Championing Some Mind Control...

Does anyone remember the Champions?

Yours truly certainly does. While he might not have been around (or alive) when this Los Angeles based team of heroes first banded together in 1975, the brief run of the Champions always intrigued me.

The Champions were presented as 'the superhero team for the common man'. An interesting, if not slightly ironic hook for a group that consists of a Greek demi-god, a demonic motorcyclist, two former X-men, and led by a former, seemingly ageless Russian superspy... 'common' wouldn't be the first word that comes to mind.

Still, most of their adventures were pretty pedestrian. After an initial three issue arc by Tony Isabella that set the heroes up as a team, Chris Claremont was brought in to guest write issue 4. By that time, Claremont had 'only' been writing comics for about six years and it showed in his writing. Thankfully, he had already adopted his pet peeve: mind control. 

The issue opens with Black Widow and Hercules enjoying a stroll on the beach, when they run into a crazed man who happens to be super strong, despite his advanced age. Seconds after they subdue him, a generic squad of shock troopers shows up and manages to knock them both out. Once they come to, they find themselves the prisoners of... well, just read...

Just how the Widow knows about doctor Lansing is never explained, but he's more than willing to explain what he's up to. Lansing is a psychiatrist who runs a mental asylum, even though he is insane. He's been experimenting on his patients to create a variant of Captain America's soldier serum. Many of his test subjects turned insane and infantile, his first success was the old man the heroes encountered on the beach. 

"When I've finished with you two, you'll tell me your innermost secrets... And serve me as blindly, as loyally, as any of my mutates!"

... Ahh, the sight of those future tried and true Claremontisms in their earliest appearances... Almost enough to bring a tear to one's eye. Now, in the years that followed Claremont would take plenty of time and pages to show the gruelling mind control techniques... but in these fledgling years, he cut right to the chase.

Gotta love that George Tuska art, with tiny details like Iceman reading an issue of the X-men comic. But here we have Hercules and the Black Widow busting into their own headquarters, ready to kill their fellow Champions.

Even in 1975, the threat of doctor Edward Starling and his mind addled zombies really do feel like a throwback to an early 1960s Tales To Astonish back up strip. Starling, both in design and behaviour, would have been a perfect fit for Ant Man's rogue gallery. From his plain clothes appearance to his remarkable likeness to main Ant Man baddie Egghead... Not to mention that bulky box he uses to control his mutates. All of it just screams vintage Stan Lee.

So, why did Starling decide to have Hercules and the Black Widow attack the Champions? Surely, there must have been better targets? Well, it seems Starling wanted the Widow's associate Ivan dead, who happened to be staying with the team at the time. Starling's big blunder was to send a mind controlled Natasha to kill her best friend...

Furious she broke free from his conditioning, Lansing tried to shoot the Widow in an obviously futile attempt to keep the situation under control. Obviously, he failed and then Natasha did this...

With his control box destroyed, the mutates turned on Lansing and the Champions just... let them kill him? Not too heroic, if you ask me. Still, kudos to Tuska for the creative way of showing Lansing's finale fate in a convincingly creepy way without resorting to gore. Never underestimate the power of suggestion.

Claremont ends his tale on the beach, with Angel having a heart to heart with a remarkably contemplative Hercules...

And so ends Chris Claremont's one issue Champions run. A surprisingly fine story, despite the cookie cutter plot, the generic bad guy and the slightly overwrought emotional ending that is a little out of character for Hercules, who must have seen far worse during the countless battles he's been in.

In retrospect, the conversation would have made far more sense if their roles had been reversed so a relatively inexperienced young hero like Warren would be overcome by the sad, unfair fate of the mutates only to have battle wisened Hercules set him straight.

Ah well, live and learn... at least Claremont realised having his bad guys carry around a mind control mcguffin that screams 'break me to conveniently end all this' was a bad move storywise... So its not all bad, after all. Just like the Champions themselves.

Starting Marvel Fanfare with mindcontrol melodies

Back in 1982, Marvel started a new experiment in publishing: Marvel Fanfare, an anthology title that featured top creators crafting special stories printed on deluxe format paper. More bang for your buck, basically. 

 So, who was selected to kick off this auspicious new title? Considering Chris Claremont was one of Marvel's most popular writers it was pretty much a no-brainer he would write the first arc.

Unfortunately, while the format was new, the plot relied heavily on the old familiar mind control and enslavement shtick. It all started with Spider-Man and Warren Worthington teaming up in the Savage Land to find Karl Lykos, a man who was presumed lost.

Alas, what was supposed to be a relatively simple search & rescue mission turned sour when both Spider-Man and Angel were ambushed and captured by Brain Child and the other Savage Land mutates who subjected them to a little experiment.

This leads to several interesting mind control and transformation situations.

While Spider-Man fights against his conditioning, Angel fully embraces his new feral state.
In the end, both manage to break free and return to normal.

Alas, the damage was done by then: Lykos was forced to drain Angel's mutant energies, which caused him to revert to the villainous, energy draining man-reptile Sauron.  

Time to call in the cavalry... With Spider-Man returning to New York, Angel awaited the arrival of his fellow X-men. Together they set out to deal with Sauron and his henchmen.

After rather easily beating most of the Savage Land Mutates, they made their way to Sauron's island citadel and then this happened.

So... Not only have they had their will power silently sapped the second they entered the Savage Land and, now they are subjected to Sauron's mind control hypnosis and will soon get reverted to animalistic versions of themselves thanks to BrainChilds machine? 

Yes, I do believe we just hit the mind control trifecta. Angel barely managed to evade capture and met up with Ka-Zar. The lord of the Savage Land had a little trouble getting Angel to join him in opposing Sauron.

 Warren felt a little jittery going up against the raving reptile. But surely, what are the odds he would mess up and get beaten three times in the same story?

Ah, yeah. Oops. 

 Meanwhile, inside Sauron's citadel, Brain Child had Storm sent up for this particularly disturbing scene.

Having a drained, battered and virtually helpless woman dolled up and sent to your room is just... Wrong.  

 It didn't take long for Storm to knock out her dimunitive stalker. She escaped and freed the other X-men who made short work of both Sauron and his cronies.  

 All's well that ends well, and despite its obvious mind control involved flaws, the tale is well worth seeking out, if only because it features amazing art by Michael Golden, Dave Cockrum and Paul Smith in their undisputed prime.