By Arnold Drake, Ed Herron, Bob Brown & various (DC Comics)
ISBN13: 978-1-4012-1725-9
The Challengers of the Unknown was a bridging concept. As superheroes were being revived in 1956 here was a super-team – the first of the Silver Age – with no powers, the most basic and utilitarian of costumes and the most dubious of motives – Suicide by Mystery. Yet they were a huge hit and struck a chord that lasted for more than a decade before they finally died… only to rise again and yet again. The idea of them was stirring enough, but their initial execution made their success all but inevitable. Springing from one-man hit-factory Jack Kirby, before his move across town to co-create the Marvel Universe, the solid adventure concept and perfect action heroes he left behind were ideal everyman characters for the tumultuous 1960s – an era before super-heroes obtained a virtual chokehold on the comic-book pages.
Kirby had developed a brilliantly feasible concept and heroically archetypical characters in cool pilot Ace Morgan, indomitable strongman Rocky Davis, intellectual aquanaut Prof. Haley and daredevil acrobat Red Ryan. The Challengers of the Unknown were four ordinary mortals; heroic adventurers and explorers who walked away unscathed from a terrible plane crash. Already obviously what we now call “adrenaline junkies”, they decided that since they were all living on borrowed time, they would dedicate what remained of their lives to testing themselves and fate. They would risk their lives for Knowledge and naturally, Justice. They were joined by an occasional fifth member, beautiful (of course) scientist June Robbins in their second appearance (‘Ultivac is Loose!’ Showcase #7, March/April 1957), and she became a hardy perennial always popping up to solve puzzles, catch criminals and generally deal with Aliens, Monsters and assorted supernatural threats (see previous volume ISBN: 978-1-4012-1087-8).
A number of writers, many sadly lost to posterity, wrote these tales, including Bill Finger, Ed Herron, Jack Miller, Bob Haney and Arnold Drake, but one man handled the artwork: Bob Brown. To our shame very little is known about this wonderfully capable artist. I can’t even confirm his date of birth, although he died in 1977 following a long illness. He co-created the long-running Space Ranger, drew Tomahawk, Vigilante, Batman, Superboy, Doom Patrol, World’s Finest Comics and a host of other features and genre shorts for DC before moving to Marvel in the 1970s where he drew Warlock, Daredevil and the Avengers among others. He was a consummate professional and drew every issue of the Challs from #9 – 63, a near-decade of high-octane fantasy and adventure that ranged from leftover Nazis, ravaging aliens, super-villain, cute-and-fuzzy space beasts and supernatural horrors.
This second volume collecting the contents of Challengers of the Unknown #18 – #37 starts off with ‘The Menace of Mystery Island’ originally released in February/March 1961, which found the team fighting crooks on a tropical island where an alien probe had crashed, depositing an test animal with uncanny powers. In the manner of the times the victorious troubleshooters adopted the fuzzy li’l space-tyke, naming him Cosmo. The second story in that issue was darker fare however, as they were shanghaied through time to save ‘The Doomed World of Tomorrow’.
‘The Alien Who Stole a Planet’ teamed the heroes with refugees from a doomed world, but things turned sour when one of the survivors decided that Earth would be suitable replacement, whilst ‘The Beasts from the Fabulous Gem’ pitted the gang against a soldier-of-fortune who had stolen a mystic jewel used to imprison monsters in ancient times. Their very own super-villain resurfaced as ‘Multi-Man Strikes Again’ in issue #20, and June joined them for a spot of monster-bashing in the hectic riddle of ‘The Cosmic-Powered Creature’ and although in the next issue it was apparently just the lads who were shanghaied to ‘The Weird World that Didn’t Exist’ she played a major role when Cosmo returned in ‘The Challengers’ Space-Pet Ally’.
‘The Curse of the Golden God’ was the usual action-packed crime-drama in the South American jungles, but #22’s second tale hit much closer to home as their secret base was compromised by ‘The Thing in Challenger Mountain’ and the team found that ‘Death Guarded the Doom Box’ in the form of ancient but still deadly mechanical devices, before more aliens began kidnapping humans to ‘The Island in the Sky’.
In ‘The Challengers Die at Dawn’ the hunt for a swindler led the team to a lost tribe of oriental pirates in the South China Seas, but the big story in #24 was ‘Multi-Man, Master of Earth’ a good old-fashioned battle for justice against a seemingly unstoppable foe. Although the stories were becoming a touch formulaic by this stage, the equation was a trusted one, and Brown’s art was always improving.
