The avenging ANGEL! The deadly BLACK WIDOW! Johnny Blaze, the GHOST RIDER! HERCULES, Prince of Power! The incomparable ICEMAN! The mysterious DARKSTAR! The towering BLACK GOLIATH! The fearsome WINTER SOLDIER! Eight fighters for justice united to battle for the common man…because the world still needs heroes!
The first hero team on the west coast, they are...
Issue #15 by Jeff Melton
“TROUBLE IN TRIPLICATE!”
Part VII: The War Bringers!
“TROUBLE IN TRIPLICATE!”
Part VII: The War Bringers!
Special Guest-Stars: The New X-Men: Banshee, Colossus, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Storm, Madrox the Multiple Man, Havok, Polaris, and Sunfire! Wonder Man! The Beast!
♪Theme Music: “Ball of Confusion” by the Temptations♪
Outside Champions Tower, Ares has come at the conclusion of the Champions’ battle with the New X-Men, bringing with him his War Bringers! Ares looks over his half-brother’s group with contempt. The beautiful but deadly Satana is at his side. The rest of his group includes the Orb, Rampage, the Human Fly, Whiplash, Incinerator, Madam Masque, Phobos, Enyalios, Lightmaster, and the Blizzard.
“Brother,” Ares sneers over at Hercules, “’twas my intention to have my War Bringers crush thine group. Yet, ‘twould appear that thou hath managed allies to help thee. ‘Tis of no matter. They will fall as surely as thy so-called Champions.”
“Ares!” Hercules calls out, looking over at the god of war before him. “Glad am I that thou hath arrived. Truly, I was disappointed to be so quickly finished with this combat, and I would be most happy to bestow upon thee that divine gift!”
“As soon as these enemies are out of the way,” Ares says to the lovely Satana, “I will bring about a glorious global conflict not seen on this planet since I whispered in Churchill’s ear to give Poland that war guarantee. This planet has been quiet,” he continues, a look of disgust crossing his face, “and peaceful for too long. The most recent war in Asia ended three years ago. Still, there hath been some conflicts in some areas, but they are meaningless. I want to unleash a wonderful worldwide war that will involve all nations and will last a decade or longer. Perhaps a century! Would that not be glorious?!”
“We have commonality, my love,” Satana responds with a wicked smile. Death, destruction, human suffering. I am about my father’s work.”
Enyalios rushes forward, a spiked mace in his hand. He swings his mace at Colossus, sending him flying back into a parked car! “Enough talk!” Enyalios shouts. “My limbs ache for combat! I have waited long enough. Let us finish them quickly!”
Colossus pulls himself out of the large indention he left in the car. “I take no pleasure in combat, comrade,” he exclaims, rushing towards Enyalios, “but I am no one’s punching bag either!” With that, he delivers a punch into the war god’s mid-section, sending him flying into a nearby building. The impact dislodges bricks and mortar and shakes the very foundation of the building.
Enyalios smiles as he moves away from the building, raising his mace. “I am glad that you did not fall so easily,” he remarks. “It will make the combat all the sweeter.”
Nightcrawler suddenly teleports onto Enyalios’ shoulder, striking him on the ear before teleporting away again, striking him on the other side. The blows do not hurt him, but the son of Ares is clearly annoyed.
“Away, you gnat!” Enyalios demands, but is unable to catch the rapidly appearing and disappearing Nightcrawler, who cannot contain a smile as he continues to irritate his opponent.
Madame Masque rushes forward, leaping into the air to kick Black Widow in the face. “You’re friends with my old foe, Ironman!” Masque says, as she leaps towards Black Widow. “All the more reason why you must die.”
“It’s true,” Black Widow responds, blocking the kick with her forearm, while she leans away from the attack. “I used to be in the Avengers and know Ironman pretty well. Like you, I started out on different sides.”
Madame Masque comes down on Black Widow, tackling her and bringing her to the ground. “Ironman and I used to be more than enemies,” she explains. “But that time has passed.”
As Black Widow falls to the ground onto her back, she raises her knees up and flips Madame Masque over her head and across the ground. “Either way,” Black Widow responds, “you’re getting stopped here…all of you.”
The Human Fly flies over to the Angel, breaking off half of a lamppost on the way. “I guess it’s you and me, mutant!” the Human Fly says, sneering at the winged Champion.
“That’s fine with me, mutate!” the Angel responds with a smile at his turn of the phrase, as he uses his mace to block the lamppost that the Human Fly swung at him. “I’ve never been known to back down from a fight!” “I’ve read about his fight with Spider-Man*,” the Angel silently considers. “He has super-strength, so he’s no one to play around with.”
[*He’s probably talking about Amazing Spider-Man Annual #10 (1976)]
The Human Fly dives towards the Angel, swinging his lamppost at the Angel. However, the Angel is highly skilled in aerial warfare. He flips backwards through the air, his feet slamming into the Human Fly in mid-air. The impact from the kick sends the Human Fly back through the air towards a building. He reaches out, his fingers grasping the side of the brick wall of the building, sticking to it with his powers.
“Oooh gross!” Dazzler exclaims, gesturing towards the Human Fly. “He’s like a fly, sticking to that wall!” She converts the sound of traffic around them into light, sending a laser blast at Human Fly, knocking him off the wall. “I’ll swat him!” He falls about ten feet before reaching out and sticking to the wall with his fingers once again.
“You’re not the only one who controls light, disco girl!” Lightmaster exclaims, as he directs his own light attack at the Dazzler, striking her and stunning her with a laser light blast to her back. “I’m not called Lightmaster for nothing.”
“Hercules,” Wonder Man offers, looking over at the prince of power. “If Ares is behind this, if we rush him and take him out, maybe this’ll be over pretty quickly.”
“’Twould not be seemly to fight Ares in that manner,” Hercules responds. “In truth, the sinews of the prince of power are more than equal to the task.”
“Umm,” Wonder Man replies, shaking his head. “I’m not saying you can’t take him by yourself. I’m just trying to end this quickly so we can help find the missing friends of the Beast.”
“Verily,” Hercules responds with a nod. “Thy words do ring true. Let us be at the war god” With that, the two heroes rush towards Ares, who is brandishing his large battle-axe, which is shimmering with energy.
Before the heroes can reach Ares, however, Phobos rushing at Wonder Man, slams his shoulder into the latter’s mid-section, sending him flying back. “If I know my father, Hercules,” Phobos says, “he wants you for himself.”
Hercules hesitates, even as Wonder Man gets to his feet. “I’ll be fine, Hercules,” Wonder Man offers, punching Phobos in the face with such force that he turns his head from the impact of the blow. “You go get Ares!” Hercules’ face changes from one of concern for his comrade to a satisfied smile at the idea of the coming combat with his half-brother.
