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They just don’t make them like this anymore. The Champions was a short lived (17 issues) series from Marvel Comics that was published from 1975 to 1978. It featured the most unlikely team you would ever imagine (Hercules, Ghost Rider, Black Widow, Iceman, and Angel).

The group was formed when the U.C.L.A. campus was attacked by the Greek God Pluto and his allies Ares and Hippolyta. It’s seems that Iceman and Angel (of the X-Men) were attending UCLA. Ghost Rider just happened to be in town. Hercules was giving a guest lecture in Mythology on campus (I don’t make this stuff up) and Black Widow was applying for a job to teach children how to speak Russian.

They’ve attacked UCLA campus to capture Hercules and force him to marry Hippolyta (Queen of the Amazons) and Pluto intends to marry the goddess Venus, who just happened to be in LA as well. The group bands together at the end of issue #1 and plans to stop Pluto and his plan.

Go ahead, read the issue if you don’t believe me.

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Mister Fantastic is an inherently cool character (I think). He may be the least powerful member of the Fantastic Four, but he can do so many things with his power, that he’s a fun character to read (or watch). I hope that in the upcoming Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer movie, that the character is played much more like he was at the end of the first film.

His power doesn’t work on film in slow shots. for example, the scene in the first film where he stretched his hand under the door just doesn’t look good. It looks fake. However, in the final battle with Dr. Doom, his stretches and turns into several shapes quickly an rapidly. It was the first time in the film I smiled while watching the character. Hopefully, the new film will feature lots of shapes, bouncing and stretching for Mister Fantastic (read more about the character).

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Man-Ape Image from The Official Handbook Of The Marvel Universe - Master Edition #03 (1991)

What’s wrong with this picture: you’re a super-villain and you possess the strength and agility of the “rare Wakandan white gorilla,” which means you’ve got enhanced human strength and durability, as well as superhuman stamina and agility. You outweigh Captain America by 100lbs. and have almost a foot height advantage, yet you still manage to get  “overpowered” by him in Avengers #78 and #79. Way to go, Man-Ape and Cap., I still miss you.

Powers and Abilities

Intelligence: Normal
Strength: Enhanced human
Speed: Athlete
Stamina: Superhuman
Durability: Enhanced human
Agility: Superhuman
Reflexes:
Fighting skills: Wakandan Royal Militia training
Special skills and abilities: None
Superhuman physical powers: Superhuman strength, agility, stamina, and durability equal to that of the rare Wakandan white gorilla
Superhuman mental powers: None
Special limitations: None
Source of superhuman powers: Mystical transference of the abilities of the rare Wakandan white gorilla

Paraphernalia

Costume specifications: The Man-Ape wears the pelt of Wakandan white gorilla.
Personal weaponry: None
Special weaponry: None
Other accessories: None
Transportation: Various
Design and manufacture of paraphernalia: Inapplicable

Bibliography

First appearance: AVENGERS #62
Origin issues: AVENGERS #62
Significant issues: AVENGERS #62 (battled the Black Panther in attempt to usurp the throne of Wakanda and return Wakanda to primitive state);
AVENGERS #78-79 (traveled to America, joined Lethal Legion, captured Black Panther, fought Avengers, overpowered by Captain America);
WEST COAST AVENGERS #1-2 (rejoined Lethal Legion, battled Tigra);
VISION AND SCARLET WITCH Vol.2 #2 (abandoned Grim Reaper, accompanied by Black Talon)

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It looks like the original 1966 New Adventures of Superman and Batman cartoons from Filmation will finally be coming to DVD, according to Warner Brothers animation writer Earl Kress.

At the end of a post detailing release plans for more old-school Hanah Barbera animation, Kress drops the following dates:

6/26/07: The New Adventures of Batman
The New Adventures of Superman

Those have not been “officially” announced by WB, so I wouldn’t call it 100%, but it’s a good sign. I would hope that the Batman series they are referring to is the Batman with Robin the Boy Wonder. It’s the one that was paired with the New Adventures of Superman in 1969 when they originally aired together as the Batman / Superman Hour on CBS.

The New Adventures of Batman was the series produced by Filmation in 1977. It’s the one I remember watching as a kid. It aired as part of the Super 7 block that featured Tarzan, Freedom Force, Jason of Star Command, Manta and Moray, Superstretch and Microwoman, and Web Woman. Freedom Force is out on DVD now and Jason of Star Command will be released in May.

These shows are the reason I started making my own DVDs a few years ago and I’m excited to see them finally get the actual release they deserve. If there is one area that DC dominates Marvel in, it’s tv/animation/DVD. With Superman and Batman coming, I hope they follow up with: Adventures of Superboy, the DC Heroes shorts, Aquaman, the 1988 Superman cartoon and the other Batman series (whichever one doesn’t get released). I haven’t completed (actually-just barely started) my Superman set, so it will save me some work.

Kress also states four more of my favorite cartoons will be released on July 17.

On July 17, Warner Home Video will release them in their original configuration as Space Ghost and Dino Boy and Birdman and the Galaxy Trio.

He also teases that a release of the Banana Splits Adventure Hour is pending as well.

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In issue #10 (1965) of the X-Men series, Ka-Zar was introduced and he bounced around the Marvel Universe for many years following, somehow meeting up with a large cast of Marvel heroes, despite being a one-hit Tarzan knock-off and mainly located in the Savage Land.

He did have a short run series in 1997 with art by Andy Kubert, but the character hasn’t been seen much since then.

Bibliography

First appearance: X-MEN #10
Origin issue: DAREDEVIL #13
Significant issues: X-MEN #10 (first encountered original X-Men, first battled Maa-Gor);
DAREDEVIL #12-14 (first encountered Daredevil, first battled with brother the Plunderer);
INCREDIBLE HULK #109-111 (first encountered Hulk, battled Umbu the Unliving);
ASTONISHING TALES #1-2 (first battled Kraven the Hunter);
ASTONISHING TALES #8 (encountered Bobbi Morse (Mockingbird));
ASTONISHING TALES #12-13 (first battled AIM, met Man-Thing);
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #103-104 (first met Spider-Man, battled extraterrestrial Gog);
KA-ZAR #1 (first met Shanna the She-Devil);
KA-ZAR #14-20 (battled Klaw, first visited another dimension);
X-MEN #61-63 (first battled Magneto’s Savage Land Mutates);
X-MEN#115-116 (teamed with X-Men to battle Zaladane and Garokk);
KA-ZAR THE SAVAGE #1 (discovered the Savage Land is part of Pangaea);
KA-ZAR THE SAVAGE #12 (first battled Belasco);
KA-ZAR THE SAVAGE #29 (married Shanna);
KA-ZAR THE SAVAGE #33 (apparent death of brother Parnival);
AVENGERS #256-258 (destruction of the Savage Land by Terminus, rescued by the Avengers, left Savage Land for the civilized world);
IRON MAN #202 (encountered Iron Man, battled the Fixer);
X-MEN ANNUAL #12 (Savage Land restored by High Evolutionary and Garokk; Ka-Zar, Shanna and newborn return);
KA-ZAR GRAPHIC NOVEL (Ka-Zar and Shanna separated)