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Champions (2016) (Collected Editions)
Champions, Vol. 2: The Freelancer Lifestyle
The world needs heroes, and they are the Champions! Ms. Marvel! Cyclops! Nova! Spider-Man! Viv Vision! And the Totally Awesome Hulk! They’re young and idealistic, and their movement is gaining speed — but the newly minted Champions will get a harsh dose of reality when they’re forced to throw down with the Freelancers! Plus: After what became of her family, Viv willingly shut down her emotions — but did her decision come at a price? And in the throes of SECRET EMPIRE, the Champions will see their world turned upside down! Broken up and scattered across the country, they still fight the good fight — but even if the world survives, the team will be divided. And by the time the conflict is over, the team’s lineup may surprise you!
COLLETING: CHAMPIONS 6-12
COLLETING: CHAMPIONS 6-12
182 pages, Paperback
First published December 26, 2017
22 people are currently reading
222 people want to read
About the author
Mark Waid
3,192 books1,274 followersMark Waid (born March 21, 1962 in Hueytown, Alabama) is an American comic book writer. He is best known for his eight-year run as writer of the DC Comics' title The Flash, as well as his scripting of the limited series Kingdom Come and Superman: Birthright, and his work on Marvel Comics' Captain America.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 125 reviews
March 15, 2018
I love this book. I love these kids. If it weren't for Humberto Ramos' overly-cartoonish art not being to my tastes, this would be a five star book for me. Even the Secret Empire crossover issues were great.
#MYChampions #MarkWaid4President #HashtagsStillDon'tWorkOnGoodreads
#MYChampions #MarkWaid4President #HashtagsStillDon'tWorkOnGoodreads
June 7, 2018
A bunch of short, self-contained stories that don't really accomplish much. These felt like they were made to be disposable, to be read and then discarded. It just feels like bubblegum pop, all flash, no substance, where I'm used to Waid telling longer stories that have direction. That's the Mark Waid stories I'm always looking for.
December 29, 2017
I wanted to like this volume, I really did. And the damning part is that, I don't think it's the book itself that's to blame for why it falls apart like it does. See, Champions, Volume 2 is a perfect example of what's wrong with the "big two" in the American comics industry: A story can be going along quite nicely, when all of a sudden, some huge, world-changing event happens in the surrounding comics universe, and anything that had been happening in the series has to take a backseat for Mandatory Event Participation (MEP). Storylines are left hanging, themes are derailed, hell, an entirely new (and potentially interesting) character who was introduced right before the MEP just disappears and is never heard from again. And to make matters worse, the post-MEP issues (which comprise nearly half of this volume) are so disconnected, they feel like they each could have come from entirely different storylines.
The first three pre-MEP issues are a little jarring at first, too, introducing us to a team that's essentially an evil version of the Champions...who everyone in the book already seems familiar with. It's been awhile since I read volume 1, but I don't think we as readers had met them before this point, so there's a weird bit of narrative dissonance there. But it tells a decent enough story, once you get beyond that hurdle. Then there's a throwaway issue, where we meet the Red Locust (the one I mentioned who never appears again), before we dive into the "Secret Empire" event, and everything goes to crap.
Issue #10 feels the most like it belongs in this series, with the Champions trying to free what amounts to an internment camp of Inhumans from Hydra's grasp. It still comes entirely out of left field, compared to events leading up to it, but it at least tries to maintain some of the themes of combating oppression, and looking out for people first and foremost.
Then we get to issue #11, and suddenly the team is split up around the world, teamed up with random, less well-known members of the Avengers, trying to conduct rescue operations for survivors of large-scale Hydra attacks...that have all happened off-page. So what we do see on-page is a lot of heavy-handed moralizing, and bonding with characters who are gone, after this issue ends. It's quite frankly, a mess.
...and it gets worse with issue #12, which begins with the team singing karaoke(?!) Didn't the previous issue just end with the Champions (and their new friends) vowing to take the fight to Hydra? Did that happen, off-page? Is that threat over now? We're never told. Instead, we flash ahead three hours to the team fighting a villain named Psycho-Man (how they ran across him, or why is also never explained). Plot contrivances happen, to give us a little bit of a character sketch for Cyclops, but really, this issue just felt very "villain of the week," with seemingly no connection at all to anything that came before it.
I hate this phenomenon in American comics, where entire series can get commandeered by MEP. I'd been reading a couple other Marvel comics at the time these issues would have come out, so I have at least some knowledge of what was going on in the world at large, but if you were someone who was just reading Champions? Man, would you be lost. And that's why this sort of thing ticks me off so much--it's sacrificing reader enjoyment for line-wide conformity, regardless of whether it makes sense or not. And in a darkly cynical way, if we look at it through the lens of what Champions is supposed to be about, Marvel itself represents just the sort of thing the team is supposed to be fighting against: an old guard that's blindly chasing glory, or the "next big thing," with no regard to the little people caught in the crossfire. We the readers, as the "little people" have no control over the events that such large juggernauts (Marvel, DC) are partaking in; we're just trying to get by (enjoy good stories), when sometimes (often), something huge and unstoppable crops up to get in the way of that.
...with that off-the-cuff analysis, I almost talked myself into giving this volume one more star. Almost. But meta-commentary aside, Champions Volume 2 is still disappointing. It was a great book that had a lot of potential, but I don't know how or if it's going to pull itself back together, following this derailment it had no control over. And given how this volume ended, I'm not sure I'm entirely keen on finding out, and that makes me rather sad.
The first three pre-MEP issues are a little jarring at first, too, introducing us to a team that's essentially an evil version of the Champions...who everyone in the book already seems familiar with. It's been awhile since I read volume 1, but I don't think we as readers had met them before this point, so there's a weird bit of narrative dissonance there. But it tells a decent enough story, once you get beyond that hurdle. Then there's a throwaway issue, where we meet the Red Locust (the one I mentioned who never appears again), before we dive into the "Secret Empire" event, and everything goes to crap.
Issue #10 feels the most like it belongs in this series, with the Champions trying to free what amounts to an internment camp of Inhumans from Hydra's grasp. It still comes entirely out of left field, compared to events leading up to it, but it at least tries to maintain some of the themes of combating oppression, and looking out for people first and foremost.
Then we get to issue #11, and suddenly the team is split up around the world, teamed up with random, less well-known members of the Avengers, trying to conduct rescue operations for survivors of large-scale Hydra attacks...that have all happened off-page. So what we do see on-page is a lot of heavy-handed moralizing, and bonding with characters who are gone, after this issue ends. It's quite frankly, a mess.
...and it gets worse with issue #12, which begins with the team singing karaoke(?!) Didn't the previous issue just end with the Champions (and their new friends) vowing to take the fight to Hydra? Did that happen, off-page? Is that threat over now? We're never told. Instead, we flash ahead three hours to the team fighting a villain named Psycho-Man (how they ran across him, or why is also never explained). Plot contrivances happen, to give us a little bit of a character sketch for Cyclops, but really, this issue just felt very "villain of the week," with seemingly no connection at all to anything that came before it.
