Yes, I will look forward to more Defenders this summer...but I wonder if Dr. Strange will be "dead" for that series? A Clea led Defenders would be kind of fun.
"Age is not defined by years, but by regrets...I'm an old man now." --Fighting Yank, "Project Superpowers"
Last edited by Lee Stone; 01-20-2022 at 07:28 AM.
"There's magic in the sound of analog audio." - CNET.
What would y'all think of the original Champions team being considered retro-actively as a sort-of 'West Coast Defenders'?
It didn't last very long and the line-up was very 'Defenders-ish', and seems to be all but forgotten now. (And quite possibly more 'Defenders-like' than the Bendis team was.)
"There's magic in the sound of analog audio." - CNET.
Actually, I always thought of the original Champions as the original "West Coast Avengers", especially considering that you had two Avengers in the team. Plus, Ice-Man and Angels mirrored Beast, and part-time member Black Goliath was basically Hank Pym's stand-in. Always thought Darkstar had Avengers potential. The only real odd card was Ghost Rider (though, not anymore). All in all, I loved the original Champions and they remain one of my favorite Marvel teams ever.
Peace
That book was among the first dozen or so titles I tried to follow as a child.
In retrospect, the original Champions was a real oddball book. It was very Avengeresque with the multi-millionaire deciding to fund a superhero team as a personal vanity project, only with Angel playing that role instead of Iron Man. But the heroes were all, especially at the time, B- and C-list characters, even more so than the Defenders. There was never any kind of vision or purpose behind the team, either. It was just another Marvel super team book, and one with no writer or artist assigned to it for very long.
I liked their flying car. Even without much discerning taste, I particularly enjoyed and recognized Byrne’s art on the later issues of that title. I think the issue where they fight Sentinels was, oddly, the first comic I read featuring Sentinels as the villains. I was aware of them, through Marvel’s puzzle books and such, but I had not read an actual issue with them in it until the Champions.
Apparently there is a TwoMorrows Back Issue!, #65, with an article that serves up the inside scoop on that book, "'We'll Keep on Fighting 'Til the End': The Story of the Champions." I might seek that out just to find out what the story was with that title.
I read issue #5 and I got to say the light vs dark battle as something that might touch back to Sentry/Void still has me puzzled? I'm not following the dots others seem to see.
There has got to be more at play in that time travel back through time right? I may need to sit down and read all 5 together. The story got a bit trippy for me and didn't stick with me well so maybe its me not the story.
The reveal for who the Masked Raider was had me going......who? I've no idea who this person is or why I should care. I read a scant amount of books now so was this character a player somewhere else? I can't even recall his name right now to do a google search. That is how much of this story doesn't hold well for me. I just read it last night. Carlos something???
I know some of my waning intrest comes from the book not having characters I'd wholly want to see as Defenders. Then the ones we got, Strange gave up his power, Surfer was fighting on this grand scale seemingly out of touch. Cloud and Red Harpy/Betty(I also prefer Red She-Hulk but anyway) were just spectators largely by the end.
If I'm going to re-invest this summer I'm going to need more in the way of where a story is going over several arcs and a better team lineup.
"Freedom is the right of all sentient beings" - Optimus Prime
Ummmmmmmmmmmmm, okay, for the sake of those who may not have read it, I will hide this in a spoiler box:
spoilers:end of spoilers
So you didn't notice that the reveal of the Masked Rider's identity was that he was the villain they have been chasing after since issue # 1? You didn't need to do a Google search--just read the prior four issues. Maybe, perhaps, the fault isn't with the story but with your attention to the plot?
"Age is not defined by years, but by regrets...I'm an old man now." --Fighting Yank, "Project Superpowers"
I was a big fan of that series -- especially after Bill Mantlo took over -- and even more when John Byrne came aboard. I actually preferred his Champions work to his X-Men work. But these days, Black Widow is more of a superspy than a superhero, and Angel and Iceman are probably both unavailable because they are part of the X-Men world. I could see a mini-series, though, if they had to get back together because of some old, unfinished business. I'd include Darkstar ---and maybe even resurrect Black Goliath (he got a raw deal in Civil War).
I have that issue and recommend it. I recall that Champions was originally planned as a buddy book for just Angel and Iceman, but TPTB said to make it a team. Editorial also came up with the idea of making their HQ a turkey. I really liked that aspect of the team -- and, of course, the flying car. Iceman finally got a good costume, and Angel kinda went back to his Neal Adams costume. Darkstar was interesting as well. The story was supposed to be wrapped up in Avengers, but appeared in Spectacular Spider-Man instead. When Mantlo was going to take over Avengers (before Shooter decided to write it again -- and really ruined the book) and had a new Champions planned. But, Shooter removed him (and Gene Colan) from the book after only one or two issues.
Last edited by kcekada; 01-28-2022 at 10:57 AM.
"Freedom is the right of all sentient beings" - Optimus Prime
I thought it was okay.
It did seem a bit 'on the nose' for the first few issues, though.
On the plus side, the art was really good.
It was nice to see the original New Defenders get referenced, too.
And Stephen sounded like Stephen, for the most part.
I also didn't care much for the ending.
"There's magic in the sound of analog audio." - CNET.