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Captain Britain
for reviews go to the Captain Britain (and MI 13) section

Captain Marvel (the original)
for reviews go to the Shazam section

Captain Marvel (the other one)
go to the Captain Marvel section

Challengers of the Unknown Must Die!
see my review here

Marvel Masterworks: The Champions, vol. 1 (2015) 460 pages
Written by Tony Isabella, Bill Mantlo, and Roger Stern, Chris Claremont, Jim Shooter. Pencils by George Tuska, John Byrne, Don Heck, Bob Hall, Sal Buscema. Ins by various.
Colours/letters: various
Reprinting: The Champions #1-17, Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #17-18, Super-Villain Team-Up #14, The Avengers #163, Iron Man Annual #4, The Incredible Hulk Annual #7 (1975-1978)
Additional notes: intro by Tony Isabella; covers; original art reproductions
Rating: * * 1/2 (out of 5)
Number of readings: 1
Reviewed: Oct. 2024
Published by Marvel Comics
There can be something intriguing about reading old comics that aren't that good. Not that The Champions are terrible (this reprints the complete run, plus some ancillary comics, and these issues were also collected across two volumes as The Champions Classics!) but the series was clearly struggling to rise above mediocrity. I say it's intriguing because it can give you some insight into publishing (especially at the time) and even wonder "What if...?" things had been done slightly differently.
The 1970s was a time of comic book expansion, where both Marvel and DC were recklessly expanding the number of titles they had on the stands (so recklessly that over at DC Comics the late 1970s saw what became known as the infamous "DC implosion" where they cancelled series en masse). This expansion clearly led to a lot of comics being rushed into production before the creators maybe had a firm grip on what the comic was, or why.
In this case, according to Tony Isabella (in his introduction) he had pitched the idea of doing a buddy comic focusing on two ex-X-Men, the Angel & Ice Man on the road getting into adventures and helping people as they went. Buddy comics weren't that common but weren't unheard of either. The 1970s had seen a number of solo heroes turned into buddy series (Green Lantern & Green Arrow, Daredevil & the Black Widow, Captain America & The Falcon, even Marvel Team-Up had originally been intended as a Spider-Man/Human Torch series).
And if Isabella had wanted to be smug, he might have titled his intro "The Vindication of Tony Isabella" -- but we'll get back to that.
Anyway, he pitched the idea to then-senior editors, Len Wein & Marv Wolfman, who instead suggested it be a full on team comic -- so-long "buddy road trip" format -- and even had a set formula for who should comprise a team (a strong man, a character with their own self-titled comic, etc.) resulting in an ad hoc odd-ball team comprised of the initially suggested Angel & Ice Man, joined by the spy/quasi-super-heroine, the Black Widow (and, for a few issues, her sidekick, Ivan), the "thee" and "thou" spouting demi-god, Hercules, and the quasi-supernatural Ghost Rider (he of the obligatory self-titled comic). Ghost Rider was another product of the rushed-to-production-ethos...at least based on my recently reading the decidedly haphazard early issues of his comic (before, ironically, Tony Isabella assumed the writing chores and the Ghost Rider series gained some -- temporary -- focus).
It was a bizarre assemblage. The team later added the Russian, Darkstar. This was her introduction to readers, I believe (she has recurred over the years since) and the scripts keep hinting at ambiguities around her powers and origins as if the creators hadn't really figured it out themselves. They also toy with adding Black Goliath (then appearing in his own comic) but he mostly just guest stars in a story or two,
There's nothing wrong with an ad hoc mishmash team -- it can even be a great idea (the Defenders was a comic based on an unlikely roster). But you need some reason why your characters are hanging out together (if only because they're pals).
Another lost aspect is Isabella's idea -- a carryover from his Angel & Ice Man doing the Route 66/Green Lantern & Green Arrow road trip pitch -- was The Champions were meant to be heroes for the "common man" (hence: championing), even setting up a public office almost like private eyes. But though this gets repeated in the dialogue and the intro blurb that begat some issues, there were only ever a few vague stabs in that direction: #4's plot has them uncovering unethical experiments on mental patients; #11 has them investigating weird phenomenon affecting some ranchers (and with guest stars Hawkeye and a time-displaced Two-Gun Kid). But in general their adventures didn't seem particularly different from any other superhero -- indeed, they often seem more divorced from "ordinary" concerns than some, from stories involving Ancient Grecian deities to a plot involving the cosmic Stranger and a threat to the planet to simply stories where villains attack them (rather than them going out looking for trouble).
