- Written by: Steve Foxe
- Art by: Ivan Fiorelli, Ig Guara
- Colors by: Arthur Hesli
- Letters by: VC’s Travis Lanham
- Cover art by: Gleb Melnikov, Edgar Delgado (cover A)
- Cover price: $4.99
- Release date: January 8, 2025
New Champions #1, by Marvel Comics on 1/8/25, assembles Earth’s mightiest sidekicks when one of their own, Hellrune, goes on a search for her biological family and stumbles into a trap.
Is New Champions #1 Good?
Plot Synopsis
New Champions #1 begins with the team of amalgamated sidekicks thwarting the Brothers Grimm during a bank robbery. The junior heroes wrap up the criminals without breaking a sweat and head off to their respective homes for chores, homework, and dinner. Of the four heroes, Hellrune seems down because she feels lost without knowing what happened to her biological family, despite the kindly foster parents she currently rooms with.
Who are the New Champions?
Moon Squire – A cross between Moon Knight and Cloak
Liberty – A cross between Captain America, Wasp, and Star from Infinity Watch
Cadet Marvel – A cross between Captain Marvel and Cannonball
Hellrune – A cross between Valkyrie, Power Pack, and Nico Minoru
Later, we see Hellrune regularly sends out her magic birds to scour the planet to find anyone who might be related to her. This night, one bird returns with a positive hit that leads to a sigil-marked location in Norway.
Elsewhere, Liberty shows up at Cadet Marvel’s house with a transport she built, dubbed the Star-Spinner, to get the team around without relying on Hellrune’s teleporting magic. She, Cadet Marvel, and Moon Squire are suddenly transported to Hellrune’s location from a summoning spell when Hellrune is attacked by a horde of Norse zombies.
The issue ends with Fantasma (a cross between Ghost Rider, Dormammu, and Moon Girl) chastising Hellrune for not using her cursed staff with enough specifics, resulting in a whole gaggle more young Marvel heroes arriving on the scene, including Spider-Boy, Monte, Hulkette, and many, many more.
First Impressions
You’d be hard-pressed to find another Marvel comic in recent history with this much “Hello, Fellow Kids!” energy. Writer Steve Foxe delivers the all-introduction issue with all the pop and energy of a can of diet soda. If this issue is squarely targeted at the Young Adult (YA) crowd, it may just hit its target… or it could fail miserably.
How’s the Art?
The art is perfectly fine. Ivan Fiorelli and Ig Guara have the unenviable task of using almost every page to introduce a quartet of heroes before launching into an adventure that pulls in more than double the number of junior heroes. There’s no time or room for drama or depth, so it’s all about the flash. In short, the art team accomplishes its mission.
What’s great about New Champions #1?
If you’ve been looking for a new team book that isn’t the same-old-same-old set of interchangeable Marvel characters, this is it. Writer Steve Foxe creates a fundamental plot that plausibly explains how a large collection of junior heroes find themselves in the same place at the same time, so you certainly get what you expect.
What’s not great about New Champions #1?
Depth? Drama? Character development? World building? Bah! You’ll find none of that here. New Champions #1 has all the seriousness and quality of Dollar Store bubble gum. If you want a new team, you get it, but if you want a new team that matters, look elsewhere.
About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.
Follow @ComicalOpinions on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter
Final Thoughts
New Champions #1 is exactly the new amalgam sidekick team book you’d expect. Brimming with a collection of junior heroes who all present as mashups of other Marvel heroes, wrapped in a paper-thin plot and painted with gallons of “Hello, Fellow Kids!” energy, this just might be the YA team book you’re looking for.
6/10
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