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. 

New Champions #4 Review

 

Writer: Steve Foxe

Artist: Ivan Fiorelli

Colorist: Arthur Hesli

Letterer: Travis Lanham

Cover Artists: Gleb Melnikov & Arthur Hesli; Pablo Villalobos; Rian Gonzales

Graphic Designer: Kat Walkington

Editors: Sidney Stubbs, Alanna Smith & CB Cebulski

Publisher: Marvel

Price: $3.99

Release Date: April 23, 2025

 

Like the other New Champions, Hydra brainwashed Hellrune. Liberty, Moon Squire, and Cadet Marvel returned to their families thanks to Spider-Woman. Sadly, Hellrune sank back into the foster system. So, when her magical birds located her aunt on a Norwegian island, Hellrune remained with Veleda instead of returning to San Francisco with the New Champions.

 

The remaining New Champions were saddened to lose their friend. Fantasma, Amaranth, and Gold Tiger can’t replace Hellrune, but they seem viable recruits. So, when Gold Tiger sends an SOS, Liberty answers the call. But it will take time for Liberty and her teammates to travel to Los Angeles. Can anyone reach Gold Tiger first? Let’s hitch a ride on Liberty’s “flying saucer,” leap into New Champions #4, and find out!

 

Story

Like many runaways, Gold Tiger walks the streets of Los Angeles. When the Wakandan kid enters the pawn shop, Discount Don is about to close for the night. Her offer of a gold brick for American currency intrigues him. But Gold Tiger backs away when Discount Don wants to check its authenticity. She offers to let him keep it gratis. Outside, she discovers that the Sons of the Serpent have already answered Discount Don's text. Thankfully, Gold Tiger has the Hard Light communicator Liberty gave her on the Viking zombie island.

 

In New Champions #4, Fantasma comes to Gold Tiger’s aid. But LA's roller derby hero is displeased with the impromptu rescue. Hellrune's spell accidentally drew Fantasma into a battle with Viking zombies. Monte and Magnetrix have painted targets on Liberty, Cadet Marvel, and Moon Squire's backs. Now, Gold Tiger has adversaries who hunt her. Fantasma wants to know more about who she may be risking her life alongside.

 

In Steve Foxe's story, Fantasma is more interested in interviewing her potential teammates than sharing personal details. While Liberty acts as team leader and hosts an orientation in her family's garage, Moon Squire is the glue that binds the team. He makes others comfortable by showing wisdom and compassion in New Champions #4. 

 

 

 

Art

Liberty dines with her parents beneath globe droplights, a flower vase, and a fruit bowl in her modern, two-story home. Moon Squire sits on the floor while Cadet Marvel reclines on his daybed. Amaranth travels alongside the Scarlet Witch through the surreal shapes of another dimension. Fantasma breaks away from her roller derby team to take Liberty's call. While Gold Tiger walks the streets alone, Ivan Fiorelli portrays the other New Champions in their homes and with the people supporting them.

 

Arthur Hesli paints Gold Tiger in red, turquoise, and gold, evoking her colorful homeland. The Sons of the Serpent wear green uniforms reminiscent of the organization that brainwashed Liberty, Moon Squire, and Cadet Marvel. Gold Tiger's claws rip lines of blue-white energy through the air, linking her with Fantasma's Ghost Rider power and Liberty's hard light energy, wings, and inventions. Soft greens and blues often fill the interiors of the richly colored New Champions #4. Gold shines from illuminated windows, Cadet Marvel's visor and lightning bolt, and the burnished beast emblematic of Gold Tiger's power.

 

Travis Lanham conjures uppercase black letters into white dialogue balloons. The letters grow bold for inflection, swell for volume, and never shrink. White letters in red narrative boxes introduce our heroes, and white letters in blue balloons portray Fantasma’s dialogue. Larger lowercase white letters with red borders locate us in time and space, while music notes highlight Gold Tiger's love of music. Sound effects help us hear slashing claws, clunking gold bricks, and the lash of Fantasma's chain on flesh in New Champions #4. Thanks to Marvel for providing a copy for review.

 

 

 

Final Thoughts

Hydra made Moon Squire, Cadet Marvel, and Liberty household names. Moon Squire's large family provides emotional support to deal with being a public figure. In New Champions #4, the team's charter members realize that, like Hellrune, their recruits may have fewer supportive people. The teammates need to know each other sufficiently to work effectively together. But Amaranth, Gold Tiger, and Fantasma should have the option of keeping as much of their identities secret as they wish, not only from the team but also from Joe Public.