Though this theme of the "common man" is embodied by the comics' first stab at an original villain (most of the bad guys are borrowed from other series). This villain, Rampage, Isabella proudly proclaimed as the first "everyman" villain for the Recession-era (the 1970s going through an economic slump) -- a business man-turned-to-crime to stave off bankruptcy. Initially Isabella tries to give him some nuance and ambiguity, but as he recurs in subsequent stories (becoming the closest thing the Champions had to an "arch" enemy) he became increasingly one-dimensional villainous.
It doesn't help that too many of the issues just seem to be wrapped around fights and action scenes rather than the stuff that goes inbetween those: like plots and character development.
It feels a lot like first Isabella, then his successor, Bill Mantlo, were struggling to find the creative key to unlocking the series' potential.
The reason the issues run to a lot of fighting is, I suspect, because they weren't sure what to do when the heroes weren't fighting someone. There was a vague sub-plot hinted at (The Champions' tech keeps failing, as if deliberate sabotage; in his intro Isabella alludes to the team's lawyer being sinister. But if Isabella had meant that to be the solution, Mantlo never followed up on it, wrapping up that thread rather perfunctorily in the Spider-Man issues reprinted in this volume). Normally you'd expect a series to throw in a few on-going threads. With a team you'd probably want to define relationships, the dynamics. Here the characters bicker but mostly in a bicker-for-bickering-sake rather than as a demonstration of deeper character stuff. Ice Man initially is thinking he wants to leave the team (under Isabella) and has a crush on Darkstar (under Mantlo) but in both cases it feels like place holders for character stuff rather than characterization.
That isn't to say there isn't some readability to some of the issues. Even as I'm writing this review I'm flipping through the book and thinking some of the issues/stories weren't bad. But that's the thing: the best issues are mostly "not bad", the sort of stories that would be fine sandwiched between better issues. (Although the Spider-Man and the Hulk comics reprinted here are among the better stories). There are some interesting ideas (a new villain, called Swarm in #14-15, is conceptually interesting -- but not much more). But after 17 issues -- and cancelation -- it still feels like it was trying to find its sea legs.
The art varies as well. It kicks off with Don Heck, an artist with his ups and downs and rarely that dynamic or solid; other issues are by George Tuska, an artist I like but has his stronger and weaker projects, and may not have been at his best with a team comic. But he's certainly among the visual highlights in this collection (arguably he's better in the Iron Man Annual reprinted here -- a character he had a longer association with); Bob Hall contributes a few issues, Hall a workmanlike artist, certainly at this period of his career (he, too, is actually stronger in the non-Champions issue here -- the Super-Villain Team Up issue).
The series does gain a big boost with the arrival of John Byrne -- an artist early in his career (I think this was among his first Marvel work). He's not as strong as he would become (when shortly he would rocket to stardom with the X-Men) but it's good work and gets better as the issues go -- again, maybe peaking in the Hulk Annual. Often the best art is in the non-Champions issues (including Sal Buscema's work on the Spider-Man issues). I don't know if that's a false perception on my part, or whether it reflects something about the work schedule -- or maybe just that it's hard to draw a team comic crammed with characters and a lot of fights, whereas some of the non-Champions issues were better plotted and allowed the artists to unfold the story better.
A fun aspect of some collections like this is when they collect issues from different series; here there's a number of non-Champion comics linked by the Champions (or members of the team). It gives a reader a chance to romp through the late 1970s Marvel Universe, sampling other titles. It's also an indication that Marvel was clearly trying to boost The Champions by guest starring them in other titles.
