NOTE: This issue takes place before Champions #1

Ritchie Gilmore stepped out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist. The steam from the shower escaped into one of the small rooms in the Crash Pad. Although none of the New Warriors lived on the premises, the facility was equipped with dormitories in the event that they ever needed to stay the night.

He looked down at the bed and spread out on it was a mostly blue uniform with white and red mixed in. Reminiscent of the uniform of Captain America’s former sidekick, Bucky. Except the mask on this uniform was a full face mask. It came in handy for Ritchie when he wore it as Patriot.

Some patriot he turned out to be. GeneTech reproduced the Super Soldier Serum and gave it to Ritchie—under one condition. He would be their own personal superhero, a role that included assembling his own team of New Warriors. At first, things went smoothly—until Dwayne Taylor got involved.

Taylor wasn’t fond of having the name of a team he formed used for a group of upstarts he knew nothing about. He intervened, and offered the Warriors the opportunity to use the Crash Pad and accept funding from the Taylor Foundation—under the condition that the team be supervised by Rage and Speedball, two former Warriors themselves.

Over the course of the past few months, the Warriors began to function as a team, developing a bond of trust amongst themselves. Ritchie frequently found himself on the sidelines of these bonds. When the time came for the team to reveal their identities, Ritchie refused—an action that saw him expelled from the team.

GeneTech wanted results and sent one of their failed experiments after the New Warriors—a team of mutates called Psionex, with Patriot taking the lead. They captured the Warriors and GeneTech brainwashed them. Once more, Taylor intervened, assembling a team of former Warriors to rescue the new guard. Patriot aided in the rebellion against GeneTech and returned to the Crash Pad with the Warriors.

Now in the meeting room, the combined members of both New Warrior teams as well as Psionex waited to engage in a discussion of where the New Warriors would go from here. Ritchie wondered if he should even be included with the future of the Warriors, if a Patriot who betrayed his friends could even be considered to be part of them.

PATRIOT GAMES

Epilogue

By Dino Pollard

Greg Willis and Mattie Franklin, known respectively as Gravity and Spider-Woman, sat on the roof of the Crash Pad. Both were in costume, but without the benefit of their masks and Greg had his arm around Mattie.

In the past few weeks, the two of them had grown very close, a relationship beginning to develop between the pair. Greg sometimes questioned whether or not he should be involved in something like this, as Mattie was only sixteen years old. He was only a freshman in college himself, so it’s not like it was that big of an age difference…

It was tough for him to meet girls. He hadn’t found any at school yet, mostly because his free time was divided between studying and playing superhero. Mattie seemed a lot more grounded than other girls he knew in high school, plus she was a superhero as well, so he didn’t have to worry about her being targeted. If there’s one thing he discovered about the latest Spider-Woman, it’s that she could handle herself.

“You’re pretty quiet,” she said.

“Just thinking, that’s all,” he said.

“’Bout what?”

Greg smiled at her. “Nothing, it’s not important.”

“Mmm, and you’re a terrible liar,” she said, smiling back at him.

Greg allowed himself a little laugh. “Guess I’m just wondering about us.”

“Age difference?”

“Yeah.”

Mattie sighed. She cast her eyes downward and she was afraid this topic would come up sooner or later. She had hoped for later. “Does it bother you?”

“Well… does it bother you?” asked Greg.

“Nope, I mean, it’s not like there are a lot of mature guys at my school,” she said. “And I like you. Being with you makes things a lot easier for me, means I don’t have to hide who I really am.”

“I feel the same way,” said Greg.

“Really?” asked Mattie, beginning to perk up.

“Yeah,” he said. “I mean, yeah, it bothered me a little bit. But if we’re both okay with it, then it doesn’t really matter, does it?”

“Not at all,” said Mattie. “Besides, I know other girls my age who have boyfriends in college. So it’s not a huge stretch.”

“Right,” said Greg. “We’re not doing anything wrong.”

“It’s not like you’re twenty-five and I’m fourteen,” said Mattie.

“Right, exactly.”

Mattie relaxed into his arm again, resting her head on his shoulder. “So you’re okay with this, right?”

“Of course!” said Greg.

“Good, I’m gla—”

Her words died in her throat as she looked up and saw a large, black jet with four wings in an X descend from the sky. Her and Greg both got to their feet and donned their masks, leaping down to the ground level where the craft touched down. The hatch opened and two figures emerged from the vessel. One was a young, Native American woman with long black hair and the other was a blue-furred, cat-like creature with small, round glasses over his eyes. Both were dressed in black leather adorned with large, yellow Xs across the chest.

