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

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	• The Champions Classic, Vol. 1 Tony Isabella, Bill Mantlo, ... Marvel Comics, 2006 - 208 pages average customer review:based on 4 reviews view larger image
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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.

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 Rider up and down the wall) and Ice-Man teaming up with solo artists Black Widow and Ghost Rider. Mix them all up and add in the Lion of Olympus Hercules (with the best bad dialogue in comic history) and we have some form of supergroup that ends up fighting pure D-list villains.

With that kind of review you'd probably think I didn't like my visit with The Champions. But, you'd be wrong. The reading is fun, kept me smiling, and harkens back to a simple time when comics didn't need to be dark and grim but could simply be about people in bright spandex costumes fighting each other while spouting off odd comments.

If you're a superhero fan I say read and enjoy! CHAMPIONS CHARGE!

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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. Just look at that crazy team roster: Hercules, the Angel, Iceman, Black Widow, and Ghost Rider... what could possibly bring these characters together? Well, the answer is more interesting than you may think - in fact, their origin, which takes up the first 3 issues of this series, is pretty good storytelling. In short, all of our heroes are present at UCLA campus for various reasons, at the same time that harpies, Amazons, and Cerberus raid the campus searching for the golden age Marvel heroine Venus. Following this, Pluto, Ares, and Hippolyta arrive with an offer that Hercules and Venus can't refuse... but refuse they do, with help from the other heroes. After another adventure featuring mental hospital patients used as unwilling test subjects to recreate the super-soldier serum, the Angel (aka Warren Worthington III) realizes that, instead of attending UCLA, he'd rather form a team that will "champion" the ordinary man. As for Hercules, Black Widow, and Ghost Rider's reasons for joining - that's not so clear, but thank goodness they did or this'd be one boring team. Now bankrolled by Worthington's inheritance, the Champions encounter Hawkeye, the Two-Gun Kid, and Black Goliath, while finding time to battle Rampage, the Titanium Man, Crimson Dynamo, the Griffin, Darkstar, and even Stilt-Man. Maybe this isn't the most stellar list of villains, but it's certainly a nice break from more established characters that are seen everywhere else.

The stories are by a handful of writers, including Tony Isabella, Bill Mantlo, and Chris Claremont, who work effectively enough to keep the book on track. Early pencils were handled off and on by Don Heck, who was never the most stellar of Marvel's artists. Sure, he was dependable, but dependable and good are two different things; in fact, my earlier reference to the "first page" concerns Heck's work - sketchy, flat, and mundane, and normally not something that would encourage me to go any further into the book. If it's the first page of the first issue, do something with it! The arrival of George Tuska raises the artistic bar considerably - his mid-transformation Ghost Rider is especially creepy, and he perfectly depicts the rage of Hercules. Bob Hall pencils a couple of stories, and John Byrne shows up for his run with issue #11, which is unfortunately the end of the book; however, you shouldn't despair, because there's a CHAMPIONS CLASSIC VOLUME 2 on the way which will collect the remaining issues and showcase more of Byrne's work. Marvel's reprinting of this doomed series surprised me initially, but by the time I finished the book, I saw the appeal. So let's all raise a glass to the Champions... we hardly knew ya!

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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 fact of bringing these oddly matched characters together, and thankfully, the stories themselves actually weren't half bad either. In the first 11 issues of the series collected here, The Champions take on Stilt-Man, Titanium Man, Crimson Dynamo, and Rampage; and there's even appearances from Hawkeye and Black Goliath. There's a nice set of talent behind the scenes as well, including Tony Isabella, Don Heck, Bill Mantlo, Bob Hall, and the great John Byrne to boot. All in all, this first volume of The Champions is worth picking up for nostalgia's sake alone, and even though all the characters featured here were utilized better before and after The Champions came to an end, the series has nevertheless solidified a small part of Marvel history.

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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.

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