"Champions" comic books 1986-1988, and beyond

[Guest dan2448]

Back in 1986 when I was actively playing "Champions" in high school, I bought the initial "Champions" comic book mini series published by Eclipse and then the next half dozen or so issues published by Hero Graphics/Heroic Publishing in 1987. But I then gave up on it. I was surprised when I first discovered a few years ago that Heroic Publishing continued to publish "Champions" comic books in the late 1980s and the 1990s, and even continues to publish them sporadically today (as well as assorted spin offs like "Flare").

 

From the covers posted online, it looks like in recent years some of this material has 'drifted' into 'Good Girl Art.' I am also aware that sometime in the early 1990s there was some sort of disagreement between Heroic Publishing and Hero Games (and/or the actual owners of the individual characters themselves) resulting in some name changes and roster changes.

 

Given the above, has anyone here actually read a significant number of these issues published after 1987, and, if so, are any of them any good and worth buying on ebay?

[GhostDancer]

I've picked up new comics weekly for decades, leafing through the comics in question - not worth purchase IMHO.

[Chris Goodwin]

I've glanced at a few of them. They seem to be poor quality, illustrated, erotic fan fiction.

[Zen Archer]

I haven't read the "Flare" series, but I have read the Champions books and I agree with the above critcisms. Avoid.

[Andrew_A]

Any capsule reviews/opinions/observations/rants?

 

I read the Eclipse mini and the first issue of the regular series. I thought the dialogue, characterization, and art sucked, but they must have done *something* right. After all, someone mentions them every so often. Any fans out there?

[Guest dan2448]

I decided to flip through those early issues (which I still have in a closet), and are are my thoughts:

 

1. "Champions" six issue mini-series by Eclipse 1986-1987. I was so psyched as a high school kid when the first issue was originally published over 25 years ago. But my initial excitement was quickly turned to disappointment by substandard artwork and a story that seemed to over-emphasize the occult. But I bought all six issues because of the relatively tight linkage to the 3rd edition of the game. There were Champions stats for heroes and villains in every issue, and an editorial by Hero Games' Steve Peterson in issue #1. Demon was the primary villain group, and the "Primus & Demon" sourcebook had just been published the year before. Foxbat was another featured villain. And Dr. Arcane (a mash up of Dr. Strange and Professor X) was taken from Dennis Mallonee's own "Coriolis Effect" module, published around the same time. Looking over these issues again now as an adult reinforced my old impressions. The artwork was pretty poor. But the same team went on to illustrate another couple dozen "Champions" issues over the next couple of years and radically improved in the process. But in these early issues, the backgrounds are so minimal and nondescript that at one point, when the Champions HQ is being attacked, there is literally no way to tell that it is (hypothetically) set inSan Francisco's Golden Gate Park. As illustrated, they could be on the surface of the moon (with a couple of pine trees sprinkled around for some reason). This series also employed a narrative device that writer Dennis Mallonee's would re-use recurrently in subsequent issues: having characters change bodies (by magic or technology or costumes or otherwise). For some reason, he kept repeating this over and over again throughout the series.

 

2. "Champions" ongoing series by Hero Graphics. 12 issues (plus a 1988 annual) published from 1987-1988. The first issue includes an editorial by Dennis Mallonee which reads in part, "This is the comic book it should have been. It was never intended to be a stereotypical 'team book.'" In issue #2 he wrote, "Frankly, the mini series was not as good a comic as it could have been." But these new "Champions" issues nontheless have the same writer and same art team, and feature the same characters. The artwork did improve notably, however, but never rose close to Marvel or DC standards. And the plots continued to have an occult emphasis, continued to feature recurring 'body switching' among heroes and villains, and to have a significant emphasis on characters created by Dennis Mallonee himself. That being said, Mechanon did feature in two issues (kidnapping the Champions one-by-one after dressing up as other Champions and getting close enough to drug them before creating robot duplicates of them), as did VIPER, and Pulsar, and Foxbat's origin is told in another issue. And Champions stats for some of these characters continued to be published in most (but not all) issues. Annual #1 (1988), the last in this series ever published, had by far the best stories and artwork, and at the back featured a series of pin-ups of villains, including several from the "Champions" game, which were genuinely excellent, I thought. But the series abruptly went on a 2 year publishing hiatus after this annual was published.