“Who are you?” asked Gravity.

“Apparently my reputation doesn’t precede me,” said the blue-furred creature. “My name is Dr. Henry McCoy and this is Danielle Moonstar. We’re here on behalf of the Xavier Institute.”

“Here for what?” asked Spider-Woman.

“They’re here because we asked them to come by.” Another voice from the sky, belonging to Angelica Jones, one of the former Warriors called Firestar. By her side was Vance Astrovik, also called Justice. The young couple landed and greeted their guests.

“Good to see you again, Dani,” said Firestar.

“You too,” said Moonstar. “These must be two of the new recruits.”

“Yeah, Gravity and Spider-Woman,” said Justice.

“Spider-Woman…?” asked Beast, lowering his glasses slightly.

“Something wrong with that?” asked Spider-Woman.

“Not at all,” said Beast. “The original Spider-Woman is an associate of ours, that’s all. Any relation?”

“She’s my mentor,” said Spider-Woman.

“You’re in good hands, then,” said Beast. He turned to Justice and Firestar. “Are they ready to go?”

“Is who ready?” asked Gravity. “What’s going on here?”

“Psionex,” said Justice. “We talked it over with them and they’re not interested in staying on with the Warriors, would rather learn how to better use their powers. So Angel and I decided we should call in the experts.”

“Pun intended,” said Beast.

“But they’re not mutants, are they?” asked Spider-Woman.

“No, but we don’t discriminate,” said Beast. “It would be counterproductive to our goal of human/mutant integration.”

“If Psionex thinks they can do some good at the Institute, then we’ll be glad to have them,” said Moonstar.

“Come on in, I’ll tell them you’re here,” said Firestar.

“Thank you, my dear,” said Beast. He nodded to Gravity and Spider-Woman. “A pleasure to meet you, both.”

Justice and Firestar led the two X-Men into the Crash Pad, leaving Gravity and Spider-Woman behind.

“Guess that’s five less Warriors we have to worry about,” said Gravity with a shrug. “Wonder what Taylor’s announcement is going to be?”

“All I’m sayin’ is don’t rush into anything,” said Speedball.

“That’s pretty funny coming from you,” said Nova.

Nova and Speedball were joined by the rest of the Warriors’ old guard, including Rage, Turbo, Darkhawk, Namorita, Silhouette, and Night Thrasher. They discussed their options as a team.

“Tell me it wasn’t a blast working together again,” said Speedball. “The Warriors, back in action, fighting the good fight, all that stuff.”

“No one doubts that, Robbie,” said Night Thrasher. “But you forget, there’s already a team of New Warriors.”

“We’ll have two teams, then,” said Robbie. “The new guys could probably use some more training anyway. So we work with them while the old guard continues kicking ass and taking names.”

“I don’t think that’s necessary,” said Namorita. “I was impressed by the way they worked together.”

“So was I,” said Turbo. “They don’t need training, some of them are probably more experienced than some of us.”

“Let’s just give my idea a chance, okay? At least for a while,” said Speedball. “I mean, I’m the leader here, right? Shouldn’t these decisions be up to me?”

“Being a leader doesn’t mean you get to decide who stays and who goes, buddy,” said Justice. He and Firestar entered the room, having made the introductions between the two X-Men and Psionex.

“You get to decide what to do with your team, but not all of us want to be part of that team,” said Silhouette.

“Look, if it’s about me, then I’m sure Vance or Thrash would be willing to take over again,” said Speedball.

“It has nothing to do with you. You’ve done a great job so far,” said Night Thrasher.

“Rage, back me up, buddy,” said Speedball.

Rage shrugged. “It’s their call. Sorry Robbie.”

“There are so many heroes in New York that we’re practically tripping over each other. We’d only be adding to that problem, while the rest of the country gets ignored,” said Nova. “Look, since I relocated to the west coast, I’ve noticed that there’s been some increased supervillain activity. The West Coast Avengers can’t handle it all themselves, there’s gotta be some extra people on hand. I think we could do a lot of good out there.”

“I agree,” said Night Thrasher. “Out here, we’re just drops in the ocean. Out there, we’re a force to be reckoned with.”

“What’s that mean for this group?” asked Speedball.

“Obviously I won’t be as hands on if I’m out west, but I feel confident leaving the team in your hands, Robbie,” said Night Thrasher. “Of course, that’s if you still want the job.”

Speedball looked back and forth between his friends. “Do you really think I can handle this on my own?”

Rage laid a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “You won’t be completely alone. I’m right behind you, man.”

