Contest of Champions #1 (1982)
written by Mark Gruenwald, Steven Grant & Bill Mantlo
pencils John Romita Jr.
cover by John Romita Jr. & Bob Layton
This is the first Marvel limited series and sometimes considered its first company-wide crossover, featuring EVERY single superhero.
Including Dazzler for some reason.
Most of the first issue is dedicated to gathering all the heroes. Dazzler is kidnapped while she’s performing, and she has two new superhero fans: Hellcat and Valkyrie, both mostly associated with the Defenders at this point.
In addition to being a rather unremarkable story, this miniseries is remembered only for testing out the crossover formula and for introducing a few international heroes.
Some of which show up occasionally, like Peregrine from France or Collective Man from China…
…some are nobodies with just cameos: like Germany’s Blitzkrieg, Argentina’s Defensor (who AMAZINGLY is not a villain)…
…and Australia’s Talisman (who doesn’t even get his name spelled right!!!).
I guess the only beloved hero originating in this miniseries is probably Shamrock, Ireland’s luck-based heroine.
The gathering culminates in what I assume is the double-spread page featuring the highest number of superheroes that has NOT been penciled by George Pérez.
Honestly the only interesting part of the story are the very few character interactions, from old friends reconnecting to similar heroes who don’t meet often. You can tell this is a Gruenwald idea.
Although it can get pretty ridiculous…
…and some parts of if have definitely NOT aged well.
Dazzler only shows up in the background of a few panels (see the above Black Knight one: she’s talking to Hercules, who is undoubtedly hitting on her).
At the end of the each issue there’s a complete list of EVERY single superhero featured in the story, which as I mentioned was everybody. In alphabetical order, so Dazzler gets mentioned in the first issue… but sadly there’s nothing remarkable about her entry.
The fact they need to describe heroes who only show up in this story in the background leads to some funny parts: for example, Captain Universe is LITERALLY a random woman!!!
It doesn’t even get the reference right, because you can probably tell the SLIGHT difference between the Captain Universe of this story (left) and the one from Micronauts #8 (right).
Dazzler doesn’t even show up for a cameo in the other two issues. That’s a relief because outside of the gathering of heroes (which is passable at best), the rest of the series is… not very good.
Also: continuing the theme of his appearances in the Dazzler series, Angel gets no respect.
While I’m not talking about the story itself, I can’t talk about this series without mentioning one of the most hilarious blunders in superhero history.
The “Contest” is the fight between cosmic menace the Grandmaster and Death itself, each one choosing a team of heroes.
The final score between Grandmaster and Death was 2 to 2, but apparently someone at Marvel lost track and the story treats the game as if Grandmaster won 3 to 1.
Whoops.
Bonus: a little information on the history behind this miniseries from its first issue.
Dazzler significance: 0/10
Like 99% of the heroes showing up she doesn’t do anything.
Silver Age-ness: 10/10
All of Earth’s heroes are summoned by an alien who plays against Death to resurrect a friend; most of them don’t do anything and only win because said alien can’t count.
Does it stand the test of time? 0/10
There’s some nice artwork here and there, but this is pretty atrocious. Especially any kind of attempted social commentary… focus on “attempted”.
Superhero fans: 30
Full disclosure: the main reason why I’m covering this is to add Hellcat and Valkyrie to the list.
The caption for that panel with Iceman and Darkstar overstates things a wee bit, as their entire “romance” basically consisted of:
Iceman: “Darkstar, I love you and am therefore going to continually say creepy and uncomfortable things to you!”
Darkstar: “Um…I think I left the stove on back in Minsk.” (Flies away, deciding the ol’ USSR was suddenly looking good right about then.)
The panel itself captures the dynamic pretty well. Iceman approaches and picks a roundabout way to tell her she looks hot. Darkstar gets a queasy look on her face and mumbles something polite and noncommittal. If it had continued for one more panel, it most likely would’ve consisted of:
Darkstar: “Oh! I think I heard someone calling me from the other end of the room. Better go check that out! TTFN!” (Encases herself in a cocoon of the Darkforce and teleports away.)
Iceman, left holding a bouquet of ice roses he’d just whipped up: “She’s so pretty. I just love her.”
I just noticed that the Falcon appears to be crying like a baby in that big group arrival shot.