Ares is prepared for Hercules and uses the fact that he is momentarily distracted to his advantage, swinging his battle-axe at his half-brother while his head is turned. “Come, brother!” Ares says, swinging his axe, “Taste my axe!”
Hercules spins around at the right moment, using his mace to block the downward arc of the battle-axe before it can strike his body. “Well do I know of thy tricks, Ares!” Hercules remarks, kicking his brother in the stomach and driving him back. “Let the battle be joined, as it must be! And thy mad schemes will come to naught!”
Ghost Rider surges his motorcycle forward, using a ramp to take off into the air, hellfire trailing behind him. As he soars briefly through the air, he looks down at the combatants below. His eye sockets sparkle briefly and he holds out his right arm, sending down blasts of hellfire at the combatants, striking Enyalios and Incinerator. Incinerator falls to the ground, smoke rising from his back, but Enyalios gets to his feet, angrily looking for the source of his attacking and observing Ghost Rider. Behind Enyalios, Colossus uses his arms to push himself forward, starting to rise from the ground.
As Ghost Rider’s cycle lands on the pavement, it bounces slightly; but Ghost Rider’s skill allows him to control it, as if it was an extension of his own body, turning once again towards the combatants. He sees Enyalios and starts to fide swiftly towards him, even as the latter prepares to meet him halfway, rising his spiked mace.
“You will pay dearly for your cowardly attack, demon!” Enyalios exclaims. “My back still burns from your accursed hellfire, borne as it is from Pluto’s darkest regions!
“You will get much worse before I am finished!” Ghost Rider counters in his harsh, demonic tone, as he continues to ride towards his foe.
Before Ghost Rider can reach his target, a single, concentrated blast of energy strikes him in the side and arm, knocking him from his cycle and sending him skidding along the pavement, while his bike flips over and rolls several times before striking a parked Mercedes. The unnatural heat from the cycle causes the fuel tank of the Mercedes to erupt, creating a larger explosion, which sends a mushroom cloud far into the air above the combatants, while the citizens in the area flee in panic.
As an explosion erupts in the background, the Winter Soldier leaps into action, wrapping his legs around the Orb and, using the momentum from his leap, knocks the villain from his motorcycle and onto the ground.
“The heat’s intense,” Winter soldier silently considers, kicking the stunned Orb into his masked face, “but I’ve got to put this one down before he does any more damage.”
“How dare you interfere with my revenge against Blaze?!” the Orb exclaims, still kneeling, but using the mechanism in his mask to shoot out laser beams at Winter Solider. For his part, Winter Soldier leaps to the side, and then does a back flip to narrowly avoid the laser blasts.
The explosion sends heat waves through the air, impacting the Angel’s flight, but he maneuvers through it with consummate skill, as he approaches the Human Fly. For his part, the Fly looks over at the Angel, sneering from his position, perched on the wall. Behind him, Bashee flies overhead, using his sonic powers to trap the explosion, into a sonic cage preventing it from getting out and causing any more damage.
“You picked the wrong side in this fight,” Angel comments, flying through the air, gripping his mace with his right hand.
“I don’t think so,” the Human Fly responds, glaring over at the approaching Angel, “Ares is a master strategist and he’s planned everything out to insane detail. I’ve never worked with anyone who planned things out so thoroughly.”
“From what I’ve seen,” the Angel responds, swinging the mace at the Human Fly, who ducks under the swing, which barely misses the top of his head, “you mainly work for yourself and other small-time hoods. So, your opinion doesn’t carry much weight with me!”
“I’m sick of people like you!” the Human Fly explodes in anger as he launches himself off the wall, fully intending to kill the Angel with his leap. “You and that loud-mouth Spider-Man, always judging me. You won’t be judging me when I rip your head off!”
Angel smiles, happy that his prodding has thrown his opponent off-guard, but keeping out of the Human Fly’s reach all the same. “I’ve read about the Human Fly,” Angel thinks to himself. “He fought Spider-Man all right and was somehow enhanced by a scientist.* I don’t need to let him get his hands on me.”
[*Human Fly did fight Spider-Man in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #10 (1976), his only appearance as of the date of this story, although he did fight Spider-Man a second time in 1979 (about a year after this story). He was enhanced by Harlan Stilwell, who the Human Fly promptly murdered in appreciation.]
Angel turns in mid-air and dips down suddenly, narrowly avoiding the Human Fly’s powerful hands.”I can’t believe I missed!” Human Fly exclaims, as his momentum starts to carry him downward. “You’re even faster than the wall crawler!” Angel circles through the air to get behind the Human Fly and slams his mace down hard on the back of the Human Fly’s head.
“I’ve fought Spider-Man myself, over a mistake,”** the Angel responds, as he lives back to avoid any counter attack. “And he is pretty fast, but he can’t fly.”
[**Most recently (to this timeline) in Marvel Team-Up #4, where the Angel and three other X-Men fought Spider-Man over a misunderstanding caused by Morbius kidnapping one of Professor X’s former colleagues.]
“Funny you should mention that,” Human Fly turns quickly from a dive and flies towards the Angel, grabbing him in a vise-like grip on the Angel’s right ankle.
“I’ve been wondering when you learned to fly” the Angel asks, while he winces with pain from Human Fly’s powerful grip.
“Fly?” the Human Fly asks, his face twisting into a sneer. “Yeah, Ares made some improvements. I told you the guy’s brilliant!”
“That’s what I get for not hitting him with everything I had,” Angel thinks to himself, as he keeps trying to push back through the air, trying to break free of the Human Fly’s grip. “I wasn’t sure how tough he was and didn’t want to split his head open.”
“You’ve had a good run, Angel,” Human Fly says in a mocking tone, “but I’m about to put an end to it. I’m going to crush your leg, then I’ll do the same to your head.”
Suddenly, the Fly’s face is completely covered in ice, as his eyes grow increasingly larger and his limbs start to shake. Iceman runs along a bridge created by his ice powers, as he directs the ice to cover the Fly’s shoulders and down to his biceps. The Fly starts to move very slowly and lose control over his muscle movements, which make him loosen his grip on the Angel just enough for the winged mutant to slip out of his grip and soar away from him.
“I figured you might need a little breather, buddy!” Iceman says, smiling. He quickly turns to send ice daggers at Incinerator, piercing his costume with the super-sharp ice weapons.
“I don’t need your assistance, Iceman!” Sunfire exclaims, glaring up at the Iceman, who ignores him and continues to glide across the air on his makeshift walkways made of ice.
“It’s much appreciated, Iceman!” the Angel says, smiling, while he twists his ankle, causing the ligaments to crack as he tries to ease the tension building up there.
