Category: Graphic Novels

By John Broome, Gil Kane & various (DC Comics)
ISBN13: 978-1-4012-0759-5

After the successful revival and reworking of The Flash, DC (or National Comics as they were) was keen to build on the resurgent superhero trend. Showcase #22 (September-October 1959) hit the stands at the same time as the fourth issue of the new Flash comicbook (#108) and once again the guiding lights were Editor Julie Schwartz and writer John Broome.

The Space Age reworking of the Golden-Age superhero with the magic ring replaced mysticism with super-science. Hal Jordan was a young test pilot in California when an alien policeman crashed his spaceship on Earth. Mortally wounded, Abin Sur commanded his ring, a device which could materialise thoughts, to seek out a replacement ring-bearer, honest and without fear. Scanning the planet it selected Jordan and brought him to the crash-site. The dying alien bequeathed his ring, the lantern-shaped Battery of Power and his profession to the astonished Earthman.

In six pages ‘S.O.S Green Lantern’ established the characters, scenario and narrative thrust of a series that would increasingly become the spine of DC continuity, leaving room for another two adventures in that premiere issue. ‘Secret of the Flaming Spear!’ and ‘Menace of the Runaway Missile!’ were both contemporary thrillers set against the backdrop of the aviation industry at a time when the Cold War was at its height.

Unlike the debut of The Flash, the editors were now confident of their ground. The next two issues of Showcase carried the new hero into even greater exploits. ‘Summons from Space’ sent Green Lantern to another world: Saving an emerging race from a deadly threat at the behest of the as-yet-unnamed leaders of the Green Lantern Corps, whilst ‘The Invisible Destroyer’ pitted the Emerald Gladiator against the earthbound but eerie menace of a psychic marauder that lived on atomic radiation.

Showcase #24 (January-February, 1960) featured another spy-ring in ‘The Secret of the Black Museum!’ but Hal Jordan’s complex social life took centre-stage in ‘The Creature That Couldn’t Die!’ when the threat of an unstoppable monster paled before the insufferable stress of being his own rival. Hal’s boss Carol Ferris, left in charge of the aviation company by her father (a radical concept in 1960 when most women were still considered faint-fodder fluff) won’t date an employee but is happy for him to set her up with the glamorous, mysterious Green Lantern.

Six months later Green Lantern #1 was released. All previous tales had been dynamically drawn by Gil Kane and inked by Joe Giella, in a visually arresting and exciting manner, but the lead tale here, ‘Planet of Doomed Men’ was inked by the uniquely gifted Murphy Anderson, and his fine line-work elevated the tale (more emergent humans in need of rescue from another monster) to the status of a minor classic. Giella returned for the second tale, ‘Menace of the Giant Puppet!’, in which GL fought his first – albeit rather lame – super-villain, the Puppet Master.

The next issue originated a concept that would be pivotal to the future of DC continuity. ‘The Secret of the Golden Thunderbolts!’ featured the Antimatter Universe and the diabolical Weaponers of Qward, a twisted race who worshipped Evil, and whose “criminals” (i.e. people who wouldn’t lie, cheat, steal or kill) wanted asylum on Earth. This tale was also inked by Anderson, and is an early highpoint of tragic melodrama from an era where emotionalism was actively downplayed in comics. The second story ‘Riddle of the Frozen Ghost Town!’ is a crime thriller that highlights the developing relationship between the hero and his Inuit (then “Eskimo”) mechanic Tom ‘Pieface’ Kalmaku.

The Qwardians returned in #3’s ‘The Amazing Theft of the Power Lamp!’ and Jordan’s love-life again spun out of control in ‘The Leap Year Menace!’, whilst GL#4 saw the hero trapped in the antimatter universe in ‘The Diabolical Missile from Qward!’ nicely balanced by the light-and-frothy mistaken-identity caper ‘Secret of Green Lantern’s Mask!’ (this last apparently crafted by a veritable raft of pencillers including Kane, Giella, Carmine Infantino, Mike Sekowsky and Ross Andru). Issue #5 was a full length thriller which introduced Hector Hammond, GL’s second official super-villain in ‘The Power Ring that Vanished!’ a saga of romantic intrigue, mistaken identity and evolution gone wild. This was followed by another, the pure science fiction puzzler ‘The World of Living Phantoms!’ which introduced the avian Green Lantern Tomar Re, and opened up the entire universe to avid readers.

