“I love the youthful energy and sense of possibility inherent in the Champions,” says Zub, in a CBR interview breaking the news. “The original tagline for the series was, ‘The world still needs heroes,’ and that holds true.”
Zub says he sees the series as “bridging the gap between youth and adulthood,” and that the Champions will remain full of youthful optimism, but also tackle some of the more complex problems facing this generation’s teenagers. To help the Champions handle this load, they’ll be joined by two new members: Nadia Pym, a.k.a. the Wasp, and Riri Williams, a.k.a. Ironheart.
“Nadia is a brilliant and playful hero, but she’s also someone who…carries a lot of secrets,” says Zub, in that same CBR interview. “Riri is an outsider. How does that mesh with a team of other young heroes? We’re going to find out…”
What might be most notable about Zub’s plans, however, is the return of subplots. Whereas current (and founding) “Champions” writer Mark Waid tended toward done-in-one (or two) stories, Zub plans to weave subplots throughout his tenure. “My goal is to channel the kinds of things I loved about teen books like ‘New Mutants,’ ‘Generation X,’ or the ‘New Warriors’ and bring it into our modern world with lots of surprises,” Zub said.
Zub and Izaakse (who’s produced a number of character studies you can see at the CBR link above) start on “Champions” with issue 19, coming this April.
