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Tuesday, March 31, 2020

X-amining Champions #9 - Patreon First

"The Battle of Los Angeles!"
December 1976

In a Nutshell
The newly-unveiled Champions are attacked by Crimson Dynamo and his allies in a battle that rages across LA!

Writer: Bill Mantlo
Penciler: Bob Hall
Inker: Bob Layton
Letterer: Karen Mantlo
Colorist: Don Warfield
Editor: Archie Goodwin

Plot
Titanium Man & Griffin, led by Crimson Dynamo, attack the Champions inauguration ceremony, though only Angel & Hercules are on hand. However, Ghost Rider arrives in the midst of the battle, having dropped Rampage at the hospital, but the three are eventually overpowered by their opponents. Meanwhile, Ivan & Iceman trace Commissar Bruskin's black pearl to an abandoned warehouse. Iceman creates an ice tunnel to allow them to enter, but they are attacked by the returning villains, carrying the rest of the Champions as captives. As Iceman fights back, Ivan gets inside the warehouse. Black Widow attacks her jailer, Darkstar, but is unable to defeat her until Ivan bursts in, distracting her long enough for Black Widow to knock her out. Just then, the Crimson Dynamo enters and declares he will kill the fallen Champions if Ivan doesn't surrender. He then removes his helmet to reveal himself as Yuri Petrovich, Ivan's thought-dead son!

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1 comment:


  1. I’m pretty sure this was the first issue of the series I picked up off the racks and for a long time the earliest one I had.

    Weirdly, I’d forgotten the line “Stand thee behind me, Dick Fenster!” until it jumped out at me upon rereading and I remembered how memorable it was — if that makes any sense — back when I would reread items in my (then far smaller) collection so much more often. Not for any puerile humor in the name; simply because it was so joyfully absurd.

    On a related note, I’m often struck by how the covers to issues that I had as a kid are so viscerally familiar and those to surrounding issues that I didn’t acquire until later in life are just kind-of there by comparison no matter their quality.

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