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The intro tells us, "A member of the Challengers of the Unknown must willingly put his life on the line, even if the odds are overwhelmingly against him. For what he encounters in the vast darkness beyond his world may be all-powerful - all-evil - and may give no quarter. "To risk" is the rule..." The Challs' helicopter descends into a deserted village in Australia's remote interior. The Challs are ready to hunt a monster, but here - surprise! - comes June telling them Washington has a "more urgent assignment (than) trapping some sort of animal dreamed up in a prospector's wild letter!" A strange pronoucement from June, and insulting to Digger Bill, the prospector. Digger Bill points to a wrecked village. He recounts how he ventured into a cave to escape a storm. He awoke in the morning, feeling watched. A green one-eyed box "sprouted limbs" and came at him. "Blinking heavy for its size, it was! Like someone packed a locomotive in a shopping bag." Outside the grotto, the thing's one eye started "reachin' out to the sunshine." That night the monster - now big as a house - tramped over the village!  June is cold. "Really, it could be a one-eyed elephant. The emergency at home warrants immediate attention." Ace even offers to fly out two Challengers with her, but the group decision is to press ahead. |
The Challs pull out bazookas, rifle grenades, and wire dynamite to trash the monster when it leaves the grotto. But June presses the plunger, sealing the grotto entrance! "THIS will end their plans here quicker than my lie about an emergency back home!"  June claims to have stumbled, but Prof is suspicious, since he cleared the area first. He wonders about her sudden arrival and "flippant attitude". Red retorts, "But sabotaging our plans would be breaking the Challenger Code! Even an honorary Challenger can't turn traitor!" (Maybe it's that constant "honorary" title that sticks in her craw, eh, guys?) |
Pressing ahead in her snappy aviatrix outfit, June next throws a truck out of gear. It rolls wild and crashes, destroying their weapons. June HAS turned traitor! "There's no other word for it!" June confesses. While working on a "new electronic calculator" (computer), June decided to estimate their chances of survival for this assignment. The results: DANGER: CANNOT BE ESTIMATED So June immediately flew to Australia. For no reason. Ace says, "Sorry, June, but our business is defying death - not running from it!" Just then the monster breaks free. A bazooka shell doesn't dent it. Nor does Tommy gun fire. Nor dynamite. But Prof notes the sun's going down, and gets an idea. They hop into June's helicopter and buzz it. The creature follows. What can work against a monster that can withstand an atomic bomb? Prof guesses "that creature might enjoy an atomic explosion! It would feed on the released energy like it was a Sunday dinner!" Note the eye, which resembles a burning sun. "The eye reflects countless atomic explosions going on inside the creature right now!" In a living creature? It's "something new. A freak accident perhaps, a fusion of mineral and organic substances caused by the atomic tests held by the British north of here!" The creature follows the helicopter, then starts to slow down. It heads back for the grotto, "where it feeds on volcanic heat where there is no sunlight to nourish it", but it's come too far. The eye goes blank. It's dead. Rocky says, "I hate to think what might have happened if that thing roamed freely about." Red adds, "And I hate to think what would have happened to US if June hadn't... delayed the action till nightfall." They'd have been wiped out. So, June retorts, "the calculator didn't make any mistake! My appearance changed the situation, thereby introducing a new factor the machine hadn't reckoned with." So June is not only not a traitor, she's a heroine. And she was RIGHT all along! |
Comments Good solid stories, with lots of color. Big-big monsters, a shining knight, an interfering girl, explosions and destruction. Fun! But on the horizon... Comics were about to lose a lot of ground to television. Note how the Sgt. Bilko show was so popular that he got his own DC comic. THAT was so popular that his sidekick, Pvt. Doberman, got HIS own comic! TV is coming up fast, infiltrating everywhere - and competing for kids' attention.  |