Champions (1975 team)

The Champions are a fictional team of superheroes appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The team first appears in ''The Champions'' #1 (October 1975) and was created by writer Tony Isabella and artist Don Heck. Their titular series is regarded as an example of a failed superteam comic, suffering from constant turnover in the writers and artists working on the series, lack of a consistent direction or concept, and mediocre sales.

Publication history

According to the letters page of ''Champions'' #6, writer Tony Isabella developed the concept of a new team of superheroes and originally wanted the roster to consist of former X-Men the Angel and the Iceman, and the newly created Black Goliath. Black Goliath became unavailable when the character debuted in his own title, forcing Isabella to rethink the concept. Editor Len Wein insisted on at least five members, and Isabella added three established heroes: Russian spy Black Widow, the Greek god Hercules, and the supernatural avenger Ghost Rider. Captain Marvel, Power Man, and the Son of Satan were all considered for the final place on the roster before selecting the Ghost Rider. Writer and publisher David Anthony Kraft is credited with naming the team, with the title originally intended to be published in the ''Giant-Size'' format as ''Giant-Size Champions''. Production difficulties, which caused a three-month delay between the first and second issues, prevented this.

Isabella has disputed this account on several points. First, he said, his original concept for the series was not a team book at all, but a humorous heroes-on-the-highway series in the vein of '' Route 66'' with Angel and Iceman. Black Goliath was not discussed during the meeting which laid out the series concept, but rather was a character he planned to have join the Champions later, precisely ''because'' he was a character with his own series, also written by Isabella. Finally, he insisted that the series was always going to be in a regular size format, and has hypothesized that the "giant-size" story was put forward to cover up the fact that the team was missing deadlines. He also said that he chose the Black Widow, Hercules, and the Ghost Rider for the group under the editorial requirements that the team must have a woman, a strong man, and at least one character with their own series.

The title was eventually published as ''The Champions'', and ran for 17 issues from October 1975 to January 1978. Publication continued to be erratic; the series went back and forth between monthly and bi-monthly throughout its run. The creative team saw an exceptionally high level of overturn, with 12 different writer/penciller/inker combinations over the course of just 17 issues. In addition to Don Heck, artists who drew the series include George Tuska

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