While the young Champions have finally moved on from the mentally, emotionally and physically challenging “Outlawed” storyline, Kamala’s Law continues to impact their lives.
This issue kicks off their next arc, “Killer App,” were an evil corporation with a popular app is looking to turn public perception against the Champions.
Champions #6 is available now at your local comic book shop! Spoilers below!
Writer: Danny Lore, Vita Ayala
Penciler: Luciano Vecchio
Cover Artist: Antonio Infante
“”KILLER APP”” STARTS HERE! The Champions tried fighting fair. Now it’s time to fight dirty. A sinister corporation is cheating the system to try to keep Kamala’s Law on the books, so the Champions infiltrate the company to take it down from the inside. But the company’s wildly popular app is already turning public perception against teen super heroes. Can the Champions wage war on a trend? And how dirty will their hands get before it’s over? Danny Lore (CAPTAIN AMERICA: KING IN BLACK, IRONHEART 2020) and Luciano Vecchio (IRONHEART) take the reins of a daring new era of Champions!
REVIEW – The Champions Face a New Evil in a Social Media App!
This issue opens with the Champions trying to stop a bank robbery. They seem to be losing that fight at the beginning, but eventually gain the upper hand and are able to defeat those foes. They leave the wannabe bank robbers passed out in the bank for the cops to arrest them, and they leave.
Turns out the bank robbers were testing the security system for the bank…without the bank alerting the police about their plans. The robbers are looking forward to the hazard pay they would get from the bank if they had been attacked by a group of superheroes. The bank claims the Champions are not a legitimate team as the Underage Superhuman Welfare Act is still under effect.
This is the last straw for Riri. She’s upset with Kamala for Kamala’s Law, and that it still hasn’t been repealed. She’s also upset with Viv for reporting them to the authorities during the “Outlawed” arc. She suited back up because “they had to do something” after the brainwashing camps from Roxxon, but the extenuating circumstances are too much for them. So much is out of their hands, and they have to wait for Congress to take action and repeal the laws they had enacted against teenage superheroes.
Roxxon in the interim has been rebranding themselves… with “Roxx On!” a social media and self-care application for teens. Roxxon has opened up pop-up shops to sell their new brand, and from what we can see, teens are excited and buying the merchandise. Kamala visits one of the locations with her friend Bruno, and she can’t believe that teens are falling for it.
Roxxon announces their new youth outreach coordinator is Andre Sims, who used to work for Stark Industries. Miriam, the Roxxon executive in charge of Roxx On!, tries to fire him, only to realize that Andre is also working in the research and development of the app.
Riri and N.A.T.A.L.I.E. are shocked that he is the one who was hired. Seems that he tried to tamper with N.A.T.A.L.I.E.’s programming while at Stark. The app is a security nightmare according to Viv, as it has 315 points of vulnerability. Kamala is convinced that the app and the whole image rehab is designed to keep the law in the books. She admits that it might be time for them to fight dirty, as it seems that is what Roxxon is doing.
I was looking forward to this issue of Champions after the last issue, but we didn’t get enough of them in this story. We spent too much time with Roxxon, and I was not invested in them at all. I hope we spend more time with the Champions, my favorite superhero team, next issue.
RATING – 3.5/5 Pocky
Claudia is a contributor at POCculture.com. She is addicted to many things! She loves photography, cinema, color, texture, and books. Give her a really good story!