Behind the Angel, the Fly becomes completely immobile, his body reacting by going into partial hibernation from the extreme cold generated by Iceman’s powers, the cold having the same effect on him that it has on a common household fly. He plummets to the ground, unable to fly—or even move—at this point.
“Regardless of how brutal he is,” the Angel thinks to himself, swooping down to grab the Fly by the underarms and catch him, “I can’t just let him die.” With that, the Angel swings down to the ground, depositing the villain safely on the ground.
Before he can move out of the way, a whip lashes around his mid-section. He instinctively puts his hands down, grabbing the whip to try to pull it away from him, only to feel a high voltage shock surge through his body.
“Your mercy is gonna cost you this time, wings!” Whiplash yells out, pulling his whip tighter to keep the Angel off-balance and unable to catch his breath. “It’ll be your last act on the earth, too, because this whip is gonna suck the life right out of you!”
Madrox starts running to Whiplash, who continues to hold his whip taut to prevent any escape from the Angel. He sends periodic shocks through the whip to keep the Angel from flying off into the air and taking him with him.
“Who are you supposed to be?” Whiplash mocks, not impressed with the thin Madrox.
As Madrox runs towards Whitplash, and when he is almost upon him, he divides into five, and then ten, versions of himself, the duplicates running all around Whiplash, who is stunned by what he is seeing and does not react immediately. The multiple mutant then punches Whiplash in all of his duplicate forms.
Havok and Polaris stand side-by-side, each directing their respective energies at Lightmaster and the Blizzard, driving them back!
“None of thee are fighting as a team!” Ares exclaims, holding his powerful battle axe in his right hand, clenched tighter within his fist by his anger. “Hath I not taught thee to fight together? Yet, ye all fight as if thou were still individuals! Fight as a team!”
“They are individuals, my love,” Satana says in her almost hypnotic voice, while she sends out blasts of energy at Darkstar and Black Widow, causing them to dodge in opposite directions, leaping towards the ground. “They lack our perspective and are merely men, seeking the pleasures of the flesh. They cannot understand how to work together. It is their nature. We can only herd them so far, even one of your uncommon abilities.”
“’Twould seem, dear brother,” Hercules says, slamming his mace into the god of war with such tremendous force that the impact of the blow sends Ares flying back 500 feet, flying into—and through—a power line, which falls onto a line of delivery vehicles, and onto a fire hydrant, which erupts, its gush of water shooting straight into the air. The water splashes onto the power lines, which cause them to electrify the air and the surrounding area, shooting sparks of electricity in all directions.
Ares gets to his feet, methodically walking forward towards Hercules. His body is covered with water and 345,000 volts of electricity radiates around him, crackling all around his body. If this causes him any discomfort, he does not show it. He continues to walk away from the large stream of water caused by the broken fire hydrant and, as he does so, the electricity starts to fade from around him.
“Come, brother,” Ares sneers, his cutting his eyes towards Hercules. “Surely thou can do better.”
“Aye, brother,” Hercules exclaims, a smile covering his face as he leaps forward, quickly separating the distance between them. Ares raises his mace to meet his brother’s charge and the two strike their respective weapons together, creating massive shockwaves that cause windows to shatter.
Dazzler, standing nearby, staggers slightly on her feet, but then her body starts to glow as she absorbs the sonic energy, which makes her much stronger and more powerful instantly. She sends out blasts of light energy and lasers at Lightmaster, sending him flying back and slamming into a wall! “Wow!” she exclaims, as she sends lasers in various directions, almost involuntarily, so drunk she is with the power that she suddenly gained. Her lasers shoot out, one striking Madam Mask in the side of her metallic mask, knocking her to the ground, and another striking Blizzard, singing his skin and ripping his costume at the tricep area.
Angel, who has broken free from Whiplash’s whip because of the welcome distraction that Madrox gave him, looks at what is happening to Dazzler and swoops down to help her. He uses his aerial skills to dodge a series of stray laser blasts and are shooting from her with every movement.
“Dazzler!” he exclaims with concern. “Get control over your powers before you wreck the city!”
The Angel flies down, grabbing Dazzler around the waist and tackling her to the ground. He pins her arms to the ground and looks intensely at her. “Dazzler!” he yells at her, as he straddles her. “Control yourself! You’ll destroy the city if you don’t stop filtering the sonic energy randomly!”
“What?!” Dazzler looks up, as if seeing Angel for the first time, coming out of a haze. “What do you…?”
“Your powers were going crazy,” Angel explains, grabbing her by the hand and helping her to her feet.
“I…I didn’t realize…” Dazzler says, her eyes growing wide as she sees the destruction caused in the brief time that her powers were reflectively causing damage. Immediately around her are burning vehicles, large holes in nearby buildings, which are smoldering from the laser impact that caused the holes, and small fires in the patches of grass that border the sidewalks and roads where the fights are taking place.
Storm, flying overhead, directs her powers to create an isolated rain shower to put out the fires caused by Dazzler’s erratic powers. “She doesn’t realize how powerful she is,” Storm states plainly. “But, fortunately, we managed to get the situation under control before she managed to burn the whole city.”
With the fires smoldering behind them, Enyalios effortlessly picks up a large 1978 station wagon with the familiar wood trim over his head, as the stunned single passenger of the vehicle dives out of the driver’s side window, landing on the unwelcoming pavement. He looks at Colossus and throws it at the powerful X-Man.
The large station wagon, weighing about 2.5 tons, comes at Colossus like a rocket, propelled by Enyalios’ great strength. Colossus wraps his arms around the vehicle, catching it against his chest. It takes him back several steps, but he then places it on the ground, to the clear delight of the owner of the vehicle.
“Surely,” Colossus comments, a slight smile crossing his face, “you didn’t think that would stop me?”
“No,” Enyalios responds, punching Colossus in the face before he can fully set himself, sending the latter flying into a nearby tenement building, which is long-since overdue for condemnation. “But this will!”
The villain rushes into the building, eager to finish off his foe. He disappears within seconds. There is a still silence for four to five seconds before a booming sound, like the sound of a giant steel press striking a metal object, is heard. The building shakes, as two powerhouses exchange blows that could take down a mountain. The mortar and brick making up the building starts to give way from the tremendous pressure of housing two powerful men trading blows with hurricane force.
Inevitably, the older building cannot withstand the thunderclaps of energy from the combatants and it starts two crumble. Within the span of a few seconds, the building has completely collapsed under its own weight, burying the two opponents within hundreds of tons of brick, mortar, and plaster.
Winter Soldier leaps towards a frustrated Orb, kicking him in the large, round mask so hard that the locking mechanism starts to come loose, causing it to wobble slightly on his head.
