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Challengers of the Unknown
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The Challengers of the Unknown is a group of fictional characters in comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Jack Kirby, or co-created with Dave Wood (sources differ), this quartet of adventurers explored science fictional and apparent paranormal occurrences and faced fantastic menaces.
Scripts for the first stories are often credited to Dick and Dave Wood, two brothers who also wrote other Kirby-illustrated material, such as the "Sky Masters of the Space Force" comic strip; but others have claimed that Kirby created the Challengers himself or together with former partner Joe Simon.
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The Challengers of the Unknown is a group of fictional characters in comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Jack Kirby, or co-created with Dave Wood (sources differ), this quartet of adventurers explored science fictional and apparent paranormal occurrences and faced fantastic menaces.
Scripts for the first stories are often credited to Dick and Dave Wood, two brothers who also wrote other Kirby-illustrated material, such as the "Sky Masters of the Space Force" comic strip; but others have claimed that Kirby created the Challengers himself or together with former partner Joe Simon. The stories had weird menaces, fistfights, wild vehicles and gadgets, spectacular terrain, daring escapes, and a sense of humor.
Publication history
The group debuted in Showcase #6 (Feb. 1957). The inspiration for the Challengers' adventures were drive-in movie fodder about skin divers, test pilots, acrobats, mountain climbers, boxers, and other adventurers. .
Comic books had a crying need for content. Superhero comics had mostly vanished from about 1949 to the mid-1950s. The revival of the Flash, seen as marking the return of the superheroes to popularity, had occurred only four months earlier, in Showcase #4. A team of larger-than-life adventurers with echoes of a World War II infantry squad were a natural fit.
The group's name may have also derived from a 1950 horror title, Challenge of the Unknown.
The most notable work that was influenced by this creation was Kirby's next major continuing series, The Fantastic Four, which was essentially the Challengers as a superhero family, complete with a similar origin. Both groups were quartets who resolved to band together after a crash landing; but the Challengers lacked the strong characterizations and much of the humor that distinguished the Fantastic Four. In Challengers of the Unknown #3, Rocky was shot into space and returned with multiple superpowers including invisibility, flame throwing, freeze-ray throwing, giant-growth, super-speed and super-strength.
The Thing ( Ben Grimm ) seems to be a somewhat composite of both Rocky (wrestler) , and Ace(pilot) - as Ben was a football star and war pilot.
There are some minor similarities between FF's Reed Richards, the scientist - and Prof Halley
as well as some similarities between Red, June and Johnny Storm ( the human Torch ) and Susan Storm ( the invisible girl. )
The series continued in Showcase for three more appearances (#7, 11, 12) then moved to its own title, considered among Kirby's most notable in that period. After 12 issues total, Kirby moved on, and the title continued through issue #75 (Aug.-Sept. 1970, followed by intermittent reprint and revival issues from 1973-78). The Challengers were canceled with issue #77 in 1971. In 1973, three reprint issues were put out (#78-80).
Various revivals
In a short-lived 1977 revival, the Challengers were a four-man, one-woman team again. They first came back in Super-Team Family #8-10, before getting their own title back with #81. They were joined by Deadman and Swamp Thing. June Robbins got a uniform and official status. No explanation for Corinna Stark's departure nor June's joining was given.
Their title was canceled with #87 in 1978. In Adventure Comics Digest #493-497 in 1982, they did an expanded version of their origin.
The Challengers returned in a miniseries, Challengers of the Unknown vol. 2 (1991), by writer Jeph Loeb and artist Tim Sale. It ran eight issues and was reprinted in trade paperback as Challengers of the Unknown Must Die! (2004). Loeb planned a second miniseries to reset the Challs to youth and heroism, but it did not materialize.
In 2000, DC published a one-shot, Silver Age: Challengers of the Unknown, done in the style of the original Silver Age of Comic Books Challengers.
Countdown
Prepublication solicitations for various Countdown tie-ins referred to the group of Donna Troy, Jason Todd, Kyle Rayner, and "Bob" the Monitor as "Challengers From Beyond". This group went on a quest through the newly formed multiverse in order to find Ray Palmer who Bob claimed was essential to the survival of the universe. Eventually the earth heroes were betrayed by Bob who sought to kill Ray Palmer, rather than protect him or acquire his aid. Palmer, Troy, Todd, and Rayner find themselves involved in a war between the Monitors and the forces of Monarch. Later they travel to Apokalips where they team up with Jimmy Olsen, Forager, Karate Kid and Triplicate Girl. After returning to Earth Troy, Rayner, Forager, and Palmer decide to team up again. They travel to the Monitors headquarters where they inform the shocked beings that they will be watching over them as a sort of interdimensional border guards.