I hate this phenomenon in American comics, where entire series can get commandeered by MEP. I'd been reading a couple other Marvel comics at the time these issues would have come out, so I have at least some knowledge of what was going on in the world at large, but if you were someone who was just reading Champions? Man, would you be lost. And that's why this sort of thing ticks me off so much--it's sacrificing reader enjoyment for line-wide conformity, regardless of whether it makes sense or not. And in a darkly cynical way, if we look at it through the lens of what Champions is supposed to be about, Marvel itself represents just the sort of thing the team is supposed to be fighting against: an old guard that's blindly chasing glory, or the "next big thing," with no regard to the little people caught in the crossfire. We the readers, as the "little people" have no control over the events that such large juggernauts (Marvel, DC) are partaking in; we're just trying to get by (enjoy good stories), when sometimes (often), something huge and unstoppable crops up to get in the way of that.
...with that off-the-cuff analysis, I almost talked myself into giving this volume one more star. Almost. But meta-commentary aside, Champions Volume 2 is still disappointing. It was a great book that had a lot of potential, but I don't know how or if it's going to pull itself back together, following this derailment it had no control over. And given how this volume ended, I'm not sure I'm entirely keen on finding out, and that makes me rather sad.
July 21, 2018
And so the adventures of the kid avengers continues.
This one is a couple of different storylines in one. It's nice to see they stick to growing the relationship of most of the kids. They're dealing with Viv and Cho's relationship, what to do when the Freelancer's come in and ruin the Champion's legacy. It ends with the Champions maybe going up against the Avengers themselves while also dealing with the fallout of secret empire.
Good: I enjoyed a lot of the stuff with the characters interacting. Them together are a interesting group. I also enjoy the art a lot. It's nice and smooth, the action looks great, and the ending leads to something new.
Bad: The story is pretty bad at points. Some of the dialog feels forced. A little reactive to Twitter comments. I love waid for most part but think he took the internet too seriously. Best to ignore them and you can tell he was writing about them sometimes here.
Overall this was fun. I like the group here, the fighting, the interaction, but the rest is kind of lifeless or dull. So a 2.5 out of 5, I'll round it up to a 3.
This one is a couple of different storylines in one. It's nice to see they stick to growing the relationship of most of the kids. They're dealing with Viv and Cho's relationship, what to do when the Freelancer's come in and ruin the Champion's legacy. It ends with the Champions maybe going up against the Avengers themselves while also dealing with the fallout of secret empire.
Good: I enjoyed a lot of the stuff with the characters interacting. Them together are a interesting group. I also enjoy the art a lot. It's nice and smooth, the action looks great, and the ending leads to something new.
Bad: The story is pretty bad at points. Some of the dialog feels forced. A little reactive to Twitter comments. I love waid for most part but think he took the internet too seriously. Best to ignore them and you can tell he was writing about them sometimes here.
Overall this was fun. I like the group here, the fighting, the interaction, but the rest is kind of lifeless or dull. So a 2.5 out of 5, I'll round it up to a 3.
March 25, 2018
While the team itself remains strong their second volume falls into a quasi-sophomore slump. That was disappointing, as I was a fan of the first book and the six distinct personalities on the roster. Freelancer Lifestyle felt choppy, and references to Secret Empire disrupted the flow of things. Still, the first half was pretty good, as was the introduction of the sweetly well-intentioned Red Locust.
February 5, 2018
Volume 2 of the Champions series is a bit of a mess story-wise and an excellent example of how company-wide events can really mess with individual series at Marvel and DC.
It starts off well enough with the Champions having to deal with a teen mercenary group that oppose everything the Champions are trying to stand for. It's not the greatest plot since the villains are too one-dimensional for my liking, but the first couple issues of this book at least form a cohesive story. Since this volume's title references the mercenary group's name, I thought the Champions would be dealing with them for the majority of the book, but they just disappear from the story after a few issues.
Things get jarring once the Freelancers arc ends. At the very end of that arc, one of the members of the Champions is literally locked in their home with security measures that neutralize their powers because they are grounded. The very next issue has that character on a solo mission some time later on the opposite side of the country. When did the grounding end? Did their parent just release them? Or did they have to escape? No clue on any of that. No reference is made to them being locked up at any point afterward. On their solo mission, they meet a new teen hero that they team up with for this issue. At the end, they offer the new hero a chance to join the Champions. This hero is then never mentioned again.
The next issue takes place during the Secret Empire event where Hydra is in charge. One of the Champions is in an internment camp, and the others are trying to locate and rescue their team member. How did this member get captured in the first place? What was everyone else doing when they were captured? No answers on any of that. The character isn't rescued or even found by the end of the issue either. They are back with everyone by the next issue though with no explanation how that went down. And the Champions have joined with several other teen heroes to try to rescue any survivors from a Hydra attack that killed over half a million citizens. The issues just keep jumping forward in time with no details on how we got to this point. The abrupt transitions were jarring.
This was especially true for the final issue. The previous one ended with the Champions vowing to keep fighting against Hydra after they killed over half a million people. The very next issue opens with the Champions singing karaoke. Between the two issues, Hydra was defeated apparently.
This volume of Champions left me constantly feeling like I was skipping a ton of issues because I was missing huge chunks of the story. After the first mini arc, the rest of the book was a mess that had jarring transitions and failed to form a cohesive story by constantly skipping ahead. It's hard to enjoy a story when I'm only given random portions of it.
It starts off well enough with the Champions having to deal with a teen mercenary group that oppose everything the Champions are trying to stand for. It's not the greatest plot since the villains are too one-dimensional for my liking, but the first couple issues of this book at least form a cohesive story. Since this volume's title references the mercenary group's name, I thought the Champions would be dealing with them for the majority of the book, but they just disappear from the story after a few issues.
Things get jarring once the Freelancers arc ends. At the very end of that arc, one of the members of the Champions is literally locked in their home with security measures that neutralize their powers because they are grounded. The very next issue has that character on a solo mission some time later on the opposite side of the country. When did the grounding end? Did their parent just release them? Or did they have to escape? No clue on any of that. No reference is made to them being locked up at any point afterward. On their solo mission, they meet a new teen hero that they team up with for this issue. At the end, they offer the new hero a chance to join the Champions. This hero is then never mentioned again.
The next issue takes place during the Secret Empire event where Hydra is in charge. One of the Champions is in an internment camp, and the others are trying to locate and rescue their team member. How did this member get captured in the first place? What was everyone else doing when they were captured? No answers on any of that. The character isn't rescued or even found by the end of the issue either. They are back with everyone by the next issue though with no explanation how that went down. And the Champions have joined with several other teen heroes to try to rescue any survivors from a Hydra attack that killed over half a million citizens. The issues just keep jumping forward in time with no details on how we got to this point. The abrupt transitions were jarring.