“You’re about to go down!” Winter Soldier says, smiling with satisfaction.
“Fool” the Orb exclaims. “All you’ve managed to do is get within range of my beams! He wills the beams to fire, but they do not obey his commands, Winter Soldier’s kick having disabled the firing mechanism.
Another kick from the Winter Soldier sends the Orb’s circular mask flying from his face, landing on the ground behind him. “WHOA!” Winter Soldier remarks, surprised by the hideous face that greets him. “You aren’t going to win any beauty contests!”
“What are you talking about?!” the Orb exclaims. “Satana restored my face!”
“You might want to look in the mirror,” Winter Soldier counters, slamming his fist into the Orb, who falls to the ground hard, “after you wake up, that is!”
The brick and mortar material is piled up on the ground, as the building continues to fall down upon itself, creating an even larger pile of debris. Soon, the movement ceases, and the only thing remaining is the dust and smoke from the pulverized mortar, which rises into the air slowly, being carried around by the wind currents surrounding the large area where the building stood mere moments earlier. It creates an uneasy stillness, juxtaposed with the sounds of combat all around it.
The top of the rubble starts to stir slightly, barely noticeable at first, as two broken bricks start to slide down the veritable mountain of brick and mortar that have formed when the building collapsed on itself. They are joined by a third and a forth brick, and then additional ones start to stir at the top, sliding down the massive pile of rubble. Soon, the scene appears as a sea of brick, concrete pieces, and broken mortar moving from the top of the rubble down towards the side, running along the rubble pile to the ground in front of it.
A large metal hand suddenly surfaces at the top of the pile of rubble, shoving some of the rubble aside. Soon, the figure of Colossus can be seen emerging from the pile of rubble. As he becomes more visible, it is clear that he is dragging another figure, the semi-conscious form of Enyalios by the cape behind him, pushing through the rubble to bring them both up to the surface. Colossus’ body is covered with mortar and brick dust, casting a cloudy appearance that dulls the normal shine of his metal body.
“I think, comrade,” the Russian says, as he continues to walk down the collapsing mountain of concrete, brick, and mortar, “things did not go as well as you planned.”
Darkstar engulfs Satana in her eldritch dark energy, completely blinding the lovely, but evil, villainess. “ARES!” she calls out, as she moves her hands around in the utter darkness, trying to find her way out.
“Satana!” he calls out, throwing his glowing axe at Darkstar. She just barely moves, preventing the axe from cutting her in half. As it stands, however, the axe slices through her costume and cuts her along the side, just above the hip.
“Uhhhnn,” she exclaims, reeling from pain, as her side starts to bleed.
“’Twas an unworthy blow, brother,” Hercules says, slamming his fist into Ares’ mid-section, doubling him over and knocking the breath out of him. He then slams his elbow into the back of Ares’ head while he is doubled over. Ares can feel his head spin from the powerful punches, as he tries to get to his feet again. Hercules, however, is relentless, slamming a blow into Ares’ chin that drives him back several feet. He struggles to retain his consciousness, but he knows another such blow will finish the battle.
Satana emerges from the dark prison, as Darkstar’s injury caused her to lose her concentration, while the dark energy dissipates. She immediately looks over to Ares, who is staggering on his feet, with Hercules approaching to deliver another blow. “No,” she comments, looking around. “There are too many of them, and we don’t stand a chance without Ares.”
With that, Satana raises her hand and sweeps it through the air. Immediately, her entire team starts to fade away.
“They’re getting away!” the Black Widow exclaims.
“It doesn’t matter,” Angel says, looking at the melting ice bridge where Iceman was a moment earlier. “Iceman just disappeared!”
Black Goliath rushes over to the site, carrying a metallic box with a lever and cords attached to it. “This might be the break we’ve been waiting for!”
“What do you mean?” Black Widow asks.
“Before he disappeared,” Black Goliath explains, “Beast and I were working on something to track a sudden discharge of energy that seems to accompany the site of every disappearance.”
“It makes sense,” Winter Soldier remarks. “Anyone who is using powers, or technology, to make people disappear…there would have to be some kind of energy signature present.”
“Precisely!” Black Goliath responds. “And we were working on tracking it “The Beast was able to isolate unique characteristics of the energy used. He said he thinks he’s seen it before, but he didn’t have as much time to study it as he planned. The man is brilliant, if a little weird.”
“Yeah,” Angel responds, nodding his head. “That’s Beast in a nutshell. Do you think there’s enough of the energy left to trace it now?”
“Yes,” Black Goliath responds. “There definitely is. I’m working on that right now.”
“Good,” Angel responds, noticing that Ghost Rider is walking up towards them, and that Black Widow is carrying Darkstar with her. “Is she all right?”
“I managed to bandage her up,” Black Widow responds. “She’ll be sore for a while, but she’ll be okay. I’m going to take her inside and keep an eye on her.”
“Here’s the name of a doctor I trust,” Angel says, pulling a card out of a secret pocket in his costume and handing it to Black Widow. “Call him. He’ll do a house visit.”
“Okay, sure,” Black Widow responds. “But she shouldn’t be alone. The cut might become infected.”
“I’ve got it!” Black Goliath exclaims.
“You isolated the energy signature?” Winter Soldier asks.
“Yes,” Black Goliath responds. “But more than that. If we can get going quickly, we can trace it back to its source!”
“That’s all I need to hear!” Angel responds enthusiastically. “Banshee, can you and Winter Soldier get the C-crafts ready? We’re going to find out what’s happened to our friends!”
“Aye, laddie,” Banshee responds. “That I’ll do.”
“We’ve got this covered,” Angel says, as Black Widow turns back to face him. “Stay here with Darkstar in case she needs you. Bobby wouldn’t forgive me if anything happened to her.”
Black Widow nods. For his part, Banshee grabs her from Black Widow and carries her through the air. “This’ll get the fair lass inside quicker.”
“It’s okay, Angel,” Wolverine says. “We brought our own ride anyway.”
“Just make sure you can keep up,” Angel responds. “We don’t have any time to waste.”
“No, we don’t,” Black Goliath agrees. “The energy signature is starting to fade. We have to leave now!”
To be continued…
CABLES OF CHAMPIONS
This issue of 70s Champions is a long time coming. I’ve planned on using the New X-Men (as they were called at the time) for some time now, because I grew up on that team and really enjoyed them during that time period. They were never done better than when Claremont, Cockrum, and Byrne were on the title in the late 70s. In this issue, I want to capture the feel of the characters during that time, when I thought that they were at their best.
Of course, the 70s were also a good time for the Temptations, who helped provide the soundtrack for this issue. And the Motown sound was pretty much at its peak during the 70s, before it was replaced by Disco (which was very much in vogue in 1978, for better or worse, when this issue takes place.