The Brave and the Bold
The 2007 revival of The Brave and the Bold series features a significant storyline involving the Challengers. In it, Destiny of the Endless reveals to Supergirl and Lobo that his book has changed because there were men who existed but were not recorded in the book, and their actions made the book unreliable. Destiny cast his book away, knowing that these men would be the proper safekeepers of it, but the book instead ends up on the planet Rann, being used in a plot by the Luck Lords to alter time for their own ends. The book is eventually recovered by Batman and Green Lantern with the help of the Challengers, who become the current holders of the book, being the four men who could not be tracked by the books pages. This development is explained by Batman, who states that the Challengers were supposed to die in a plane crash, a crash no one should have ever walked away from. By cheating death they altered their own destinies, removed themselves from the book, and thus became responsible for minor alterations to the book over time. After this arc, the book remained in the Challengers hands until after the defeat of Megistus and time was set right. Destiny arrives to reclaims his book and the Challengers begin to search their members.
Alternate versions
DC published two other series, also titled Challengers of the Unknown, featuring the original Challengers' concept combined with a new set of characters.
The Challengers were revamped by writer Steven Grant in vol. 3 (1997), which had a totally new group of characters and was one of four series making up the Weirdoverse group of titles. This ongoing ran 18 issues, through 1998.
One more revamp was done by Howard Chaykin in a six-issue miniseries (vol. 4, 2004-2005). This series had another new group of characters. This was collected in trade paperback as Challengers of the Unknown: Stolen Moments, Borrowed Time.
Fictional character biographies
When acquaintances miraculously survive a plane crash unscathed, they conclude that since they are "living on borrowed time" they should band together for hazardous adventures. The four — pilot Kyle "Ace" Morgan, daredevil Matthew "Red" Ryan, strong and slow-witted Leslie "Rocky" Davis, and scientist Walter Mark "Prof" Haley — became the Challengers of the Unknown. Soon famous, the Challengers accept many "unknown challenges" from The Pentagon, mad scientists, and people with a problem. Over time the "Challs" establish the hollowed-out Challengers Mountain as headquarters. Later they adopt an hourglass logo to symbolize time running out. They encounter genies, common and sophisticated thieves, rocs, aliens and robots good and bad. Their adventures later veer toward superheroics, and take in everything from occult menaces to Bermuda Triangle mysteries. The Challengers travel through space, time, and other dimensions. They encounter the likes of the Doom Patrol, Deadman, Swamp Thing, Jonny Double, and the Sea Devils, with whom they fight the criminal group Scorpio. June Robbins, a computer genius and archaeologist, joined the Challengers for many adventures as an "honorary" or "girl" Challenger.
When Red is killed, a teen rock star/engineering genius immediately wages a vendetta against the three-man team. "Tino Mannaray" turns out to be Martin Ryan, Red's kid brother, who blames the team for his death. Red eventually returns; though blown up, he had been dosed with shape-changing Liquid Light and rendered amnesiac, but still nearly conquered the Pacific as a Tiki god.
As the team's challenges become more occult, Red's brother Tino is blinded. Red donates an eye to his brother and dons an eye patch. Eventually Red receives an eye transplant. Prof becomes possessed by an evil spirit and is shot by a villain. While he recovers, Corinna Stark, a mysterious blond with mystical knowledge, invites herself onto the team. The Challengers fight occult alien-monsters in backwoods villages and dark dreams, and Rocky and Red fight for Corinna's affection.
The Challs are later semi-retired, their mountain a theme park, and their adventures disregarded as cooked-up articles in a tabloid, The Tattletale. The nearby town has renamed itself Challengerville, managing to thrive on the team's name. A cosmic entity, which prides itself as "the personification of all evil", influences the entity Multi-Man to blow up the mountain. The town is destroyed. Hundreds die, including, seemingly, Prof and June. The surviving Challengers are placed on trial, but eventually freed with the testimony of Superman. They are, however, ordered to disband.
A tabloid reporter, Moffet, becomes involved with the group after several unexplained incidents. Moffet began to piece together many seemingly unrelated massacres. Red became a violent, vigilante mercenary. Ace became an addled mystic, losing new-found friends due to inattention and incompetence. Rocky became lost in a life of luxury and ended up in an insane asylum.
Eventually the three reuinted and with Moffet's aid, found a strange portal near what was once Challengerville. They discovered Prof and June, pregnant, 'alive' in a strange 'phantom zone'. The dark demon confronted them and the final battle came down to Moffet and one neutron bomb. The decision to attack was literally taken out of his hands by Multi-Man, who sacrificed himself to destroy the demon.
"The New Challengers of the Unknown", including ghostly Prof and June, were poised to take on menaces in the dark corners of the world.