This was especially true for the final issue. The previous one ended with the Champions vowing to keep fighting against Hydra after they killed over half a million people. The very next issue opens with the Champions singing karaoke. Between the two issues, Hydra was defeated apparently.
This volume of Champions left me constantly feeling like I was skipping a ton of issues because I was missing huge chunks of the story. After the first mini arc, the rest of the book was a mess that had jarring transitions and failed to form a cohesive story by constantly skipping ahead. It's hard to enjoy a story when I'm only given random portions of it.
December 10, 2017
[Read as single issues]
I've expressed my displeasure with Mark Waid's current Avengers/Champions runs already, and this second volume is unfortunately more of the same. The decision to introduce the Freelancers in a Monsters Unleashed issue that not everyone will have read seems odd, and they're mostly just unlikeable assholes, which I get is the point but even so, they're really horrible.
The rest of the volume is some Secret Empire tie-ins which vary in quality. The ones set during the event itself are pretty solid and give a good indication of where the characters all fall in the spectrum of things, but the issue set after the event feels tacked on and kind of pointless.
The art remains Humberto Ramos (which surprises me since that's 11 or so issues consecutively that he's drawn), and there's really no point mentioning this much either; if you like Ramos, this is quintessential Ramos. If you don't, then...you're not going to change your mind with this one.
Sigh. More of the same, which is not what I wanted to say here.
I've expressed my displeasure with Mark Waid's current Avengers/Champions runs already, and this second volume is unfortunately more of the same. The decision to introduce the Freelancers in a Monsters Unleashed issue that not everyone will have read seems odd, and they're mostly just unlikeable assholes, which I get is the point but even so, they're really horrible.
The rest of the volume is some Secret Empire tie-ins which vary in quality. The ones set during the event itself are pretty solid and give a good indication of where the characters all fall in the spectrum of things, but the issue set after the event feels tacked on and kind of pointless.
The art remains Humberto Ramos (which surprises me since that's 11 or so issues consecutively that he's drawn), and there's really no point mentioning this much either; if you like Ramos, this is quintessential Ramos. If you don't, then...you're not going to change your mind with this one.
Sigh. More of the same, which is not what I wanted to say here.
January 8, 2018
I really like the Champions team, but this volume did not have a cohesive plot at all. I was intrigued by the Red Locust, but sad that she just vanished. In general I'm not a fan of the secret empire storyline and wish my comics could just stand on their own without confusing world shifts that happen elsewhere in the marvelverse affecting them. I was particularly disappointed to see Riri/Ironheart show up here and barely do anything, since havingbher interact meaningfully with the Champions would be cool. But the Champions themselves are charming enough that I still enjoyed reading this, but mostly as mindless entertainment.
July 5, 2018
Do you really think it is a good idea to challenge stereotypes and shallowness with nothing but stereotypes and shallowness while pretending to be deep?
Considered what this series is supposed to be about, this here is pretty disconcerting. This volume starts with showing the reader how the Champions have gone viral and are "lit". And what we were shown was oil clean up in Alaska, talking people to vote in Alabama, self-defense classes for girls in Brighton and people building something in Bratislava. And everywhere the champion's C. Are we supposed to think they only do this because the champions inspired them? Because nothing of that is anything special, in fact, it is pretty common and if these people needed the Champions for that, they must be really pathetic because what have they done to deserve that admiration? The stuff from last volume?
Speaking of that garbage, this here sends the idiocy and cringe through a roof as it starts with setting hired superhumans against people demonstrating for a living wage, ripping apart tents of homeless people, and are apparently controlled by a bunch of rich white people in business suites. Yeah, I know, that is sooooo subtle. Also, they attack and antagonize each other and the leader (a big muscle woman) calls one of them a poor little snowflake. They are "stupid rich" and use their powers to manipulate two of the homeless people into attacking each other and prior to that bet money on whether the woman with the "hormones" or the one inducing panic wins. And when the guy still standing asks why they do this, their answer is they are the freelancers and beating people down is what they do. And via psychic manipulation they blame the beating on the champions.
What exactly is so new and groundbreaking about this? These mustard twirling villains are a complete cliche (they even have a bald guy with glasses who apparently likes to see people suffer working for them). And even more cliche: It actually works. These champions are pathetic, almost as much as their audience on twitter. Seriously, what sort of people could these be if they turn on them so quickly that no one waits? Saying the internet is a hate machine does not explain anything.
And you know what I noticed about the freelancers? Their members are: a female bodybuilder, a plus-sized brown woman ("Latino" maybe?), a super strong black girl, an indestructible white woman with blue hair (both half shaven heads) and a blond white surfer dude. For a series that is allegedly about societal issues and against stereotypes and prejudice, it seems to stick with a lot of former Marvel villain tropes, especially with the female body builder. These freelancers are presented as irredeemable assholes with no shades of gray and are arguably more diverse in looks and basic body types than the Champions are (they only have more outlandish costumes) so I doubt this series is as pro-diversity as is claimed. And there is something else also: They rarely use their civilian names. The most often used one is Kamala's name, but Hulk is only sometimes called Amadeus or Cho, Cyclops is called Slim, Vision sometimes Viv and Spiderman and Nova are never referred to by their civilian names, you barely ever see their faces or them outside of costumes (or Hulk form), in two full volumes!!! Makes me think that the makers of this comic do not actually care about these characters.
And if you don't belief me about the level of cliche and cringe, consider this: I can buy that someone would try to cash in on the Champions and use their non-trade marked name and symbol, however who would be "clamoring to pay huge amounts of undermining your crusade?" (the leader of the Freelancers says this). What crusade? What did the Champions actually do that would be a threat to anyone in the business world? The comic stated itself that what the freelancers did was legal so the champions could be smeared again or sued, if at all supporting the Champions would make way more financial sense.
And if you think the mental blow jobs Captain America gets all the time are nauseating listen to this crap by Khan about how "it was so awesome to see people around the world unite behind our symbol to fight for good things". These kids did nothing special so far. In fact most of the crap they pulled off should not have worked in the slightest and they literally know nothing about anything. And boy does it take these dofuses long to solve the problem with people using their brand by making a public statement. They could have done that the whole time instead of hearing these morons whine and bearing with Khan's whiny raging. I know the comic tries to portray this as some sort of righteous rage because she wants to protect her message, but it really came across to me like the rage fit of a child not getting what she wants. Not that it does not fit this series, after all it portrays Vision grounding his daughter like he was throwing her in prison: all dark around her except light from a flashlight or so.
However, the Champions win of course not because they are smart but because their antagonists are morons, trust me, listen to how they talk and there is no other explanation. The Red Locust story was no different, in fact I can only assume that this was supposed to be some sort of homage or so, if just it was better written and not suffer from the same issues the rest of the volume does.
