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October - November 1965 |
High above the city, an ugly galoot much like Quasimodo broods among gargoyles. "Down there I'd be avoided, but on the rooftops I'm king! With all my loot, I can afford to sneer at the people below!" Up charge the Challengers. Ace yells, "I figured if we scouted enough rooftops we'd eventually run into the creepy crook!" (The second story explains how the Challs first got wind of the Gargoyle's schemes.) Rocky throws a fast fist. "What a puss! I've seen better heads on cabbages!" But he misses as the Gargoyle dodges, inhumanly fast. The fiend kicks Rocky into his buddies. "Just because I call myself the Gargoyle doesn't mean I'm stuck here!" |
The Gargoyle dives off the building. "Holy Toledo! The kook jumped!" But only to another gargoyle. Swinging high, he decks our heroes and swings out of sight. He lands atop another roof, only to bump into a girl (woman)!  |
"She'll scream and bring the Challengers... unless I shut her up permanently!" Twisted hands reach to strangle, but the girl is unaware of danger. "Hello! Is anyone there?" "She's blind!" Flustered, the Gargoyle claims to be a building inspector checking the roof. The girl comes every night. "Being... different can make a person very lonely." The Gargoyle winces. "I know what you mean." "And so a strange friendship begins... the Beauty and the Beast. The Girl and the Gargoyle." The villain thinks, "I'm glad she's blind, so she'll never know how ugly I am." He promises to return. The Challengers check the roof, "searching for the Gargoyle, a vicious treacherous criminal." The girl met only "a building inspector, a very kind man." The guys figure, "Can't be the Gargoyle." |
At his hideout, the Gargoyle broods. He wants to stay free to see the girl again. He'll need a gang to fight the Challengers. The Gargoyle swoops amid police moving prisoners. He snatches the cops and tells a gangster to meet at his hideout. The fiend drops the cops on a crumbly gargoyle. "You didn't want to live forever, did you?" The Challs were checking the Gargoyle's record at Police HQ. As the gargoyle fractures, they see a job only the Challengers can do... Forming their famous human chain, with Rocky as anchor man, the Challs grab the cops. One gushes, "I knew only a miracle could save us - and your team's it!" |
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Ace notes, "Beneath the Gargoyle's hard exterior beats a heart of stone! He doesn't have a soft spot on him!" But Ace would be surprised.... That night, the girl is delighted her new friend stopped by to talk. Her name is Laura. His? "Uh, Gar - Gary Doyle!" Alone, the Gargoyle counts his loot. He could pay for an operation to restore Laura's eyesight. But... That night, he asks, "Laura, what if I were... ugly? Would that make a difference to you?" No, the girl insists. "I would only see the dear face of someone who has spoken kindly to me." Besotted, the Gargoyle decides. "I've got a strange feeling! For the first time in my life, I'm doing something nice!" Two weeks pass. |
Then, one night, the Challs mop off makeup and eyepatches.  |
Disguised as hoodlums, they picked up bits and pieces of info. "Added up, they point to the Gargoyle's next heist - the Bell Insurance Company!" That night, the Gargoyle and his gang are jumped by three Challengers. The creep wonders, "Where's Ace?" "Surprise, Shorty!" Ace zooms on his jet-pack and takes the Gargoyle for a ride! The nimble crook kicks Ace and lands on his feet. Ace nearly breaks a fist on the Gargoyle's jaw - it's like stone! |
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Snatching letters from the company sign, the Gargoyle knocks Ace from the sky. "You've been ACED!" Ace boots a letter back and rushes. The Gargoyle leaps to a giant bell, the company's symbol. Slamming Ace, he flips a rope binds Ace to the clapper. "This bell will sound your death knell!" (As seen on the cover.) Ace unbuckles his pack and slips free. BONNG! "Wow! I'd be thin as a dime hamburger if I hadn't escaped!" |
The Gargoyle swings off. That's the end of his gang and his city hideout. But he'll go see Laura. Her bandages are due off today. The Challs have the gang, but the big fish got away. "It's a draw." Ace orders, "Let's give these punks back to the police so they can book 'em." BOOK! Ace remembers the girl on the rooftop had a book! But it was dark, so the book must be in Braille, and she must be blind! The Gargoyle must have said he was the building inspector! The girl's landlady reports Laura is at General Hospital. Where the Gargoyle swoops into a darkened room. Laura still wears bandages. "Wasn't the operation a success?" Yes, but Laura "wanted you to share this wonderful moment with me!" |
The bleary image gels. Laura strains to see - then does. "Oh, you're the Gargoyle! I recognize you from the description on the radio!" "Ugly, am I not! But don't turn away from me! Stolen money paid for your operation!" Poor Laura weeps. "Oh, why couldn't you have been honest! I would have loved you no matter what you looked like!" The Gargoyle wants to kill her - Until the Challengers burst in. Rocky grins. "This (hospital) is where he's gonna be for a while after I get my mitts on him!" The villain grabs Laura, bounds out the window, and dangles Laura over a ledge! The Challs freeze. Then the fiend flings the girl and dives away. |
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Ace catches the girl. Rocky catches Prof by his shirt. Red catches a ledge. "Whew! Someone up there must like me!" The Gargoyle escapes. Laura blubbers, "What made me recoil wasn't his face, but his evil! He didn't understand!" Ace assures her, "And he never will!" |
The story doesn't end there. The narration booms, "Our heroes haven't seen the last of the Gargoyle! The spectacular duel resumes in the explosive sequel, "The Best Challenger Wins!"" Check it out! |
Comments Beauty and the Beast. The Hunchback of Notre Dame. At least the writer swipes from the classics. Bill Finger's fingerprints are all over this story, from the wacky villain, a twisty love interest, and giant props such as the hurled letters and the big bell. Shades of Batman and Robin jumping on giant typewriter keys. When I first read this story to my young son, Hunter, he was appalled the girl's ingratitude. "That's not right! She should thank him!" It's a testimony to the depth and variety of Challs stories that the girl does NOT do the expected thing. Great storytelling keeps you guessing and always surprised. |
The Challs are getting some publicity. This house ad ran in several comics including their own.  |
The ad got extra mileage in other mags. This came from Metamorpho.  |