Issue(s): Contest of Champions #1, Contest of Champions #2, Contest of Champions #3
Published Date: Jun-Aug 82
Title: "A gathering of heroes!" / "First contest: Frenzy in the frozen north! / Second contest: Ghost town showdown!" / "Third contest: Siege in the city of the dead! / Fourth contest: Struggle in the jungle! / Winner takes none!"
Credits:
Steven Grant, Mark Gruenwald, & Bill Mantlo - Plot
Bill Mantlo - Script
John Romita, Jr. & Bob Layton/ John Romita, Jr. - Penciler
Pablo Marcos & Bob Layton / Pablo Marcos - Inker
Mark Gruenwald & Tom DeFalco - Editor

Review/plot:
The story behind this mini-series is that it was originally created to be a Marvel Treasury Edition intended to coincide with the 1980 Olympics. But the project was abandoned when the US pulled out of the Olympics in protest of the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan. But... no one told inker Pablo Marcos. So, a few years later, he turned in the art on the pages he'd received so far, and editors Tom DeFalco and Mark Gruenwald scrambled to determine what to do with it. A number of changes had to be made to bring characters up to date with the developments of the past two years (that's why Bob Layton gets art credits on the first issue). But the story got finished by the original creative team and was published as a 3 issue mini series - the first Limited Series that Marvel published.

The story itself is very straightforward. Just about every known hero...

...plus a number of new heroes from around the world...

...are teleported to an arena in space.

A sub-set of the heroes are organized into two teams...

...one representing the Elder of the Universe known as the Grandmaster, and the other representing a mystery character...

...who turns out to be the incarnation of Death.

If the Grandmaster's team wins, he gets his brother the Collector back from the dead. If Death's team wins, the Grandmaster dies. If the heroes refuse to participate, the Earth will be held in suspended animation for all eternity.

Since nothing was compelling the heroes to try their hardest, it might have been clever for Death's team to just let the Grandmaster's team win, but everyone's too earnest for that and no one challenges the set-up. So instead, lots of fights.

Straightforward as the plot ought to be, the writers fumble it. In the final contest, Death's team wins, but it was incorrectly reported as a win for the Grandmaster's team. In reality, the Contest resulted in a tie, but the plot acted as if the Grandmaster had won (Grandmaster seems to have problems keeping the rules straight in his contests). Years later, this plot hole would be addressed in a crossover between Avengers annual #16 and the West Coast Avengers annual #2. In the meantime, here's what they say in the lettercol for Avengers #228:

And speaking of [No-Prizes], this editorial office recently awarded over 1000 n-p's to those nimble-eyed Marvel mavens who caught the scorekeeping error in Contest of Champions #3... Guess Death had the game rigged even more than we thought, letting G.M. win when he actually only tied.

The end result at this point is that the Collector is raised from the dead, but there's a catch - the Grandmaster is required to give his own life to make it happen.

The heroes are then all returned to Earth.

This series introduces a number of heroes representing countries from around the world, including Shamrock from Ireland, Talisman from Australia, the apparently oddly named Le Peregrine from France...

...and Defensor from Argentina. None of these characters had much staying power. It also uses a number of obscure international characters (most previously created by Mantlo and introduced during Hulk's World Tour that ran from Hulk #256-261), including the Soviet Super Soldiers, Sabra from Israel, the Arabian Knight, and China's Collective Man.

The story isn't very good, but Romita's artwork is very nice, and the scene where all the characters are held in the arena and spend a little time talking with each other before the Grandmaster and Death show up is cute.

Quality Rating: C

Historical Significance Rating: 6 - this is sort of a conceptual precursor to the crossover events that will begin in earnest with Secret Wars. It's also Marvel's first Limited Series. Introduces a few minor international heroes. Grandmaster dies, Collector is raised from the dead.

Chronological Placement Considerations: From a continuity point of view, this is a bit of a headache, even after Bob Layton's effort to make sure the book gelled with current events. It has to take place while the Hulk is still "dumb" (so, before Hulk #269). It has to take place after the X-Men return from space (Uncanny X-Men #167; but see the Considerations section for Hulk #277-279 for an alternate placement for them). Takes place before Ka-Zar gets shot in the head (Ka-Zar the Savage #18). Has to take place after the Black Knight returns to the present day in Avengers #226.

The biggest conundrum is presented by the Defenders. Beginning in Defenders #106, the team is away in another dimension. Half of the team, including the Hulk, Sub-Mariner, and Dr. Strange (all of whom appear in this series), do not return until Defenders #115. But Nighthawk dies in issue #106, and the Devil-Slayer goes to jail some time after Defenders #110. Avengers annual #11 takes place soon after Defenders #109, and based on the membership of the Avengers in that annual, it takes place before Hawkeye and She-Hulk join the team in Avengers #221. But the Black Knight is also included in Contest of Champions, and he doesn't return from the past until Avengers #226. Furthermore, Captain America #268 takes place directly before Defenders #106, and Captain America #276 takes place before Fantastic Four #250, which must take place before Uncanny X-Men #167 (see individual entries for the reasons why). And the X-Men issue must take place before Contest of Champions. We'd like the whole run of Defenders #106-115 to take place before Contest of Champions, so that Nighthawk can be alive and Devil-Slayer not incarcerated, but due to the above chain of events, it's just not possible.

To solve this, the MCP assumes that the Defenders run actually takes place before Contest of Champions. It solves the Nighthawk problem by assuming that the Nighthawk that appears here is actually the Squadron Supreme version. There's no evidence that this would be the case; no other heroes from the Squadron Supreme universe were included, for example. But there really isn't a better solution, so i've taken the same approach here. Luckily, Nighthawk doesn't actually talk in these issues.

It solves the Devil-Slayer problem seemingly just by ignoring it. That's not entirely negligent: Defenders #110 doesn't actually show Devil-Slayer going to jail. It just shows him working through his emotional problems and then there's an epilogue at the end that takes place "four months later" where Dr. Strange reads a letter from the Slayer's wife saying that he's voluntarily turned himself in. It's possible that some time in between the main story in Defenders #110 and the epilogue that the Devil-Slayer returned to visit Dr. Strange, and during the visit they were whisked away to the Contest. But it doesn't really work well; the idea is that after Slayer has his emotional breakthrough with his wife, he spends some time working out his issues and turns himself in. Nonetheless, we're stuck with that solution.

Regarding the Avengers line-up in annual #11, i find it simpler to assume that for whatever reason, when Thor calls together the Avengers, She-Hulk and Hawkeye either weren't available or Thor decided that he didn't want to include them. So Avengers annual #11 actually takes place after Avengers #226.

References:

• The Collector died during the Korvac saga in Avengers #167-177.

Cross-over: N/A

Continuity Implant? N

Reprinted In: Contest of Champions TPB

A recent issue of "Back Issue" detailed the history of this series and what characters got redrawn into what other characters.

cant believe they missed a wheaties endorsement with this one.

Not only was this series intended to be a Summer Olympics Treasury, but Marvel also intended a separate Winter Olympics Treasury starring Spider-Man and the Hulk, to be written by Bill Mantlo and drawn bt Herb Trimpe.