I’ll be tying about another plotline that has been around since I started with 70s Champions, starting next issue, as I get one issue closer to matching the output of the original series, which ended with #17. I’ve always felt that the title was just hitting its stride when it was cancelled, ending with some great Byrne artwork, as well as bringing in a very under-utilized Black Goliath.
As always, your comments are welcome and appreciated. I can be reached at [email protected].
♪Theme Music: “Ball of Confusion” by the Temptations♪
Outside Champions Tower, Ares has come at the conclusion of the Champions’ battle with the New X-Men, bringing with him his War Bringers! Ares looks over his half-brother’s group with contempt. The beautiful but deadly Satana is at his side. The rest of his group includes the Orb, Rampage, the Human Fly, Whiplash, Incinerator, Madam Masque, Phobos, Enyalios, Lightmaster, and the Blizzard.
“Brother,” Ares sneers over at Hercules, “’twas my intention to have my War Bringers crush thine group. Yet, ‘twould appear that thou hath managed allies to help thee. ‘Tis of no matter. They will fall as surely as thy so-called Champions.”
“Ares!” Hercules calls out, looking over at the god of war before him. “Glad am I that thou hath arrived. Truly, I was disappointed to be so quickly finished with this combat, and I would be most happy to bestow upon thee that divine gift!”
“As soon as these enemies are out of the way,” Ares says to the lovely Satana, “I will bring about a glorious global conflict not seen on this planet since I whispered in Churchill’s ear to give Poland that war guarantee. This planet has been quiet,” he continues, a look of disgust crossing his face, “and peaceful for too long. The most recent war in Asia ended three years ago. Still, there hath been some conflicts in some areas, but they are meaningless. I want to unleash a wonderful worldwide war that will involve all nations and will last a decade or longer. Perhaps a century! Would that not be glorious?!”
“We have commonality, my love,” Satana responds with a wicked smile. Death, destruction, human suffering. I am about my father’s work.”
Enyalios rushes forward, a spiked mace in his hand. He swings his mace at Colossus, sending him flying back into a parked car! “Enough talk!” Enyalios shouts. “My limbs ache for combat! I have waited long enough. Let us finish them quickly!”
Colossus pulls himself out of the large indention he left in the car. “I take no pleasure in combat, comrade,” he exclaims, rushing towards Enyalios, “but I am no one’s punching bag either!” With that, he delivers a punch into the war god’s mid-section, sending him flying into a nearby building. The impact dislodges bricks and mortar and shakes the very foundation of the building.
Enyalios smiles as he moves away from the building, raising his mace. “I am glad that you did not fall so easily,” he remarks. “It will make the combat all the sweeter.”
Nightcrawler suddenly teleports onto Enyalios’ shoulder, striking him on the ear before teleporting away again, striking him on the other side. The blows do not hurt him, but the son of Ares is clearly annoyed.
“Away, you gnat!” Enyalios demands, but is unable to catch the rapidly appearing and disappearing Nightcrawler, who cannot contain a smile as he continues to irritate his opponent.
Madame Masque rushes forward, leaping into the air to kick Black Widow in the face. “You’re friends with my old foe, Ironman!” Masque says, as she leaps towards Black Widow. “All the more reason why you must die.”
“It’s true,” Black Widow responds, blocking the kick with her forearm, while she leans away from the attack. “I used to be in the Avengers and know Ironman pretty well. Like you, I started out on different sides.”
Madame Masque comes down on Black Widow, tackling her and bringing her to the ground. “Ironman and I used to be more than enemies,” she explains. “But that time has passed.”
As Black Widow falls to the ground onto her back, she raises her knees up and flips Madame Masque over her head and across the ground. “Either way,” Black Widow responds, “you’re getting stopped here…all of you.”
The Human Fly flies over to the Angel, breaking off half of a lamppost on the way. “I guess it’s you and me, mutant!” the Human Fly says, sneering at the winged Champion.
“That’s fine with me, mutate!” the Angel responds with a smile at his turn of the phrase, as he uses his mace to block the lamppost that the Human Fly swung at him. “I’ve never been known to back down from a fight!” “I’ve read about his fight with Spider-Man*,” the Angel silently considers. “He has super-strength, so he’s no one to play around with.”
[*He’s probably talking about Amazing Spider-Man Annual #10 (1976)]
The Human Fly dives towards the Angel, swinging his lamppost at the Angel. However, the Angel is highly skilled in aerial warfare. He flips backwards through the air, his feet slamming into the Human Fly in mid-air. The impact from the kick sends the Human Fly back through the air towards a building. He reaches out, his fingers grasping the side of the brick wall of the building, sticking to it with his powers.
“Oooh gross!” Dazzler exclaims, gesturing towards the Human Fly. “He’s like a fly, sticking to that wall!” She converts the sound of traffic around them into light, sending a laser blast at Human Fly, knocking him off the wall. “I’ll swat him!” He falls about ten feet before reaching out and sticking to the wall with his fingers once again.
“You’re not the only one who controls light, disco girl!” Lightmaster exclaims, as he directs his own light attack at the Dazzler, striking her and stunning her with a laser light blast to her back. “I’m not called Lightmaster for nothing.”
“Hercules,” Wonder Man offers, looking over at the prince of power. “If Ares is behind this, if we rush him and take him out, maybe this’ll be over pretty quickly.”
“’Twould not be seemly to fight Ares in that manner,” Hercules responds. “In truth, the sinews of the prince of power are more than equal to the task.”
“Umm,” Wonder Man replies, shaking his head. “I’m not saying you can’t take him by yourself. I’m just trying to end this quickly so we can help find the missing friends of the Beast.”
“Verily,” Hercules responds with a nod. “Thy words do ring true. Let us be at the war god” With that, the two heroes rush towards Ares, who is brandishing his large battle-axe, which is shimmering with energy.
Before the heroes can reach Ares, however, Phobos rushing at Wonder Man, slams his shoulder into the latter’s mid-section, sending him flying back. “If I know my father, Hercules,” Phobos says, “he wants you for himself.”
Hercules hesitates, even as Wonder Man gets to his feet. “I’ll be fine, Hercules,” Wonder Man offers, punching Phobos in the face with such force that he turns his head from the impact of the blow. “You go get Ares!” Hercules’ face changes from one of concern for his comrade to a satisfied smile at the idea of the coming combat with his half-brother.
Ares is prepared for Hercules and uses the fact that he is momentarily distracted to his advantage, swinging his battle-axe at his half-brother while his head is turned. “Come, brother!” Ares says, swinging his axe, “Taste my axe!”
