Sound and Vision
Written by: Mark Waid
Art by: Humberto Ramos
Publisher: Marvel
Review by: Andrew McAvoy
Last time around this Avenger/Champions crossover gave me the first issue of Champions that I didn't enjoy. As we reach the last installment of the arc it's time to see whether the damage done by that issue can be repaired. Let's find out.
Okay. The good news is that this issue sees a slight return to form despite being the last issue of a crossover that has been pretty poor. One point I noticed though was that Ramos' art which is a consistent strength to this series takes a slight dip in this issue. It is almost like he has become bored by the story and wants to get things back to normal. Either that or I'm projecting my views onto the page. I definitely seemed to sense a bit of a downturn on those pages which featured the Avengers and wonder if he prefers to focus on the Champions characters. If so he's a man of good taste.
As a "crossover issue" this is just as dull in parts as what has went before, except that it starts to shrug the crossover off and return to normal for large parts. This issue focuses on two things. The first is the measures that can be taken to reanimate Viv Vision, by her father, while in a parallel sphere Viv's consciousness in human form fights to return to earth. She struggles to escape the Evolutionary and the outcome of that struggle ends in quite a plot twist and a cliff hanger for issue 16. I'm on board with that and am already looking forward to that issue.
The second angle deals with Nova, who is frustrated at the loss of Viv and feels isolated on the team in her absence. He takes it out on a few of the Avengers and pretty soon there is a bit of a feud going on between the Avengers and Champions. This is what I like to see, because the whole premise of the Champions book is their origins in wanting to do things differently from the older generation. Champions were supposed to be the anti-Avengers, doing things differently; out with the old in with the new. That's why this crossover pissed me off because it threw both teams in together and robbed the Champions of their unique youthful rebellion, and their journey on a new and different path.
Bits and Pieces
This issue was a lot better than the last one, and thank God to have finally gotten the Avengers off the pages of this book. I have a sneaking suspicion that Waid and Ramos may have felt the same way, and they dispatch the Avengers out of this issue in a pretty prompt fashion. The issue leaves us back with just the Champions, and a really neat cliff hanger that should act as a springboard to get the series as normal up and running again as normal. Phew.
Score 7.5 out of 10
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