Okay, a god, a demon, a spy and two mutants walk into... some of the strangest scenarios of the '70s! It's gods vs. heroes in the City of Angels! With mad scientists, Russian super-spies and guest-stars from Marvel's western and horror eras! Plus: the secrets of the Black Widow! Featuring Hawkeye! Collects Champions #1-11.
If you thought the Defenders were an oddly matched superteam in the 1970s, the Champions had them beat. Start with a Greek demi-god (Hercules), a Russian ex-agent (the Black Widow), two Ex-men (Angel and Iceman), and a guy with a blazing skull riding a motorcycle (Ghost Rider), and you had the Champions, a short-lived Marvel creation from 1975. Thrown together when the Greek god of the dead, Pluto, attacks the UCLA campus, the Champions decided to become a "team of the people," funded by the Worthington fortune and a rare superhero team based on the West Coast. In their first 11 issues (they only lasted 17 total), the Champions face a scientist in an exo-skeleton suit, discover secrets about the Widow's past, and meet Black Goliath, Hawkeye, and the Two-Gun Kid picking up a storyline from the Avengers. The Champions were written and conceived by Tony Isabella and penciled by Don Heck, then the reins passed to writer Bill Mantlo and artists George Tuska, Bob Hall, and--starting with issue 11--future superstar John Byrne. --David Horiuchi

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Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0

Worth picking up for nostalgia's sake alone:

Who are the Champions? If you were reading Marvel comics in the 70's, you know the answer to this question, but for the uninformed, here's a history lesson. The Champions were a mish-mash super hero team that consisted of Hercules, Ghost Rider, Black Widow, Iceman, and Angel; and for a change of pace in the Marvel universe, were based on the West coast as opposed to the usual Marvel setting of New York. Though the title ultimately failed, The Champions solidified a place in the Marvel universe just by the... more info

Hercules Says: Readest Thou Must!:

Being a comic book fan of the 70's, I had fond memories of the short lived run of The Champions (all 17 issues of them). Naturally I was happy and a bit surprised when I saw Marvel was giving them the royal treatment with two TPB releases.
Then for the first time in 20 years, I read them...haha...oh what a grand time. There has probably never been a mish-mashed team in comic book history like the 5 core members of The Champions. We have X-men cast-offs Angel (far too grouchy and always riding Ghost... more info

Cheese-filled cheese dripped in cheese and covered with a cheese coating:

...and a side of cheese!
Y'know if I was going to team Ghost Rider up with someone, it would be Angel and Iceman, two of the most inconsequential X-men and Hercules and Black Widow--both bad copies of better heroes.
For some reason, I laughed through my whole reading of this book.

A good move by Marvel:

They say you can't judge a book by its cover... sometimes that can even be true about the book's first page. If I were to have judged the CHAMPIONS CLASSIC VOLUME 1 trade paperback solely by the first page of the first issue, I'd have put it back on the shelf. Thankfully, my curiosity got the better of me, resulting in my enjoying yet another gem in this age of quirky Marvel reprints.
This trade paperback collects issues #1- 11 of the ill-fated 1975 series that is often referred to in jest, if at all.... more info

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