Writer: Peter David; Artist: Juan Santacruz; Inker: Raul Fernandez; Letterer: Randy Gentile; Colorists: Studio F; Editor: Mark Paniccia; Editor In Chief: Joe Quesada; Cover Artist: Ryan Sook
On the campus of UCLA in Los Angeles, Secret Service Agent Spooner prepares for the arrival of the President when he's approached by Hercules. The President is on his way to give the Congressional Medal of Honor to the Champions for saving the country from Dr. Doom's mind control gas - a plot stopped by Johnny Blaze, the Ghost Rider, due to him not having to breathe in his supernatural form. The rest of the Champions - Black Widow, Angel, Iceman, Darkstar, and Blaze - join Hercules just in time to hear Spooner declare a "Code: Jade" after a phone call. Spooner tells the heroes that Bruce Banner, the Hulk, has just been spotted in a car on Wilshire Boulevard. Angel takes off with a radio to see if he can spot Banner, and when he finds the car he witnesses Bruce transforming into the Hulk and bursting out of the vehicle. When Angel tries to talk to him, the Hulk tosses the car's door at him - and though it misses him, Angel realizes that the metal door is heading toward a church wedding. Though he gets hit himself in the process, Angel manages to keep anyone from getting hurt.
Back on the freeway, Hulk has picked up the car just as Iceman and Ghost Rider arrive and attack. Hulk breaks free of the ice produced around him, and shrugs off Blaze's hellfire just as the other Champions arrive. Hercules attacks, hitting Hulk several times while the monster continues to hold the car in the air. With one kick, Hercules is sent flying away. The Champions continue to press their attack, forcing Hulk to set down the car and slam his fists repeatedly onto the street, knocking the heroes senseless with the shock waves. Confident that he has won, the Hulk picks the car back up and leaps away - leaving the Champions to wonder why the monster never attempted to throw the car at them.
Angel follows Hulk to a hospital, where he enters carrying a young girl that's in a considerable amount of pain. Realizing that the Hulk is trying to save her, Angel orders the doctors to help the girl. Content that the girl is safe, Hulk leaps away. Later, in the hospital, the Champions are visiting with the girl - Bruce's cousin, Jennifer Walters - whose appendix had burst while she was in the car with Banner. Hercules questions why the Hulk didn't tell them that he was trying to save her, but Walters angrily replies "Did you ask?"
Later that night, Hercules and the Black Widow sit atop the Champions building and discuss the day's events. Hercules remarks that they are no longer honorable for attacking the Hulk without first finding out what was going on. They attacked without provocation, and Hercules hopes that one day they will have the opportunity to make amends to the Hulk.
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| In all their glory! |
THE ROADMAP
This story takes place between The Champions (1975) # 16 and The Champions (1975) # 17, following Dr. Doom's nearly successful attempt to take over the United States.
Following a blood transfusion from Bruce Banner, his cousin Jennifer Walters also becomes irradiated with gamma radiation in The Savage She-Hulk (1980) # 1.
This special also contained a "Planet Hulk" story by Greg Pak and Aaron Lopresti and a reprint of Hulk: The End by Peter David and Dale Keown.
CHAIN REACTION
In a special flashback story, the Champions are reunited to fight the Hulk in a tale that ominously ties into the "World War Hulk" event.
Of all the characters to bring back, even in a flashback story, the Champions were not who I'd have expected. The series was a failure in its heyday, for many varied reasons - from a lack of a central concept to a team of horrible mismatched characters. But there is an undeniable fondness for the Los Angeles super-team of the 70's, and this special "untold tale" couldn't help but bring a smile to my face. It harkens back to a more innocent time when the Marvel Universe was a brighter place. It helps considerably that this story was written by the late Peter David, who did such nostalgic stories very well in his "old school Marvel" approach.
It also deals with the "Hulk as a misunderstood monster" cliché in a way that's not overly-dramatic or filled with modern sullenness. The Champions were heroes who very nearly made a grave mistake by attacking first and questioning later, simply because the Hulk was a monster. But who can blame them? The Hulk IS a monster responsible for massive amounts of property damage. But regardless, the Champions' plight at the end of the story is handled well, and sets up their partial reunion and allegiance with the Hulk when he returned for the "World War Hulk" storyline. Of course, Hercules' remorse and decision to not attack the Hulk without reason in the future isn't very plausible considering how many times the Hulk fought him and the Avengers in later storylines - but hell, let's just go with it for now.
Something else to comment on is the sliding timescale of Marvel's universe and the way it's addressed in this story. Even though The Champions story that this follows up on was published back in 1977, when the President was Jimmy Carter, the time frame given here is in the mid 1990s with President Bill Clinton. The rule is that there has been roughly 15 years passed since the Fantastic Four's debut to now has resulted in most dates in older storylines being completely topical. Tony Stark, for instance, became Iron Man during the late 90's instead of the Vietnam War. It's an unfortunate by-product of Marvel's understandable desire to keep their characters from aging too much, considering Spider-Man debuted in the early 1960s, making Peter Parker in his 50s or 60s were he aging in real time. Peter David approached this with his tongue firmly in cheek when he has Hercules state that he thought the President they had just rescued was "Carter" and not "Clinton" and blames it on his immortal existence making his memories blur together. It's a nice touch that made me chuckle.
The artwork on the story is by Juan Santacruz, who does a great job with making it feel like a classic Marvel tale, with the art appropriately clean and streamlined (aided by the bright colors provided by Studio F). There's nothing too flashy or stylistic about Juan's work, but it's effective and pretty to look at - and for a story such as this, that's all we should really ask for.
I'd still like to see a modern reunion of the Champions of Los Angeles attempted seriously, even if the team is a joke short-hand nowadays. Not as a flashback or a done-in-one reunion, but an actual attempt to make the concept work.
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| Just suffocate him with hellfire, Johnny! |
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