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December 1964 / January 1965 |
In a nearby city (likely Boulder, Colorado), a massive face-castle structure appears out of thin air.  The authorities hand the job to the Challs. |
With no clue what the structure is for, the Challs form a human pyramid and climb in. It's a maze. Oh, well. When in doubt - blow it up. But the walls shift and the Challs are trapped with no exit or access to the bomb! Hit the deck!  A spectacular explosion reveals - nothing. No debris, no sign the building ever existed. They're okay, except for Rocky, who's rocky. "Play it cool, Pal. Outside of hearing a little way-out music, I'm okay...." |
Back at headquarters, the Challs are researching and waiting for the next appearance, when Rocky announces he's quitting the team! What? "Who said this team would hang together forever? I mean - can't a cat cut out without making it a big deal?" He got a letter from his former manager, and wants to cut out for a world wrestling tour. Don't try to stop him. "I can take on all three of you." But his head HURTS, and Rocky collapses! Waking, Rocky confesses he's had wicked headaches and blackouts lately. He saw a doctor who ordered more tests. Rocky is afraid he'll be a drag on the team. No way. The Challs leave him to rest while they run off to fight the latest apparition, the Quadruple Man. But Rocky is adamant on not endangering the team, and walks out. |
Briefly he thinks of joining a circus. But everyone is clustered around a TV in a storefront. The Challs are fighting the Quadruple Man, and getting batted around "spinning like tops" and then shot out "like a paper clip shot out of a rubber band". Two kids spot Rocky and ask what's up? Why aren't you fighting? Rocky declines to answer, and the kids think he's chicken, a quitter. While the Quad Man vanishes as mysteriously as the face-castle.  |
Rocky decides he better get back. His pals might need him after all. The other Challs, meanwhile, have been found by a Doctor Hanford, a specialist with X-rays. With news! Back at Challenger Mountain, Rocky confesses he cut out, but came back. No matter. The X-rays show his problem. A tiny sliver of metal is lodged in his skull. It came from the bomb. "The sliver acts a receiver - picking up mysterious signals every time one of the apparitions appears." The closer Rocky gets, the more it hurts. Once the sliver is removed - - Wait, says our hero. The sliver makes Rocky a human detector and can lead him to the signals' source! He's back in! "Like they say, never argue with a Challenger." |
Flying, they circle. Rocky makes contact and points. His pain becomes unbearable near a weird old castle high in the mountains. The Challs break down the door. And find a guy "in a Buck Rogers helmet" attached to a strange device.  The guy is dead. The Challs shut off the machine, and Rocky rejoins them, his pain gone. Reading the notes scattered around, they learn he was Doctor Burke. He developed a device that turned thoughts into matter! He hoped by manifesting man's worst fears, he could learn to control them. Thus the face-castle represented man's frustration. The Quadruple Man represented man's weaknesses: Hate, Greed, Envy, and Revenge. But the greatest fear is still stored in a "battery", the strain of which caused Burke's brain to snap. |
A door bursts open. In comes the grandaddy of all fears, FEAR itself! And he laughs so loud it almost kills the Challs! They can't get near Fear to fight it, and are knocked flat! But Ace gets an idea to "Fight him on his home ground". Donning the helmet, he thinks up four phantom Challengers. Wink, wink, wink, wink, they appear. And charge right at Fear.  One punch at the empty hood does it. The robes collapse. Ace notes, "Like they say about most fears - it was all in the mind." Rocky feels fine: no more pain! And he'll feel better once that sliver is removed. He's "still a Challenger! Glad to have you aboard!" |
"2 Hours To Die!" |
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The backup story was a "Legion of Death Cheaters Special". What was special, I don't know. Except that the plot had already appeared in an earlier issue as a text story starring non-Challenger people. Interesting that it was converted. In what should be a routine mission, Prof takes a new deep submersible down to shake rocks off a ledge that threatened an oil rig. But as he goes to set the bomb, a seaquake dumps rocks on his sub! Trapped, Prof can't ditch the bomb. He can only shove the timer to its limit, two hours. What now? Ace tries first to lower a cable and hook to tug Prof free. But Ace descends too far and gets wracked by the bends. When they tug the cable, it snaps. Strike one. Red tries by easing down the mountain to set off another bomb higher up. Hopefully the vibration will shake the sub loose. But a seaquake rattles rocks on Red, and he's hurt, and loses the bomb. Strike two. |
Rocky's turn. He figures with his brawn and Prof's brain, they can solve any crisis. Except Prof demurs. He doesn't want Rocky getting hurt too. Rocky yells into the mike, "Knock if off or I'll come down there and punch you in the nose! Think!" He even recounts earlier missions, when they fought the Cyclops (COTU 13) and the Flying Fishman (an Untold Tale), when Rocky swung from a balloon and knocked - That's it! Prof yells for Rocky to swing the anchor cable and knock the rock off. Rocky dives and swings. "Here - goes - everything!" KRANG! The sub is free! Prof ditches the bomb. Rocky grabs the outside bar, and they zoom away! So, concludes Red, "We took a little beating, but we're all here - and alive!" Rocky adds, "Yeah. We outran death by a few seconds - which puts us right on schedule". |
Comments Once again, a central theme in both stories is self-sacrifice. Rocky won't let weakness drag down the team, so quits. Then he braves pain to find the source of their troubles. In the second story, the Challs risk their lives to save a buddy, who in turn tries to warn them away. And what's the definition of a hero, but someone who risks his/her life to save another. The Challs are heroes in the truest sense.  |
And were superheroes getting hot? Sure were. Aurora models switched from monsters to Superman, Superboy, and Batman - as shown on the back cover - and Wonder Woman, Spider-Man, Robin, Captain America, and the Hulk would follow. They sold LOTS of these models. And this was before the Bat-craze even started!  The Challs would become superheroes too, in the very next issue (COTU 42). |