The reason I began this review saying comics like this can be intriguing and make you speculate about "What if...?" is because with the solid talent assembled (Isabella, Mantlo, Tuska, Byrne, etc.) you can't help but wonder whether they could have made the series work if they'd just been able to step back, breathe, and think about what they wanted to do with it. Could this odd collection of heroes have gelled better if they'd taken the time to map out relationships and character threads, maybe introduce specific sub-plots for them? Or to simply figure out why they are hanging out together when there is so little emotional connection between them?
For that matter, we can readily imagine how the series might have been approached a few years later. Given the presence of the Angel & Ice Man, you could easily imagine it being marketed as an X-Men spin-off. Indeed, toward the end of this run it's as if Mantlo (and others) start to glimpse that particular mutant-hued lighthouse in the creative fog. The final story has the Champions encountering a band of X-Men foes (The Blob, the Vanisher, etc.) allegedly running from the mutant-hunting Sentinels (it's actually one of the more effective issues, and boasting an unusual-but-striking visual combo of Byrne inking Tuska's pencils!). And X-Men foe Magneto and another ex-X-Man, The Beast, guest star in a story that crossed over from Super-Villain Team-Up (which was another ill-fated comic that was being cancelled!) The Hulk Annual (which guest stars Ice Man & Angel, not the Champions per se) also involves a Sentinel.
It's as if toward the end the comic anticipated the plethora of X-related series yet to come.
Indeed, the Magneto story -- in which Magneto is the default "good guy" trying to stop Dr. Doom from taking over the world, may be the first time the villainous Magneto was portrayed in a slightly ambiguous light, paving the way for his later re-inventions as a more complex character. The Champions were also based in LA -- Marvel had begun to move away from its New York-centric universe with Ghost Rider, Black Goliath, and maybe others, but this was (I think) the first west coast team -- perhaps anticipating the later West-Coast Avengers. Clearly some of these issues were seminal, to varying degrees.
Perhaps the greatest irony (and the reason I said Isabella could crow about a vindication) is in the post-Champions issues here -- the Spectacular Spider man issues which act as an epilogue to the Champions series, and the Hulk Annual which is more ancillary, but boast more Byrne art -- the focus narrows to just Angel & Ice Man. And the dynamics/friendship between the two ex-X-Men buddies, no longer buried amid all the other characters, kind of works. In the Spidey issues it's mostly Angel (and Spidey, of course), but Angel's motivation is his friendship with Ice Man.
Maybe that fella, Isabella, was onto something to begin with.

ClanDestine Classic 2008 (HC) 300 pages
Written and drawn by Alan Davis. Inked by Mark Farmer.
Colours:Helen Nally, others. Letters: Pat Prentice. Editor: Paul Neary, Bon Harras.
Reprinting: Clandestine (1st series) #1-8, X-Men & Clandestine #1-2, and the Clandestine story from Marvel Comics Presents 158 (1994-1996)
Rating: * * * * 1/2 (out of 5)
Additional notes: cover gallery; character sketches; afterward by Davis
Number of readings: 2
Published by Marvel Comics
These issues (minus, I think, the Marvel Comics Presents short) were previously collected as the TPB, Clandestine vs. the X-Men.
Alan Davis started out an artist, then became a writer/artist. But Clandestine was, I believe, his first wholly original, self-created series. And its short, erratic life is perhaps an illustration of the vagaries of comic book publishing.
After doing eight issues, Davis left because of "creative differences" with the Marvel brass, and a new creative team took over...and according to some commentaries I've read, to unsatisfying effect -- and it was cancelled just four issues later. Yet can we really blame the new creative team for the cancellation? Or was the root of the "creative differences" between Davis and Marvel that Clandestine wasn't selling well to begin with? Still, within a year of Davis' departure, fences must've been mended one way or another (looking at the credits, at the very least there was an editorial shake up at Marvel) and Davis was back, reviving Clandestine with a two-part mini-series teaming them with the ever popular X-Men. Though since the characters didn't get another revival for almost a decade, it implies that even with Davis at the helm, Clandestine wasn't proving a runaway hit.
And, sure, there's nothing really that stand out or extraordinary about the series.
So why is it so darn enjoyable?
