NFL SuperPro #11: A Whole New Ballgame

NFL SuperPro #11
“Feels Like Team Spirit”
Writer: P.F. Foye
Breakdowns: Jose Delbo
Finishes: Mike DeCarlo “and crew”
Letterer: Janice Chiang and Parker*
Colors: Marie Javins
Cover: Ron Frenz and Joe Sinnott
Editor: David Wohl
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco
Published by: Marvel
Released: June 2, 1992

SuperPro's penultimate issue starts off with a spectacular cover by Frenz. And on the inside... well, hey, isn't that cover great?

For starters, this issue does not bring back the Happy Campers, although once again we're rotating writers, and can anyone truly write that fabulous foursome as well as BuzzDixon? Clearly, no one else did, including Dixon himself.

This issue was scripted by P.F. (Paula) Foye, who was an editorial assistant at Marvel in the early '90s and also has some colorist credits. It does follow SuperPro's M.O. of helping athletes being preyed upon by unscrupulous types.

The athlete in this case is Bud Corkin, a professional basketball player with a team called the Gulls. It's not really germane to the story, but I'd like to know where the Gulls play. It's apparently in the same area as Clinton University, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

SuperPro is taking on the Gulls in a 1-on-5 charity game, which seems like a good idea until you realize they're playing for a championship, apparently that night. In the current NBA era of load management, players often sit out back-to-backs, let alone charity exhibitions on the same day as a title game. As the hero heads off the court to change and return to the stands – maybe for the aforementioned championship game – as Phil Grayfield, he notices Corkin being threatened by his agent, who we later learn is subtly named Hal Leech.**

It's enough to get Phil's journalism/fair play sense tingling, so he pays a visit to Leech's agency, Team Spirit Inc. Leech refuses to answer any questions, then sends a quartet of thugs to rough Phil up. He jumps out of the 15th story of the parking garage, lands safely on a lower floor and returns after donning his costume that he was carrying in his ever-present duffel bag. As 'Pro pummels the henchmen, he recognizes one of them as ex-Sacramento*** guard Zip Ramirez.

From there, cameraman Ken works his computer magic – remember kids, this was pre-Google – and finds that Corkin and Ramirez both played their college ball at Clinton U. The list also brings up a few other familiar names, including some of this issue's creative team, future Spider-Man scribe Dan Slott and longtime Marvel editor Tom Brevoort.

Phil's next stop is at apparently nearby Clinton, where Dean Robert Shahidi cuts off the questioning more politely but just as fast as Leech. Although he doesn't have any impact on the story, I would be remiss if I didn't mention that this interview includes the school's head basketball man, Coach Hardwood. Another staffer suggests Phil and Ken take a look at the test scores of Clinton athletes who signed with Leech. More keyboard wizardry and, boom, we learn their actual performance didn't match their gpas.

Phil calls Corkin who agrees to talk, revealing the dean took care of his grades so he completed college despite being functionally illiterate. They decide to meet at the Gulls' arena, information intercepted by Captain America villain Constrictor, who Leech hired to get money from Corkin and eliminate Phil and Ken.

At the arena, Constrictor attacks Corkin and Ken, but SuperPro makes a thematically appropriate entrance. They battle, and 'Pro not only defeats Constrictor but lectures him for destroying property, working for a scumbag like Leech and, you know, killing people for hire.

With his record now 2-0 against Cap villains, Phil reports on Leech's conviction at trial and then offers to help with Clinton's efforts to assist current students and alumni victimized by Shahidi and Leech. Apparently by help he meant “say a few words about how lousy it is for people to interfere with students' education” because that's all he has room to do before the issue ends.

The base concept isn't bad – emphasizing athletics over education is an evergreen topic – but the execution is lacking. The conflict escalates way too quickly. Corkin's agent is a jerk, so Phil assumes a conspiracy. A reporter acts suspicious so Leech resorts to violence and a superhuman mercenary. Granted, I don't think anyone was buying SuperPro for an in-depth examination of the ways people put profit over ethics and education, but it feels rushed and forced.

The art doesn't impress either. I'm not sure if it was the apparent group effort on inking or what – and again, they're all much better artists than me – but there's not a lot of detail, some of the coloring is off and it just in general felt phoned in.

Nevertheless, I'm a little bummed that the next issue is the last. The blurb promises “a blast from the past,” so I'm wondering if we'll see Coach Sutter and/or Mercy next issue. Heck, we never saw Quick Kick's body. Alas, I know it won't be the Happy Campers, unless the Marvel Fandom wiki is wrong. Who knows? Maybe we'll even see Jane Dixon doing something after appearing for one panel in this issue for the first time since issue 6.

Thanks again to Mr. Ed Moore for hooking me up with this issue. Check out his prolific podcasting by following @tealproductions on X.

* - The credits don't list a last name and Mike's Amazing World only lists Chiang. It probably wasn't “Peter,” though.

** - Which may explain his criminal tendencies, given that this is the Marvel Universe,
home to such lives-defined-by-their-names figures as Otto Octavius.

*** - As in the Sacramento Kings? I realize the NBA didn't have the same marketing deal with Marvel as the NFL,
but I can't be the only one who wants to know if the 616 Sacramento franchise has the same name as ours, can I?