The Champions #5

Name: The Champions #5
Brand: Marvel
Availability: InStock

Apr 1976 · Marvel · 0.25 USD

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“The Economy Is So Bad That...”

★ 1st appearance — Rampage★ 1st appearance — Emerson Bale

About this Issue

The Champions #5 marks the first appearance and fully told origin of Rampage (Stuart Clarke), one of Marvel's most explicitly recession-born villains — a ruined industrialist who dons a powered exoskeleton and turns to bank robbery when the 1970s economic slump destroys his company. Writer Tony Isabella consciously framed Stuart Clarke as an 'everyman of super-villains,' tethering superhero action directly to the real anxieties of mid-decade American economic collapse in a way few Bronze Age Marvel issues did so pointedly. The issue also formalizes the Champions' organizational identity: Angel bankrolls a storefront superhero-service and hires Richard Fenster as business manager, giving the team a civilian infrastructure that distinguished it from the Avengers model. Rampage's staying power — he went on to serve as a Punisher ally during Civil War and was adapted into the MCU's Ironheart (2025) — means this issue is the origin point for a character whose thematic DNA has proven surprisingly durable.

writer Tony Isabella · artist Don Heck · inker, artist John Tartag · colorist J. Cohen · letterer J. Costanza · letterer Irv Watanabe · cover Rich Buckler, Frank Giacoia

ComicBooks.com Value

Our Model is In Beta

Raw (Fine) $6

CGC 9.8 · 23 in census $139

CGC 9.6 · 37 in census $48

CGC 9.4 · 21 in census $26

CGC 9.2 · 6 in census $21

CGC 9.0 · 9 in census $20*

CGC 8.5 · 9 in census $20

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CGC 8.0 · 4 in census $20*

CGC 7.5 · 3 in census $20*

CGC 7.0 · 1 in census $20*

CGC 6.5 · 3 in census $20*

CGC 6.0 · 2 in census $20*

CGC 5.5 · 1 in census $20*

CGC 5.0 · 2 in census $20*

CGC 4.5 · 1 in census $20*

CGC 4.0 none in existence

CGC 3.5 · 1 in census $20*

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Our model’s value — refined as new sales data arrives · CGC census counts shown where available

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History

The Champions series was conceived by writer Tony Isabella and artist Don Heck under the editorial oversight initially of Len Wein and subsequently Marv Wolfman, as part of Marvel's mid-1970s effort to expand its team-book lineup with a West Coast superhero franchise. Isabella's original pitch centered on a buddy-book pairing of the two surplus X-Men, Angel and Iceman; editorial mandates expanded the roster to five, adding Hercules, Black Widow, and Ghost Rider. By issue #5, the series was already showing the instability — twelve different writer/penciller/inker combinations over its 17-issue run — that would define its reputation, though Isabella himself remained on script through issue #7, and Don Heck returned to pencils here after George Tuska had handled issues #3 and #4.

Trivia · 8 facts

First appearance and first full origin of Rampage (Stuart Clarke), a bankrupt industrialist who dons a self-built powered exoskeleton and robs banks — billed in the issue's own text as 'the first menace born of the recession.'
First appearances of supporting characters Emerson Bale and Amos Crawley, both introduced in the same issue.
Richard Fenster is formally recruited as the Champions' business manager by Angel (Warren Worthington III), who uses his inheritance to incorporate the team as a commercial superhero-service — a significant structural development for the series.
Creative team: written by Tony Isabella; pencils by Don Heck; inks by John Tartaglione; colors by Janice Cohen; letters by John Costanza; edited by Marv Wolfman.
The cover was pencilled by Rich Buckler and inked by Dan Adkins.
The issue shipped in two cover-price editions: the standard 25¢ copy and a 30¢ price variant, both dated April 1976 with an on-sale date of January 20, 1976.
The issue includes a Marvel Value Stamp Series B #77 (Dracula), placed between pages 11 and 12 of the story.
The story has been reprinted at least eight times internationally and domestically, including in the French Titans #8 (1977), Italian Capitan America #111–112 (1977), British Marvel Super-Heroes #362 (1980 in black and white), Champions Classic Vol. 1 (2006), Marvel Masterworks: The Champions Vol. 1 (2016), and Champions Classic: The Complete Collection (2018). Rampage was later adapted into the MCU Disney+ series Ironheart (2025), portrayed by Eric André.