Even the opening concept isn't really that fresh, as it begins with seeming unconnected people in different parts of the world being targeted and attacked by mysterious killers -- leading to the revelation that the "seeming unconnected" people are, in fact, connected, and themselves are mysterious enigmas. Even as I was reading this, I came across another story with a similar opening (though, funnily enough, I can't now recall what that story was!) But maybe that's a mark of Davis' success. Because even knowing it's not necessarily that unusual, Davis keeps it interesting and entertaining.
Davis throws a lot of questions and mysteries at us, not just who are these mysterious people, but who are their mysterious attackers (who clearly aren't human) and what do they want -- constantly demanding to know where the Gryphon is!
As the story unfolds, we learn all these "unconnected" people are part of the same secretive Destine family (get it: the Destine Clan...ClanDestine?), all of whom have different super powers. Think of it as the Inhumans, except an extended British family as opposed to an entire colony. Our "intro" to the family is Rory and Pandora, two youngsters who know nothing of their family's secret and, having manifested super powers, do what any comic book obsessed young person would do -- decide they have an obligation to become crime fighting super heroes! They are then shocked to learn that not only do all the members of their family have powers, but the familial relationships aren't what they had been told. And the other family members are shocked to discover, after centuries of living quiet, below-the-radar lives...young Rory and Pandora are sneaking out at night in garish costumes, jeopardizing the family's treasured anonymity.
Part of the appeal is that though mainly a drama, there's a lightness and some gentle comedy in the telling, a quirkiness to the characters and their interaction, and a playing with conventions that is quite appealing. By having the clan be -- for the most part -- decent people, willing to do the right thing, but not interested in becoming costumed crimefighters, it makes for believable, reluctant heroes. And though some of the powers are stock, others are off-beat, exploring the negative as well as the positive of such abilities -- such as a member with super senses, who needs to relax by periodically retreating to a sensory deprivation chamber, or who can lapse into a kind of ecstatic coma by eating a single bite of chocolate.
I'd commented in a couple of other Davis-written efforts that his dialogue was okay, but mainly workmanlike. But here he does a nice job with the interaction, and with nuanced, fairly rounded personalities. The kids, Rory and Pandora, could easily be cloying or annoying (or push the story in a "kiddie" direction), but aren't and don't. Since aimed at the American market, Clandestine isn't perhaps as conspicuously British as some other British-set comics. That is, it is set in England, but Davis doesn't try over much to employ a distinctly English milieu or colloquialisms -- which is too bad.
And in addition to a nice feel for the personalities, the sense of family dynamics, Davis also brings his art to the table. Davis is definitely what's known as a fan favourite in comicdom, with realistic, well rendered faces and figures, a robust, dramatic style, and a tendency toward idealism -- the men are muscular, the women implausibly buxom. Yet he's capable of giving the characters quirky individualism. Rory and Pandora look like youngsters (pre-teens) while another family member seems intended to evoke...Woody Allen. I've said before that Davis' style puts me in mind of the late, great Don Newton, or sometimes Neal Adams...pretty lofty company (in my opinion). I've also suggested that I can sometimes be mixed on him. Oh, he's never less than good. But sometimes it can be a little too polished, or bland. Among his best work was his 1980s Captain Britain art. But this, too, is Davis at the top of his game. Maybe working on his own creations set a fire under him. Or maybe, because they are his creations, his illustrations can't help but be the definitive visuals for the series.
After the initial four-issue story arc is resolved, a few more issues ensue, filling in some of the origin and history of the (long lived) family (although I'm not sure I fully grasped how the siblings could be of such radically different ages), tossing in an adventure or two, and guest appearances from Spider-Man, as well as smaller appearances by the Silver Surfer, Dr. Strange and, in flashback, the world war II era super hero team, the Invaders. I sometimes grumble about new series that feel a need to toss in high profile guest stars (or are pressured to by editors) -- presumably to boost sales. But at least here Davis saves them for after the the first story arc -- letting the clan establish itself on its own first. As well, the guest stars seem reasonably logical for the scenes in which they appear.
Then came Davis' departure. But even if threads were left dangling -- a mysterious organization that was a looming threat and with a few questions about their origins that needed clarifying -- and avenues left unexplored -- being an extended family, Davis presumably intended to add other family members as needed -- he doesn't leave in mid cliffhanger or anything. Issue #8 is a reasonable end to his quirky run.
