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April - May 1966 |
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The Challengers are summoned by a group of civilian allies who call themselves the Challenger Corps.  They were survivors of a raid on an airplane by The Evil Eye ( COTU 44). They're out to help the Challengers any way they can. Oddly enough, Rocky rejects the Corps' offer of help, but he's overruled. Soon we see how, when a Corps member sends a signal, it's transmitted in scrambled form to Challenger Mountain, where a touch of a button unscrambles it. The first message comes from Tom Kaloki of the Hawaii Corps. |
They meet two Corps members, and discover each Challenger Corps member comes with a secret invisible tattoo! The man's is revealed by the back of his wristwatch (very James Bond), while the "girl's" is revealed by earring to be tattooed on her shoulder.  |
Boating out to sea, the Challs are sucked into a gyre, seized by a giant robot hand, and deposited on an island. The island sports replicas of the world's great structures: the Eiffel Tower, Colloseum, and others.  |
Korba, "a man without a country" enslaves people to construct his own "world" on an island. Using a diversion, Ace ducks back to the boat, dons his jetpack, grabs the Challs super-gear (introduced in COTU 40), and zips back to the arena. Rocky gets super-gloves that absorb solar energy. And how!  |
Breaking loose and freeing the slaves, they inadvertently awaken an ancient "totem" that splits into three fantastic beings. Rocky swings a giant plank and spanks the roller-creature out to sea. Prof scubas underwater, plants a bomb, and drops the Tower of Pisa on the bomb-shooter.  And don't you just love the expression on the monster's face when it sees the tower coming? Red climbs the Eiffel tower and, using his electric suit and power pack, electrifies the tentacled-mushroom. The slaves are free and Korba is taken into custody. |
Comments This a rollicking adventure, one of the best, with action, exotic/familiar settings, weird monsters, crazy escapes and gadgets, and more. Perhaps my personal favorite. An ad for this issue was seen in BLACKHAWK.  |
This issue also saw the advent of the infamous Go-Go Checks atop all DC covers. Another attempt to be hip during the Mod 1960s, like Marvel's "Pop Art" logo.  The reason for the checks, I read somewhere, was that since comics were sold in spinner racks, and kids could only see the top edge of back issues, the checks caught the eye for DC comics. Howsoever, the checks only lasted 18 months. The Chall issues were 49 to 57. I'll admit, when digging through boxes at comic conventions, these ultra-hip go-go checks from DC's golden period STILL catch my eye. |