Note:There's a 2012 hardcover reprint book called Avengers: The Contest that reprints the same stories. This review is based on a 1999 paperback.
Reprints Marvel Super Hero Contest Of Champions #1-3
Written by Mark Gruenwald, Bill Mantlo, Steven Grant.
Penciled by John Romita, Jr.
Inked by Pablo Marcos and Bob Layton.
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| Grandmaster and The Unknown prepare to play a game. |
All over the world, superheroes are disappearing!
In New York City, the Avengers, Spider-Man, Daredevil and others vanish. In the Soviet Union, the Soviet Super Soldiers disappear while battling the Red Ghost. This scenario plays itself out on every continent, until every superhero is removed from Earth.
The heroes find themselves transported to a very large arena that is orbiting the Earth. After exchanging pleasantries with one another, they are greeted by the Grandmaster, the cosmic gamesman. He's placed Earth and all its people in a state of suspended animation.
Grandmaster's brother the Collector was recently killed and Grandmaster wants to recover his soul. He has challenged a cloaked figure known only as "The Unknown" to a game that will use the heroes as pawns. If the Grandmaster wins, he will be granted the power to restore the Collector to life. If the Unknown wins, the Grandmaster will join his brother in "oblivion."
The two god-like beings will form teams of superheroes who will need to find pieces of a golden globe, which contains the power to resurrect the dead. The heroes will have to fight each other to get the globe parts. If the heroes refuse to participate, Earth will remain in suspended animation. But the heroes have a stake in who wins and loses. f Grandmaster wins, he promises to never bother Earth again. If the Unknown is victorious, she will grant Earth a million more years of existence.
In Round 1, two teams of heroes face off in the Arctic. Talisman, a magic user from Australia, Daredevil and Darkstar fight for the Grandmaster. The Unknown's team consists of Sunfire, Iron Fist, and Sue Richards, the Invisible Girl. Talisman uses his Bull-Roarer weapon to disorient his opponents.
The teams fight a spirited battle, which results in the ice cracking beneath them. Daredevil uses his radar sense to locate the piece of the globe, giving the Grandmaster a lead in the contest.
For the next portion of the game, the heroes are transported to a "wild west" ghost town. She-Hulk, Defensor (guardian of Argentina...or Brazil?) and Captain Britain represent the Grandmaster, while Iron Man, Israeli heroine Sabra, and Arabian Knight from Saudi Arabia battle for the Unknown.
Sabra and Arabian Knight aren't keen on working together, but Iron Man tries to get them to put their ethno-religious animosities aside long enough to win the round.
The battle turns in favor of the Unknown's team when Captain Britain and Defesnor collide with one-another, knocking them out of the fight. She-Hulk and Iron Man arrive at the site of the prize. Shellhead zaps the Jade Giantess with a repulsor ray, which enables Arabian Knight to get the globe piece. The Unknown's team has tied the score, 1 to 1.
Next up, two teams of heroes find themselves in rural China. Perigrine, a France-based flyer, is teamed with Wolverine and the Thing. Vanguard (a member of the Soviet Super Soldiers), Angel, and Black Panther are their opponents.
Wolverine gets a little too aggressive with his claws until Ben Grimm intervenes. Grandmaster's team locates the third piece of the globe and comes out on top, taking the lead 2-1.
Lastly, six heroes materialize in a South American jungle. Fighting for the Unknown are Storm (leader of the X-Men), Shamrock (an Irish heroine), and Collective Man, who hails from China. They're matched up against the Grandmaster's side, which consists of Sasquatch, Captain America and Blitzkrieg, a German crimefighter who shoots bolts of lightning from his fingertips.
Can the Unknown's team tie up the contest? Or will Grandmaster win and regain the life of his brother? And what is the true identity of the Unknown?
Review:
Contest of Champions isn't great, but it's long been a favorite of mine since it was published in 1982 and it's still a fun "battle" story. I remember eagerly awaiting each issue of this limited series, so I bring a lot of nostalgia to this review.
I realize the summary is rather threadbare, but telling a lot more would spoil the story. Yes, I know the tale is 33 years old, but it's not as famous as "The Death Of Gwen Stacy" or other major storylines, so I want new readers to be surprised.
Story:
Bill Mantlo, Steven Grant and Mark Gruenwald are all credited as writers of this story. There's not much to this story. It's basically a case of "superheroes captured and forced to fight each other." But that's okay since these are fun fight scenes. In some cases, these are decisive battles, something we don't see in many "hero vs. hero" matchups. But it should be noted that none of the Marvel A-listers are on the losing end of the fights.
But Contest Of Champions has some problems.
One is the portrayal of Wolverine. Even at this point, he'd progressed a lot since his early days with the X-Men. Yet Mantlo, Grant and Gruenwald write him as a bloodthirsty killer, ready to kill Black Panther given the opportunity.
The new "foreign" superheroes introduced here aren't very interesting and border on stereotypes. Which is probably why they never caught on or made many appearances after Contest Of Champions. At one point we're told Defensor is from Argentina. Later, he says he's from Brazil. Which one is it?
Plus, there's an error in the story that had to be fixed in a sequel contest. See below for more (non-spoilerish) info. Otherwise, the writers did a good job writing a story that featured so many characters.
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| She-Hulk slugs it out with Sabra; Arabian Knight duels Captain Britain. |
Art:
John Romita Jr. and Pablo Marcos serve as penciler and inker of Contest Of Champions, with Bob Layton assisting (he's credited with providing "additional art") on part 1. The art is excellent, and considering how many characters Romita had to pencil, that's no small feat.
How does it look:
Here's a scan from the original story, borrowed from the excellent SuperMegaMonkey site:
And here's how the same pages look in the tpb:
I'd say it's a reprinting that's faithful to the original colors.
Extras:
This tpb contains a nice introduction by Tom DeFalco about the background of the series, how it started it as a tie-in to the 1980 Summer Olympic Games.
Due to a writer or editor error, the winner of the game was somewhat in doubt. So a sequel was published five years later, after the Bronze Age of Comics was over. That story is contained here as well.
Contest Of Champions contains some very entertaining fight scenes, good art and is still a fun story three decades later. This book is recommended, but the problems mentioned above keep me from giving it a higher grade.
J.A. Morris' rating:
3 Sals.
John Romita Jr. and Pablo Marcos serve as penciler and inker of Contest Of Champions, with Bob Layton assisting (he's credited with providing "additional art") on part 1. The art is excellent, and considering how many characters Romita had to pencil, that's no small feat.
How does it look:
Here's a scan from the original story, borrowed from the excellent SuperMegaMonkey site:
And here's how the same pages look in the tpb:
I'd say it's a reprinting that's faithful to the original colors.
Extras:
This tpb contains a nice introduction by Tom DeFalco about the background of the series, how it started it as a tie-in to the 1980 Summer Olympic Games.
Due to a writer or editor error, the winner of the game was somewhat in doubt. So a sequel was published five years later, after the Bronze Age of Comics was over. That story is contained here as well.
Contest Of Champions contains some very entertaining fight scenes, good art and is still a fun story three decades later. This book is recommended, but the problems mentioned above keep me from giving it a higher grade.
J.A. Morris' rating:
3 Sals.
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