After this we have the issue of Marvel having big events screwing with their series and thereby creating a strong disconnect and we are suddenly in an Inhuman internment camp (because Inhumans are the new mutants now) and it is just as dumb as the rest. You know Hydra are Nazis and that is just what Nazis do, lets ignore the fact that controlling inhumans would be a much more useful strategy for Hydra than internment. Plus, there are so many inhumans on the planet and not one of them is a hydra agent? Really?
Good for the Champions that Hydra hasn't installed any sensors so they could sneak up to the "camp" unspotted. I mean it's not that sensors would be any good right? Gosh, nothing has changed, the moment these kids would go against actually competent villains they would all be dead by now. Even the “smart” ideas they have are dependent on their antagonists being idiots, like hiding the internment camp.
And boy does it show that the writer does not really see these characters as people, as not only do we almost never see Nova and Spiderman out of costume, or any of them for that matter, but their names have so far never been used and instead of describing Mrs. Marvel's look (you know hair, skin, body shape) when trying to find her, he describes her as high school age, Muslim-American, her height and her costume colors. What on earth should Muslim-American mean her? Smells of stereotyping to me.
Which also makes it fitting that Hulk here states that as an "Asian American" he has a "deep historical hatred for internment." He is supposed to be a Korean-American and those were not interred in fact the US government took pains to make clear the difference between Japanese and other Asians. Not to mention that there is often very bad blood between Koreans and Japanese. Statements like these are American race thinking in its finest.
Sure the issue was not without it's merits, but leave it to the writer to ruin a good moment of complexity (staying imprisoned and cared for or run and be hunted) by coming up with a bogus solution that he himself states is only temporary (hiding the camp via illusion) and only works because the bad guys are morons. This would have never worked and the imprisoned inhumans will not be able to save the dilemma in any amount of time this could have given them. Not to mention that the prisoners basically do what the Champions want anyway.
And from this we went to another issue, with most characters completely new and no clue why they are here and why anyone should care about what is going on. The story is so over the top and the characters so dumb I was unable to take it seriously in any way and it is just as forgettable as the Red Locust story.
We of course got white privilege talk, and since Hydra are Nazis they will "weed out" POCs first. Which is pretty damn garbage either way when you know actual history.
And why is Spidey talking about ugliness of the job and putting a human face to what they did? We barely see his face and so far the Champions had to deal with nothing worse than hurt egos.
And is this question about Hydra not distinguishing between rich and poor supposed to be rhetorical? What part of leveling Las Vegas did not bring that across?
In fact I wished they would stop the reference to Nazis, it only highlights how little this understands of the subject.
And Viv Vision seems to blame the "old guard" for not hearing the needs of every day people while the are defending them from catastrophe… what were they supposed to do? And Spidey seems to share that sentiment. What assholes!!!
The last story was, again, completely disconnected from the prior two. The team is complete again without any explanation and it is oddly enough the high-point of this volume. Of course that doesn't mean the writers don't put idiotic stuff in this, like these morons letting someone fly who was hit by Psycho-man's rays and was
And holy shit are these guys stupid. Especially Khan. For someone babbling about racism and all she acts incredibly snobby and clueless. Of course Cyclops cannot act like everyone else, not with his powers. And they should really know this by now. Unlike with them he cannot turn his powers on and off, he is literally a potential danger to everyone. And after having this actual good panel with cyclops talking of why he feels so bad and can't let go, they just drop it and go back to the usual. And they take an emotional unstable cyclops to a fight, in which he almost kills the bad guy because his emotions run wild and in the end he can't remember any of it.
The way this series was written so far, this was only done to keep the status quo. Once again, just like volume 1, this was full of stereotypes, hypocracy, shallowness and lack of trying.
The only ones putting in effort were the artists.
Ps. Wow, it is astounding how dumb the Hulk guy is. And despite the fact that we are told constantly that he is the 8th smartest person in the world.
Considered what this series is supposed to be about, this here is pretty disconcerting. This volume starts with showing the reader how the Champions have gone viral and are "lit". And what we were shown was oil clean up in Alaska, talking people to vote in Alabama, self-defense classes for girls in Brighton and people building something in Bratislava. And everywhere the champion's C. Are we supposed to think they only do this because the champions inspired them? Because nothing of that is anything special, in fact, it is pretty common and if these people needed the Champions for that, they must be really pathetic because what have they done to deserve that admiration? The stuff from last volume?
Speaking of that garbage, this here sends the idiocy and cringe through a roof as it starts with setting hired superhumans against people demonstrating for a living wage, ripping apart tents of homeless people, and are apparently controlled by a bunch of rich white people in business suites. Yeah, I know, that is sooooo subtle. Also, they attack and antagonize each other and the leader (a big muscle woman) calls one of them a poor little snowflake. They are "stupid rich" and use their powers to manipulate two of the homeless people into attacking each other and prior to that bet money on whether the woman with the "hormones" or the one inducing panic wins. And when the guy still standing asks why they do this, their answer is they are the freelancers and beating people down is what they do. And via psychic manipulation they blame the beating on the champions.
What exactly is so new and groundbreaking about this? These mustard twirling villains are a complete cliche (they even have a bald guy with glasses who apparently likes to see people suffer working for them). And even more cliche: It actually works. These champions are pathetic, almost as much as their audience on twitter. Seriously, what sort of people could these be if they turn on them so quickly that no one waits? Saying the internet is a hate machine does not explain anything.
And you know what I noticed about the freelancers? Their members are: a female bodybuilder, a plus-sized brown woman ("Latino" maybe?), a super strong black girl, an indestructible white woman with blue hair (both half shaven heads) and a blond white surfer dude. For a series that is allegedly about societal issues and against stereotypes and prejudice, it seems to stick with a lot of former Marvel villain tropes, especially with the female body builder. These freelancers are presented as irredeemable assholes with no shades of gray and are arguably more diverse in looks and basic body types than the Champions are (they only have more outlandish costumes) so I doubt this series is as pro-diversity as is claimed. And there is something else also: They rarely use their civilian names. The most often used one is Kamala's name, but Hulk is only sometimes called Amadeus or Cho, Cyclops is called Slim, Vision sometimes Viv and Spiderman and Nova are never referred to by their civilian names, you barely ever see their faces or them outside of costumes (or Hulk form), in two full volumes!!! Makes me think that the makers of this comic do not actually care about these characters.
And if you don't belief me about the level of cliche and cringe, consider this: I can buy that someone would try to cash in on the Champions and use their non-trade marked name and symbol, however who would be "clamoring to pay huge amounts of undermining your crusade?" (the leader of the Freelancers says this). What crusade? What did the Champions actually do that would be a threat to anyone in the business world? The comic stated itself that what the freelancers did was legal so the champions could be smeared again or sued, if at all supporting the Champions would make way more financial sense.
