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February - March 1961 |
The Challs' jet roars across the Caribbean sky. June has inherited a tropical island from an uncle - a great vacation spot. Except for those "fishermen's wild tales" of mysterious occurences. By an amazing coincidence, a space capsule falls from the sky. It smokes, out of control, and splashes down. The Challs land on the jet's pontoon to salvage it. Inside is a "creature from another world". (Historical note. In 1961, the USA and Russia were shooting dogs and chimpanzees into space.) |
 The Challs rescue the alien just before the capsule blows up. They feed and water the thing and name it Cosmo. |
Reaching the desolate island, they find the volcano is active, so land on the water. Cosmo sleeps, so is left behind. On the beach, Rocky encounters a man-shaped cloud that dissipates when he swipes it with an oar. Just a formation of the mist. The trail splits. So do the Challs. Red and Prof don't go far before a palm tree almost crushes them. Moving on, they find the volcano spilling lava - except it's oil. The volcano is man-made! So the tree must have been rigged to kill them. Good deduction, made too late. A cage falls and traps them. Ace, Rocky, and June run into a gale. They drop and crawl, and find a giant fan. A man-made hurricane. "Somebody wants us off this island very badly." Why? There's nothing here but jungle! Moving on, they trip a wire and get snagged in a steel net. Red and Prof get sprung by criminals. They rush the bad guys. "Let's take 'em, Prof!" But they're outnumbered... |
Ace, Rocky, and June get a surprise. Cosmo comes bounding along and chews open the steel net!  They hear Prof and Red calling through the dense jungle. Cosmo's eyes glow green, and beams disintegrate the foliage - and sever entire trees! They find the cage, but no Prof or Red. The trail forks, but Cosmo picks up a scent and hops off. They spot their friends being herded into a cave at gunpoint. Ace and Rocky tackle the guards and sneak inside. Crates of machine guns, hand grenades, and burglar tools are stacked high. "We've stumbled on a secret supply depot for the underworld! No wonder they tried to frighten everyone off the island!" |
"Pay dirt! There's Prof and Red!" In a pit. But no sooner are they hauled out then the criminals arrive with guns. "Okay, Challengers! Freeze where you're standing!" With a "Kee-Wup!", Cosmo hops in. The criminals can't identify it, but "start throwing lead." Beams from Cosmo's paws knock the guns from their hands.  "Then bedlam breaks loose as the famed quartet hurtles into action!" with fists flying. |
Ace is grateful for the "mighty little mite". But they'll miss Cosmo. "I expect the authorities will be anxious to examine him." June protests. "Let's do all we can to keep him, boys!" The police cart off the criminals and give custody of Cosmo to the Challs "for the time being." June is delighted. "He's really ours! A space pet for the Challengers!" Ace adds, "And he earned the right to be one of us, June. Little Cosmo is a true Challenger now!" |
"The Doomed World of Tomorrow" |
In the Challs' "camouflaged cave carved deep in the Rockies", Ace pronounces their jet "in apple-pie shape." A "strange glowing bubble" floats into the hangar! The "eerie sphere" floats closer - and explodes!  "Violent shock waves" spin the boys through "a wild vortex". Recovering their senses, they find they've been blown clear out of Challenger Mountain - |
- into a lab. In another world? No, another time. The 23rd Century. Dr Oren Gough had an accident with his time machine - and "Just a moment! I recognize you! Aren't you the Challengers of the Unknown?" Their exploits are well known in this century "particularly here where your old hideout once stood!" Dr Gough was trying to develop a time machine as a defense against the four cosmic creatures. An alarm wails. "The radio-barrier signal." The cosmic creatures must be approaching! "We've got to run for our lives!" Dr Gough grabs a photon bomb that should blind the creatures for a few minutes - time enough to escape. But outside - |