 

Still, Gold Tiger seeks connection. Her story overflows with mysteries that the Wakandan has yet to understand. Like her new teammate Amaranth, Gold Tiger wields immense power. Others hunger to harness her uniqueness. And not everyone who wants to study Gold Tiger is as ethical as the scientists in Wakanda.

 

Rating 9.6/10

 

To look inside see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.

New Champions #1 Review

 

Writer: Steve Foxe

Artist: Ivan Fiorelli & Ig Guara

Colorist: Arthur Hesli

Letterer: Travis Lanham

Cover Artists: Gleb Melnikov & Edgar Delgado; Federico Vicentini & Matt Milla; Luciano Vecchio; Rose Besch; Stanley “Artgerm” Lau; Peach Momoko; Paco Medina & Jesus Aburtov; Nicoletta Baldari

Graphic Designer: Kat Walkington

Editors: MR Daniel, Kaitlyn Lindtvedt, Alanna Smith & CB Cebulski

Publisher: Marvel

Price: $4.99

Release Date: January 8, 2025

 

Hydra captured them. Kondrati Topolov, aka Gremlin, brainwashed them (and made their families forget them). The young heroes worked for Echidna and followed Titan's commands until screamy Angar unlocked memories of Hydra’s conditioning. Nick Fury helped them reunite with their families (well, most of them). But who are the newest superheroes protecting San Francisco? Let’s hitch a ride on Max Zorin’s blimp, leap into New Champions #1, and find out!

 

Story

The Brothers Grimm collected folktales about extraordinary children. But when the New Champions interrupt their hovering heist, the skull-faced villains who took their name feel embarrassed to be captured by children. Liberty is ecstatic at her friends’ teamwork. Cadet Marvel objects to such parental praise in public, and Moon Squire reminds her that his parents expect him home at dinnertime. But the young heroes are tired of taking the bus for their superhero patrols, so Hellrune teleports them home.

 

 

 

Echidna's marketing team crafted an origin story for their new corporate superhero team. Some of it was false. But while Nick Fury reunited Moon Squire, Liberty, and Cadet Marvel with their parents, Echidna’s story about Hellrune living in an orphanage seems based on fact. Hellrune should be traumatized by her Hydra experiences. Yet what bothers her more in New Champions #1 is the magic she wields.

 

 

 

Are we products of our biology or our environment? Superheroes are no different from the rest of us. In Steve Foxe's story, Cadet Marvel, Liberty, and Moon Squire benefit from their parents and sibling's influence. But Hellrune has nothing to call her own except her magic. Unlike Jaren, Miranda, and Emilio, "Runie" doesn't even know her given name. So, while living with her foster parents, Hellrune uses magic to find her biological parents. She needs to learn what makes her tick and why her family abandoned her.

 

 

 

Art

While Moon Squire enlivens in white cloth and a black mask, Cadet Marvel rocks with a yellow lightning bolt emblem and yellow goggles. Clad in Captain America attire, Liberty flies with her Wasp-like, hard-light wings. Hellrune displays Iron Age fantasy adventurer appeal with her greaves, rondels, and fur cape. But her unique lantern-like spear separates her from the rest of humanity.

 

 

 

Magic flows from Hellrune’s spear in bands of rainbow light. While Arthur Hesli lavishes a loaded palette of vivid colors on Ivan Fiorelli and Ig Guara’s art in New Champions #1, intense blue-white light unifies our heroes. Hellrune wields this from her spear and conjures glowing symbols and runes. The same intense energy surrounds her when she teleports. 

 

 

 

Liberty gathers her friends Moon Squire and Cadet Marvel with a blue light vehicle, while newcomer Fantasma crackles with blue-white energy as she roller-skates into their lives. Perhaps most intriguing are Hellrune’s blue-white ravens. Do her scouts foretell destruction, as they did for Spider-Gwen on Earth-65? 

 

 

 

Travis Lanham conjures uppercase black letters into white dialogue balloons. The letters grow bold for inflection, swell for volume, and shrink for lowered voices. White letters in red narrative boxes introduce readers to our heroes, while black letters in colored boxes reveal texting. The cawing of ravens accompanies the cracking and booming of Hellrune’s magic, while a giant crashing toward the friends brings along another young hero in New Champions #1. Thanks to Marvel for providing a copy for review.

 

 

 

Final Thoughts

After her friends hit the jackpot with loving families, Hellrune grows desperate. She risks using magic she doesn't understand in a quest for her biological family. But when her hoped-for reunion becomes mayhem in the marsh, the first people Hellrune calls are her found family. New Champions #1 is a quest for identity and a reminder that learning the truth about our past may not always be pleasant.

 

Rating 9.5/10

 

To look inside see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.