And if you think the mental blow jobs Captain America gets all the time are nauseating listen to this crap by Khan about how "it was so awesome to see people around the world unite behind our symbol to fight for good things". These kids did nothing special so far. In fact most of the crap they pulled off should not have worked in the slightest and they literally know nothing about anything. And boy does it take these dofuses long to solve the problem with people using their brand by making a public statement. They could have done that the whole time instead of hearing these morons whine and bearing with Khan's whiny raging. I know the comic tries to portray this as some sort of righteous rage because she wants to protect her message, but it really came across to me like the rage fit of a child not getting what she wants. Not that it does not fit this series, after all it portrays Vision grounding his daughter like he was throwing her in prison: all dark around her except light from a flashlight or so.
However, the Champions win of course not because they are smart but because their antagonists are morons, trust me, listen to how they talk and there is no other explanation. The Red Locust story was no different, in fact I can only assume that this was supposed to be some sort of homage or so, if just it was better written and not suffer from the same issues the rest of the volume does.
After this we have the issue of Marvel having big events screwing with their series and thereby creating a strong disconnect and we are suddenly in an Inhuman internment camp (because Inhumans are the new mutants now) and it is just as dumb as the rest. You know Hydra are Nazis and that is just what Nazis do, lets ignore the fact that controlling inhumans would be a much more useful strategy for Hydra than internment. Plus, there are so many inhumans on the planet and not one of them is a hydra agent? Really?
Good for the Champions that Hydra hasn't installed any sensors so they could sneak up to the "camp" unspotted. I mean it's not that sensors would be any good right? Gosh, nothing has changed, the moment these kids would go against actually competent villains they would all be dead by now. Even the “smart” ideas they have are dependent on their antagonists being idiots, like hiding the internment camp.
And boy does it show that the writer does not really see these characters as people, as not only do we almost never see Nova and Spiderman out of costume, or any of them for that matter, but their names have so far never been used and instead of describing Mrs. Marvel's look (you know hair, skin, body shape) when trying to find her, he describes her as high school age, Muslim-American, her height and her costume colors. What on earth should Muslim-American mean her? Smells of stereotyping to me.
Which also makes it fitting that Hulk here states that as an "Asian American" he has a "deep historical hatred for internment." He is supposed to be a Korean-American and those were not interred in fact the US government took pains to make clear the difference between Japanese and other Asians. Not to mention that there is often very bad blood between Koreans and Japanese. Statements like these are American race thinking in its finest.
Sure the issue was not without it's merits, but leave it to the writer to ruin a good moment of complexity (staying imprisoned and cared for or run and be hunted) by coming up with a bogus solution that he himself states is only temporary (hiding the camp via illusion) and only works because the bad guys are morons. This would have never worked and the imprisoned inhumans will not be able to save the dilemma in any amount of time this could have given them. Not to mention that the prisoners basically do what the Champions want anyway.
And from this we went to another issue, with most characters completely new and no clue why they are here and why anyone should care about what is going on. The story is so over the top and the characters so dumb I was unable to take it seriously in any way and it is just as forgettable as the Red Locust story.
We of course got white privilege talk, and since Hydra are Nazis they will "weed out" POCs first. Which is pretty damn garbage either way when you know actual history.
And why is Spidey talking about ugliness of the job and putting a human face to what they did? We barely see his face and so far the Champions had to deal with nothing worse than hurt egos.
And is this question about Hydra not distinguishing between rich and poor supposed to be rhetorical? What part of leveling Las Vegas did not bring that across?
In fact I wished they would stop the reference to Nazis, it only highlights how little this understands of the subject.
And Viv Vision seems to blame the "old guard" for not hearing the needs of every day people while the are defending them from catastrophe… what were they supposed to do? And Spidey seems to share that sentiment. What assholes!!!
The last story was, again, completely disconnected from the prior two. The team is complete again without any explanation and it is oddly enough the high-point of this volume. Of course that doesn't mean the writers don't put idiotic stuff in this, like these morons letting someone fly who was hit by Psycho-man's rays and was
And holy shit are these guys stupid. Especially Khan. For someone babbling about racism and all she acts incredibly snobby and clueless. Of course Cyclops cannot act like everyone else, not with his powers. And they should really know this by now. Unlike with them he cannot turn his powers on and off, he is literally a potential danger to everyone. And after having this actual good panel with cyclops talking of why he feels so bad and can't let go, they just drop it and go back to the usual. And they take an emotional unstable cyclops to a fight, in which he almost kills the bad guy because his emotions run wild and in the end he can't remember any of it.
The way this series was written so far, this was only done to keep the status quo. Once again, just like volume 1, this was full of stereotypes, hypocracy, shallowness and lack of trying.
The only ones putting in effort were the artists.
Ps. Wow, it is astounding how dumb the Hulk guy is. And despite the fact that we are told constantly that he is the 8th smartest person in the world.
September 30, 2024
This wasn't as good as the first volume, primarily because of Marvel events off panel in this book. It made for some disjointed reading, as I didn't know what was going on.
Still, Waid is always a good writer of books like these and it was a lot of fun.
Still, Waid is always a good writer of books like these and it was a lot of fun.
March 2, 2018
3.5 Stars.
Reading some of this Volume felt like I was missing part of the story, but the first half and very last story were both excellent.
Coming off of the trouble of the last Volume, the Champions are gaining in popularity while also having to deal with the chaos of the Freelancers. The real craziness comes when the Freelancers trademark the Champions logo and use it to make them look bad. (Honestly never thought of a bad team using a good team's symbol before...) After defeat, the Freelancers do admit in a press conference their wrongdoing, but the brand is basically destroyed.
A new hero appears here, Red Locust, who has an adventure with Viv Vision against some local mobsters, but though the story is only over one issue, Locust is given enough time to develop her back story. I hope to see more of her in the future.
The Secret Empire tie-in is where things got confusing. The Champions go to an Inhumans internment camp to find Ms. Marvel, but they only find a scared girl named Kamala, who idolizes Ms. Marvel. Is she a mindwashed Ms. Marvel? Parallel dimension? Hallucination? They never say...
The final story revolves around tracking villain Psycho-Man, who can control people's minds. Cyclops gets attacked and goes through a gamut of emotions, but has a really heart touching moment where he talks about only seeing red and his desire to be more normal.
Overall, this Volume was good, but I'd like to see more from the Champions, provided the book continues. Recommend.
Reading some of this Volume felt like I was missing part of the story, but the first half and very last story were both excellent.
Coming off of the trouble of the last Volume, the Champions are gaining in popularity while also having to deal with the chaos of the Freelancers. The real craziness comes when the Freelancers trademark the Champions logo and use it to make them look bad. (Honestly never thought of a bad team using a good team's symbol before...) After defeat, the Freelancers do admit in a press conference their wrongdoing, but the brand is basically destroyed.
A new hero appears here, Red Locust, who has an adventure with Viv Vision against some local mobsters, but though the story is only over one issue, Locust is given enough time to develop her back story. I hope to see more of her in the future.
