The Champions - Marvel's Oddest Super Team

This past week I started taking a run through the original series of The Champions from Marvel Comics. The Champions was always the strangest superhero group that I think either Marvel or DC has ever attempted. It almost seems as if Marvel decided that they had these five characters hanging around they were not doing anything with, so why not  throw them together into a team. Wikipedia has some insight into how this book came about but no matter how much talent was behind the scenes and on the page they couldn't seem to make a go of it past issue 17. That's a shame since the various characters are so interesting, especially circa 1975, when this book debuted. Simply by having the Black Widow elected as team leader it was a forward thinking comic. So, I'm taking a run through this, reading every issue for the first time in my life and seeing just how effective or ineffective the series was.

When I was young I only ever ran across a couple of random issues of the series but it was always very intriguing. I mean, come on! The Ghost Rider, Hercules, the Black Widow, Iceman and Angel in the same group? This has got to be fascinating no matter what, right? And so far it kind of is. The series gets off to a supernatural start focusing on a plot by Olympians to forces Zeus into making his son Hercules submit to matrimony with someone he doesn't want to marry. It's a very convoluted plot that involves the eventual destruction of Zeus by said Olympian bad guys and, as you might expect, the Champions come together and are able to thwart this plan. I look forward to seeing which direction things take in the next dozen issues.  I love Bronze Age comics!