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"Here it is, the story you've all been waiting for... Who deserves to be the team's leader?.. The dramatic account that reveals the bitter battle and friendly rivalry..." In a fun twist, the guys take turns telling the story. Ace starts. "Our honorary member, June Robbins, entered our mountain-cave headquarters." |
Her cheery calls of "Hi, fellas!" are ignored. The guys have learned where the Gargoyole's mountain fortress is, but argue how to assault it. Parachute drop? Traps? "Egghead! Muscle-bound goon!" June sighs. "What's the use?" Then, "Knock it off! Whoa! Let's have some QUIET!" |
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"You - MEN! Why can't you decide once and for all who should boss this outfit?" The guys work out a compromise battle plan. June recalls that "an old man, an odd-looking boy" gave her four presents for the Challs to take on the Gargoyle attack. |
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The gifts are: For Ace, a small hour-glass. For Prof, a fountain pen. For Rocky, a balloon. For Red, a house key. No tricks or secret messages. What's the gag? Who knows? Take 'em along. The Challs' battle strategy is simple (and predictable). Each will attack the fortress using his own specialty. Ace picks up an old plane, pilots it over the fortress, trims the controls to carry it out to sea, and bails out. Ace recounts how the Challs first learned the Gargoyle pulls off large-scale robberies. They tracked him to a pier, where he boarded a sailboat - that sprouted wings and flew off! "The Gargoyle is as smart as he is ugly".\ |
Well prepared too. As Ace chutes through the sky, a pterodactyl rises, beak open! (See the splash page.) Ace swerves and touches metal. A remote-controlled machine! Ditch the chute and drop into the sea? Survive the impact? Or better... As the bird swings by again, Ace yanks the shrouds and spills air. The parachute flops around the pterodactyl's head. "It's as tangled up as Sunday traffic!" But Ace's ankle is tangled too. He'll crash with the metal monster! He needs a blade - and remembers the hourglass! Smashing it across the beak, Ace slashes the shroud with the broken glass - - Grabs a flagpole, swings through a window, and lands at the Gargoyle's feet. He cocks a fist while the Gargoyle babbles. "I've already set certain traps in motion - and there's no way I can stop them!" Ace is too late! |
Cut to Prof's account. He dove for an underwater attack, but underestimated the Gargoyle. A "stooge in a tin fish" pilots a one-man sub out of a seaweed forest. (Splash page.) A spotlight blinds Prof. A harpoon knocks off his air tank. Prof thinks, "The only way to beat a fish is with a fish trick." Like Dibranchiate Cephalopod. Prof cracks the gift fountain pen and spills ink, just like an octopus. But he's groggy from lack of oxygen as the cloud fades and the mini-sub closes in. Just as "that harpoon was going to pin me like a specimen", Ace arrives in SCUBA gear! He deflects the harpoon, jumps on the sub and stretches a flipper over the periscope to blind it - or is Prof seeing things? Prof wakes up on the beach. Ace got the skin-diver's outfit from the Gargoyle's supply room, then saved Prof, and now dashes off. |
Cut to Red, "the mountain goat of the team." He scales the mountain to reach the fortress. Red inches "up using the hand traverse method where I couldn't get any handholds" and lassoes rocks where needed. A door opens in solid rock! A mechanical hand tries to "piledrive" Red off the mountain. (Splash page.) He swings aside and glimpses the sparking motor - and gets an idea. Using his gift, Red pitches the house key into the motor, and short-circuits it - too well. The motor explodes and the iron hand flies out and cracks Red's skull. But as Red's hands slide down the rope, another hand - "a strong one - suddenly came out of nowhere!" Ace "just happened to be passing by." Ace leaves Red sitting and rushes off. |
Cut to Rocky. "Hi, cats! Dig the crazy bit I had to go through!" Rocky aims for "a touchdown to the Gargoyle's front door. Anything that gets in my way better move out fast." But "that must have been just what the gorilla was thinkin'!" The Gargoyle's pet sentry is a HUGE gorilla! Rocky tries a flying leap to the belly and bounces off. His karate chop almost breaks his wrist. An uppercut draws a blank. The gorilla flips Rocky like a toy and sprains his ankle. "How do I fight this hairy kook?" (Splash page.) Rock remembers his gift, a balloon. Quickly snapping off a tree branch, he rigs a slingshot and whacks the gorilla between the eyes with a pebble. Tagged but not out. The brute rushes. Rocky's borrowed time is up. Until Ace dives in and wallops the ape on his nose, "the most sensitive spot on any animal." "What about the Gargoyle?" Ace laughs, "Mission completed! We can all go home now!" |
Later, at Challenger Mountain, they compared notes. "Those gifts. It's almost as if our unknown donor was Old Man Destiny - Fate!" "Fate, my foot!" yells June. "Those gifts were MY idea!" Whoever used his gift the best should automatically be declared the leader. True, June couldn't know how they'd use their gifts, "but I could count on you using your wits when you ran into trouble!" Each Challenger used their gift cleverly, "but three of you would have died if one Challenger hadn't saved you! That man proved he has the bravery and ingenuity to be your leader..." |
June dumps out a flower pot and crowns the winner. "That man is Ace!"  |
The letter column is chatty. Topics include past issues, two new Challengers Fan Clubs in the Midwest and Indiana, requests for back issues, hopes for an 80-page Giant. And look at all the fans who wrote! Kenneth Hodl, Chicago, IL. Scott Thresher, Manchester, CT. Harris A. Norton, Neponset, Ill. Craig Young, Bethlehem, PA. Rich Walls, Des Moines, IA. Paul Caruso, Jackson Heights, NY. Hope Colman, Williamsport, WA. Richard Leary, New Haven, CT. Merl Fulsom, Kansas City, MO. Robert J. Slaker, North Aurora, IL. William Kelly, Lebanon, PA. Jeff Burke, Corpus Christi, TX. Philip Hersch, Long Island City, NY. James McGee, Hurst, TX. Kent Cochran, Gary, IN. Danny Rose, Seattle, WA. Ralph Kokko, Sault Ste. Marie, MI. Larry Lapka, Jamaica, NY. Kim Young, Dayton, OH. Mike Toth, Portage, PA. Fred Krampits, Waltham, MA. Tom Gerwotowski, Chicago, IL. Frankie Gargiulo, New Haven, CT. Bob Baker, Elrama, PA. Todd Jones, Butler, PA. Joe Sierra-Franco, San Francisco, CA. And from outside the USA, Doug MacArthur, Fort Erie, Canada. Bill Black, Itazuke, Japan. Fred Creed, Riverside, Canada. |
Comments It's good to see June back, if only for a visit. Frankly we never saw any disputes over who should ramrod the team. It's usually Ace unless someone else is more qualified for the current job. Prof runs the diving operations, Red the climbing exercises. Clever of the writer to interject a mystery. Who is the "odd old man" who provides the gifts, and how can he know they'll be needed? Note too the attention to small details. Ace tells where he got the plane and how it will end up. And where he found the skin-diving gear. Such verisimilitude made an impression on us kids: facts weren't hand-waved or blown off. |
As proof that girls can be useful in other ways, Aurora introduced two beauties to their movie-monster lineups, as featured on the back page. Still, what self-respecting boy would be caught dead assembling "girly" models?  |