Hercules spins around at the right moment, using his mace to block the downward arc of the battle-axe before it can strike his body. “Well do I know of thy tricks, Ares!” Hercules remarks, kicking his brother in the stomach and driving him back. “Let the battle be joined, as it must be! And thy mad schemes will come to naught!”
Ghost Rider surges his motorcycle forward, using a ramp to take off into the air, hellfire trailing behind him. As he soars briefly through the air, he looks down at the combatants below. His eye sockets sparkle briefly and he holds out his right arm, sending down blasts of hellfire at the combatants, striking Enyalios and Incinerator. Incinerator falls to the ground, smoke rising from his back, but Enyalios gets to his feet, angrily looking for the source of his attacking and observing Ghost Rider. Behind Enyalios, Colossus uses his arms to push himself forward, starting to rise from the ground.
As Ghost Rider’s cycle lands on the pavement, it bounces slightly; but Ghost Rider’s skill allows him to control it, as if it was an extension of his own body, turning once again towards the combatants. He sees Enyalios and starts to fide swiftly towards him, even as the latter prepares to meet him halfway, rising his spiked mace.
“You will pay dearly for your cowardly attack, demon!” Enyalios exclaims. “My back still burns from your accursed hellfire, borne as it is from Pluto’s darkest regions!
“You will get much worse before I am finished!” Ghost Rider counters in his harsh, demonic tone, as he continues to ride towards his foe.
Before Ghost Rider can reach his target, a single, concentrated blast of energy strikes him in the side and arm, knocking him from his cycle and sending him skidding along the pavement, while his bike flips over and rolls several times before striking a parked Mercedes. The unnatural heat from the cycle causes the fuel tank of the Mercedes to erupt, creating a larger explosion, which sends a mushroom cloud far into the air above the combatants, while the citizens in the area flee in panic.
As an explosion erupts in the background, the Winter Soldier leaps into action, wrapping his legs around the Orb and, using the momentum from his leap, knocks the villain from his motorcycle and onto the ground.
“The heat’s intense,” Winter soldier silently considers, kicking the stunned Orb into his masked face, “but I’ve got to put this one down before he does any more damage.”
“How dare you interfere with my revenge against Blaze?!” the Orb exclaims, still kneeling, but using the mechanism in his mask to shoot out laser beams at Winter Solider. For his part, Winter Soldier leaps to the side, and then does a back flip to narrowly avoid the laser blasts.
The explosion sends heat waves through the air, impacting the Angel’s flight, but he maneuvers through it with consummate skill, as he approaches the Human Fly. For his part, the Fly looks over at the Angel, sneering from his position, perched on the wall. Behind him, Bashee flies overhead, using his sonic powers to trap the explosion, into a sonic cage preventing it from getting out and causing any more damage.
“You picked the wrong side in this fight,” Angel comments, flying through the air, gripping his mace with his right hand.
“I don’t think so,” the Human Fly responds, glaring over at the approaching Angel, “Ares is a master strategist and he’s planned everything out to insane detail. I’ve never worked with anyone who planned things out so thoroughly.”
“From what I’ve seen,” the Angel responds, swinging the mace at the Human Fly, who ducks under the swing, which barely misses the top of his head, “you mainly work for yourself and other small-time hoods. So, your opinion doesn’t carry much weight with me!”
“I’m sick of people like you!” the Human Fly explodes in anger as he launches himself off the wall, fully intending to kill the Angel with his leap. “You and that loud-mouth Spider-Man, always judging me. You won’t be judging me when I rip your head off!”
Angel smiles, happy that his prodding has thrown his opponent off-guard, but keeping out of the Human Fly’s reach all the same. “I’ve read about the Human Fly,” Angel thinks to himself. “He fought Spider-Man all right and was somehow enhanced by a scientist.* I don’t need to let him get his hands on me.”
[*Human Fly did fight Spider-Man in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #10 (1976), his only appearance as of the date of this story, although he did fight Spider-Man a second time in 1979 (about a year after this story). He was enhanced by Harlan Stilwell, who the Human Fly promptly murdered in appreciation.]
Angel turns in mid-air and dips down suddenly, narrowly avoiding the Human Fly’s powerful hands.”I can’t believe I missed!” Human Fly exclaims, as his momentum starts to carry him downward. “You’re even faster than the wall crawler!” Angel circles through the air to get behind the Human Fly and slams his mace down hard on the back of the Human Fly’s head.
“I’ve fought Spider-Man myself, over a mistake,”** the Angel responds, as he lives back to avoid any counter attack. “And he is pretty fast, but he can’t fly.”
[**Most recently (to this timeline) in Marvel Team-Up #4, where the Angel and three other X-Men fought Spider-Man over a misunderstanding caused by Morbius kidnapping one of Professor X’s former colleagues.]
“Funny you should mention that,” Human Fly turns quickly from a dive and flies towards the Angel, grabbing him in a vise-like grip on the Angel’s right ankle.
“I’ve been wondering when you learned to fly” the Angel asks, while he winces with pain from Human Fly’s powerful grip.
“Fly?” the Human Fly asks, his face twisting into a sneer. “Yeah, Ares made some improvements. I told you the guy’s brilliant!”
“That’s what I get for not hitting him with everything I had,” Angel thinks to himself, as he keeps trying to push back through the air, trying to break free of the Human Fly’s grip. “I wasn’t sure how tough he was and didn’t want to split his head open.”
“You’ve had a good run, Angel,” Human Fly says in a mocking tone, “but I’m about to put an end to it. I’m going to crush your leg, then I’ll do the same to your head.”
Suddenly, the Fly’s face is completely covered in ice, as his eyes grow increasingly larger and his limbs start to shake. Iceman runs along a bridge created by his ice powers, as he directs the ice to cover the Fly’s shoulders and down to his biceps. The Fly starts to move very slowly and lose control over his muscle movements, which make him loosen his grip on the Angel just enough for the winged mutant to slip out of his grip and soar away from him.
“I figured you might need a little breather, buddy!” Iceman says, smiling. He quickly turns to send ice daggers at Incinerator, piercing his costume with the super-sharp ice weapons.
“I don’t need your assistance, Iceman!” Sunfire exclaims, glaring up at the Iceman, who ignores him and continues to glide across the air on his makeshift walkways made of ice.
“It’s much appreciated, Iceman!” the Angel says, smiling, while he twists his ankle, causing the ligaments to crack as he tries to ease the tension building up there.
Behind the Angel, the Fly becomes completely immobile, his body reacting by going into partial hibernation from the extreme cold generated by Iceman’s powers, the cold having the same effect on him that it has on a common household fly. He plummets to the ground, unable to fly—or even move—at this point.
“Regardless of how brutal he is,” the Angel thinks to himself, swooping down to grab the Fly by the underarms and catch him, “I can’t just let him die.” With that, the Angel swings down to the ground, depositing the villain safely on the ground.
