Champions Classic, Vol. 1

Champions Classic #1

by Tony Isabella, Bill Mantlo, Chris Claremont

Featuring mad scientists, Russian super-spies and guest-stars from Marvel's Western and horror eras, 'Champions Classic' brings together some of the most popular comic book heroes of the 1970s.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Marvel, X Men, Comic Book, Superheroes

208 pages, Paperback

First published July 5, 2006

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

[Gina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was pretty enjoyable reading. It has its flaws, with a lot of moving around at the different creator positions, but that also means that at different points you get Isabella, Mantlo, and Claremont.

There are some interesting ideas here which did not get to play out completely. The most crucial was how a superhero team focusing on regular people and their problems would fare, which seems like it could have been a partial inspiration for Heroes for Hire. The Champions didn't really seem to get there, since they started out fighting to prevent the overthrow of Zeus through forced marriages of Hercules and Venus, and end battling Soviet super spies.

There were also points made about the importance of plans and leadership, and the series treats Black Widow pretty well. It looked like Angel's money was going to be more of a hindrance than a help, but wealthy superheroes are a time-honored tradition. Honestly, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Hercules; definitely more than the DC version.

The different authors and gaps in issues may give an uneven feel at times, but there was a good rapport building up and it could have been nice to see how it played out.

One of those issues was Bobby Drake's (Iceman) secret plan to leave the team once it got established. It would have been nice to see some pull in the other direction too, with things he enjoyed about being on a team. As it was, his fear of being detected and embarrassing his family kept being referred to as "coming out", which is hard not to read differently in retrospect.

[Sarospice · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dumb fun. I love a crazy mix of characters and this series had them in spades. Unfortunately, they never gel...

[Nicolas · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s like they just picked superheroes at random and tossed them in a book together. Do they fit? No! Is the story cohesive? No! Was it fun? Ish!

[Adam Stone · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very, and I mean very, silly and forgettable comic from the X-Men In Hiding era of comics. Angel and Iceman end up in a team with Hercules, Black Widow, and Ghost Rider to do some, sigh, shenanigans from Mount Olympus. None of the villains in this volume are interesting, the heroes really don't mesh together well, and it's filled with "Holy Hannah!"s and other 60s-era relics, even though this book came out comfortably in the 70s.

I had never read this series until now, and I didn't miss much.

If you enjoy Silver Age style (it's not quite actually Silver Age) stories that don't particularly make sense and that you will probably forget about as soon as you shut the book, you might love this. It wasn't for me.

[Ryan · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's great to see all of these characters used, with the exception of Hercules. His character seems like a big, muscle-bound joke. The writers say they were trying to keep things grounded, but they never really are. Also, isn't the Ghost Rider supposed to be serious because he is cursed by the devil and has a flaming skull head? Well they missed that too, because he just spits out redneck dialogue during fights. This was a miss only made better by some wonderful art by Tuska and Byrne.

[Martin Maenza · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a 70’s comic run that interested me growing up but one I had never read. I liked the idea of five rag-tag heroes coming together. The group had potential and the art and storytelling was pretty good.

[Erik J · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a lot of fun! I miss the days of superhero comics where it was just simply fun to read them. The cast was unique, the setting was great, and the various enemies they faced were so random it was enjoyable.

Overall - 3/5

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very enjoyable despite that it is very obvious it was written in the 1970’s. The stories are pretty good, but some of the details are really bad. The art is very good.

[Stephen Snyder · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was one of the most underrated superhero teams. It was great to relive their adventures once again.

[Antonio Ballesteros · Rating 3 out of 5]

Irregular a mas no poder, con unas historias sencillas y divertidas, acordes a la importancia (poca) que ya sabía Marvel que iba a tener la serie.

Lo mejor de todo en este tomo es la llegada al final del gran Byrne con un más que notable dibujo (lo normal en el).

[Travis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun super hero adventures featuring a team made up of a bunch of second tier super heroes. There's a greek god, two members of the X-men, a hot lady Russian spy and a demonic motorcycle stuntman.

Lightweight stuff, but not trying to do more than present some decent, straight forward super hero action. Very nice art.

[Devero · Rating 1 out of 5]

Il supergruppo dei Campioni ha una storia editoriale alquanto controversa. Nasce dall'idea di portare in giro per l'america i due ex X-men, Angelo e Uomo Ghiaccio, e si modifica più volte per interventi editoriali vari. Alla fine ne risulta una serie alquanto loffia, specialmente nelle prime storie raccolte in questo volume.

[J · Rating 3 out of 5]

In Byrne we trust. Stories were campy. Guess its the times. Artwork is a game changer.

[Kerri · Rating 2 out of 5]

Angel and Iceman are back in the super-hero business.