Happy Thursday, folks!
It's time for me to talk about the fourth issue of the Champions. The cover showed Ghost Rider, the Angel, Black Widow, Iceman, and Hercules squaring off against each other. The story was called "Murder at Malibu!" The issue had a publication date of March 1976.
The tale began with Hercules and the Black Widow walking together along a beach. Hercules was still upset at Pluto for his treachery (as shown in the previous three issues). The Widow was trying to console her friend and fellow former Avenger.
The pair had barely walked a few more steps before they were attacked from behind by a large man. We soon learned that their assailant was a man named Billy, an older gentleman who had the strength of someone a fraction of his age. He wore a uniform from the San Marino State Hospital, and a sextet of armed guards from that very same institution soon surrounded our heroes. A few blasts from their pistols knocked out Billy's new protectors.
The Widow and Hercules awoke in the office of Mr. Ed Lansing, who was behind the efforts to recreate the same serum that gave Captain America his abilities. Lansing decided to use patients like Billy as his guinea pigs, and swiftly subjected his new captives to the same treatments.
A short while later, at the beach home of Warren Worthington III (aka the Angel), Worthington and his former X-Men teammate Bobby Drake (Iceman) were conversing with Ivan, a friend of the Black Widow (Natasha Romanov). They were wondering about her whereabouts when Hercules burst through the wall, with the Widow and others enthralled by Lansing's serum close behind.
Ghost Rider joined the fray right before Lansing tried to use his control device against the Iceman. Romanov was the one to defeat Lansing, smashing his control box and leaving the madman at the mercy of the mutates which he now had no control over. Afterward, the Champions were glad that the conflict was over, although Hercules wished they could do more for those affected by Lansing's treatments. The Angel brought the group together, reminding his comrades that the world still needed champions.
This was an okay one-off issue, especially for a team that was so new. They had just finished their first significant challenge in the previous three issues and were still learning to work together. I always felt that if the Champions had been given enough time to gel, they could have been far more than just a footnote in Marvel Comics history.
That's all for now. Tomorrow, I'll conclude the work week with an analysis of the fifth issue of the Champions. The new supergroup works on ways to peacefully coexist and encounters their first foe, who would be a recurring danger to the team. Until then, have a great week and don't forget to be kind to one another.
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