At the heart of Armor X is a pretty good idea, a photo negative of the typical teen superhero story that shows the outcast revealing his better nature in his heroic alter-ego, thereby proving himself (and the readers identifying with him) better than all those jocks who belittled him. Champagne's story is a post-Columbine look that reminds us that the outcasts can be just as damaged and dangerous as the popular kids, and it puts a dangerous suit of alien armor into a psychologically fragile teen boy looking to lash out. Like I said, it's a good idea, but it is unfortunately handicapped by some of the clunkiest dialogue I've ever read and a sensibility that reads like it's trying to be HBO/FX gritty and hard while still maintaining a Silver Age comics/afterschool special type of morality. It all feels a little artificial and forced, such that I'm interested in seeing where the plot goes, but not at all invested in the characters.
Champagne is a great inker, one of the best in the business, but in his first at-bat as a writer, he comes across very much as a rookie. The patter of the dialogue and the painfully forced pop culture references reminds me of nothing so much as Stan Lee when he was trying to sound hip, and while that has a certain amount of old school charm, it also robs Armor X of the verisimilitude it needs to carry a morally nuanced plot like the one Champagne has come up with. Seriously, the jocks call the guy "Columbine," use phrases like "freaky-deaky" and our lead makes a tired Jerry Maguire reference, with the kicker of making fun of the movie he references meant to give him a sort of cynical cool. Champagne pushes too hard, and thus ruins the reality of the situation, so that the reader is aware at every turn not of characters interacting but of a plot being developed where the characters act as the plot dictates.
While I'm generally not buying into this cliched cast of characters, from confused social misfit Carson Deeds to jock stereotypes Leon, Rob and Rico (the jock with a heart of gold), I am somewhat interested by the superhero elements that Champagne infuses the story with. The mysterious "Detective Melissa Hill" is a question that I'd like to know the answer to... is he a sinister agent of a terran government or alien intelligence, or is he in fact the good guy, hunting down a dangerous weapon? The suit of armor's interaction with Carson is also interesting, as it manipulates its weak-willed host to chaos and murder, although the reasons why aren't clear yet. Champagne has a good handle on the unreal elements, he just needs to infuse a sense of reality into the rest of it to give these elements a stronger, more interesting context.
Art chores on Armor X come courtesy of Andy Smith, whose style most closely resembles that of Bart Sears but who has reined in some of the over-musculature that Sears often uses these days for a pretty clear storytelling style here. The Armor X design is honestly kind of garish, looking like the kind of thing Marvel would have produced in the '70s, but it's functional, with its shielded faceplate providing the same identification factor as Spider-Man's costume does, and also serving to shield Carson's human core behind a hard, alien-looking shell. Smith also does some pretty nice subtle storytelling cues, with a particularly nice bit of work on Whitney's eyes, conveying that she's blind before the script touches on it by keeping her eyes focused forward and making them just slightly wider than normal. He's betrayed by a substandard coloring job from Rick Hiltbrunner, however, whose work just drowns in deep browns and blues and, combined with Smith's heavy ink lines, provides a somewhat oppressive and old school look to the whole thing.
Ultimately, that's the biggest challenge that Armor X faces. The idea is new, a modern day twist on a classic chestnut, but the execution is pure old school comics. That sensibility works for the superhero flavored segments, but it is the more realistic elements that make the book stand out as something different, and if they're not working, than the book really isn't working as anything more than yet another take on the armored superhero. 4/10
