Champions #19

History

Jim Zub, a Toronto-based writer and art instructor, was announced alongside South African artist Sean Izaakse and colorist Tamra Bonvillain as the incoming creative team replacing series founder Mark Waid beginning with issue #19. Crucially, before writing a single page featuring Amka Aliyak, Zub sought out Nyla Innuksuk — founder of the Inuit-led VR production company Mixtape VR, who grew up in Igloolik and Iqaluit — as a cultural consultant; it was Innuksuk who suggested setting the character's origin in Pangnirtung, and who shaped the spiritual framework around the Inuit concept of Sila (a life force present in all things) that underpins Amka's powers. The cover for the issue was provided by Stefano Caselli, while Marcio Menyz served as colorist on interior pages alongside Izaakse's pencils and inks, with Tom Brevoort and Alanna Smith as editors.

Trivia · 8 facts

• First appearance of Amka Aliyak, who becomes the shapeshifting hero Snowguard — the first Marvel superhero from the Canadian Arctic rooted in Inuit mythology.
• Published April 11, 2018 (cover-dated June 2018); written by Jim Zub, drawn by Sean Izaakse, colored by Marcio Menyz, with a cover by Stefano Caselli.
• Marks the debut of the Zub/Izaakse creative team on the title, replacing founding writer Mark Waid (who had written the series since #1 in 2016) and artist Humberto Ramos.
• Opens the three-part 'Northern Lights' story arc, in which the Champions travel to the Arctic and clash with the villain Eshu, the Master of the World, who is harnessing the imprisoned Inua spirit Sila as an energy source to repair glaciers.
• Issue also formally integrates Ironheart (Riri Williams) and the Unstoppable Wasp (Nadia Pym) into the active Champions roster for the first time.
• Amka's powers — shapeshifting into Arctic animals and channeling the Aurora Borealis — derive from the Inuit spiritual concept of Sila, developed in direct consultation with Inuit filmmaker and cultural consultant Nyla Innuksuk, whose idea it also was to set the story in the real community of Pangnirtung, Nunavut.
• The arc received widespread Canadian media coverage upon its release, including from CBC Books and CBC Radio, which highlighted the cultural significance of an Inuit protagonist in a mainstream Marvel title.
• Collected in the trade paperback Champions Vol. 4: Northern Lights (ISBN 978-1302909826), which gathers issues #19–21 plus Infinity Countdown: Champions #1–2.

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