Zub Tales

• Adventures In Poor Taste: 8/10 “I liked this issue because it’s taking chances and pushing the team in a new direction. Zub has a clear handle on the characters and Cummings can handle a heavy dose of team action.”

• All-Comic: 8/10 “Whilst the entire issue is dedicated to their lives as superheroes, the book contains plenty of tension and drama that fleshes out the characters and instantly reminds audiences why they’re so popular.”

• Caped-Joel: 8.5/10 “Champions under Zub may be the modern day equivalent of the classic Teen Titans stories everyone loves and I think this new series here only strengthens that idea. The book is filled with so much positivity and youthful exuberance, something I think is sorely missing from superhero comics these days.”

• ComicBook.com: 10/10 “This is Marvels finest team-up book currently in print. Period…Rarely do big groups like this give attention to all of the characters that deserve it, but Zub and his team handle the balance perfectly.”

• Comicon: “Champions #1 is a promising and outright endearing new start to Jim Zub’s era on the title. The new members aren’t given that much page space, but they are still introduced in a defined manner while the core members are given some interesting character beats. This one easily earns a recommendation.”

• Comic Book University: “Jim Zub is able to bring some hope to the world with these young heroes and there are no better heroes to do that with.”

• Comic Frontline: 9/10 “Ever since Jim Zub came on to Champions I have been loving it, and that love continues here. This book is bigger and more ambitious than the previous volume and that makes it all the more appealing.”

• Comic-Watch: 8.8/10 “The action scenes are easy to follow and expressive, and Cummings doesn’t resort to a lot of plain white backgrounds the way lesser artists might when faced with so many characters to draw.”

• Do You Even Comic Book?: “This book did a really good job of laying out all the characters and laying out all the conflict and delivering an exuberant teen superhero adventure.”

• Geeked Out Nation: 8.5/10 “This new era for Champions began giving us the full package. The action delivered was satisfying, our first taste of adventure from them was bold, and the drama was heartbreaking. This iteration of Champions won’t just be about the work they do, it will be testing their fortitude in living up to the name.”

• Graphic Policy: 7.75/10 “There’s a great mix of characters, some will be the future of Marvel, and Zub and team set up a series which will be as much action as it will be interpersonal conflict. Plus there’s that ending… “

• Institute Of Idle Time: “This first issue is all about setting up the status quo, and, despite a big supporting cast, focusing the spotlight on the aforementioned key characters, with just the right amount of teenage angst to shake up the team dynamic.”

• Major Spoilers: 7.7/10 “In short, Champions #1 has a ton of moving parts and story elements that stay mostly balanced, with expressive and attractive art and coloring.”

• Monkeys Fighting Robots: 8.8/10 “Zub throws a massive Champions team at you over the course of the issue but perfectly drops the breadcrumbs for the first story arc and future plot lines. To balance a vast roster and tell a coherent story is a significant accomplishment in itself, but what Zub does best is take a swing for the fence when it comes to the mission statement and purpose of the Champions.”

• Newsarama: 9/10 “Zub and Cummings do an excellent job juggling the large cast, giving each a distinct look and voice that makes it easy to follow the ever-shifting action of the book.”

• On Comics Ground: “Between the growing sense of dread that builds throughout the issue as the Champions seem to be slowly getting at odds with one another, the triumph of the three missions successfully carried out, and Kamala’s engaging and compelling struggles with this new position she finds herself in as the formal leader of the Champions, Jim Zub conveys all of this incredibly effectively.”

• Paste Magazine: “Cummings has ample experience depicting teens in a supernatural version of Japan, and his long partnership with Zub bodes well for productive collaborative storytelling under the Marvel umbrella.”

• Talking Comic Books: “I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was the perfect balance of fun and drama, and I can’t wait to see what Jim Zub has in store for these young heroes.”

• Times Union Read Pile Reviews: “A great first issue, at a time when it seems some first issues don’t do a good job. I’m definitely getting the next issue, I want to know more about these new young heroes.”