This collection finishes with Davis' return just a few months later, with the X-Men and Clandestine mini-series (two 48 pages issues!). Davis cheekily dismisses those four issues he didn't write by having Rory refer to them as being a dream he had. I had assumed the mini-series was an opportunity to wrap up dangling threads. But that turns out not to be the case, the story just a relatively isolated story of the ClanDestine and the X-Men getting involved in an ancient demon's attempt to breach our dimension, leading to misunderstanding and conflict. The story can get a bit muddled -- deliberately so -- in its misdirection and things-aren't-quite-what-they-seem, but is an enjoyable puzzler. Though even by this point, the X-Men had such an expanded roster, some of the team are just filling up the background. But Davis wisely keeps the focus on a few central team members. It isn't anything exceptional -- and at 96 pages, is mayhap a bit thin, plot-wise. At the same time, it's decently paced, providing a variety of scenes (some action, some character, some comedy) to make use of the ensemble cast (as opposed to just cramming everyone into the same panels, or simply stretching out a fight for 96 pages). And neither is it a disappointment in the context of the earlier issues, still being eminently enjoyable, still boasting a few quirky ideas, clever twists, and attention to characterization -- of Clan Destine and X-folk alike.
I started out this review suggesting I'm not sure of the series' commercial success, even with Davis at the helm. Clearly Marvel sees it as having cult potential, having published a second Davis produced mini-series in 2008 and having released all these 1990s comics -- twice! First as a 1997 TPB, Clandestine vs. the X-Men, and now as a snazzy, hardcover, Clandestine Classic. Yet just as short lived TV series can maybe find a second life as a DVD collection, so two can failed comics. Whether ClanDestine could've sustained a hundred issues, or whether its appeal here is precisely that it's a tantalizing glimpse of a series that could've been, the fact is this is a highly entertaining collection. It's beautifully illustrated, with quirky, well considered characters and dilemmas. And if a few threads are left dangling, enough is answered and resolved that it does satisfy as a self-contained collection...and as an enjoyable volume to have on the shelf.
"Classic"?...just maybe.
Davis returned to the property with a later mini-series -- reviewed below.

ClanDestine: Blood Relative 2008 (HC TPB) 120 pages
Written and pencilled by Alan Davis. Inks by Mark Farmer.
Colours: Paul Mounts, J. Brown. Letters: Dave Lanphear.
Reprinting: Clandestine (2nd series) #1-5 (2008)
Rating: * * * * (out of 5)
Number of readings: 1
Reviewed: Aug. 2015
Published by Marvel Comics
Mainstream comics are basically "shared world" properties with the rights to the characters ultimately residing with the company. But creators who work in that field nonetheless sometimes "adopt" characters they have an affinity for, using them again and again, or create their own characters they clearly feel some affection for.
And that seems to be the case with Alan Davis' Clandestine -- his stories about the extended, long lived Destine family where each member has different bizarre abilities and super powers. They're a little bit like the Inhumans (except a family rather than an isolated colony) with hints of the X-Men.
He created the team -- under the auspices of Marvel Comics -- for a self-titled series. But "creative differences" led to him leaving the series (or being booted off it) after a few issues, only to have his replacements only muster a few largely ill-regarded issues before the series was cancelled. Which would suggest if the problem the editors had with Davis was over sales, getting fresh creative blood didn't help. Bridges must have been mended quickly, because Davis was back on the team in an X-Men/Clandestine miniseries (all of which was collected in a snazzy hardcover collection ~ reviewed above). Some years later Davis got another crack at it with this mini-series, and still later did a series of interlocking annuals (including Daredevil, the Fantastic Four and Wolverine) in which the uniting gimmick was members of the Destine Clan guest starred.
Anyways...
