James, I'd agree with that, except that the Champions has no one amongst its ranks who is as cool as King Moonracer. Or as personable as the Charlie-In-the-Box. Or as emotionally effective as the little doll.

Natasha comes the closest, but the Champions was not her finest hour.

Had such a thing happened, Jason, the Champions would have been the team with a version of Nightcrawler, Storm, and Colossus on it. That would have changed the character dynamics of both teams significantly.

"Weeeee are the Champions, my friends! And we'll keep on fighting 'til the end! We are the Champions! We are the Champions! No time for losers! 'Cause we are the Champions... Of the world!"

I did not like that song as a kid. The lousy punks at school would screech that anthem when they were pushing you around, and asking "Champions of what?" got you absolutely nowhere. (And when I say "you" I mean me.)

I had no interest in a book that read to me as if it were capitalizing on that song.

*  *  *  *

The comic (1975) predates the song (1977).

"I had no interest in a book that READ TO ME as if it were..."

So sorry my younger self didn't cruise Wikipedia to check on those dates, Robert.

••

A few things to keep in mind, here.

First, and perhaps most important, altho the X-MEN book had gone into cancellation oblivion (and then reprint limbo), the characters and concepts were still fan favorites -- AND, Cyclops was still the COOL one. Still Mr. X-Man. So there were a lot of fans hungry for an X-MEN book. Not as many as read SPIDER-MAN or FANTASTIC FOUR, to be sure, but enough for Marvel to keep wondering if it was worth another try.

So, when the All New, All Different X-MEN came along, there was already an audience primed and ready. That there was only ONE of the original team in the roster (two, if you count Xavier, which very few did!), was not a major drawback. The new characters were fun and interesting (and beautifully drawn). Well, except that Wolverine guy. Reaction to him was mostly negative, at first. Fans seemed, oddly, equate him to the Beast (shape of his mask?) and if they had a "choice", they'd rather have Hank back.

Importantly, tho, there was Cyclops, who was COOL, and a bunch of characters who were not also-rans. Which could NOT be said of the CHAMPIONS. Iceman was not high on the hit parade, for X-Fans, and altho Angel was cool, he did not have the weight of Cyclops. Hercules and the Black Widow were third and fourth stringers, at best. In fact, the only "star" the book had to offer was Ghost Rider, and Ghost Rider was a mystery to most folk at Marvel. They simply could not understand why his book sold. The writing and art were rarely top notch, but the title was known as "the book they cannot kill". It just kept on keeping on. But was there enough "crossover" appeal for Ghost Rider to draw fans to THE CHAMPIONS?

It seemed not.

So, no, I don't think Dave on the book would have made a difference -- except in the negative impact it would have had on X-MEN. Because that book, minus Dave, would also have been minus Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus and Thunderbird, who were all his characters (with some tweaking from Len Wein).

The particular lightning that got bottled there was unique, and could not have been carried to another book.