Having shown us other GLs, Broome immediately trumped himself with the next episode. ‘The Day 100,000 People Vanished!’ brought the Guardians into the open to warn of their greatest error: a renegade Green Lantern named Sinestro who, in league with the Qwardians had become a threat to the entire universe. This tense shocker introduced one of the most charismatic villains in the DCU and the issue still had room for a dryly amusing whimsical drama that introduced Tom Kalmaku’s fiancée Terga in ‘Wings of Destiny’.

These black and white collections are to my mind a much better buy for art fans who can more clearly see the mastery of design and rendering of artists like Gil Kane. The only regret is that occasionally a special circumstance cries out for colour. In the early 1960s DC production wizard Jack Adler created a process to add enhancing tone to cover illustrations. The finished result was eye-catching and mind-blowing, but examples, such as the cover of #8, really don’t work without glossy colours and tints. Never mind, though, as the contents of that issue, ‘The Challenge from 5700AD!’ are a fantasy tour de force: The Emerald Gladiator is shanghaied through time to save the future from a invasion of mutant lizards. Sinestro returned in the next issue with his own super-weapon in ‘The Battle of the Power Rings!’ (with Murphy Anderson once more replacing Giella on inks) but the real gold is ‘Green Lantern’s Brother Act’ which introduces Hal’s two brothers and a snoopy girl reporter convinced that young Jim Jordan is the ring-slinging superhero. This wry poke at DC’s house plot-device shows just how sophisticated Schwartz and Broome believed their audiences to be.

‘Prisoner of the Power Ring’ is your run-of-the-mill subatomic exodus tale with Atomic War anxiety overtones whilst ‘The Origin of Green Lantern’s Oath’ details three of the hero’s earliest exploits which led to him constructing the piece of doggerel he uses to time his ring’s recharging period. Although neither tale is a blockbuster, the increasingly loose and expressive artwork of Kane, especially on the latter (again with Anderson on inks) are an unalloyed delight of easy grace and power.

The readers were hungry for more on the Green Lantern Corps and ‘The Strange Trial of Green Lantern’ introduced another half-dozen or so simply to court-martial Hal Jordan for dereliction of duty in a saga of cataclysmic proportions, but ‘The Trail of the Missing Power Ring!’ focuses on drama of a more human scale when a young boy finds the power ring Hal has lost. Issue #12 returned GL to 5700AD thwart an interplanetary coup in ‘Green Lantern’s Statue goes to War.’ A balance between cosmic and personal stories was developing in the issues with two stories, and ‘Zero Hour in the Silent City!’ highlights Tom Kalmaku’s close friendship with Hal against the backdrop of bank robbers with a super scientific gimmick.

Green Lantern #13 was a true landmark as an interdimensional invasion led to a team-up and lifelong friendship between our hero and the Flash. Controversial for the time, ‘The Duel of the Super-Heroes!’, saw them share each other secret identities, a rarity then even among the close comrades of the Justice League of America. This full-length thriller was followed in #14 by the introduction of Balkan ultra-nationalist villain Sonar in ‘The Man Who Conquered Sound!’ a traditional fist-fest complemented by the return of Jim Jordan and that snoopy girl reporter Sue Williams. In the frothy romp ‘My Brother, Green Lantern!’ it’s revealed that she’s now romantically involved with the youngest Jordan sibling and, due to a slight mishap with the boy’s fraternity rings more certain than ever that her intended is the Emerald Gladiator.

Sinestro once more escaped the justice of the Guardians to return in #15’s ‘Peril of the Yellow World!’ a cosmic duel that tested GL’s bravery as much as the Space Race thriller ‘Zero Hour at Rocket City!’ tested his wits. The next issue took the Hal Jordan/Green Lantern/Carol Ferris romantic triangle to a new level. ‘The Secret Life of Star Sapphire!’ introduced the alien women of Zamaron. Readers of contemporary comics will be aware of their awesome heritage but for the sake of this review and new readers let’s keep that to ourselves. They select Carol as their new queen and give her a gem as versatile as a power ring, and a brainwash make-over too. Programmed to destroy the man she loves, Star Sapphire would become another recurring foe, but one with a telling advantage. The second story solved a puzzle that had baffled readers since the very first appearance of the Emerald Crusader.

