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August - September 1958 |
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On the trail of an international gang of thieves - "Hillary Mycroft and his hoodlums" - the Challengers are called to a museum. A new exhibit was being assembled. Kregon was a medieval sorcerer who fashioned a mirror that could reveal where "the ancients" put their most potent secrets. In those "barbaric times", Kregon himself couldn't reach the prizes, so he marked a chart to be used with the mirror by someone in the future. Mycroft has stolen both. Mycroft is gloating to his hoodlums that he'll become the most powerful man on earth. Then the door is not only beaten down, but completely shattered! What an entrance!  But Mycroft trips a descending wall that cuts the Challs off. Then the thugs take off in a "getaway plane". Now what? The Challs brainstorm. Mycroft wouldn't leave the charts and mirror behind unless he already knew the destinations. Fiddling with the dials on the mirror, Prof conjures up images of the sea bottom, a needle peak, and an uncharted island called "Sinbad's Island" on the ancient charts. The Challs split up to tackle their specialties. |
Prof dives to the sea bottom and spots one of Mycroft's thugs making off with the treasure - which looks like a beach ball with two rods stuck through it. Just then a sea serpent comes darting after Prof. "Good gravy! What a time for this thing to show up!" Things happen fast. Prof jostles a rod stuck in the prize. Giant gaseous hands appear, grab the sea serpent, and flip it away. The thug got away. But why did the ancient prize save Prof? In a barren mountainous area, Red uses a hand drill to climb the slick needle prominence. Lightning hits the spire and an avalanche almost knocks Red off. But he reaches the top and finds the globe-rods. Yet Red drops with fatigue, his arm jarring the rod. In a dream, a green genie warns him not to climb down again. Instead, pull a hidden lever and descend tunnels inside the spire. Not sure if he dreamed it or not, Red descends - and runs into Mycroft's thugs with guns! Red has to hand over the globe, but he pulls one rod and keeps it. Ace and Rocky arrive at Sinbad's Island. A squawking alerts them. A bird "big as a bomber", the legendary roc, has Mycroft penned in a cave. Rocky and Ace slip along and find the globe-rods prize. But our heroes are snatched up by the roc. Ace accidentally jiggles a rod. A gas cloud appears and transforms into a suit of armor that glows red hot. The roc lets go, and Ace and Rocky miraculously float in the air on the armor, safe! Landing, the armor disappears. Mycroft gets the drop on our boys. And explains. The ancients harnessed a genie. (But it's called "an unknown being with the wisdom of the ancients" for some strange reason. Was there a Comics Code prescription againts genies?) The ancients essentially broke up the genie into parts: hands (seen by Prof), head (Red), and trunk/armor (Ace and Rocky). But now Mycroft will reassemble the globes and rods and recreate the genie! With infinite wealth and an enslaved genie, no one on earth will oppose Mycroft. |
But his plans go up in a flash, exploded! Prof and Red dive in and knock down the thugs. What went wrong? One flaw. The thugs never saw Red pull one rod from his globe when they highjacked him. For once, Red is the genius Chall.  |
"The Menace of the Invincible Challenger" |
Our story starts with a lab monkey jumping through flames, unharmed. The Challs are watching a film. Scientists found an unknown chemical embedded in a meteorite, and distilled it into pills. The monkey took the pill accidentally and survived a lab fire. The scientists guess that aliens devised the chemical to let them adapt to fierce interplanetary environments. We even see hypothetical aliens on fire planets, underwater, and standing in ice - The Challs have heard enough. If a man took the pill, he'd have superabilities - and they immediately draw straws to see who gets it. June notes, "Danger is the one word that sends the Challengers into action!" Rocky gets the chance. In short order, he's taken the pill and been shot into space to see if a man can withstand the rigors of re-entry. Off he goes. Comes bad news: the monkey is in a coma! What will that mean for Rocky? |
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It means he'll have superpowers but be nuts. Sure enough. Rocky tears his way out of the capsule (as seen on the cover). Super-paranoid, he brushes his friends back with flame. Freezes Prof like a popsicle. Tears out of a steel net by expanding to giant size. And eludes capture by turning invisible. The Challs broadcast a radio message warning people to avoid Rocky as dangerous. But thugs hiding in a cabin, led by the villainous Chopper, spot Rocky, invite him in, feed him, and put him to bed. The plan: with Rocky under his control, they can knock off banks easily. But Chopper hasn't figured on Rocky's basic decency, even amnesiac. A hunter has also spotted Rocky, and runs away. Chopper orders him shot down. Rocky melts their guns. "It is wrong to harm him." And the Challs have arrived. Ace and June call to Rocky. He remembers June, vaguely. A thug would shoot or brush her aside, but Rocky shocks him. Red dives from a tree onto Chopper. Rocky is hit. The thugs are rounded up. Rocky was only grazed across the scalp. His memory has returned and his powers have faded. All back to normal. And Rocky notes, "This assignment was one big headache!" |
Comments The Fantastic Four and the entire Marvel Universe start here. Under Jack Kirby's hand, Rocky rockets into space (just like the FF) and gains the super-powers of the FF: shooting fire, super-strength, expanding (to giant size, not stretching), and invisibility. After COTU 8, Jack went to Marvel and "helped" Stan Lee create the Fantastic Four. Who helped whom? There's even a nifty Thor-type statue tucked onto page 2. What more can you ask for?  |