 

3. "Marksman" ongoing series. Five issues (plus a 1988 Annual) published by Hero Graphics from 1987-1988, before it too was cancelled after Annual #1 was published. The title "Marksman" was really a misnomer , because two separate, serialized stories were published in each issue. One told the origin of Marksman, culminating in a battle with Dr. Destroyer on his island (and brief battles with Demon and other 3e Champions villains like Green Dragon, Ogre and Professor Muerte), while the other storyline focussed on Rose, a so-called 'occult investigator' (again battling Demon mostly). The artwork on the Rose stories was actually very good. The plotting and dialogue (by then comic book novice and "Superworld" RPG writer Steve Perrin) and art in the Marksman stories was frankly pretty amateurish and below even the standard of the "Champions" issues. But I bought these issues originally (and kept them all these years) because I did enjoy seeing the Champions RPG villains (and to a lesser extent the heroes) 'brought to life.' There were no Champions RPG character stats in these issues, however. Lastly, I'd note that I could tell there was 'trouble in paradise' when issue 5 contained a full-page ad for Mayfair's "DC Heroes" RPG, and no mention of the "Champions" RPG.

 

4. "League of Champions" published by Heroic Publishing from 1991 (to, I think, the present - intermittently). I had the first three of these issues in my collection, which surprised me. I must've bought them in a $1 bin somewhere along the line. I am certain I never read them before now. These issues were published two-and-a-half years after the "Champions" series suddenly went on 'hiatus' in 1988. Issue #1 includes an explanatory editorial which reads in part, "The current product has cut the last cord with its gaming 'parent,' hence the necessity for a slightly different name." The first two issues conclude the unfinished storyline from the prior series (which had an occult angle and featured a villainess created by writer Dennis Mallonnee) by the same artists and writers as before, and then issue 3 features new artwork so poor it may well be the worst comic art in my entire collection. After issue 3, the series apparently went on an extended publishing hiatus again.

 

That's all I own. I'd be very interested in any other details others might be willing to offer about subsequent issues, or their own thoughts about these early issues.

[Old Man]

I read a few of these, inconsistently. The only series I really remember anything about is Flare, which did veer towards erotic fanfic but which was also a tongue in cheek, almost satirical take on superheroine comics. That's what I took the constant wardrobe malfunctions as, anyway.

[Tasha]

Heroic Publishing is owned by Dennis Mellonee. He wrote an adventure way back in the mid 80's (Champs 1st/2nd edition days). He briefly had a licence to use the Champions name, and had licences for some of the characters played by the people who were in the Guardian's campaign. Those characters also appeared in some of the original Champions Supplements and adventures. For whatever reason the Person who owns The Marksman (Former Hero Games Line Editor Bruce Harlick), revoked his permission for Dennis to use Marksman. Dennis would continue to use the character under a different name and a uniform color change.

 

Honestly they weren't very good and only got worse. The artwork was mediocre to out and out bad, the stories were kind of boring. The best thing going for them were the 3rd edition writeups that appeared at the end of some of the Comics. It was very interesing to see actual Hero system stats for many of the Iconic characters from the Original Rulebooks.

 

If you are interested in owning the issues, they are available on DriveThruComics.com. Once Forum searching comes back, I would suggest doing a search for "Heroic Publishing" there's some epic threads talking about the issues and some have updated character writeups (5e writeups IIRC).

[Andrew_A]

Thanks for the review dan. One question:

 

...issue 3 features new artwork so poor it may well be the worst comic art in my entire collection.

 

I own Youngblood (first series) 1-5. Worse than that?

 

[Guest dan2448]

Heroic Publishing is owned by Dennis Mellonee. He wrote an adventure way back in the mid 80's (Champs 1st/2nd edition days).

 

Absolutely right, Tasha. As I wrote in the first few lines of my post above about the initial mini-series published by Eclipse in 1986-1987, "Demon was the primary villain group, and the 'Primus & Demon' sourcebook had just been published the year before. Foxbat was another featured villain. And Dr. Arcane (a mash up of Dr. Strange and Professor X) was taken from Dennis Mallonee's own 'Coriolis Effect' module, published around the same time."

