Social Justice Activism Meets Some Old-School Heroics: A Review of Champions Vol. 2

written by Mark Waid
drawn by Humberto Ramos (p) and Victor Olazaba (i)
colored by Edgar Delgado with Nolan Woodard

After coming up with five issues that were more notable for their advocacy than their actual craft, writer Mark Waid and penciler Humberto Ramos clearly sat down, cracked their knuckles, and decided to infuse their "evangelism" with a bit more narrative punch for the next few issues. The results speak for themselves; Champions, Vol. II, or "The Freelancer Lifestyle" is, despite a few niggles, a noticeably stronger effort than the first compilation of issues.

The first and only multi-issue story arc in this collection deals with the Freelancers, a group of young mercenaries who are essentially the antithesis of everything the Champions stand for. They prey on the weak on behalf of the strong, and are concerned solely with the bottom line. Facing off against them proves to be (so far) the Champions' biggest challenge as a team. Other stories, all of which are one-shots, include a solo adventure of Viv Vision in which the character of Red Locust is introduced, a couple of done-in-one "Secret Empire" tie-ins, and a nice, old-school superhero story focusing, on, of all people, Cyclops.

Waid's advocacy is still the driving force behind this book, and the first three issue arc works pretty well, certainly better than the "Secret Empire" tie-ins, but it's nice to see Waid indulging in more traditional superhero storytelling, particularly in the Cyclops and Viv Vision solo stories. It's nice to see this team starting to gel, as it makes the stories flow a little more easily, and even the overt "SJW" arguments feel a bit more organic. I never thought I'd say this, but I dare say I'm enjoying his work here more than I am his supposed "A-list" work over on "Captain America" with Chris Samnee. He seems to have kind of stalled out of the gate with that one.

Ramos' artwork is pretty consistent with what he's done before and his work still pops in the right places, but he gets a little sloppy in some of the issues, even by his sketchy standards. Samnee's still the guy for me, though like I wrote before, Ramos is really a good fit, not just for this book but for these characters. I also quite like the new character he and Waid have introduced: the Red Locust. It's nice to see a person of color in an all-new role as opposed to someone who just assumes a previously established character's name/mantle (e.g. most of the Champions themselves).

Things should get interesting with the next collection as the Champions will find themselves locked in conflict with their former mentors and idols, the Avengers themselves.


8.5/10