“Nobody loves the Warriors more than you,” said Namorita.

“Yeah, I guess,” said Speedball. “It just sucks to see you guys leave. Again.”

“Don’t worry about it, we’ll keep in touch,” said Nova.

“So we’re in agreement?” asked Night Thrasher. There were statements in the affirmative among the former Warriors. “Good, then it’s time we tell the new team.”

Ricochet twirled one of his golden throwing discs between his fingers. His elbow was perched on the arm of his chair, his hand holding his head up. “I’m bored.”

“We know,” said Joystick. “We got it the first ten times you said it.”

“Don’t exaggerate,” said Ricochet. “It was nine times.”

“They have been in there a while,” said Eddie McDonough.

“Maybe they’re trying to decide whether or not to ship Psionex off to the Vault,” said Ricochet.

“Nope, they’re going off to join the X-Men,” said Gravity.

Ricochet looked at his teammate. “Say what now?”

“Two members of the X-Men showed up. Looks like Psionex is going with them,” said Gravity.

“Hunh,” said Ricochet. “But I thought they weren’t mutants?”

Gravity shrugged. “Doesn’t matter, apparently.”

Ricochet looked over his shoulder at Patriot, who leaned against the wall with his mask off, looking down at the floor. “You’ve been pretty quiet, Ritchie. What’s up?”

“Nothing,” said Patriot.

“Don’t got anything to say?” asked Ricochet. “What are your plans now?”

“Let’s wait until the others get here,” said Patriot.

Ricochet shrugged. “Suit yourself, man. What about the rest of you? Everyone still sticking around?”

“Are we even going to be needed?” asked Joystick. “If the old guard wants to come back, seems kind of useless to keep the rest of us around.”

“I think they’ll still keep us around,” said Spider-Woman.

“Not like we’re exactly batting a thousand,” said Ricochet. “Let’s see… we got together, one of our teammates was confiscated by SHIELD, our founder betrayed us—no offense, Ritchie—and we got mind-controlled by an evil corporation. Hell, I’m surprised they didn’t show us the door the second we got back from GeneTech.”

“A bit harsh, don’t you think?” asked Spider-Woman.

“Hey, I just call ‘em like I see ‘em, Spider-Girl.”

“For the last time, Rico—” Spider-Woman stopped herself. “Y’know what? Forget it, you’re not worth it.”

“Really?” asked Ricochet. “Damn, and here I thought I could still get you riled up with that crack. I gotta come up with some new material…”

The door to the meeting room opened and the original New Warriors filed in. Each of them took a seat at the table, mixing in with the new team. All save for Night Thrasher, who stood to address the group. He removed his helmet, revealing the face of Dwayne Taylor underneath.

“I’m sure you all have a lot of questions about the future of the team,” said Night Thrasher. “I gathered the former team because I knew I’d need help freeing you from GeneTech. Since then, we’ve discussed it and we realized we enjoyed working together again.”

“Here it comes…” said Ricochet.

“That’s why we’ve decided to relocate to the west coast,” said Night Thrasher.

“See, told you,” said Ricochet. “They’re staying together and us newbies are usele—wait, what?”

“We’re forming a new team on the west coast,” said Night Thrasher. “From what Nova has told us, there’s a need for heroes out on that side of the country and we’re prepared to meet that need.”

“What’s that mean for us?” asked Joystick.

“You’ll remain active as the New Warriors, still under the leadership of Speedball,” said Night Thrasher. “We’ve been impressed with his work so far and we’ve all decided he should stay on.”

“Does this mean the Taylor gravy train has pulled into the station?” asked Gravity.

“No, I’ll still fund this operation, although I won’t be as hands on as I was in the past,” said Night Thrasher. “Speedball and Rage will be my eyes and ears out here.”

“So not much changes for us, I guess,” said Joystick.

“One thing will,” said Patriot. “I’m leaving the team.”

“Really?” asked Ricochet. “Look Ritchie… it was a fucked up situation. Wasn’t your fault, there’s no reason you gotta quit.”

“Yes I do,” said Patriot. “I used you all because Rosen told me to. I can’t bear to look at this costume anymore. And I’d rather leave with what little dignity I have left.”

“What are you gonna do?” asked Spider-Woman.

“Finish school, get my degree,” said Ritchie. “I’ll figure things out from there.”

“Guess everything’s settled,” said Gravity. “We’re down to six members again.”

“Any idea what you guys are gonna call yourselves?” asked Eddie.

“Champions is open and it’s got a nice ring to it,” said Nova with a smile.

