Cover Date: February 1976
On Sale Date: November 1975
Writers: Tony Isabella & Bill Mantlo
Artist: George Tuska
Inker: Vince Colletta
Letterer: Karen Mantlo
Colorist: George Roussos
Editor: Marv Wolfman
Cover Artist: Rich Buckler
Following Pluto's kidnapping of Hercules and Venus to Olympus, the Black Widow, Angel, and Iceman are lounging on the beach contemplating their next move. They're visited by Johnny Blaze, who reminds them of the ice mountain that Iceman formed over one of the portals to Olympus and was never closed, which could gain them access to Olympus.
In Olympus, Zeus is forced to stand aside while Pluto arranges the weddings of Hercules and Venus to Hippolyta and Ares. The Huntsman, Pluto's enforcer, walks out toward the mountain of ice, which explodes with hellfire as the Champions burst through. While Black Widow and Iceman stay behind to fight the Huntsman and his mutant horde, Angel and Ghost Rider go to stop the weddings. While the heroes make short work of the Huntsman, Ares, and Hippolyta, they are unable to stand against the power of Pluto. Ghost Rider moves past Pluto and addresses Zeus, calling him out for abandoning Hercules and falling for Pluto's trickery. Realizing his mistake, Zeus sends Pluto running back to Hades and gives Hercules his blessing to return to Earth with his mortal comrades. The heroes enter the portal back to Earth, each of them wondering what is going to happen next.
Following Pluto's kidnapping of Hercules and Venus to Olympus, the Black Widow, Angel, and Iceman are lounging on the beach contemplating their next move. They're visited by Johnny Blaze, who reminds them of the ice mountain that Iceman formed over one of the portals to Olympus and was never closed, which could gain them access to Olympus.
In Olympus, Zeus is forced to stand aside while Pluto arranges the weddings of Hercules and Venus to Hippolyta and Ares. The Huntsman, Pluto's enforcer, walks out toward the mountain of ice, which explodes with hellfire as the Champions burst through. While Black Widow and Iceman stay behind to fight the Huntsman and his mutant horde, Angel and Ghost Rider go to stop the weddings. While the heroes make short work of the Huntsman, Ares, and Hippolyta, they are unable to stand against the power of Pluto. Ghost Rider moves past Pluto and addresses Zeus, calling him out for abandoning Hercules and falling for Pluto's trickery. Realizing his mistake, Zeus sends Pluto running back to Hades and gives Hercules his blessing to return to Earth with his mortal comrades. The heroes enter the portal back to Earth, each of them wondering what is going to happen next.
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| Action time! |
THE ROADMAP
Ghost Rider appeared last in Ghost Rider (1973) # 15 and appears next in Ghost Rider (1973) # 16.
CHAIN REACTION
The first adventure for the Champions concludes as Hercules makes some new friends and Ghost Rider saves the day by talking shit to Zeus.
It's fairly obvious, at least to me, which characters Tony Isabella favor out of the cast of five Champions he's assembled. Iceman, Angel, and Black Widow get some action and their fair share of ludicrous dialogue, but the plot for this issue hinges totally on Hercules and Ghost Rider. It makes sense that those are the two the story seemingly revolves around, considering Hercules and his backdrop are what form the villainous plot and otherworldly setting for the story. The whole coincidental impetus for this team's formation holds Hercules as the responsible party, so it's natural that he gets a load of attention. He's also nominally the book's star, held up as the marquee character despite one of his teammates being the only one to have a solo series at the time. Ghost Rider, the aforementioned solo star that gets his spotlight here, likely receives that attention because he was Isabella's baby. I quite like that Ghost Rider not only redeems his huge mistake from the end of the last issue by figuring out the ice mountain bit but also saves the day by pointing his bony finger in Zeus' face. It's a novel approach to taking on a power like Pluto, and it's something Isabella did quite a bit when it came to resolving fights, usually taking an approach other than punching.
Unfortunately, while Ghost Rider comes out looking pretty good, Hercules and his Olympian brethren are all god-sized morons. Zeus, all-knowing and all-powerful, can't figure out that the GOD OF HELL is tricking him until it's thrown in his face? He's willing to sell out his own son and can't just smite Pluto himself, taking him at his word that he's formed this coalition of the unliving? Pluto doesn't come off much better, as his plot hinges on an Olympian law making it impossible for spouses to fight against one another, which he thinks negates Hercules and Venus from standing against him. It also negates Pluto's strongest allies, Ares and Hippolyta, from doing the same, but I guess he didn't bother to think that far ahead.
The artwork sees a huge improvement, though, as George Tuska steps up in place of Don Heck. The series still has that Marvel house style of the 1970s, but it's immediately more dramatic and anatomically correct than Heck's stiff figures and unimaginative designs. Tuska characters all look so happy to just be on the page and his storytelling is fairly solid. There's a bit of nonsense with the Hippolyta's sword being turned into a plow (I guess?) that elicited some eye rolling, but it's made up for by some earlier action scenes at least showing some motion and impact.
The Champions didn't get off to a great start. This story arc seemed thrown together at best and plotted on a napkin at worst. The series does get better, but it's easy to see based on this why these characters never caught on as a team.
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| Good thinkin', GR! |
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