A Spider-Man Podcast

Champions #11 – REVIEW

Reddit
Facebook
Twitter

The new Falcon (Joaquin Torres), Wasp (Nadia Pym), Patriot (Rayshaun Lucas), and Ironheart (Riri Williams) all join Champions #11, as Cyclops, Ms. Marvel, and Nova are all otherwise preoccupied, presumably by the goings-on of Secret Empire. On the credits page of this issue, readers learn Champions #11 takes place during Secret Empire #2.

Written by Mark Waid, Champions #11 features Humberto Ramos pencils, Victor Olazaba inks, Edgar Delgado colors, and Clayton Cowles on letters, in an issue that follows the one-and-done flow of the series to date while still building on the grander happenings in the Marvel Universe and the accumulating history of this nascent super-team.

Despite being so thickly ingrained in the summer crossover event, Waid doesn’t lose his grip on treating these young heroes as people, developing their personalities and relationships while occasionally injecting humor into a vastly morose situation. Waid does not leverage humor to make light of the horror, but instead does so to tether the Champions to their humanity, using levity to lighten an otherwise tense situation (thank you J. M. DeMatteis).

That said, Waid opens the issue with the interesting (and color convenient) pairing of Hulk and Falcon. Amadeus (Hulk) Cho is trying to keep his wits about him, using his intelligence to stay sane, focused, and coherent. Falcon is a bit more flip, but in a manner that showcases his inexperience, not at the expense of making him brash. Champions #11 continues with pairings of “new” Champions and slightly more seasoned characters, which organically generates exposition through the teen heroes’ conversations.

The color palette throughout the issue is relatively mundane, sporting earthtones and grays, off-whites, and pale blues, all of which propel the characters – which either sport green or red in some capacity – to pop off the pages, like paper doll cutouts set upon backgrounds. It’s a fine bit of collaboration between Ramos, Olazaba, and Delgado. Ramos’ characters are more exaggerated and pressing towards inconsistencies, but they are each visually dynamic enough where the penciller is able to experiment without losing the handle on any one of the stars of Champions #11.

Miles Morales factors in pretty heavily in Champions #11, even becoming the voice of reason for a scene. He’s not the leader of the team, but the splinter squad he runs with gives him a fair amount of respect.

The issue is a nice introduction to seven super heroes at the forefront of Marvel’s next generation. They don’t throw any punches at a specific foe, but the creative team fills this comic with enough information to make each of the characters seem comfortably familiar by issue’s end. This is not the very best issue of the series, but it’s strong enough to be in the top half, maybe even the top quarter. Champions #11, while mired in the depths of the Secret Empire storyline and fraught with darkness and catastrophe, actually makes for a nice primer for readers looking to learn a little more about these particular members of the youngest generation of Marvel legends. The letters page reveals that these seven heroes are only together for this one issue, but, I for one, welcome Waid, Ramos, Olazaba, Delgado, and Cowles to reach out for this crew again, should they feel the need.

If you enjoy our reviews and Spider-Man coverage, find out how you can support us and get exclusive content by joining the FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-TALK MEMBERS CLUB!

Reddit
Facebook
Twitter

Comments

superiorspidertalk

You may also like…