Fresh off the events of the “Words Collide” story arc, the Champions sit reeling after the heartbreaking loss of a team member. But the group’s decided to honor the memory of their fallen comrade by making sure to stay strong for the sake of the world they swore to protect.

To keep their foothold in the fight for good, they’ll need some help…and in CHAMPIONS #16, the search for a new teammate begins. On January 17, writer Mark Waid and artist Humberto Ramos put a few hopefuls to the test in part one of “Champion for a Day”!

We spoke with Waid to hear more about what to expect.

Marvel.com: Catch us up on what went down in the “Worlds Collide” arc!

Mark Waid: The Avengers and the Champions teamed up for a mission to save two worlds and, after some trials and tribulation, they succeeded. But the victory came at a terrible cost: Viv Vision disappeared before their eyes, believed dead.

Marvel.com: So how do the Champs pick up the pieces in issue #16?

Mark Waid: No one on the team is quite sure what’s up and what’s down all of a sudden. Feels kick in hard, but so does the realization that the team needs more power if they’re going to survive.

Marvel.com: What qualities will the team be looking for in potential recruits?

Mark Waid: Heroes close to their age, really? They’re not terribly choosy beyond that, though they really ought to be…

Marvel.com: Who’s lining up for auditions?

Mark Waid: Among others—the new Patriot, Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, Red Locust, Ironheart, and a few surprises!

Marvel.com: How did you enjoy writing the candidates’ interactions with the Champions?

Mark Waid: Ironheart and Cho-Hulk have a very unique way of communicating with one another that’s ended up being the most fun I’ve had writing in quite a while.

Marvel.com: What proved to be the most difficult part about bringing this story together after such an intense arc?

Mark Waid: It’s always been a tough balancing act to juggle drama and comedy in this book, but with an art team like the one I’m blessed with? They pull it off beautifully.

Marvel.com: Favorite moment to write in issue #16?

Mark Waid: Miles Morales explaining who he wants on the team.

Marvel.com: Last question: What would the Champions say if you showed up to a recruiting drive?

Mark Waid: “You’re about 40 years too late…but here’s a consolation flight belt.”

Assess the new recruits in CHAMPIONS #16, by Mark Waid and artist Humberto Ramos, on January 17!

HONOLULU (AP) — Hawaii Attorney General Douglas Chin, who has been fighting President Donald Trump's travel ban and other policies over the past year, has announced he will run for U.S. Congress.

Riri Williams, the client, presents as a healthy late adolescent woman. Cognitive and IQ tests reveal a genius level intellect, with a particular propensity for tasks related to science, math, and engineering. Her history supports these test results; she attended M.I.T. in her mid-teens, which led directly to her current role as the armored hero known as Ironheart.

The client has a relationship with the office, dating back to her early childhood when she first began to understand the implications of her father’s death prior to her birth. After that period of brief existential therapy—which she processed with surprising intellect for someone her age—Williams left therapy for several years.

However, after the violent—and seemingly accidental—deaths of her stepfather and best friend, Williams returned to the office. Therapy at that time focused on issues of trauma, guilt, and radical acceptance. Client again self-discharged after short-term treatment. While this writer felt she could have done more work in a global mental health sense, he supported her choice without objection.

After Williams was ostensibly forced out of M.I.T. due to her unapproved acquisition of materials and equally unapproved creation of a high tech homemade suit of armor, she returned to therapy once more to process her feelings of sadness, fear, and guilt. She has continued on since then as she became a super hero and the protégé of Tony Stark as Ironheart.

Most of our focus in therapy has centered on emotional regulation, techniques for dealing with high levels of stress, and processing those thoughts when events return to baseline. However, we’ve also begun to take a psychodynamic approach to her life and begun to explore her feelings about the repeated loss of father figures she has endured—her father before her birth, her stepfather in her early teens, and, most recently, Tony Stark. We have also looked at how the women in her life have helped her survive those experiences, and what, if any, issues remain unaddressed even with the tremendous level of family and family-adjacent support she has received.

Similarly, we are exploring her relationship to same age peers after the death of her best friend and how that death—and her intellect—may be giving her an “excuse” not to seek out strong, lasting relationships with peers.

Due to a past history of mental illness related to armor use, as documented in previous users including James Rhodes and Tony Stark himself, Riri Williams is attending a two-session diagnostic scan for any possible signs of organic brain disturbances with Doctors Brian Michael Bendis, Stefano Caselli, and Alex Maleev on December 27 and January 17. The results of those tests will be found in INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #595 and #596, respectively.

Psy D. Candidate Tim Stevens is a Staff Therapist who could’ve gone to M.I.T. at the age of 15, but he missed the bus and it just became this whole thing.

1917 to 2017: 100 years of Kirby.

Join us to celebrate Jack “King” Kirby’s 100^th birthday by learning about the characters and stories he created that changed comics forever. To commemorate Jack’s centennial, we’ve sat down with the modern-day creators he influenced—and the decades of work he gifted us all.

During Jack Kirby’s return to Marvel in the 1970s, he had close to free rein when it came to rejuvenating existing characters like Captain America and Black Panther while also developing brand new ones like the Eternals. A race of super-powered individuals who lived a very long time, the Eternals made it their mission to protect humanity from the evils of the Deviants. However, in the pages of ETERNALS #14–16, Ikaris, Sersi, and Makkari found themselves faced with a far different challenge: The Hulk!

However, this particular Jade Giant proved a far different beast than the Green Goliath originally spawned by a gamma bomb. Instead, this one began as a robot created by some college students intending to get the crowd riled up for a football game. When the Uni-Mind—a conglomeration of all the Eternals in a floating collective brain—unleashed its power on the Earth, it unintentionally brought the artificial form to life. Though incredibly powerful in their own right, the trio of Eternals—accompanied by their human friends Margo and Professor Holden—didn’t seem capable of putting a dent in the cosmically powered being.

Eternals (1976) #14

• Published: August 10, 1977
• Added to Marvel Unlimited: October 09, 2009

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As you can imagine, the police and National Guard forces did not fare any better with the rampaging monstrosity who seemed bent solely on destruction. Just as the powered-up robot made his way to Ikaris for one final bout, the Eternals’ leader Zuras appeared out of nowhere, proclaiming, “Let my hand decide this fight!!” With but a touch, he began to release the cosmic energy from the bionic beast, but that still left Ikaris and company with a powerful robot to track down.

These events rolled right on into even more compelling ones as the pseudo Hulk blew itself up under the city after messing with gas lines. Once underground, Ikaris found himself taken over by another presence that soon made him do battle with his compatriot and friend Makkari—but that’s another story for another day!

The real fun of this arc comes from seeing these new characters take on a classic one that Kirby co-created 15 years prior. From the fisticuffs to the destruction and even the moments when the Eternals deal with the media, these issues comprise pure Kirby at what many consider his best!

Stay tuned to Marvel.com for more throughout Kirby Month and beyond! And join the conversation on all of our social channels with the hashtag #Kirby100.