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Champions, The #6: Review

Jun 1976
Tony Isabella, Vince Colletta

Story Name:

Mad Dogs and Businessmen

Review & Comments

Rating:
3.5 stars

Champions, The #6 Review by (March 8, 2023)

Review:Rampage--the recession-born super-villain who could be you!” Looks like Marvel has a very low opinion of “you.” Anyway, the cover shows Rampage in the act of abducting Black Widow and trying to ram Hercules while Angel and Iceman are…what? Playing in some kind of starbursts that appear to have nothing to do with the villain. A basic plot that is the pretext for some decent action, with minimal characterization for the series’ regulars. An extra half star for a villain who is motivated by revenge but doesn’t really want to hurt anyone, just the faceless “government” but is soon in over his head. And kudos to Angel for pointing out that they are not the Avengers, they don’t avenge, they protect. Sadly, if they were more like the Avengers, their comic would be better on a monthly basis.

Comments: Part two of two parts. The title echoes a quote attributed to Rudyard Kipling, “Only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun.” Ghost Rider does not appear in the issue as he is adventuring in Hell with Son of Satan in issues #17-19 of his own comic. Gaspar Saladino lettered the first page.





 

Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Champions, The #6 Synopsis by Peter Silvestro

Hercules, Black Widow, and Iceman (plus Ivan Petrovich) of the Champions are being held at bay by the villain Rampage, threatening to kill the unconscious Angel with an armored blow to the head. Herc wants to leap forward but Iceman blasts him in the back to discourage rash action. The team chooses to walk away to protect their teammate—but Iceman whirls around and freezes Rampage in a larger cube than before and they rescue Angel before the baddie can smash his way out. Rampage retaliates and he blasts Ivan who pushes Natasha out of harm’s way. Fearing he may have killed Ivan, Rampage hurls a car at Herc which explodes when the Greek demigod punches it and Rampage leaps unseen to a rooftop in the confusion. As Stuart Clarke, he hides the costume in a crate and walks out, pretending to be a workman….

As the emergency personnel attend to Ivan and give Natasha an optimistic prognosis, she vows revenge. Angel persuades her that the Champions are not about vengeance and proposes that the team needs a leader and suggests she be the one, Herc agrees and so does Iceman who is secretly planning to leave the team soon anyway; Bobby also believes he speaks for the absent Ghost Rider. They head to the hospital….

At his home, Stuart Clarke’s ex-lawyer Amos Crawley is watching TV news coverage of the incident and recognizes Rampage’s costume as an invention of Clarke’s. Smarting about being fired, he calls the police and tells them who Rampage is. Shortly, the police surround Clarke’s lab and demand his surrender. Fearing prison and with boot jets too damaged to fly, he dons an experimental jet pack and crashes through the door, unaware there was an officer standing near it. Worried that he has committed a second murder, he panics and just wants to escape. Result: there is a running battle with the police down Hollywood Boulevard. The Champions, having heard the news on the radio, arrive at the scene and take the bad guy on. Natasha informs him that both Ivan and the injured officer will recover and demands his surrender. Surrounding him, they take turns hitting him; deciding to die rather than be captured, Rampage slams his jet pack to the ground, causing it to explode. Iceman hastily surrounded the pack with an ice shield, protecting his teammates but the blast was too close to the villain and he is seriously injured. The Champions head home as Amos Crawley, assuming Stuart Clarke hadn’t changed Crawley’s power of attorney, makes plans to sell off all of Clarke’s company assets and keep the money….  




Vince Colletta
Vince Colletta
Petra Goldberg
Jack Kirby (Cover Penciler)
Frank Giacoia (Cover Inker)
? (Cover Colorist)
Layouts: George Tuska. Letterer: Irv Watanabe.

Characters

Listed in Alphabetical Order.

Angel
Angel

(Warren Worthington)
Black Widow
Black Widow

(Natasha Romanoff)
Ivan Petrovich
Ivan Petrovich

(Ivan Petrovich Bezukhov)

Plus: Champions, Rampage.

> Champions, The: Book info and issue index

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