The Secret Empire tie-in is where things got confusing. The Champions go to an Inhumans internment camp to find Ms. Marvel, but they only find a scared girl named Kamala, who idolizes Ms. Marvel. Is she a mindwashed Ms. Marvel? Parallel dimension? Hallucination? They never say...
The final story revolves around tracking villain Psycho-Man, who can control people's minds. Cyclops gets attacked and goes through a gamut of emotions, but has a really heart touching moment where he talks about only seeing red and his desire to be more normal.
Overall, this Volume was good, but I'd like to see more from the Champions, provided the book continues. Recommend.
January 7, 2018
I don't entirely know what to make of this book.
On the one hand, it's got a weak plot. The kids are facing off against The Freelancers in the court of public opinion, and the Freelancers are such nobody's that it's hard to care, and the whole idea of stealing a trademark ignores how trademarks are actually registered, and it takes the supposedly super-intelligent kids forever to do anything about it.
On the other hand, the plot is so weak in large part because Waid spends so much time on characterization, and that continues to be superb. There were a couple of different Viv issues that I loved, and everyone else continues to get interesting characterization too.
I think the two strongest issues in this volume were actually the Secret Empire crossovers — perhaps because Waid was handed a plot and got to mix that with his characters. I mean, I don't entirely understand what was going on in the crossovers, particularly with Kamala, but they were still strong pieces.
So, overall, I liked this. But it might be an acquired taste.
On the one hand, it's got a weak plot. The kids are facing off against The Freelancers in the court of public opinion, and the Freelancers are such nobody's that it's hard to care, and the whole idea of stealing a trademark ignores how trademarks are actually registered, and it takes the supposedly super-intelligent kids forever to do anything about it.
On the other hand, the plot is so weak in large part because Waid spends so much time on characterization, and that continues to be superb. There were a couple of different Viv issues that I loved, and everyone else continues to get interesting characterization too.
I think the two strongest issues in this volume were actually the Secret Empire crossovers — perhaps because Waid was handed a plot and got to mix that with his characters. I mean, I don't entirely understand what was going on in the crossovers, particularly with Kamala, but they were still strong pieces.
So, overall, I liked this. But it might be an acquired taste.
June 23, 2018
A great comic has an ever running story and mixes plenty of action with its slower moments, and this book doesn't do this. In fact we get only two brief throw downs in a fairly extensive volume (for a non-deluxe book), and both serve more to emphasize character points already made or to set up character points to follow than they do provide comic-book action set pieces.
That said, as you can see from my rating, I'm happy to take characterization as the focus of the book. Especially when its done as well as its done here. Also, had Waid been doing a long-running story through this volume it just would have been annoyingly interrupted by Secret Empire. I think this collection of one to two issue mini-stories is one of the best ways to handle that. I'd rather have the other, but it certainly isn't the fault of Wade or Ramos that we don't get it. Unfortunately event after event seems to be the only way the big two think they can survive. Ah well.
That said, as you can see from my rating, I'm happy to take characterization as the focus of the book. Especially when its done as well as its done here. Also, had Waid been doing a long-running story through this volume it just would have been annoyingly interrupted by Secret Empire. I think this collection of one to two issue mini-stories is one of the best ways to handle that. I'd rather have the other, but it certainly isn't the fault of Wade or Ramos that we don't get it. Unfortunately event after event seems to be the only way the big two think they can survive. Ah well.
July 26, 2018
On the plus side, I really enjoyed the use of the entitled, awful Freelancers as a dark mirror to the Champions, hope this rivalry continues to grow, fester, and become even more epic.
On the whole, though, for me it didn't quite hit the highs of the first volume, probably as the characters get pulled into some Marvel Event®️ related plot stuff but also as some new characters are kind of randomly thrown in, out of whom only Red Locust is given any kind of a meaningful backstory or motivation.
I'm all for Latinx heroes, just wish the Marvel editorial staff had run the copy past an editor with better Spanish...
On the whole, though, for me it didn't quite hit the highs of the first volume, probably as the characters get pulled into some Marvel Event®️ related plot stuff but also as some new characters are kind of randomly thrown in, out of whom only Red Locust is given any kind of a meaningful backstory or motivation.
I'm all for Latinx heroes, just wish the Marvel editorial staff had run the copy past an editor with better Spanish...
February 15, 2018
You can keep your "Avengers" and "Justice League." These days, I'm all about "Champions." Admittedly, I only picked up this series because it has Ms. Marvel, the greatest super hero of all time (that isn't named Squirrel Girl, but I digress), but I'll be damned if I'm not loving the whole crew. I've never really liked Cyclops. I love him here! Hulk is usually one note. New, young Hulk is great! Who the hell is Nova? An awesome superhero, that's who! Vision has a daughter? Damn straight and she's hilarious is a dead pan sort of way.
I'll keep reading this series as long as Mark Waid wants to churn it out.
I'll keep reading this series as long as Mark Waid wants to churn it out.
September 18, 2019
The Champions are just great. Mark Waid’s doing a great job with the characterization. This team is so endearing and you just want to see more of them.
Is it wrong that I’m liking Cyclops much more in this series than with the actual X-Men?
I didn’t rate it with a whole 5 stars because the set got tainted with the crossover syndrome, adding something and then leaving it in the air. I’m pretty sure Secret Empire could have gone on without forcing itself into this book. There was just no need.
Is it wrong that I’m liking Cyclops much more in this series than with the actual X-Men?
I didn’t rate it with a whole 5 stars because the set got tainted with the crossover syndrome, adding something and then leaving it in the air. I’m pretty sure Secret Empire could have gone on without forcing itself into this book. There was just no need.
June 12, 2019
More top-notch YA superhero group adventures from a top team of creators. Waid and Ramos were lighting it up similarly twenty-five years ago with Impulse from DC. Their talent has matured; these stories are great installments on the road(s) to maturity from this teen team of marvel superheroes.
Highly recommended.
Highly recommended.
December 4, 2017
Not much added to their story line in this volume. The 2 Secret Empire tie in issues (10-11) were pretty dull. Here’s hoping Vol 3 is better I enjoy the team.
April 23, 2018
Apart from Ramos' art, this series is a terrible disappointment.
January 3, 2025
i really enjoyed the scott focused issue, as well as viv and fernanda.
May 24, 2025
crazy when you can kinda tell this was written during / preceding trump's first term because the same fear of fascism you're presently living in permeates every page of these comics
September 4, 2025
i didn’t like how some of the issues seemed random like it felt like each issue was its own story with an open ending like in one issue they randomly get new teammates and say they’re gonna beat hydra then next issue we’re back with the original characters with no explanation as to what happened in the last issue or like ms marvel disappeared and they spent a whole issue looking for her then suddenly next issue she’s back with zero context as to where she was and it felt like that with most of the issues they all had endings that seemed like they were resolved in other comics and then we went on to the next issue like that was the one thing that really annoyed me
July 1, 2018
It’s time for round two of the Champions. I really like the team they’ve built so far, though I know they’ll be adding to it with time. At the start of this volume we have Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan, that is), Spider-Man (Miles Morale), Nova (the kid), Hulk (Amadeus Cho), Viv (Vision’s daughter), and Scott Lang (the kid, sent from the past). They balance each other out pretty well, both in regards to their strengths and weaknesses as well as their personalities.
