New Champions #8 Review

 

Writer: Steve Foxe

Artist: Ivan Fiorelli

Colorist: Arthur Hesli

Letterer: Travis Lanham

Cover Artists: Ivan Fiorelli & Arthur Hesli

Graphic Designer: Kat Walkington

Editors: Sidney Stubbs, Alanna Smith & CB Cebulski

Publisher: Marvel

Price: $3.99

Release Date: August 13, 2025

 

When the New Champions shook off HYDRA’s brainwashing, Hellrune’s friends returned to their parents, and she reentered the foster system. The McCormicks were considerate, but Hellrune was desperate for what her friends had. So she cast a spell to find relatives, and her magical, bird-like scouts led her to a Norwegian island. After Hellrune found her Aunt Veleda, she left the team to connect with her family. But Hellrune is growing suspicious of Veleda’s motives. When her aunt visits a Scandinavian magical market, Hellrune sends an SOS.

 

Moon Squire rallies his friends, and Liberty transports them to England. A half-vampire guides them into the Shadowplay Market, the UK node of the worldwide magical market. The team learn where Aunt Veleda has taken her niece. But can they reach Iceland before Veleda sacrifices Hellrune? Let's board Liberty's Star-Spinner, leap into New Champions #8, and find out!

 

Story

Hellrune always felt closer to her friends than Mr and Mrs McCormick. But she didn’t belong in their families. Aunt Veleda was supposed to supply that sense of belonging. Instead, Veleda isolates Hellrune. She insists that Liberty, Moon Squire, and Cadet Marvel aren't her friends. After all, when Hellrune left them to reconnect with her family, the New Champions immediately drafted in replacements, including the magic-wielding Amaranth. 

 

But there’s a reason Aunt Veleda keeps talking about people using others. In New Champions #8, Veleda reveals Hellrune’s heritage. Like the Bene Gesserit, her coven has conducted a breeding program. Now, Veleda brings Hellrune to their ancestral grounds. In this place where the veil is closest between Midgard and Niffleheim, Veleda needs Hellrune to gain the power she seeks.

 

Steve Foxe’s fast-paced rescue plot shows how the founding members and recruits have bonded. It suggests why the zombies arose on the Norwegian island, and a magic spear appeared on Hellrune’s thirteenth birthday. While New Champions #8 completes the young heroes’ saga, it leaves the possibilities open for a future series.

 

Art

Two small figures trudge toward an ancient temple rising amid snow-covered mountains. Inside, Veleda lashes Hellrune to a platform inscribed with skulls and a horned god. Veleda takes Hellrune’s spear and dumps out her purchases from the Scandinavian magical market. Then she thrusts Hellrune’s spear into the flagstones.

 

Ivan Fiorelli shows that Liberty designed her Star-Spinner for four people. As Fantasma helps out Gold Tiger, Liberty, Amaranth, Moon Squire, and Cadet Marvel hug themselves amid the wind and snow. But when hands rise from the snow, fighting and flying warm the kids better than Veleda and Hellrune’s fur cloaks.

 

Arthur Hesli’s intense and pleasing colors make New Champions #8 pulse with power like Hellrune’s spear. Cadet Marvel's yellow visors and lightning bolt link him with Gold Tiger. Red binds Liberty and Amaranth with Hellrune. Blue connects nearly all the heroes beneath the intensely blue sky. Veleda, her associates, and her god share green. When Veleda summons her god, the spear channels the same green energy she used to bind Hellrune, instead of its usual blue. The green lightning bolt on Hellrune's face suggests she must choose where she belongs.

 

Travis Lanham conjures uppercase letters into white and colored dialogue balloons. The letters grow bold for inflection, swell for volume, and rarely shrink. Dialogue balloons grow spiky when witches invoke their god. Sound effects accompany a turbulent flight, an uprising in the snow, and a divine manifestation. Thanks to Marvel for providing a review copy.

 

Final Thoughts

When Hellrune’s friends risk everything to find her, she must decide where her future lies. New Champions #8 delivers a satisfying conclusion to this series about family, belonging, inclusion, and friendship, while reminding us that manipulation is never a form of love.

 

Rating 9.8/10

 

To look inside see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.