Gardner Fox contributes his first tale in ‘Earth’s First Green Lantern’ Hal finally learns why his predecessor Abin Sur crashed to Earth in a spaceship when all GL’s could fly through space on ring power alone. A stirring tale of triumph and tragedy this short yarn is one of Broome and Kane’s very best.

This volume ends with a full-length espionage thriller from #17, also written by Fox. ‘The Spy-Eye that Doomed Green Lantern!’ again revolved around test pilot Jordan’s personal involvement in the US/Soviet race to the stars and is a fine example of a lost type of tale. In those long ago days costumed villains were always third choice in a writers armoury: clever bad-guys and aliens always seemed more believable to the creators back then. If you were doing something naughty would you want to call attention to yourself? Nowadays the visual impact of buff men in tights dictates the type of foe more than the crimes committed, which is why these glorious adventures of simpler yet somehow better days are such an unalloyed delight.

These costumed drama romps are in themselves a great read for most ages, but when also considered as the building blocks of all DC continuity they become vital fare for any fan keen to make sense of the modern superhero experience.

© 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 2005 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

By Jack Kirby & various (DC Comics)
ISBN13: 978-1-4012-1087-8

The Challengers of the Unknown were 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.

Jack Kirby was – and still is – the most important single influence in the history of American comic books. There are quite rightly millions of words written about what the man has done and meant, and you should read those if you are at all interested in our medium. I’m going to add a few words to that superabundance in this review of one of his best projects, which like so many others, he perfectly constructed before moving on, leaving highly competent but never as inspired talents to build upon.

When the comic industry suffered a collapse in the mid 1950’s, Kirby returned briefly to DC Comics where he worked on mystery tales and the Green Arrow back-up strip whilst creating the newspaper strip Sky Masters of the Space Force. He also re-packaged for Showcase (a try-out title that launched the careers of many DC mainstays) an original super-team concept that had been kicking around in his head since he and long-time collaborator Joe Simon had closed the innovative but unfortunate Mainline Comics.

After years of working for others Simon and Kirby had finally established their own publishing company, producing comics with a much more sophisticated audience in mind, only to find themselves in a sales downturn and awash in public hysteria generated by the anti-comic book pogrom of US Senator Estes Kefauver and the psychologist Dr Frederic Wertham. Simon quit the business for advertising, but Kirby soldiered on, taking his skills and ideas to a number of safer, if less experimental, companies.

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.

The series launched with ‘The Secrets of the Sorcerer’s Box!’ (Showcase #6, dated January/February 1957 – which meant it came out in time for Christmas 1956). Kirby and scripter Dave Wood, plus inkers Marvin Stein and Jack’s wife Roz, crafted a spectacular epic as the doom-chasers were hired by the duplicitous magician Morelian to open an ancient container holding otherworldly secrets and powers.

This initial story roars along with all the tension and wonder of the B-movie thrillers it emulates and Kirby’s awesome drawing resonates with power and dynamism, which continues for the sequel, a science fiction drama caused when an alliance of Nazi technologies and American criminality unleashes a terrible robotic monster. ‘Ultivac is Loose!’ (Showcase #7, dated March/April 1957) introduced the beautiful and capable boffin Dr June Robbins, who became the fifth Challenger at a time when most comic females had returned to a subsidiary status in that so-conservative era.

The team didn’t reappear until Showcase #11 (November/December 1957) as The Flash and Lois Lane got their Shots at the big time. When the Challs returned it was in an alien invasion adventure ‘The Day the Earth Blew Up’, with the unique realist Bruno Premiani inking a taut doomsday chiller that keeps readers on the edge of their seats even today, and by the time of their last Showcase issue (#12, January /February 1958) they had won their own title. ‘The Menace of the Ancient Vials’ was defused by the usual blend of daredevil heroics and ingenuity (with the wonderful inking of George Klein adding subtle clarity to the tale of an international criminal who steals an ancient weapons cache that threatens the entire world if misused), but the biggest buzz would come two months later with the first issue of their own magazine.

