Champions No. 2 review: Mephisto and his deal of the century
By Alex Widen
Mephisto has meddled with marriages, space heralds, and Vegas! Now, will he tempt some desperate teenagers in Champions No. 2?
Champions No. 2
Writer: Jim Zub
Artist: Steven Cummings
Colorist: Marcio Menyz
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Ms. Marvel has become the official leader of the Champions and has spearheaded a vast expansion. Unlike previous member surges, this appears to be a permanent shift to allow squads of teenage superheroes (and heroines) to react to threats simultaneously. She’s been supported in this by her best friends and founding members such as Miles Morales/Spider-Man and Amadeus Cho/Brawn. Left somewhere in the middle is Sam Washington, formerly known as Nova. As the narration notes, at one time he was an Avenger and a New Warrior. Now he’s the pilot at best, and a pet-sitter for Viv Vision’s robot dog at worst. Too embarrassed to ask his superhero friends for assistance (such as asking Riri to make him some armor), he sulks in silence. He’s literally been de-powered twice within a few months.
Image by Marvel Comics
It turns out staying back not only spares him from danger, but the Faustian bargain that two of his friends are forced to make. The previous issue alluded to the fact that Miles and/or Cho made some sort of deal with Mephisto himself. While not the Devil, he certainly is one of them. Having split the Champions into three squads, Ms. Marvel leads a team with her closest allies against what may easily be the biggest threat. The electrical monster Zzzax is rampaging through Dubai!
Image by Marvel Comics
Zzzax to See You!
Recognizing that outside of New York, and arguably California, much of the world lacks superheroes, Ms. Marvel has frequently focused their efforts internationally. Yet Zzzax isn’t as easily defeated as some of his appearances suggest. The sentient monster embodies a fundamental element of the universe (electricity), and has at times challenged and controlled the Hulk, or entire teams of Avengers. Kamala, Miles, Cho, and Viv Vision are quickly overwhelmed!
Image by Marvel Comics
After all, what good is it for Ms. Marvel to throw debris at a creature that can box with the Hulk? As a robot, Viv Vision is especially vulnerable to the element which Zzzax both controls and contains. Spider-Man ultimately is little more than a distraction, limited to shooting webs or saving civilians. And while Cho may be able to whip together a super-genius device to instantly defect Zzzax, he is still only the 8th smartest person on Earth, and needs time to configure it.
Image by Marvel Comics
As with most tragic superhero battles, things seem “routine” until they aren’t. Ms. Marvel is quick to fight or defend civilians, until she takes a savage electrical blast to the chest. Much like Viv, electricity is her weakness too — it negates her powers, especially her regeneration. Yet despite the fact that her powers are woozy and she’s nearly in cardiac arrest, Kamala orders the fight continue. Of course she would; Kamala Khan is a selfless heroine, almost to a fault.
Image by Marvel Comics
“The Worst Is yet to Come!”
Viv Vision is the next to fall, trying to buy Brawn a few extra seconds to configure his machine. This isn’t long after she nearly died during their fight against High Evolutionary, and being “merged” with her twin sister. Miles is able to successfully save a grateful Dubai citizen from a certain death, but even he is only offering a band-aid effort. Zzzax, on the other hand, is absorbing more and more electricity from the city’s power grid, and collapses a tower on them with a blast!
Image by Marvel Comics
Miles and Cho survive — barely. But as they dig through the rubble, they find what is left of their friends and teammates. Kamala, in her ambition and zeal to be a better hero, all but signed her own death warrant. Zzzax was too big a threat for only four of them, and her focus on growing the team spread them too thin. Miles and Kamala go way back to when they were both Avengers rookies, and have teamed up and entertained a mutual crush ever since.
Image by Marvel Comics
Amadeus Cho and Viv Vision also go back, although nowhere near as far. When Cho first joined the team, he was the Hulk, complete with all the masculine bravado that comes with being “the strongest there is.” He hit on Viv shamelessly and even kissed her. It was this action which proved to Viv that she wasn’t romantically interested in boys, having successfully “tried it out.” Rather than be insulted, Cho was glad that his friend realized her orientation and could be a part of that discovery. With only a fraction of the Hulk’s strength, neither Cho’s brains or brawn could save her.
Image by Marvel Comics
Mephisto Has Them, Babe!