 

He briefly had a licence to use the Champions name..

 

It appears from what was written in an editorial to 1991's "League of Champions" #1 (quoted in my post above from April 2) that he held the license for 5 years, from 1986-1991.

 

Honestly they weren't very good and only got worse. The artwork was mediocre to out and out bad, the stories were kind of boring.

 

While I think this is a pretty fair general summary of the entire line over many years, I'm not sure it's entirely accurate in specific when looking at more discrete stages of the line's publication history.

 

As I wrote a couple of days ago in a post above, looking at the early issues published from 1986-1988 again recently, the same two-man team did almost all of the art from issue 2 of the Eclipse mini-series (1987), through the 12-issue "Champions" regular series from Hero Graphics (1987-1988), and into the first couple of issues of "League of Champions," published in 1991 by Innovation (under the Hero Graphics banner). In fairness to them, their artwork did get noticeably better over time. But as I noted in a little more detail above, it was pretty mediocre-to-amateur in the early issues and never did improve to the level of Marvel or DC.

 

I heartily agree, though, with the statement that, "the stories were kind of boring." I couldn't have said it better myself, Tasha. If I'd add anything to this, it would be "boring and too focused on the occult."

 

As the 1987-1988 regular "Champions" series progressed, writer Mallonee also introduced issues of incest and rape, in what I assume was a miguided attempt to somehow be more 'modern' or 'relevant' or 'adult' (or whatever). This was totally inappropriate for a property licensed from an RPG publisher, I thought. It says a lot about the writing that, nonetheless, these stories are remembered for being 'boring.'

 

The best thing going for them were the 3rd edition writeups that appeared at the end of some of the Comics.

 

I liked those 'Champions' game stats, too. But my personal favorite part was the brief glimpses of Champions Universe villains 'brought to life' in comic book form, including Mechanon and Dr. Destroyer. The Champions stats published in the early issues of the line (those published in 1986-1988 - no stats were published thereafter) seemed to link the comic book more tightly to the game in my (then) teenaged mind, which was a big plus for me personally. But since those stats were almost exclusively for the heroes, and since those heroes didn't inspire me anywhere near as much as the villains, they were of limited interest (and zero game utility) to me at the time.

 

My second favorite part of the entire series were the full page 'pin ups' of many of the villains, including several Champions Universe villains, published in Champions Annual #1 (1988).

 

 

I would suggest doing a search for "Heroic Publishing" there's some epic threads talking about the issues and some have updated character writeups (5e writeups IIRC).

 

Great suggestion, Tasha! I will definitely do so.

 

[Guest dan2448]

Thanks for the review dan. One question: I own Youngblood (first series) 1-5. Worse than that?

 

Hah! You know, Andrew, this early "Champions" artwork is a little hard to compare directly to the early Leifeld stuff (of which I wasn't personally a big fan either) because they're both flawed in wildly different ways. If I could say anything positive about the Leifeld stuff, I would say that it was very dynamic. Sometimes the illustrations seemed to almost 'leap off the page.' The "Champions" work was almost the exact opposite: it was very flat and not dynamic at all. (Maybe reminiscent of the interior artwork in various "Champions" RPG books published at the time.)

 

Both the "Champions" artwork and a lot of Leifeld's Image stuff notably lacked much in the way of backgrounds.

 

The characters in "Champions" were rendered more 'realistically' than Leifeld's characteristically distorted figures. But it was amateur-looking realism, especially in the early issues. To me, the whole thing looked like something that the artists might've shown to Marvel or DC at a convention portfolio review and been told something like, "shows some promise, but why don't you practice x, y, and z, a little more and then come back and see us again when your work has evolved and improved."

 

To give another benchmark, there would be absolutely no comparison between, say, the 'realism' in this "Champions" artwork and the 'realism' of David Mazzucchelli's "Daredevil: Born Again" and "Batman: Year One" work published around the same time.

 

 

And as for the art in "League of Champions" #3 specifically (done by someone other than these former 'regular' Champions artists), it looks like an amateur artist who was then given only a weekend to crank out an entire issue. It looks very rushed. There's very little detail and it's 'sketchy.' The Leifeld stuff looks like Alex Ross' painted "Marvels" by comparison.