Before he can move out of the way, a whip lashes around his mid-section. He instinctively puts his hands down, grabbing the whip to try to pull it away from him, only to feel a high voltage shock surge through his body.
“Your mercy is gonna cost you this time, wings!” Whiplash yells out, pulling his whip tighter to keep the Angel off-balance and unable to catch his breath. “It’ll be your last act on the earth, too, because this whip is gonna suck the life right out of you!”
Madrox starts running to Whiplash, who continues to hold his whip taut to prevent any escape from the Angel. He sends periodic shocks through the whip to keep the Angel from flying off into the air and taking him with him.
“Who are you supposed to be?” Whiplash mocks, not impressed with the thin Madrox.
As Madrox runs towards Whitplash, and when he is almost upon him, he divides into five, and then ten, versions of himself, the duplicates running all around Whiplash, who is stunned by what he is seeing and does not react immediately. The multiple mutant then punches Whiplash in all of his duplicate forms.
Havok and Polaris stand side-by-side, each directing their respective energies at Lightmaster and the Blizzard, driving them back!
“None of thee are fighting as a team!” Ares exclaims, holding his powerful battle axe in his right hand, clenched tighter within his fist by his anger. “Hath I not taught thee to fight together? Yet, ye all fight as if thou were still individuals! Fight as a team!”
“They are individuals, my love,” Satana says in her almost hypnotic voice, while she sends out blasts of energy at Darkstar and Black Widow, causing them to dodge in opposite directions, leaping towards the ground. “They lack our perspective and are merely men, seeking the pleasures of the flesh. They cannot understand how to work together. It is their nature. We can only herd them so far, even one of your uncommon abilities.”
“’Twould seem, dear brother,” Hercules says, slamming his mace into the god of war with such tremendous force that the impact of the blow sends Ares flying back 500 feet, flying into—and through—a power line, which falls onto a line of delivery vehicles, and onto a fire hydrant, which erupts, its gush of water shooting straight into the air. The water splashes onto the power lines, which cause them to electrify the air and the surrounding area, shooting sparks of electricity in all directions.
Ares gets to his feet, methodically walking forward towards Hercules. His body is covered with water and 345,000 volts of electricity radiates around him, crackling all around his body. If this causes him any discomfort, he does not show it. He continues to walk away from the large stream of water caused by the broken fire hydrant and, as he does so, the electricity starts to fade from around him.
“Come, brother,” Ares sneers, his cutting his eyes towards Hercules. “Surely thou can do better.”
“Aye, brother,” Hercules exclaims, a smile covering his face as he leaps forward, quickly separating the distance between them. Ares raises his mace to meet his brother’s charge and the two strike their respective weapons together, creating massive shockwaves that cause windows to shatter.
Dazzler, standing nearby, staggers slightly on her feet, but then her body starts to glow as she absorbs the sonic energy, which makes her much stronger and more powerful instantly. She sends out blasts of light energy and lasers at Lightmaster, sending him flying back and slamming into a wall! “Wow!” she exclaims, as she sends lasers in various directions, almost involuntarily, so drunk she is with the power that she suddenly gained. Her lasers shoot out, one striking Madam Mask in the side of her metallic mask, knocking her to the ground, and another striking Blizzard, singing his skin and ripping his costume at the tricep area.
Angel, who has broken free from Whiplash’s whip because of the welcome distraction that Madrox gave him, looks at what is happening to Dazzler and swoops down to help her. He uses his aerial skills to dodge a series of stray laser blasts and are shooting from her with every movement.
“Dazzler!” he exclaims with concern. “Get control over your powers before you wreck the city!”
The Angel flies down, grabbing Dazzler around the waist and tackling her to the ground. He pins her arms to the ground and looks intensely at her. “Dazzler!” he yells at her, as he straddles her. “Control yourself! You’ll destroy the city if you don’t stop filtering the sonic energy randomly!”
“What?!” Dazzler looks up, as if seeing Angel for the first time, coming out of a haze. “What do you…?”
“Your powers were going crazy,” Angel explains, grabbing her by the hand and helping her to her feet.
“I…I didn’t realize…” Dazzler says, her eyes growing wide as she sees the destruction caused in the brief time that her powers were reflectively causing damage. Immediately around her are burning vehicles, large holes in nearby buildings, which are smoldering from the laser impact that caused the holes, and small fires in the patches of grass that border the sidewalks and roads where the fights are taking place.
Storm, flying overhead, directs her powers to create an isolated rain shower to put out the fires caused by Dazzler’s erratic powers. “She doesn’t realize how powerful she is,” Storm states plainly. “But, fortunately, we managed to get the situation under control before she managed to burn the whole city.”
With the fires smoldering behind them, Enyalios effortlessly picks up a large 1978 station wagon with the familiar wood trim over his head, as the stunned single passenger of the vehicle dives out of the driver’s side window, landing on the unwelcoming pavement. He looks at Colossus and throws it at the powerful X-Man.
The large station wagon, weighing about 2.5 tons, comes at Colossus like a rocket, propelled by Enyalios’ great strength. Colossus wraps his arms around the vehicle, catching it against his chest. It takes him back several steps, but he then places it on the ground, to the clear delight of the owner of the vehicle.
“Surely,” Colossus comments, a slight smile crossing his face, “you didn’t think that would stop me?”
“No,” Enyalios responds, punching Colossus in the face before he can fully set himself, sending the latter flying into a nearby tenement building, which is long-since overdue for condemnation. “But this will!”
The villain rushes into the building, eager to finish off his foe. He disappears within seconds. There is a still silence for four to five seconds before a booming sound, like the sound of a giant steel press striking a metal object, is heard. The building shakes, as two powerhouses exchange blows that could take down a mountain. The mortar and brick making up the building starts to give way from the tremendous pressure of housing two powerful men trading blows with hurricane force.
Inevitably, the older building cannot withstand the thunderclaps of energy from the combatants and it starts two crumble. Within the span of a few seconds, the building has completely collapsed under its own weight, burying the two opponents within hundreds of tons of brick, mortar, and plaster.
Winter Soldier leaps towards a frustrated Orb, kicking him in the large, round mask so hard that the locking mechanism starts to come loose, causing it to wobble slightly on his head.
“You’re about to go down!” Winter Soldier says, smiling with satisfaction.
“Fool” the Orb exclaims. “All you’ve managed to do is get within range of my beams! He wills the beams to fire, but they do not obey his commands, Winter Soldier’s kick having disabled the firing mechanism.
Another kick from the Winter Soldier sends the Orb’s circular mask flying from his face, landing on the ground behind him. “WHOA!” Winter Soldier remarks, surprised by the hideous face that greets him. “You aren’t going to win any beauty contests!”