Later, four new Challengers pursue X-Files-like horrors. They are Clay Brody, NASCAR driver; Brenda Ruskin, physicist; Kenn Kawa, radical games designer; and Marlon Corbet, commercial pilot, who also miraculously survived a plane crash. They stopped sacrificial wackos, drug-juiced zombies, vengeful ghosts, Amazon cults, H. P. Lovecraftian monsters, mass suicides, humming buildings, and other oddities. They were advised by Rocky Davis, older and grayer and alone. It was eventually revealed the original Challengers were dematerialized by a mad scientist's ray-weapon. The same ray caused both plane crashes, as well as others. Soon the original Challs reappeared, helped the young Challs defeat the madman, then walked back into oblivion (minus a wounded Rocky) to shut down a runaway Tesla field. The young Challengers vowed to fight on.
Superboy discovers the missing Challengers - Ace, Red, Prof, and June - in Hypertime. The team was waging guerrilla war against Black Zero (a Superboy variant). With Black Zero defeated, the team returns to Earth, but loses Red along the way. Reunited with Rocky in Metropolis, hosted by Rip Hunter, the original Challengers vow to explore Hypertime, "the greatest unknown", to find Red.
Two Challengers partake in Infinite Crisis. Rocky Davis and Prof Haley help stem the escape of prisoners from Blackgate Prison,. Rocky fights in the Battle of Metropolis. He is one of dozens of heroes fighting the opposing army of the Secret Society of Supervillains. The Soceity is ultimately defeated..
Later, on a world without superheroes, a blogger, a hip hop artist, an eco-terrorist, and two others discovers they'd been genetically enhanced and chip-programmed to be soldier-pawns by the Hegemony, a cabal of billionaires who secretly run that world. Made slaves on a Moon base, three Challengers blow up the base, escape to Earth, and declare war on the Hegemony until (like the obliquely mentioned earlier Challengers) their "borrowed time" runs out.
Alternate versions
The Challengers make a brief appearance in the Elseworlds miniseries Conjurers, set in an alternate DCU where magic is a part of mainstream society. These are the "Volume 3" Challengers, but given the nicknames of the originals: Kenn is "Prof", Clay is "Rocky", Brenda is "Red" and Marlon is "Ace". (Since Kenn was always shown as the most "mystical" of the new Challs, it makes sense that he would be "Prof" in a magical universe, rather than Brenda, the team's scientist.)
During Superboy's trip through Hypertime, referenced above, he briefly visits an Elseworld in which the Challengers were himself, Ace, Guardian and Dubbilex. The June who arrives in the DCU at the end of that story is also an Elseworlds version, coming from a universe where she was a full Challenger from the beginning. She was apparently exchanged with the June of the main timeline when she was struck by Hypertime energies.
The Challengers also made brief appearances in JLA: Another Nail (when all time periods meld together) and Adventures of Superman Annual #7 (as part of a strikeforce of non-powered heroes).
They were prominently featured in Darwyn Cooke's DC: The New Frontier miniseries (2003-2004). Various members were essential in many battles against various menaces that arose throughout the series.
In the crossover series Amalgam Comics, the Challengers were merged with the Fantastic Four to become Challengers of The Fantastic.
In other media
Novel
In 1974, author Ron Goulart penned the novel Challengers of the Unknown as part of a DC experiment in new venues. The original four and June Robbins trekked to South America to investigate Zarpa the lake monster. While on the case they encounter young men with old Nazi tattoos, ancient alien cults, a castle in the desert, a robotic dog, and a bomb in a piano crate. (ISBN 0-440-11337-7)
Animation
- Although the Challengers have made no actual television appearances, the outfits worn by the watchtower workers in Justice League Unlimited are very similar to the team's classic uniforms.
- The Challengers of the Unknown appeared in the animated film Justice League: The New Frontier. Ace Morgan (voiced by John Heard) in particular is spotlighted. He's sort of a mentor to Hal Jordan. Professor Haley is also in a cameo in the meeting of him, Agent Faraday, Ace Morgan, and Dr. Will Magnus. "Red" Ryan and "Rocky" Davis are also present during the battle and in the end.
Awards
The 1950-60s series won the 1967 Alley Awards for Best Non-Super-Powered Group Title and Best Normal Adventure Group.
Reprints
DC has reprinted Kirby's Challenger run in two hardcover Archives. The Loeb-Sale mini was reprinted as a trade paperback, Challengers of the Unknown Must Die!, as was the Chaykin mini.
- Challengers of the Unknown Archive #1: Showcase #6,7,11,12, Challengers #1,2, ISBN 1-56389-997-3
- Challengers of the Unknown Archive #2: issues #3-8, ISBN 1-4012-0153-9
- Showcase Presents Challengers of the Unknown vol. 1: Showcase #6, 7, 11, 12, Challengers #1-17 (black & white). Solicitations listed issues 1-18, but the book runs to 17.
- Showcase Presents Challengers of the Unknown vol. 2: Challengers #18-37 (black & white).
Footnotes
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