Issue #1 presents readers with a baseball story, a soapbox derby race and a battle between rival track stars.
'The Kid Who Beat The Oakland A's' is the story of David Wexler. He's not really that good of an athlete. But as an aspiring writer who wants to document the experience, he's got to make the team. David is about to be cut when he injures his shoulder which miraculously turns him into an ace pitcher. A couple of years later, Wexler joins an expansion team straight out of high school where his career puts him against the defending national champs, the Oakland A's!
Story #2 is called 'The Little Racer'. It's an unlikely story about a lad who dreams of winning his town's soapbox derby. From a poor family, the boy can't afford those fancy kits of aluminum and fiberglass bodies like the other kids can. Fatefully, while testing out his latest design, his cart is destroyed by a biker gang who feels sorry for their actions and winds up stealing parts for a replacement racer!
The final story titled 'The First Hurdle', could be considered what Brian's Song would have been if Gale Sayers and Brian Piccolo allowed racial strife to come between the two of them. A young Irish track star is excited to meet his new roomie and teammate; one with the last name of Kelly. However the white student-athlete is incensed that Kelly is black! Thus begins a story about race and how bigotry can prevent a pair of supposed compatriots from gelling as a cohesive unit.
I feel like I've experienced the opening story of this issue before. Having a kid become a major league fastball throwing pitcher thanks to an arm injury is the exact plot of 1993's Rookie of the Year. I wonder if screenwriter Sam Harper used this obscure comic as inspiration!
The soapbox derby car tale would have been funny if it was written to be a farce. Instead, Simon has the story play out as a drama with a predictable ending. Though would early 1970s race officials really postpone a heat to let one of the drivers run home to change clothes?
'The First Hurdle' was another story full of missed opportunities. It ends with Kelly having to fill in for his racist teammate in the climatic relay event, after an injury. Later Kelly confronts his fellow athlete but the ending is left kinda bitter and tragic, without any hopes of change or reconciliation. Considering how optimistic the first two sports stories end, the realistic yet depressing end of the final account, leaves the reader unfulfilled.
Champion Sports #1 ends with a lengthy one-page article on the early development of baseball. Written by Allan Asherman, it's a pretty informative piece that actually questions the validity of the myth that Abner Doubleday invented baseball! Quite a bit of the piece includes baseball's popularity that occurred during the Civil War, making this issue a must for Civil War buffs who also collect comic books!
Cover art for this issue by Grandenetti and Flessel.
Completing this review completes Task #37 (A Sports Story) of the 2024 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.
Rating: 6 out of 10 stars.
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