The problem with smaller team-ups like the Champions is that they sometimes get the short end of the stick. That means that sometimes when there’s a major plot going on in the universe they get dragged in and out and all over the place. Like what happened with Civil War II – most of them were wrapped up in it individually, so they didn’t bother giving much context when it crossed over into the Champions plot as well. So if you don’t follow the main continuity you miss out.
That happens in this volume as well, sadly. It’s pulling from multiple events and storylines, but mostly from Secret Empire. I haven’t actually read the main event for it yet, but I’ve read some of the series leading up to it, so I have some idea of what happens. Still, I did find myself lost/irritated at times, so consider yourself warned (especially if you don’t know any of the events that happen in Secret Empire).
For more reviews, check out Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks
The problem with smaller team-ups like the Champions is that they sometimes get the short end of the stick. That means that sometimes when there’s a major plot going on in the universe they get dragged in and out and all over the place. Like what happened with Civil War II – most of them were wrapped up in it individually, so they didn’t bother giving much context when it crossed over into the Champions plot as well. So if you don’t follow the main continuity you miss out.
That happens in this volume as well, sadly. It’s pulling from multiple events and storylines, but mostly from Secret Empire. I haven’t actually read the main event for it yet, but I’ve read some of the series leading up to it, so I have some idea of what happens. Still, I did find myself lost/irritated at times, so consider yourself warned (especially if you don’t know any of the events that happen in Secret Empire).
For more reviews, check out Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks
January 26, 2018
This would have been a lot better if not for Secret Empire entirely disrupting all narrative momentum.
September 10, 2017
This could have been a solid volume except for the two issues that were Secret Empire tie-ins. If they weren't written so well this would have been a 2 star review.
November 2, 2019
Another fun romp with Marvel teenage heroes. This is a good solid read that is fun, entertaining and even shines some light on the motivations of super-heroics.
July 26, 2018
Al principio del volumen la serie se movía muy bien. Esos dos primeros números en donde los Champions se enfrentan a los Freelancers (una agrupación muy parecida en unos aspectos y radicalmente diferente en otros, eso es lo que la hace malvada un rival interesante) son bastante buenos. Algunos detalles obviamente, por ejemplo que el grupo se refiriera a los Freelancers como si fueran famosos o ya los conocieran y que incluso el volumen empezara con una página que dijera que los Champions y los Freelancers se enfrentaron antes y las cosas no acabaron en buen término; ese detalle me confundió mucho porque en el primer volumen no sucedió nada con los Freelancers ni siquiera fueron mencionados, si alguien supiera en qué número o en qué serie se dió este enfrentamiento, agradecería que me lo compartieran.
De ahí tenemos varias referencias de que a Viv le está sucediendo algo. Tras bloquear sus sentimientos después de los eventos de la serie Vision, Viv está lidiando con muchas cosas y en esta serie parece que se enfrentará a su papá de alguna manera. Incluso viaja a verlo y en el camino se encuentra con Red Locust una heroína buena con una historia de origen muy interesante y un tributo muy honroso al Chapulín Colorado, algo que muchos mexicanos lograrán apreciar y les sacará una sonrisa. Lamentablemente no volvemos a ver este personaje y el arco de Viv hablando con Vision queda en el aire porque los siguientes dos números son tie ins de Secret Empire. Al haber leído Secret Empire puedo reconocer en qué momentos de la historia están ambientados este dos números, y debo de admitir que el primero no me agradó mucho porque fue una historia del corto de los Champions entrando a un campamento de concentración de inhumanos tratando de encontrar a Kamala, ese tipo de historias es mucho de lo que vimos en el primer volumen de la historia así que no me sorprendió de más y la manera en la que se vincula con Secret Empire es muy sutil. Sin embargo el segundo número, donde los champions y otros héroes están buscando sobrevivientes después de la pelea de las Vegas, me gustó mucho y creo que es de los mejores números de los Champions y de cierta manera justifican un poco la creación de este equipo: la brecha entre generaciones se nota, y creo que si es necesario que los jóvenes tengan un equipo que resuene más con ellos, que se preocupe por los temas que a ellos les preocupan, y que resuelvan los problemas como los jóvenes lo harían. Me gustó mucho la interacción entre los personajes y lo sensible de los temas que toca el número. Algunos de los diálogos se me hicieron sosos pero en general me gustó.
Alguien que no haya leído Secret Empire se sentirá fuera de lugar al leer esos dos tie ins, y que el segundo tie in abra las puertas para escenas muy interesantes que ya no son exploradas en la serie es una pena. Este tipo de cómics deberían de poder leerse sin tener que leer el evento de moda.
El último número con Cyclops como protagonista me gustó pero creo que no llegaron a nada.
En general el volumen me gustó mucho, pero creo que por temas de continuidad, que si son graves y afectan a los lectores que no están al tanto de todo lo que está pasando en el Universo Marvel, no merecería las 4 o 5 estrellas. Marvel debería de buscar la manera en que más lectores puedan disfrutar sus obras sin tener que estar buscando los eventos de moda u otros cómics para poder entender la serie que quiere leer. Y es una pena que pase en Champions porque creo que es de esas series que tiene potencial para resonar con los jóvenes.
De ahí tenemos varias referencias de que a Viv le está sucediendo algo. Tras bloquear sus sentimientos después de los eventos de la serie Vision, Viv está lidiando con muchas cosas y en esta serie parece que se enfrentará a su papá de alguna manera. Incluso viaja a verlo y en el camino se encuentra con Red Locust una heroína buena con una historia de origen muy interesante y un tributo muy honroso al Chapulín Colorado, algo que muchos mexicanos lograrán apreciar y les sacará una sonrisa. Lamentablemente no volvemos a ver este personaje y el arco de Viv hablando con Vision queda en el aire porque los siguientes dos números son tie ins de Secret Empire. Al haber leído Secret Empire puedo reconocer en qué momentos de la historia están ambientados este dos números, y debo de admitir que el primero no me agradó mucho porque fue una historia del corto de los Champions entrando a un campamento de concentración de inhumanos tratando de encontrar a Kamala, ese tipo de historias es mucho de lo que vimos en el primer volumen de la historia así que no me sorprendió de más y la manera en la que se vincula con Secret Empire es muy sutil. Sin embargo el segundo número, donde los champions y otros héroes están buscando sobrevivientes después de la pelea de las Vegas, me gustó mucho y creo que es de los mejores números de los Champions y de cierta manera justifican un poco la creación de este equipo: la brecha entre generaciones se nota, y creo que si es necesario que los jóvenes tengan un equipo que resuene más con ellos, que se preocupe por los temas que a ellos les preocupan, y que resuelvan los problemas como los jóvenes lo harían. Me gustó mucho la interacción entre los personajes y lo sensible de los temas que toca el número. Algunos de los diálogos se me hicieron sosos pero en general me gustó.