Issue #1, written and drawn by Kirby, with Stein on inks, presented two complete stories plus an iconic introductory page that would become almost a signature logo for the team. ‘The Man Who Tampered with Infinity’ pitted the heroes against a renegade scientist whose cavalier dabbling loosed dreadful monsters from the beyond onto our defenceless planet, before the team were actually abducted by aliens in ‘The Human Pets’.

The same creators were responsible for the two stories in the second issue. ‘The Traitorous Challenger’ is a monster mystery, with June returning to sabotage a mission in the Australian Outback, whilst ‘The Monster Maker’ finds the team seemingly helpless against a super-criminal who can conjure and animate solid objects out of his thoughts.

The third issue features ‘Secret of the Sorcerer’s Mirror’ with Roz Kirby and Marvin Stein again inking the mesmerising pencils, as the boys pursue a band of criminals whose magic looking glass can locate deadly ancient weapons, but the most intriguing tale for fans and historians is undoubtedly ‘The Menace of the Invincible Challenger’ wherein team strongman Rocky Davis is rocketed into space only to crash back to Earth with strange, uncanny powers.

For years the obvious similarities of this group – and especially this adventure – to the origin of Marvel’s Fantastic Four (FF #1 was out in November 1961) have fuelled speculation. In all honesty I simply don’t care. They’re both similar and different but equally enjoyable so read both. In fact, read them all.

With #4 the series became artistically perfect as the sheer brilliance of Wally Wood’s inking elevated the art to unparalleled heights. The scintillant sheen and limpid depth of Wood’s brushwork fostered an abiding authenticity in even the most outrageous of Kirby’s designs and the result is – even now – breathtaking. ‘The Wizard of Time’ is a full length masterpiece as a series of bizarre robberies lead the team to a scientist with a time-machine. By visiting oracles of the past he found a path to the far future. When he got there he intended robbing it blind, but the Challengers found a way to follow…

‘The Riddle of the Star-Stone’ (#5) is a contemporary full-length thriller, wherein an archaeologist’s assistant uncovers an alien tablet which bestows various super-powers when different gems are inserted into it. The exotic locales and non-stop spectacular action are intoxicating, but Kirby’s solid characterisation and ingenious writing are what make this such a compelling read.

Scripter Dave Wood returned for #6’s first story. ‘Captives of the Space Circus’ has the boys kidnapped from Earth to perform in a interplanetary show, but the evil ringmaster is promptly outfoxed and the team returns for Ed Herron’s mystic saga ‘The Sorceress of Forbidden Valley’, as June Robbins becomes an amnesiac puppet in a power struggle between a fugitive gangster and a ruthless feudal potentate.

There are also two stories in #7. Herron scripted both the relatively straightforward alien-safari tale ‘The Beasts From Planet 9’ and the much more intriguing ‘Isle of No Return’ where the team must defeat a scientific bandit before his shrinking ray leaves them permanently mouse-sized.

Issue #8 is a magnificent finale to a superb run as Kirby and Wally Wood go out in style in two gripping spectaculars (both of which introduced menaces who would return to bedevil the team in future tales). ‘The Man Who Stole the Future’ by Dave Wood, Kirby and the unrelated Wally Wood, introduces Drabny – a mastermind who steals mystic artefacts and conquers a small nation before the team defeats him. This is a tale of spectacular battles and uncharacteristic, if welcome, comedy, but the real gem is the science fiction tour-de-force ‘Prisoners of the Robot Planet’, with art by the Kirby and Wood, and probably written by Kirby and Herron. Petitioned by a desperate alien, the Challs travel to his distant world to liberate the population from bondage to their own robotic servants, who have risen in revolt under the command of the fearsome automaton, Kra.

