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Philippe Negrin
Byrne Robotics Member


Joined: 01 August 2007
Location: France
Posts: 2644
Posted: 20 October 2019 at 6:34am | IP Logged | 1 post reply
I very much anticipated it because it got a lot of hype when I was a kid. Sadly it was the first time I realized MARVEL could f*** up. And then over the years they did and again and some more. But it made my 12 year od self very sad to see MARVEL fail.
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Philippe Negrin
Byrne Robotics Member


Joined: 01 August 2007
Location: France
Posts: 2644
Posted: 20 October 2019 at 6:52am | IP Logged | 2 post reply
And the strange thing is that LUG editions who published Marvel in France for French readers published it with the mistake(s) and added an apology in an afterword. I mean knowing the problem IN ADVANCE, before translating and publishing it, couldn't they have found a way to correct it in agreement with Marvel ??? After all they were used to do a lot of cut and paste jobs to censor/alter the Marvel material as they saw fit. Man, I was so shocked and frustrated about the whole thing.
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John Byrne

Grumpy Old Guy

Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 132264
Posted: 20 October 2019 at 7:10am | IP Logged | 3 post reply
The real problem with books like CONTEST OF CHAMPIONS, SECRET WARS, CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS, etc, is that the wall-to-wall superheroes effect, while thrilling for younger readers, tends to make the characters ordinary.

“When everybody’s super, nobody is.”

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Robert Bradley
Byrne Robotics Member


Joined: 20 September 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 4825
Posted: 20 October 2019 at 7:14am | IP Logged | 4 post reply
Introduced in Contest of Champions #1 -


BLITZKRIEG - West Germany
DEFENSOR - Argentina
PEREGRINE - France
SHAMROCK - Ireland
TALISMAN - Australian Aborigine

Other existing international characters used -


ARABIAN KNIGHT - Saudi Arabia - The Incredible Hulk #257 (cameo appearance  in The Incredible Hulk #250)
BLACK PANTHER - Wakanda - Fantastic Four #52
CAPTAIN BRITAIN - Great Britain - Captain Britain #1 (first U.S. appearance in Marvel Team-Up #65)
COLLECTIVE MAN - China - Uncanny X-Men #539 (cameo appearance in The Incredible Hulk #250)
DARKSTAR - Soviet Union - Champions #7
SABRA - Israel - The Incredible Hulk #256 (cameo appearance  in The Incredible Hulk #250)
SASQUATCH - Canada - X-Men #120
SUNFIRE - Japan - X-Men #64
VANGARD - Soviet Union - Iron Man #109
WOLVERINE - Canada - The Incredible Hulk #181 (cameo appearance in The Incredible Hulk #180)

American characters used -


ANGEL - X-Men #1
CAPTAIN AMERICA - Captain America Comics #1
DAREDEVIL - Daredevil #1
INVISIBLE WOMAN - Fantastic Four #1
IRON FIST - Marvel Premiere #15
IRON MAN - Tales of Suspense #39
SHE-HULK - Savage She-Hulk #1
STORM - Giant-Size X-Men #1
THING - Fantastic Four #1

* * * * *

BLITZKRIEG was killed off in Captain America #442
DEFENSOR was killed off in Captain America #442
PEREGRINE is still active
SHAMROCK is retired and is now now a hairdresser and runs a super-hero salon
TALISMAN is still active

I don't know which is worse - having your character killed off with little fanfare by Mark Gruenwald or having them retire to run a "super-hero salon"



Edited by Robert Bradley on 20 October 2019 at 7:15am
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John Byrne

Grumpy Old Guy

Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 132264
Posted: 20 October 2019 at 7:18am | IP Logged | 5 post reply
“Blitzkrieg”. Why didn’t they call him “Mass Murder”?
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Michael Penn
Byrne Robotics Member


Joined: 12 April 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 12436
Posted: 20 October 2019 at 7:43am | IP Logged | 6 post reply
Thank you for that, JB. A name beyond stupid.
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Robert Bradley
Byrne Robotics Member


Joined: 20 September 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 4825
Posted: 20 October 2019 at 7:58am | IP Logged | 7 post reply
I know the nine Americans were included to boost sales (surprisingly, no Spider-Man!), but it would have been nice to see them include a few other little-used, existing non-Americans like the Red Guardian (Tania Belinsky version) or Brother Voodoo, or little-used minority Americans like the White Tiger, Bill Foster as Giant-Man or Captain Marvel (Monica Rambeau). 

As for the characters designed for the series, I will agree on the inappropriateness of the name, but other than Arabian Knight (a cringe-worthy stereotype) I didn't have any problem with any of the foreign characters they chose to use (T'Challa and Sunfire have always been favorites, and at that point Wolverine hadn't been as over-exposed as he would become).
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Brian Floyd
Byrne Robotics Member


Joined: 07 July 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 8355
Posted: 20 October 2019 at 10:16am | IP Logged | 8 post reply
Iirc, of those characters introduded in Contest, Blitzkreig and Defensor are dead. Peregrine and Shamrock have popped up a few times, but I don't know (or care) about Talisman.
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Eric Sofer
Byrne Robotics Member


Joined: 31 January 2014
Location: United States
Posts: 4789
Posted: 20 October 2019 at 1:45pm | IP Logged | 9 post reply
Brian F. - And really, Mr. Byrne did a much better version of Talisman.

Robert B. - I ALMOST commented on where you placed Storm... until I remembered that she was indeed born in New York. Nice call!

As to minority Americans - I think that would be too ticklish of an issue to address. It would not bother ME - but I was never the target audience for CoC. Also, the storyline was so bad that the familiar characters had to be REALLY familiar to attract readers. I agree with your question about Spider-Man; Cap, the Thing, Storm, and Wolverine were in this, so why some more popular ones? I might have left out Iron Fist and She-Hulk and the Invisible Girl for, say, Spider-Man and the Human Torch and Ms. Marvel.

I also was amused that the gods, god-likes, and unhuman beings were left off the rosters. Not surprised; but a little entertained.
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Matt Hawes
Byrne Robotics Member


Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 16430
Posted: 20 October 2019 at 10:01pm | IP Logged | 10 post reply
"Marvel Super Heroes Contest of The Champions" was originally meant to be a Marvel Treasury Size comic for the Summer Olympics of 1980. This would have been a sequel of sorts to the Treasury for the Winter Olympics,  with Spider-Man and the Hulk. But that year America boycotted the summer Olympics and the book was abandoned.  A couple of years later it was retooled into the "Contest of The Champions " miniseries.  The International characters were part of the story because it was supposed to be tied to the Olympics.
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John Byrne

Grumpy Old Guy

Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 132264
Posted: 21 October 2019 at 7:25am | IP Logged | 11 post reply
Thanks for that reminder. Matt. I was struggling to recall how this mess got started.
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John Byrne

Grumpy Old Guy

Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 132264
Posted: 21 October 2019 at 7:26am | IP Logged | 12 post reply
I ALMOST commented on where you placed Storm... until I remembered that she was indeed born in New York.

••

sigh

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