Challengers of the Unknown #25 (April/May 1962) was right at the cusp of the moment full-blown superhero mania was beginning and, although ‘Return of the Invincible Pharaoh’ is a story of ancient mystery and slumbering menaces, its plot of a lost secret bestowing superpowers was to become a recurring staple in such “normal, human heroes” comics such as the Challs, Blackhawk – and even the Batman titles. The second tale ‘Captives of the Alien Hunter’ featured another thieving extraterrestrial up to no good and once more both June and Cosmo were needed to foil the fiend.
‘Death Crowns the Challenger King’ is a bizarre variation on the Prisoner of Zenda’s plot, set in a hidden Mongol city with Prof replacing the true ruler in a series of ceremonial ordeals, and the rest of the gang running interference against the scurvy villains, whilst a flamboyant impresario was shown to have an out of this world new act in ‘The Secret of the Space Spectaculars’. Issue #27 led off with ‘The 1,001 Impossible Inventions’, wherein two convicts bamboozle a wounded alien into using his advanced science for crime, whilst ‘Master of the Volcano Men’ (the first story for which we have a confirmed writer – Arnold Drake) introduced another perennial villain: marauding lava beings from the centre of the earth.
It was once more rebellious robots causing a destructive fuss in ‘The Revolt of the Terrible FX-1’ but the real show-stealer of #28 was a classic time-travel romp sending the team back to ancient Egypt to solve ‘The Riddle of the Faceless Man.’ The next issue brought ‘Four Roads to Doomsday (again written by Drake) wherein satellite sabotage led the team to a plot by alien criminals to conquer Earth, whilst the antagonistic nature of the team was highlighted (this team was bickering and in-fighting years before Fantastic Four #1) in Ed “France” Herron’s ‘The War Between the Challenger Teams’ as Ace and Red battle Prof and Rocky to end a war between two sub-sea races.
‘Multi-Man… Villain Turned Hero’ turned out to be just another evil ploy by the shape-changing charlatan, but #30’s real treat was the introduction of Gaylord Clayburn, spoiled multimillionaire playboy who wanted to become ‘The Fifth Challenger’.
‘The Man Who Saved the Challengers’ Lives’ in #31 was the first full length story since 1960, impressively retelling their dramatic origin, and revealed the debt they possibly owed to a shady industrialist, whilst #32 was business as usual in Drake’s ‘One Challenger Must Die!’ as the boys fiercely competed to find who would sacrifice themselves to stop another rampaging Volcano Man, before rediscovering the power of teamwork, which was just as well since the second tale revealed how and why ‘Cosmo Turns Traitor.’
Each an expert in some field of human endeavour, in #33, the Challs were confronted by a superior individual in Drake’s ‘The Challengers Meet their Master’, but as with ‘The Threat of the Trojan Robot’, teamwork proved the solution to any problem. Ed Herron scripted the terse thriller ‘Beachhead, USA’ which opened #34, as a sub full of Nazis frozen since World War II tried to complete their last mission – blowing up the East Coast of America, with only the Chall’s in place to stop them, whilst Multi-Man discovered that no matter how smart you are, building the “perfect mate” is a very bad idea in ‘Multi-Woman, Queen of Disaster.’
‘The War Against the Moon Beast’ was a spectacular sci-fi yarn, balanced by the quirky prognostications of a Carnival Seer whose crystal ball revealed an adventure of the ‘Sons of the Challengers’ and whilst one of the boys became a monster in #36’s ‘The Giant in Challenger Mountain’, he recovered in time to join the others as ‘Bodyguards to a Star’ on the location of a dinosaur infested movie-epic.
This volume ends with #37 and ‘The Triple Terror of Mr. Dimension’ – a petty thug who found a reality-altering weapon, whilst Herron scripted the taut drama of ‘The Last Days of the Challengers’ as the team struggled to destroy giant robots and thwart an execution-list with their names on it…
Challengers of the Unknown is sheer escapist wonderment, and no fan of the medium should ignore the graphic exploits of these ideal adventurer-heroes in the evocative setting of the recent now; a simpler, better world than ours. Reader-friendly to anyone with a love of wild thrills, these long-neglected tales would make the perfect kids cartoon series too…
© 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 2008 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.