So this collects Davis' second go-round with the characters. Unlike the original series, which was intended to be on-going, this was marketed from the get go as a finite mini-series. Oh, I'm sure Davis was hoping sales would warrant it getting an extension, but at least this time around there's less sense it is interrupted unexpectedly. Davis tries to tie a few things up, even seeming to write out a character or two (though it's such an extended group, doing so doesn't dramatically affect the franchise). Although, oddly enough, this run also introduces a mysterious threat in the form of a shadow organization that goes unresolved -- whether this was Davis hoping to encourage readers to clamour for more, or whether it just tied into some on-going Marvel stuff (maybe readers were supposed to recognize the group) or set up that later Annuals crossover I alluded to, I'm not sure.
Regardless, I had mentioned in my review of the first Clandestine collection that it was a lot of fun and highly enjoyable -- and Davis' return to the well hasn't diminished the experience by much.
Clandestine remains an entertaining read, and arguably Davis' best work. There's a nice mix of the fantastic and super hero stuff (with some interesting powers and variations on established tropes) with -- and this can't be underestimated -- a genuine sense of the characters as people, a quirky family with the appropriately quirky dynamics (as some get along, some don't). It mixes genuine whimsy and humour (without becoming cloying or simply tongue-in-cheek) with adventure and suspense. And it's beautifully drawn by Davis in his signature idealized realism, mixing impossibly buff men and buxom women with more realistic characters and settings, and convincingly capturing the action and heroism and yet also scenes of characters just sitting around in their civvies.
My guess is the property just really fires Davis' enthusiasm as both writer and artist.
His approach here isn't really to treat it as a five chapter mini-series, or as a collection of singles issue adventures. Rather, it's more just a free-flowing collection of plot threads, almost as if it is just meant to be seen as an on-going series that has been shoe-horned into five issues.
Because it's a group of characters, Davis can break them up into separate plot lines. The result is you can't maybe say it's a carefully plotted adventure, or even necessarily focus on what the "main" plot is -- even as it keeps you turning the pages, not really having time to get complacent. And, as I say: it does mostly wrap up by the end.
Davis also works in some guest stars, but in a way that seems suitable to the material, rather than as just extraneous marketing gimmicks. Most notably he tosses in Excalibur, the super hero team he also co-created, as some of the Clandestine find themselves in an alternate reality, hooking up with Excalibur from a period where that team was bouncing around through the so-called Multiverse (in a run of issues known as the Cross Time Caper). Actually, since that alternate reality involves an earth where humans have been enslaved and engage in gladiatorial fights, one could almost see that as Davis doing another nod to a property he worked on -- Killraven.
Davis also tosses in the Inhumans (a logical group to throw in as one can easily imagine they might have inspired his creation of Clandestine) and does so in a way that makes their involvement comprehensible even if you weren't that familiar with them (by throwing in a brief reference to them before they become relevant to the story, so foreshadowing them).
Admittedly, how well the saga reads in general if you were completely unfamiliar with the Clandestine I'm less sure of. I mean, it's no worse than any comic book collection featuring pre-existing characters, but it is sort of assuming some knowledge of past adventures -- what with one plot thread involving them battling a returning adversary from the original series. I'm not suggesting that's any worse than picking up a random Superman or Spider-Man collection, but as a "mini-series" it is clearly just a continuation of the original series.
I'm not sure why the Clandestine doesn't seem to enjoy more success. At least, I'm assuming it hasn't really been a big seller. The limited first run, this finite mini-series -- even the fact that both collections have been released only in hardcover (suggesting sales haven't warranted a soft cover re-issue). I mean, Davis is, I believe, a popular creator, and obviously the fact that the group does get dusted off (and collected) suggests its teetering on the edge of mainstream success.
But for my money, it remains a highly enjoyable exercise, nicely capturing the flavour and best aspects of series like The X-Men while (if only thanks to the limited issues) not sinking into a bog of continuity references and muddled histories. It mixes a charm and light-heartedness with suspense and characters (and relationships) that seem to have real flesh and blood. Beautifully rendered by Davis who seems at the top of his game as artist and writer both. Of course, maybe it's that very limitedness that is its appeal -- it hasn't had time to get overused or stale.
Still, whatever the reason -- a lot of fun.
This is a review based on the original comics.

Clandestine vs. The X-Men
pretty much the same contents were re-released as the hardcover Clandestine Classic

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