Champion For A Day concludes as the Champions search for Viv and deal with the loss of a teammate.
CHAMPIONS #18
Writer: Mark Waid
Artist: Humberto Ramos
Colorist: Edgar Delgado
Letterer: VC’s Clayton Cowles
Publisher: Marvel Comics
What You Need to Know: When the Vision believed his daughter died. He desperately tried to recreate her as a new synthazoid. It turned out, Viv was alive and Vision inadvertently created a sister for Viv. But a virus the Vision was carrying would corrupt the new Vivian as she attempted to kill her human sister, Viv. When Viv successfully defended her life, the Champions would show up to see her standing over her sister’s lifeless body.
What You’ll Find Out: Terrified that her father and friends wouldn’t understand what happened. Viv would flee and hide after having to take out her sister Vivian. Using the internal memory of Vivian, the Vision discovers the truth of what happens and finds Viv. When they return, Nadia, the new Wasp, helps Viv become a synthazoid again. Using her sister’s body, Viv is transferred into it and leaves her human form behind. After everything has settled back to normal, the young Cyclops informs Ms. Marvel that he can no longer be a Champion. Leaving to go back to the X-Men and hinting that he and his teammates will return to their proper time soon.
What Just Happened? Mark Waid gives his final love letter to one of his favorite characters in Cyclops. It’s also Waid’s swan song on the series as a new creative team takes over with issue #19. And the goodbye is beautiful. While the arc concentrated on the Champions recruitment drive and Viv and her father the Vision. Waid wraps everything up in a nice neat bow to just wrench at your heartstrings. A solid backstory on the young Scott Summers really delves into who he is and why he becomes the man we all get to know. And it’s heartbreaking when you finally get to know a character that’s already got tons of depth and has been around since 1963.
Rating: 9/10
Final Thoughts: While it seemed a little too easy that the new Wasp could just undo the Evolutionary’s humanization of Viv. (Perhaps I’m just not aware of how smart Nadia is supposed to be). Waid still closes out his final arc on a high note. Mark Waid loves this book and you could tell with every issue he wrote. Him leaving this book is as heartbreaking to me as Cyclops having to leave the team. Both Mark Waid and Cyclops will be sorely missed.
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