It is in this time of sadness and desperation that Mephisto arrives. It seems the Devil always shows during a crisis, never willing to let it go to waste. He’s tempted no end of superheroes before, from Silver Surfer to Ghost Rider, and even once resurrected Zzzax personally (1986’s Secret Wars II No. 7). One More Day may be his most famous appearance, where he successfully erased Spider-Man’s marriage to Mary Jane from reality in exchange for saving his Aunt May.
Image by Marvel Comics
Now Mephisto is here to tempt a second Spider-Man. Amused by the notion that superheroes who have literally teamed up with Norse and Greek gods to fight crime can’t believe the Devil is real, Mephisto lays out his long con. In his eyes, they have failed like many overeager teenage superheroes failed, and their peers died for it. It isn’t unusual for teenage heroes to die in Marvel; X-Men comics are full of the graves of dead teens. The difference is the offer that he makes.
Image by Marvel Comics
Much like Cher, Mephisto muses that if he could turn back time, neither Kamala nor Viv would have had to die. He seems to focus more on Kamala, perhaps because as a robot, Viv could theoretically always be rebuilt. Mephisto vows that he isn’t interested in the souls of either Miles or Cho, since he has plenty of them to command. Instead, the Hell-Lord insists that this is being done in the name of being unpredictable and to flex his power. Yet like all con artists, Mephisto insists that their window of opportunity is short, and at least one of them has to decide now.
Image by Marvel Comics
A Deal with the Devil Can’t Go Wrong, Can It?
Amadeus Cho has had extensive experience dealing with gods, both good and evil. He was the sidekick to the Incredible Hercules for years of time, and was privy to the schemes of Loki with the Mighty Avengers. In addition to being a genius who is always thinking long term, Cho can’t imagine making a demonic pact regardless of how badly it hurts to lose their friends. Both he and Miles have experienced the pain and guilt of losing loved ones. Yet to Miles, this is one tragedy too far.
Image by Marvel Comics
Readers already knew the outcome from the previous issue, but the finale still had some punch to it. Mephisto only needed, or wanted, one of them to agree to his bargain. And with a flex of demonic power felt by mages worldwide, Mephisto turns back the pages to their Choose Your Own Adventure installment and gives the Champions a second chance to not die. This time, Brawn knows the calculations to his machine and Miles knows the stakes, and Zzzax is history!
Image by Marvel Comics
Quite where Jim Zub is going with this is a mystery, but that may be a good thing. For too long his run on Champions has fallen into “good, not great” territory. He is perfectly capable of crafting a by-the-numbers teenage superhero adventure with entertaining dialogue, some good action, and the expected plot tropes. With little of the social consciousness or risks of the first half of Mark Waid’s run, Zub was at risk of taking a title that was once edgy and having it run in place.
Image by Marvel Comics
Just Where Will This All Lead? Drama, That’s Where!
When Zub bragged about turning the title into Marvel’s version of Legion of Super-Heroes — a franchise that hasn’t been popular since the Vietnam War — it seemed like the wrong direction. Not only was Champions chasing a trend, it was an unsuccessful trend. Yet with this moral dilemma and appearance by what was once a major Marvel villain, the stakes have shifted a bit. Is it worth making a deal with the devil to save those one loves? What will the consequences be?
Image by Marvel Comics
The art and colors by Steven Cummings and Marcio Menyz are on full display with an extended action sequence. Cummings is great with superhero action, yet there’s an edginess to his work which is different than some of the other artists on Champions since Humberto Ramos left. He’s not quite as “house style” as many of them were, which gives the team a bit more punch. Zzzax has rarely looked better, and the teary emotional scenes are appropriately grim looking.
Image by Marvel Comics
Next. The Champions Become the Not Quite Legion in No.1!. dark
Mephisto may insist there’ll be no cost to pay, but anyone reading this knows differently. Both Miles and Cho will have to live with the horror of what happened, and what they had to do to undo it. The weight of what expanding the team “cost” them will forever be in their hearts. Even worse, the civilian that Miles saved the first time around dies after the “rewind,” and Kamala would be especially crushed if she learned her pals all but sacrificed an innocent life for her and Viv. It’s this upcoming conflict and reaction which should add some risk to a run which until now was too safe.