NEXT: Be sure to check out the new Champions series by Scott Redmond for more on Night Thrasher and the rest of the former Warriors! And be here next issue when the press starts to pay attention to the New Warriors and gives them the limelight! It’s a new era for the next generation of superheroes in “Media Blitz”!

WAR ROOM

It’s funny how things have a way of working out.

When I first decided to launch New Warriors, I thought it would be pretty cool to have the original Warriors form their own team with a name other than New Warriors. A bit backwards? Perhaps, but I think it’s a bit counter-productive to have a group of seasoned veterans (including a few former Avengers) call themselves the New Warriors. I had this thought in the back of my head of having the old Warriors take on the Champions name.

As usual, I have more ideas than there are hours in a day, so I wouldn’t be able to write this series. Especially since Scott Redmond had a Champions series in development that didn’t feature my idea. So I forgot about it. As it has a nasty habit of doing, life got in the way of Scott’s plans and Champions never got off the ground.

Fast-forward several months. As I was penning “Patriot Games,” Scott sent me an e-mail, wanting to write something for the site. I wasn’t sold on his first pitch and I mentioned my idea for Champions. Scott really dug it, wrote up a cool proposal, and things were set into motion.

Anyway, as the blurb for next issue says, be sure to check out Champions #1. I’ve read it and it’s pretty good. Scott’s got a lot of good ideas in mind, so definitely keep an eye on his stuff.

And again, be sure to come back to New Warriors with issue #18. The book is going into sort of a new phase now, with some familiar faces popping up as well as some pretty serious threats. And possible roster shake-ups. Should be fun.
Now, onto the letters. I actually have mail this time around! First letter is from Wil, submitted using MO’s new handy feedback form at the bottom:

This version of the New Warriors rocks! I thought that Kevin Grevioux (the guy who wrote what would become the “Underworld” movie) was doing a killer job story wise with his version but damn!!

Thanks for the kind words, Wil. And seeing as how I’m really digging Grevioux’s take on the Warriors (first time the book has been readable since the first series), that’s some high praise indeed!

When is issue 17 going to be out and is Ritchie going to keep being Patriot or is he going back to being Prodigy?

If you’re reading this then you already know issue #17 is out and Ritchie is done being Patriot. In fact, he’s done with the superhero gig altogether… or is he?

Gotta love ambiguous comments like that.
Next up is a review from D. Golightly, one-third of my boss over at Marvel 2000. I should’ve included this earlier, but things were hectic:

I’ve got a little free time these days, so I solicited on my LiveJournal for suggested fanfic titles to read in order to review them. I’ll be doing a series of reviews, taking an honest look at whatever people ask me to. Dino was the first to respond, asking for someone to take a look at his Warrior’s title at MO, a book he said hadn’t received much feedback. In reading the fourteen issues, plus an annual, I have to say I have mixed feeling about the book as a whole. THERE ARE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

First off, thanks for taking the time to check out the book, especially fifteen issues worth. Glad I was able to grab you while you had some free time.

WHAT I LIKED: There was one scene out of the fifteen issues I read that stood out as the best one. In #3 we see Speedball, in his civilian identity, get sent to the principal’s office of his high school. In this continuity Robbie is nineteen and has yet to graduate, a point that is referenced a few times throughout the title and actually adds a great deal to his character. Speedball’s always been the comic relief of the Warriors, but with this scene Dino sets up for destined character growth that I’ve always wanted to see with Speedball. The principal pretty much lays it out for Robbie as we get a hard look at his civilian life. This scene, when coupled with how Speedball gets put into a leadership position later on in the title (in #12), really adds a lot to the book. It shows that this title isn’t a non-stop adrenaline rush and that even the wackiest of characters have human problems.

The way I’m developing Speedball is something that’s been subtle and something I’m really proud of, so I’m really glad that you not only noticed this aspect, but enjoyed it more than anything else. Speedball will continue to experience some growth in the coming issues as he finds he has to start paying attention to the real world outside of the Crash Pad.

The plots are interesting, building quite heavily as the title progresses. There’s lots of foreshadowing, giving the reader a feeling of mystery as they’re trying to guess what exactly is happening behind the scenes. The book is fun and fast-paced, and the assembled cast mixes well. I admit that I was very skeptical of the team members being able to play off of each other, but Dino does a decent job of balancing them out during a fight. Fans of youth-oriented books and newer characters will enjoy this title, as we see lots of faces that aren’t typically used in fanfic. I always thought Gravity was dumb, but after reading’s Dino’s New Warriors I’m a fan of the young, aspiring hero.

