in the present day and live outside the shadow of his evil future self. Comics, am I right?) Cyclops was inspired by Ms. Marvel’s public speech during the Champions’ fist mission and wants to join the team to make a difference. The issue ends with a scandalous romance that I won’t spoil here but it’s 100% pure superhero soap opera drama. Issue 3 deals with the Champions on a mission to step in and give aid to the oppressed women in a Middle Eastern village. I'm usually wary of when a superhero comic book deals with a topic like gender apartheid but "Champions" handled it quite well. Instead of the superheroes saving the day, it was the women of the village fighting for their human rights and winning. The Champions were more-or-less just there for support. The comic even acknowledges that the issue is too large to solve all at once but it's this small victory for these women that makes all the difference for them. It sounds cheesy but it works in the context of the story. The third issue's secondary storyline has the team arguing over who should be the leader of the team. Amadeus Cho believes ge should be the leader because he's the 8th smartest person on the planet, Ms Marvel thinks she should lead the Champions because she's the one that brought the whole group together in the first place, and Cyclops is confident that he can lead the group after his years of experience as leader of the X-Men. Before everyone can come to a consensus, the third issue ends in classic comic book fashion with a cliffhanger. While you can find most of the main cast in their own Marvel titles, "Champions" is the only comic book where you can read about all these characters in one place. It's the interactions amongst the team that makes these superheroes more relatable. You have the jock, the brainy girl, the nerds, the goofball, and the outcast all teaming up to save the world. It's like "The Breakfast Club" but with superpowers. One of the perks of Marvel's shared universe is the team-ups and "Champions" is currently one of the best!
THE BAD
“Champions” is a breath of fresh air for Marvel Comics. This series delivers on the promise of last year’s All-New All-Different Marvel. The team features a cast of new and different characters that have only been in Marvel continuity for less than a few years now and to see them all together for the first time is exciting. The roster carries over the three youngest members of the ANAD Avengers but also adds some newcomers. Ms. Marvel, Nova, and Spider-man are all disillusioned by their experiences as Avengers during "Civil War II" and decide to splinter off into their own team. They are later joined by Totally Awesome Hulk and Viv Vison in the very first issue. The team’s initial debut and mission statement is simple; they’re out to stop the bad guys but they’re going to do things the right way. Unlike their older counterparts, the Champions want to actually fight for justice instead of fighting each other. They even gain large amount of support on social media after stopping a group of human traffickers and adopt the hashtag: #Champions. This hashtag serves as their bat-signal for the following issues. We even get some hints at future team members like Scott Summers, Riri Williams, the all-new versions of Falcon and Wasp, and Moon Girl & Devil Dinosaur. As the second issue picks up, we see the newly formed Champions on a camping trip to get to know each other little better. If they’re going to work together as a team then they’ll have to know each other on a personal level as well as learn each other’ powers. Most teenage superhero teams really shine when it comes to their character interactions and “Champions” is no exception. The second issue is all about the characters’ personalities playing off each other and getting a feeling for the team’s dynamics. This is also when young Cyclops is introduced to the group. (If you haven’t been keeping up with Marvel continuity lately then you probably didn’t know that the younger versions of the original X-Men team have been brought to the present day in attempted to change the current state of the X-Men team. Needless to say, it didn’t work very well and now younger versions of Cyclops, Jean Grey, Beast, Iceman, and Angel are stranded in the present day. This is the younger Cyclops who’s trying make a name for himself in the present day and live outside the shadow of his evil future self. Comics, am I right?) Cyclops was inspired by Ms. Marvel’s public speech during the Champions’ fist mission and wants to join the team to make a difference. The issue ends with a scandalous romance that I won’t spoil here but it’s 100% pure superhero soap opera drama. Issue 3 deals with the Champions on a mission to step in and give aid to the oppressed women in a Middle Eastern village. I'm usually wary of when a superhero comic book deals with a topic like gender apartheid but "Champions" handled it quite well. Instead of the superheroes saving the day, it was the women of the village fighting for their human rights and winning. The Champions were more-or-less just there for support. The comic even acknowledges that the issue is too large to solve all at once but it's this small victory for these women that makes all the difference for them. It sounds cheesy but it works in the context of the story. The third issue's secondary storyline has the team arguing over who should be the leader of the team. Amadeus Cho believes ge should be the leader because he's the 8th smartest person on the planet, Ms Marvel thinks she should lead the Champions because she's the one that brought the whole group together in the first place, and Cyclops is confident that he can lead the group after his years of experience as leader of the X-Men. Before everyone can come to a consensus, the third issue ends in classic comic book fashion with a cliffhanger. While you can find most of the main cast in their own Marvel titles, "Champions" is the only comic book where you can read about all these characters in one place. It's the interactions amongst the team that makes these superheroes more relatable. You have the jock, the brainy girl, the nerds, the goofball, and the outcast all teaming up to save the world. It's like "The Breakfast Club" but with superpowers. One of the perks of Marvel's shared universe is the team-ups and "Champions" is currently one of the best!
THE BAD
I’m going to cut straight to the chase. The art is the most distracting part of
this series. Humberto Ramos’s art for “Champions” is all over the place. Sure,
the team looks alright in their costumes but underneath the masks everyone looks
kind of ugly. Amadeus Cho is probably the best example of how janky the art can
be at times. In his hulk form, Amadeus looks like a wrinkly old man and in his
human form he looks nothing like his appearance in other Marvel comics. Some of
this might be due to the fact that most of the characters are relatively new to
Marvel continuity and Ramos might not be too familiar with drawing them. His
Miles Morales Spider-Man looks pretty great but that’s probably because of his
years of illustrating “Amazing Spider-Man”. I’m sure the art will improve over time or at
the very least readers will get used to it after a few issues. Honestly, I
think I’m over exaggerating how bad the art is and you’ll have to judge it for
yourself. For me the art is the book’s greatest weakness but it’s something I can
overcome to enjoy the character interactions and story.
THE PLEAD
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