Champions: No Time For Losers

Champions (1975) #1-3, 14-15

by Tony Isabella, Bill Mantlo, Gil Kane (Cover Art)

When fate calls, a sensational super-team answers! The avenging Angel! Hercules, Prince of Power! The deadly Black Widow! Ghost Rider, Spirit of Vengeance! And the amazing Iceman! When the Champions come together, it is legendary! So much so they'll face the mythological might of Cerberus, harpies, Amazons and Greek gods — all culminating in a wedding-stopping assault on Olympus! This mixed-up band might just be the heroes Los Angeles needs. And with the best headquarters Warren Worthington III's money can buy, and Darkstar added to the ranks, they'll be ready for the most uncanny of evils — like Swarm, Nazi scientist turned lord of killer bees! Only one group can stop the City of Angels from feeling his sting. They are the Champions — and they'll keep on fighting ‘til the end!

Collects Champions (1975) #1-3, 14-15

Genres: Comics

99 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 2, 2016

About the author

Tony Isabella is an American comic book writer, editor, artist and critic, known as the creator and writer of Marvel Comics' Black Goliath; DC Comics' first major African-American superhero, Black Lightning; and as a columnist and critic for the Comics Buyer's Guide.
Contents

Reviews

[Simon Treeton · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not worthwhile. Buy the Masterworks edition instead

[Phil · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Champions is a superhero group set in the Marvel universe led by Black Widow. The other members of the team are Hercules, Angel, Iceman, and Ghost Rider. It's an odd mix of characters, but they actually work well together.

There are two story arcs in this book. The story arcs are about as ridiculous as the team itself. In the first arc, Pluto, the god of the underworld, attacks the UCLA campus in an attempt to capture Hercules and Venus, the goddess of love. His plan is to force them to marry his allies and use that as leverage to be able to take over Olympus. The second arc features a villain known as the Swarm, a former Nazi that now has control over killer bees. That should give you an idea of what to expect.

The stories actually aren't that bad. They are put together pretty well. As odd as it seems that these particular characters come together, there are reasons for each of them to be in the area when the attacks occur. Where the book falls short for me is in the style of the book. These stories were originally published in the 1970s, and it shows. There is too much repetition as the characters recap what happened in the previous issues. I understand why it was done that way, but it breaks me out of the story and makes the whole experience less enjoyable.

The art is decent. It is dated a bit, much like some of the writing elements used. There are only a couple times where it struck me as being really good. The book is somewhat progressive by putting Black Widow in the lead role on the team. It's an interesting time capsule of Marvel comics, but nothing too exciting.

[Paula Lyle · Rating 3 out of 5]

The origin arc was just OK. These characters seem pretty random together.

I really liked The Swarm. Interesting concept, plus it had some of the humor that I associate with Marvel.

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

I discovered this by accident at my comics shop, along with a Captain America Serpent Society collection. I love these curated reprints of classic material. I wish there were a way to look them up as a subset. There was a Night Nurse one a while back, too.
In this one, Hercules teams up with Ghost Rider, Black Widow, and Iceman (what an unusual grouping!) to take on a few of the gods of Olympus who are plotting to overthrow Zeus by marrying Herc and Hippolyta and Venus and Ares and invoking some weird marriage rule that prevents them from keeping Pluto from taking over. But whatever, who cares. It's fun watching these guys punch each other.
A couple notes: definite Kirby influence on character design especially in the first couple of issues. Not pageboy haircut Huntsman, though. what a d-bag he is. Sheesh! Black Widow becomes the de facto, and then in later issues, official leader and there's a little backlash which Widow more than easily navigates. It's cool to see comics addressing social issues like that all the way back in the seventies. Too bad for a long time they were only able to scratch the surface. It took Raina Telgemeier, Noelle Stevenson, and G. Willow Wilson in the last few years to bring girl power to the forefront in a way that couldn't be denied by the mainstream industry.
We get to see Byrne's artwork in the last two issues. Pleasant surprise. I picked up the collection without knowing that Mantlo and Byrne teamed up to write a story about killer bees invading Los Angeles. Yeah, it's ridiculous, but it was the seventies.

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Champions are a somewhat forgotten superhero team Marvel put out in the 70s. This book is a reprint of the three-part origin story and then another two parter that came later. While the artwork improves as the book goes along, I can't say there's anything to really recommend about the Champions. The book is neither good nor bad. It just is. The only really special thing about the team is the weird line-up consisting of two Avengers, two X-Men, and Ghost Rider(!). For the curious only, I'd say.

[Susan]

It's nice to see Natasha just taking charge and kicking ass, not brooding about her past. I've never pictured Zeus as a redhead and most of the Olympians had a Kirby-esque feel to the designs. That was a little odd because to me, Kirby+gods=DC. Oh well.