A lot of these characters were either written very poorly (in the case of Spider-Woman) or not given a fair enough shake (Ricochet) in the comics. I’ve always been up for a challenge, and Ricochet is one of my favorite characters. I’ve grown to like the others as well, especially Mattie, who I despised before I took on this title and is now one of my favorite characters to write.

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE: There’s a lot. The plots wrap around each other well, but I couldn’t help but think that each issue was cranked out on a deadline. The issues were all short with a rushed feel to the writing, as if Dino wanted to hurry up and get through it. Was the title a weight on his shoulders? It sure feels like it, even if that wasn’t the case. Action sequences appeared slapped together, and even simple motivations behind the various characters’ motivations seemed an afterthought (with the exception of the Patriot sub-plot, which was well grounded from the beginning). Twice in the book (#8 and #14) we see characters approached to do something they initially don’t want to do, only to change their minds from the equivalent of someone saying, “Pretty please with sugar on top?” A lot of things needed expanded on to create more drama instead of just getting from Point A to Point B with minimal trouble.

You make some good points with this and it’s something I’m working to change in future issues. If you’ve been reading since issue #14, I hope the subsequent issues are more to your liking.

The first annual, which takes place between #2 and #3, was solicited as a tie-in for the “Empire” crossover going on at that time. At least, that’s what we’re told in Dino’s notes. Does it actually crossover? Honestly, I have no clue. I didn’t read Empire and I don’t see how this was possibly tied to that event. The story is self-contained with just one paragraph (the second one of the issue) referencing something going on outside the book. If the events of this issue were picked up somewhere else, it really needed to be notated somehow. The whole thing seemed like The Ricochet Show, focusing almost entirely on him.

This is partly my fault and partly a lack of knowledge on Dave’s part of “Empire.” The crossover was actually more of a tie-in event along the lines of “Acts of Vengeance.” There was a central storyline in Avengers that centered around the Avengers and Noh-Varr. The crossover aspect comes from Noh-Varr releasing a number of criminals from institutions like the Vault, the Raft, etc. and other heroes working damage control. A number of villains appeared in X-Factor and Uncanny X-Men, as well as Mr. Fear in Mutant Underground. Bushwacker was the villain who popped up in New Warriors and granted, I should have given more focus on the rest of the team.

Also, there’s some story logic in the annual I have to question here: Bushwacker kills a mutant on the campus of the college Ricochet attends, and several seconds after Bushwacker takes the shot, Ricochet pops up in costume to take the villain down. The problem is that Ricochet was on his way there, not in costume, and unaware of Bushwacker’s presence. How exactly did he find the time to jump into costume several seconds after he knew he would need to? Ricochet’s not a speedster and this just baffled me as I read it.

I’ve reread the issue a few times and I thought there was enough going on in between the scene when Ricochet finds out about the exhibit and when he pops up to confront Bushwacker, especially if he was wearing his costume beneath his street clothes. Guess it’s just a matter of different taste.

Even though I ended up enjoying the cast, I often times felt that this book should have been called Slingers: Take Two. All four members of the defunct team make appearances, with two of them made into central characters. It’s cool to pick up the pieces of that series (which I hated, by the way), but there was too much focus put on them instead of the past incarnation of the Warriors, something that would have made more sense. I know this is something that a lot of people are going to disagree with me on, but I didn’t expect the old Slingers to take such precedence over the other Warriors, both old and new.

Heh, not much I can really say—again, this seems to be a matter of differing tastes. I was a huge fan of Slingers, although I admit that the elements from that series were a bit heavy-handed. You’ll see less of that in the upcoming issues, however.

Finally, while this isn’t directly concerning the New Warriors, it is something I couldn’t get over as I read all fifteen issues. The background for Marvel Omega is really distracting and I had trouble reading the content. I would have enjoyed the actual act of reading a lot more if I didn’t have those Omega symbols cascading down the page behind the text.

Again, different tastes. Personally, I’ve viewed the site on a few different computers and I’ve never had any difficulty reading the content with the Omega background.

OVERALL: Like I said before, this is a really fun book that I think people will enjoy if they like reading about some of the newer Marvel characters. Dino does a few unique things with the characters that pull the reader in, but I really hope he tightens things up if he decides to continue the title. The last issue shows promise of fixing the Slingers problem with a lot of former Warriors showing up to save the day. I’ll be sure to check future issues, which hopefully will be coming soon.

Thanks again for the review, Dave. Hopefully #15-17 were more to your liking, and I hope you’ll stick around for the upcoming issues.