These are classic adventures, told in a classical manner. Kirby developed a brilliantly feasible concept with which to work and heroically archetypical characters in cool pilot Ace Morgan, indomitable strongman Rocky Davis, intellectual aquanaut Prof. Haley and daredevil acrobat Red Ryan. He then manipulated an astounding blend of genres to display their talents and courage in unforgettable exploits that informed every team comic that followed and certainly influenced his successive and landmark triumphs with Stan Lee. But then he left.

The Challengers would follow the Kirby model until cancellation in 1970, but due to a dispute with Editor Jack Schiff the writer/artist resigned at the height of his powers. The Kirby magic was impossible to match, but as with all The King’s creations, every element was in place for the successors to run with. Challengers of the Unknown #9 (September 1959) saw an increase in the fantasy elements favoured by Schiff, and perhaps an easing of the subtle tension that marked previous issues (Comics Historians take note: the Challs were bickering and snarling at each other years before Marvel’s Cosmic Quartet ever boarded that fateful rocket-ship). A number of writers, many sadly lost to posterity stepped in, including Bill Finger, Ed Herron and possibly Jack Miller, Bob Haney and Arnold Drake, but one man took over the illustrator’s role: 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, almost a decade of high-adventure that ranged from ravaging aliens, cute-and-fuzzy space beats to supernatural horrors.

‘The Men who Lost their Memories’ found the team fighting crooks with a thought stealing machine, but ‘The Plot to Destroy Earth!’ was a full-on end-of-humanity thriller with monsters sent to carve our world into chunks for their resource-hungry alien masters, and only the guts and ingenuity of our heroes could save the day. A destructive giant with a deadly secret was the premise of ‘The Cave-Man Beast’ and #10’s cover featured second tale was another time-travel conundrum as the boys found their own likenesses on a submerged monolith in the Sci-Fi thriller ‘The Four Faces of Doom’.

Issue #11 was a full-length action-packed interdimensional romp subdivided into ‘The Creatures from the Forbidden World’, ‘Land beyond the Light’ and ‘The Achilles Heel’, but the two-story format returned in the next issue, which contained ‘The Challenger from Outer Space’ with an alien superhero joining the team and ‘Three Clues to Sorcery’ with the four adventurers once again forced to endure exotic locales and extreme perils to acquire mystic artefacts for a criminal mastermind, this time there’s a deadly twist in this oft told tale.

‘The Prisoner of the Tiny Space Ball’ finds the team rescuing the ruler of another world whilst Rocky is possessed by the legendary Golden Fleece making him a puppet of ‘The Creatures from the Past’. Issue #14 opens with one of the few adventures with a credited scripter. Ed “France” Herron was thirty year comics veteran and ‘The Man who Conquered the Challengers’ is one of his best tales, with crooked archaeologist Eric Pramble stealing an ancient formula for “liquid light” which makes him immortal. Moreover, every time he’s killed he reanimates with a different super-power! As Multi-Man, he became the closest thing to an arch-villain the series ever had, and even graduated to becoming a regular foe across the DCU. Once again wits and nerve found a way to victory that sheer firepower never could.

In the other yarn ‘Captives of the Alien Beasts’ all five Challs are teleported to another world by animals that have invaded a scientist’s laboratory, a relatively innocuous tale, compared to #15’s all-out fight-fest ‘The Return of Multi-Man’ and the bizarre ‘The Lady Giant and the Beast’ wherein June is transformed into a fifty foot leviathan just as a scaly monster cuts a swathe of destruction through the locality. Issue #16’s ‘Incredible Metal Creature’ sees an Earth thug join forces with an escaped alien criminal, no real Challenge there but the second story finds the team in Arabia as ‘Prisoners of the Mirage World’ and the knights who have been trapped there since the time of the Crusades. This thrill-stuffed tome concludes with the #17’s supernatural crime whimsy ‘The Genie who Feared June’, and the interplanetary mission of mercy ‘The Secret of the Space Capsules’, both solid pieces of adventure fiction that if not displaying the unique Kirby magic are redolent with its flavours.

Challengers of the Unknown is sheer escapist wonderment, and no fan of the medium should miss the graphic exploits of these perfect adventurers in the ideal setting of not so long ago in a simpler better world than ours.

© 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 2006 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.