Alguien que no haya leído Secret Empire se sentirá fuera de lugar al leer esos dos tie ins, y que el segundo tie in abra las puertas para escenas muy interesantes que ya no son exploradas en la serie es una pena. Este tipo de cómics deberían de poder leerse sin tener que leer el evento de moda.
El último número con Cyclops como protagonista me gustó pero creo que no llegaron a nada.
En general el volumen me gustó mucho, pero creo que por temas de continuidad, que si son graves y afectan a los lectores que no están al tanto de todo lo que está pasando en el Universo Marvel, no merecería las 4 o 5 estrellas. Marvel debería de buscar la manera en que más lectores puedan disfrutar sus obras sin tener que estar buscando los eventos de moda u otros cómics para poder entender la serie que quiere leer. Y es una pena que pase en Champions porque creo que es de esas series que tiene potencial para resonar con los jóvenes.
June 15, 2022
To my surprise Champions Vol. 2 was an improvement on its predecessor. To be clear not a big improvement, and it has its own unique flaws, but it did flesh out the characters a hair more which was greatly appreciated.
Champions: The Freelancer Lifestyle is the continuing adventure of our titular teen superhero team. The volume sees our heroes face off against a superhero team for hire, The Freelancers who have no qualms about doing morally dubious tasks, like clearing out low-income neighbourhoods, for a profit. The story comes to a head when the Freelancers attempt to ruin the Champion's public image.
I wasn't fond of this story. As the narrative points out I've read this exact arc (corporation uses a hero's name to promote gentrification) before in a Ms. Marvel comic and unfortunately for The Freelancer Lifestyle, G. Willow Wilson wrote it better. The premise could have been engaging but Mark Waid fails to convey the stakes of the story. The social media element of the Champion's heroics were underexplored so seeing them lose that didn't mean much to me as a reader. The solution to this conflict is also laughably simplistic as the team just goes on social media to disavow the use of their logo for malicious purposes and the status quo is reset with no consequences.
The social media aspect of The Champion's work felt superficial rather than a genuine, interesting part of the storytelling. Waid could have taken this arc as an opportunity to explore what it means to be a hero when all your actions are scrutinized online or the pressures to live up to a brand for the public. But because this story was so shallow these opportunities were missed.
I also found our antagonists The Freelancers underdeveloped. While the premise had the potential they never really went anywhere and felt too easily defeated in the end. I think with more thoughtful writing willing to utilize this team to tell a more dynamic story they could have stood out. Especially because I enjoyed elements of the team like Might's character design and Panic's emotional manipulation powers.
Another weakness in this volume was the consistently dropped plot threads throughout. For example, Viv is grounded by her father in issue 8 though the event goes completely unaddressed in the issues succeeding it. We also see the introduction of the new hero Red Locust who teams up with Viv and is never seen or mentioned again. These constantly dropped threads make the series feel incohesive and choppy.
Surprisingly enough my favourite aspect of the volume was the Secret Empire event tie-in issues. While I generally dislike tie-ins and don't appreciate that this tie-in wasn't labelled, the actual contents of the issues had some of the best character writing and interactions of the series so far. Seeing the Champions (sans Ms. Marvel) in a destroyed Las Vegas trying desperately to find anyone in the wreckage of the city and find their friend was legitimately moving. Miles especially shines with the new hero Patriot and Ironheart. He has a great moment where he inspires Patriot to be a hero despite how disheartening it can be. The Secret Empire tie-in showed our heroes in an emotionally moving, sincere light. Free from the forced teen-speak and contrived bickering we actually got to see the Champions as a team and as friends.
Champions Vol. 2 has given me some hope that the series may get better over time. While the volume still demonstrates some unfortunately shallow writing and moments of wasted potential, the scattered moments of solid character writing have given me enough hope that it will get better.
Champions: The Freelancer Lifestyle is the continuing adventure of our titular teen superhero team. The volume sees our heroes face off against a superhero team for hire, The Freelancers who have no qualms about doing morally dubious tasks, like clearing out low-income neighbourhoods, for a profit. The story comes to a head when the Freelancers attempt to ruin the Champion's public image.
I wasn't fond of this story. As the narrative points out I've read this exact arc (corporation uses a hero's name to promote gentrification) before in a Ms. Marvel comic and unfortunately for The Freelancer Lifestyle, G. Willow Wilson wrote it better. The premise could have been engaging but Mark Waid fails to convey the stakes of the story. The social media element of the Champion's heroics were underexplored so seeing them lose that didn't mean much to me as a reader. The solution to this conflict is also laughably simplistic as the team just goes on social media to disavow the use of their logo for malicious purposes and the status quo is reset with no consequences.
The social media aspect of The Champion's work felt superficial rather than a genuine, interesting part of the storytelling. Waid could have taken this arc as an opportunity to explore what it means to be a hero when all your actions are scrutinized online or the pressures to live up to a brand for the public. But because this story was so shallow these opportunities were missed.
I also found our antagonists The Freelancers underdeveloped. While the premise had the potential they never really went anywhere and felt too easily defeated in the end. I think with more thoughtful writing willing to utilize this team to tell a more dynamic story they could have stood out. Especially because I enjoyed elements of the team like Might's character design and Panic's emotional manipulation powers.
Another weakness in this volume was the consistently dropped plot threads throughout. For example, Viv is grounded by her father in issue 8 though the event goes completely unaddressed in the issues succeeding it. We also see the introduction of the new hero Red Locust who teams up with Viv and is never seen or mentioned again. These constantly dropped threads make the series feel incohesive and choppy.
Surprisingly enough my favourite aspect of the volume was the Secret Empire event tie-in issues. While I generally dislike tie-ins and don't appreciate that this tie-in wasn't labelled, the actual contents of the issues had some of the best character writing and interactions of the series so far. Seeing the Champions (sans Ms. Marvel) in a destroyed Las Vegas trying desperately to find anyone in the wreckage of the city and find their friend was legitimately moving. Miles especially shines with the new hero Patriot and Ironheart. He has a great moment where he inspires Patriot to be a hero despite how disheartening it can be. The Secret Empire tie-in showed our heroes in an emotionally moving, sincere light. Free from the forced teen-speak and contrived bickering we actually got to see the Champions as a team and as friends.
Champions Vol. 2 has given me some hope that the series may get better over time. While the volume still demonstrates some unfortunately shallow writing and moments of wasted potential, the scattered moments of solid character writing have given me enough hope that it will get better.
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