“What are you talking about?!” the Orb exclaims. “Satana restored my face!”
“You might want to look in the mirror,” Winter Soldier counters, slamming his fist into the Orb, who falls to the ground hard, “after you wake up, that is!”
The brick and mortar material is piled up on the ground, as the building continues to fall down upon itself, creating an even larger pile of debris. Soon, the movement ceases, and the only thing remaining is the dust and smoke from the pulverized mortar, which rises into the air slowly, being carried around by the wind currents surrounding the large area where the building stood mere moments earlier. It creates an uneasy stillness, juxtaposed with the sounds of combat all around it.
The top of the rubble starts to stir slightly, barely noticeable at first, as two broken bricks start to slide down the veritable mountain of brick and mortar that have formed when the building collapsed on itself. They are joined by a third and a forth brick, and then additional ones start to stir at the top, sliding down the massive pile of rubble. Soon, the scene appears as a sea of brick, concrete pieces, and broken mortar moving from the top of the rubble down towards the side, running along the rubble pile to the ground in front of it.
A large metal hand suddenly surfaces at the top of the pile of rubble, shoving some of the rubble aside. Soon, the figure of Colossus can be seen emerging from the pile of rubble. As he becomes more visible, it is clear that he is dragging another figure, the semi-conscious form of Enyalios by the cape behind him, pushing through the rubble to bring them both up to the surface. Colossus’ body is covered with mortar and brick dust, casting a cloudy appearance that dulls the normal shine of his metal body.
“I think, comrade,” the Russian says, as he continues to walk down the collapsing mountain of concrete, brick, and mortar, “things did not go as well as you planned.”
Darkstar engulfs Satana in her eldritch dark energy, completely blinding the lovely, but evil, villainess. “ARES!” she calls out, as she moves her hands around in the utter darkness, trying to find her way out.
“Satana!” he calls out, throwing his glowing axe at Darkstar. She just barely moves, preventing the axe from cutting her in half. As it stands, however, the axe slices through her costume and cuts her along the side, just above the hip.
“Uhhhnn,” she exclaims, reeling from pain, as her side starts to bleed.
“’Twas an unworthy blow, brother,” Hercules says, slamming his fist into Ares’ mid-section, doubling him over and knocking the breath out of him. He then slams his elbow into the back of Ares’ head while he is doubled over. Ares can feel his head spin from the powerful punches, as he tries to get to his feet again. Hercules, however, is relentless, slamming a blow into Ares’ chin that drives him back several feet. He struggles to retain his consciousness, but he knows another such blow will finish the battle.
Satana emerges from the dark prison, as Darkstar’s injury caused her to lose her concentration, while the dark energy dissipates. She immediately looks over to Ares, who is staggering on his feet, with Hercules approaching to deliver another blow. “No,” she comments, looking around. “There are too many of them, and we don’t stand a chance without Ares.”
With that, Satana raises her hand and sweeps it through the air. Immediately, her entire team starts to fade away.
“They’re getting away!” the Black Widow exclaims.
“It doesn’t matter,” Angel says, looking at the melting ice bridge where Iceman was a moment earlier. “Iceman just disappeared!”
Black Goliath rushes over to the site, carrying a metallic box with a lever and cords attached to it. “This might be the break we’ve been waiting for!”
“What do you mean?” Black Widow asks.
“Before he disappeared,” Black Goliath explains, “Beast and I were working on something to track a sudden discharge of energy that seems to accompany the site of every disappearance.”
“It makes sense,” Winter Soldier remarks. “Anyone who is using powers, or technology, to make people disappear…there would have to be some kind of energy signature present.”
“Precisely!” Black Goliath responds. “And we were working on tracking it “The Beast was able to isolate unique characteristics of the energy used. He said he thinks he’s seen it before, but he didn’t have as much time to study it as he planned. The man is brilliant, if a little weird.”
“Yeah,” Angel responds, nodding his head. “That’s Beast in a nutshell. Do you think there’s enough of the energy left to trace it now?”
“Yes,” Black Goliath responds. “There definitely is. I’m working on that right now.”
“Good,” Angel responds, noticing that Ghost Rider is walking up towards them, and that Black Widow is carrying Darkstar with her. “Is she all right?”
“I managed to bandage her up,” Black Widow responds. “She’ll be sore for a while, but she’ll be okay. I’m going to take her inside and keep an eye on her.”
“Here’s the name of a doctor I trust,” Angel says, pulling a card out of a secret pocket in his costume and handing it to Black Widow. “Call him. He’ll do a house visit.”
“Okay, sure,” Black Widow responds. “But she shouldn’t be alone. The cut might become infected.”
“I’ve got it!” Black Goliath exclaims.
“You isolated the energy signature?” Winter Soldier asks.
“Yes,” Black Goliath responds. “But more than that. If we can get going quickly, we can trace it back to its source!”
“That’s all I need to hear!” Angel responds enthusiastically. “Banshee, can you and Winter Soldier get the C-crafts ready? We’re going to find out what’s happened to our friends!”
“Aye, laddie,” Banshee responds. “That I’ll do.”
“We’ve got this covered,” Angel says, as Black Widow turns back to face him. “Stay here with Darkstar in case she needs you. Bobby wouldn’t forgive me if anything happened to her.”
Black Widow nods. For his part, Banshee grabs her from Black Widow and carries her through the air. “This’ll get the fair lass inside quicker.”
“It’s okay, Angel,” Wolverine says. “We brought our own ride anyway.”
“Just make sure you can keep up,” Angel responds. “We don’t have any time to waste.”
“No, we don’t,” Black Goliath agrees. “The energy signature is starting to fade. We have to leave now!”
To be continued…
CABLES OF CHAMPIONS
This issue of 70s Champions is a long time coming. I’ve planned on using the New X-Men (as they were called at the time) for some time now, because I grew up on that team and really enjoyed them during that time period. They were never done better than when Claremont, Cockrum, and Byrne were on the title in the late 70s. In this issue, I want to capture the feel of the characters during that time, when I thought that they were at their best.
Of course, the 70s were also a good time for the Temptations, who helped provide the soundtrack for this issue. And the Motown sound was pretty much at its peak during the 70s, before it was replaced by Disco (which was very much in vogue in 1978, for better or worse, when this issue takes place.
I’ll be tying about another plotline that has been around since I started with 70s Champions, starting next issue, as I get one issue closer to matching the output of the original series, which ended with #17. I’ve always felt that the title was just hitting its stride when it was cancelled, ending with some great Byrne artwork, as well as bringing in a very under-utilized Black Goliath.
As always, your comments are welcome and appreciated. I can be reached at [email protected].