Champions #19 Review - Marvel Monday

Champions Congregate!

Writer: Jim ZubArtist: Sean IzaaksePublisher: Marvel ComicsRelease Date: April 11, 2018Cover Price: $3.99
I have not read any of the previous 18 issues of The Champions but I hear they do good things. So when I saw on the cover 1st ISSUE OF AN EXCITING NEW ERA! at the comics store, I said to myself Fresh Start bitches and picked it up. I am at least somewhat familiar with the characters involved. I have either read about some of these characters in their own titles or in other team books I have been introduced to them.  Now let's see if the Art and Story can get me to care about this team and this comic.

We open to kind of a cold open. We are in Nunavut, Northern Canada. 16 miles north of bung fuck Egypt and its fucking cold. We are following two Inuits who are investigating a mysterious facility that has appeared out of nowhere. The Facility is surrounded by chain link fence with razor wire at the top. One of the Inuits gets over the top and tells the other to wait till she comes back with some knowledge of where this place came from and why its there. 

She notices with amazement all the space age technology. She dodges and hides from flying security drones. She finally makes her way down inside this base to find a captive super powered being either being held hostage or being kept prisoner it all depends which side this super being is on.

The next morning in New York City our friendly neighborhood Bucket Head chases after The Fly and (Lady Scorpion??) basically two z list villains. Nova gets outmaneuvered by The Fly and runs face first into a building. Lucky for Nova Spider-man is there to save the day and take out the ventilated villains. Miles ties up the terrible twosome and them drops them to answer his phone. The screaming scum is safely secured by Nova. The Phone call, Miles received was from Ms. Marvel who invites them over for a little surprise.

48 minutes later we join up with the rest of the team in the woods somewhere. Nova and Spider-man are blindfolded and Viv, Ms. Marvel, The Incredible Cho, and Wasp excitedly await the big reveal they have in store. Blindfolds off and the big surprise is…..a T.C.R.V…..wait that doesn't work very well...or does it. The Transport/Clubhouse/Rescue Vehicle is the Champions Mobile Bunker or the C.M.B. for short. Riri, Amadeus, and Nadia designed and built it with the help of Viv and Vision. So the whole team except Nova and Spider-man, In three weeks, speaking of Riri. Miles inquires to where she is. 

Well Riri is being the tirelessly tinkering teenager that she is, and avoiding social contact in her usual OCD ways, in other words, she is still fixing the plane. Next, we get a tour of the Living quarters Nova and Spider-man have to bunk together because one of the bunk rooms had to be converted to a bathroom since the Big Green Cho didn't think a bathroom aboard the C.M.B. was a good idea. 

In the command center, the last stop on this tour, Ms. Marvel, and Wasp talk a little shop before the team votes on taking a little road trip to test out their new mobile fortress. 

Six hours later we are in Northern Canada to check on an ice level recording beacon that is used to measure global warming and its effects. In Riri’s room, Viv pokes her arm through the floor in an attempt to announce herself. With a sigh, Riri welcomes her friend. Viv is here to voice the concerns about Riri the team has. She is being too aloof and they are worried that she is having issues and sent Viv in to check on her. Riri is having self-doubts about where her place is on the team and maybe a little metatextual about her place in Marvel Comics as a whole. The first half of this comic has projected Riri as extremely into her work. Which was bothering me a little because there is much more to her as a character so I'm glad we get this little character moment between Viv and her. 

It has almost been a full day since we last visited the strange facility from the beginning of the story. It is very apparent that the two Inuits from the beginning of our story did not make it out of the facility with the weird superhuman being contained at the center. The Facility looks to have sprung a glacial mountain up from behind it. The mountain is easy twice the size of the facility. The Team comments on how odd this building is and fly in for a closer look. As the C.M.B. gets closer we see those security drones coming from the facility and start scanning the ship. Iron heart and Viv take defensive positions outside the ship because the drones have surrounded the ship. 

As soon as the drones scan Ironheart and identify her as Iron Man the deem her and the C.M.B. as threat level High. The drones lock-on targeting beams and just unload on the team. Spider-man and his spider-sense alert the team members inside the C.M.B. just in time so they can duck for cover. As Riri and Viv destroy drones outside the ship the team members inside the ship try to mount a defense. Nova stands on the shattered windshield and firsts projects his nova shield outwards to deflect some blasts. He then does a super Nova blast that takes out a few of the drones but leaves Nova weaker for a second. As Nova stumbles away to catch his breath he is laser blasted through the chest.

Bits and Pieces:

I think Jim Zub is playing it a little safe here. Maybe a little too safe. These heroes are already battle tested and he seems to dumb them down a little too much in my opinion. I can understand he wants to do that to allow for growth and suspense. The art is gorgeous it reminds me of watching the Ultimate Spider-man cartoon. Cho seems a little de-aged and written slightly out of character a little too much of a corny hipster in my opinion. Once Jim gets these characters voices down a little more I think this will be a great comic.

7/10