"Great ghosts!" yelps Red. "Look at it! It's the great-granddaddy of all nightmares - come to life!" (As seen on the cover.) Dr Gough lobs the bomb. They run. What are the creatures after? "Selenium! Out in space, where they originated, the creatures subsist on the element! And they'll smash anything looking for it!" Selenium is found in meteorites. Red recalls an iron lode near their headquarters. Locating the deposit, the boys pry it out with a tree trunk and roll it toward the monster. It devours the rocks, and the Challs toss it "dessert". Circling the mountain, the Challs see their faces carved in stone. "A monument to us - in the 23rd Century! What a thrill!" |
Things get complicated. The time machine needs repairs. And in 24 hours the whole area will be evacuated. Not elsewhere, because the world is too populated. Dr Gough wanted to evacuate the population to the past, but now they'll be evacuated, "a mass exodus", into space. A handful of volunteers left behind will fire a "volti-ray" to destroy the creatures, which is also harmful to people. Rocky states, "As long as we're trapped in your century, WE might as well be your volunteers! Danger is our business!" Splendid! The Challs are presented to the Emergency Council Meeting. The elders are thrilled. "What an inspiring notion! The famed Challengers of the 20th Century will save our people!" A tall strongman objects. "We don't need ghosts from the past to save us! I and three others have already volunteered!" He's Lenroy, a scientist, who wishes "to prove his loyalty to his people." The elders propose eight volunteers, two for each cosmic creature. They'll wear anti-gamma suits as partial protection against the volti-ray guns. |
That evening, in a restaurant, the boys live it up. "We may be the first men to die three centuries after they were born!" Except they didn't order this cake - and it's ticking! Rocky dives. "Hit the deck, men - unless you want to celebrate the 4th of July early this year!" Rocky pitches the bomb, which explodes over the river.  Prof and Red are shook up. Rocky and Ace trot to find Lenroy at his secluded lab. |
Two goons block them. "For defying Lenroy, you shall die!" Punches land on jaws like steel. "These things aren't human! They're robots!"  Tied up, the boys must listen to Lenroy boast. After he and his "friends" destroy the cosmic creatures, they'll be heroes. With four votes on the council, Lenroy will rule the world. |
Thinking Prof and Red destroyed, Lenroy leaves Ace and Rocky tied and guarded. Ace requests a cigarette and a light. Then he puffs in Morse Code! Long and short puffs spell out "V-O-L-U-N-T-E-E-R I-S R-O-B-O-T" Prof and Red read it through the window. "A mechanical man! That spells trouble!" They'll need that table on wheels - and ram the robot. Outside they run into Lenroy and his tin men. They rush and are tossed like tenpins. "We're sunk!" |
They're "rescued" by a charging creature. The three robots wade in - and get their metal heads knocked off. Lenroy runs for a volti-ray gun - and blasts the creature, incinerating it. The Challs figure they're dead from the residual radiation - except they're fine. Lenroy has another secret. He improved the volti-ray to remove the side effects, with a single charge in each gun. And the creature's dying cry will summon the others. Right on time. The Challs grab improved guns and set the creatures ablaze. Problem solved. Dr Gough has fixed the time machine and sends the Challs back "through a funnel of darkness." Ace is glad to be home again, "Back in the good old 20th Century!" Rocky adds, "But let's not tell anyone about this last job of ours! They'll think we're off our rockers!" |
Comments Good standard adventure, but overwritten. We get an alien pet, common criminals, too-elaborate traps (ghost mist?), June inheriting an island, transporation to the future, monsters, robots, devious politicians, assorted bombs and guns... What did the writers do? Flip through catalogs and pick blind? And did we miss something? Exactly what harm do the cosmic creatures do? And isn't it extreme to evacuate the entire population of the planet to scotch four monsters? Did they really exhaust every other option? It's no wonder the 23rd Century needed the Challengers to rescue them! |
It's 1961. The superheroes are coming. After scraping along with eight pages in Adventure for years, Aquaman breaks out into his own mag.  |