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June - July 1970 |
Deadman opens the story with a spooky bit about "the thin line between the natural and the supernatural," "a hoarse whisper in the night," "the realm of the spirit", blah blah.  The story really opens at a crumbling castle. A scientist, Dr McJames, delivers The Ruby of Khafir to a hunchback named Nodo. (Quasimodo's kin?) Behind Nodo is his master in spectre garb. But a man with a gun crashes the transfer. He's Johnny Double, "a shamus, a gumshoe, a peeper." A private detective hired by the museum to learn if Dr McJames really did steal gems. "Score one for them! Come on, doc! I'm gonna have to lock you up! And then, I'm gonna do what I can to spring you!" |
"A few hours later, at the headquarters of the famed Challengers of the Unknown..." (Ace's "plush penthouse" is their HQ?) Red is ragging Rocky, who's experimenting with painting to "glom up some'a that cultural refinement." Red reminds him to "paint inside the lines". Corinna Stark tries to make peace. Ace arrives with a guest. Johnny Double.  (Don't the Challs look better in their civvies than the skin-tight purple suits?) Johnny thinks his client Dr McJames would never steal from his employers at the museum. And "I'm sure I heard him rapping (talking) with somebody - but when I got there, he was alone!... It's like... the unknown! And that's your department!" The Challs can interview McJames in his cell. Off they go. |
The Challengers meet McJames in his cell, but he insists he's guilty and will say no more. Corinna removes a medallion and urges he "relax... let yourself sleep". Soon McJames is hypnotized: another of Corinna's unstated talents. Red considers it a lousy trick, "messing with a guy's mind." (At this stage, Red criticizes Corinna non-stop. Rocky worships her, so always leans on Red to lay off. Corinna tries to stay friendly with both.) Urged to "open his heart to his friends", under hypnosis, Dr McJames tells of his daughter, who fell terribly sick six months ago, and died - or something like it. In fact, McJames saw her spirit ascend into the arms of a ghost-napper! The ghost of Seth Gross wants revenge on McJames, since his ancestor had Gross hanged when he was innocent. (In the 1700s, to judge by Gross's colonial clothes.) Seth Gross demands McJames steal the museum's gems, including the Ruby of Khafir. "If you refuse, I shall never let your daughter's spirit journey to that place of eternal peace... everlasting joy." Gross imprisons her spirit in an doll-sized coffin of ebony. "Obey - or know that your child shall suffer unspeakable torments!" |
But McJames is an honest man, and suffering himself. So, the logical place to start is the castle (or tower). Johnny Double can guide them there. "Sure, that's no sweat. You sure you want to get mixed in this? I mean... ghosts. That's a pretty heavy trip. A cat could get killed - and permanently - mixing with spooks." But the Challs are living on borrowed time - and have a job to do! So must J Double, because he doesn't guide them to the tower and isn't seen again. In Ace's plush penthouse, the Challs change into uniform, including Corinna. Red grouses that, "As far as I'm concerned, she's not even a Challenger!" Ace argues "her knowledge of the occult could be invaluable!" And Prof has to stay behind because he's still recouping (from electronic possession in COTU 68). He agrees, but smashes a lamp for feeling useless. Driving to the tower, the Challs brainstorm a plan. Corrina figures that, if the girl's spirit is locked in a box, she knows a mystic incantation that can release her ghost. |
The tower is "no Playboy pad". And nearby is a gallows - occupied!  The spook vanishes. Corinna recoils against Rocky, then rushes off. "I'll be all right." Rocky - who's totally gone on Corinna - feels rejected, thinking, "Beauty and the beast is only a fairy tale." |
The Challs get blindsided by the hunchback, Nodo, who dashes into the tower and bars the door. Rocky breaks it down. They blunder in the dark. Nodo drops a beam on Rocky, knocking him out. Red takes over, launching into the rafters on ropes. "I was flying around the tops of circus tents before I was five years old!" In the darkness, Nodo shoves Red off a rafter, but the circus daredevil spins around and kicks the hunchback. And there's the box (doll's coffin) on the window ledge. Red trips on a rotten timber. Ace grabs the box and wrestles the incredibly strong hunchback for it.  The box slips out the window and shatters. The little girl's ghost gets caught by the ghost of Seth Gross - and both vanish. Ace growls, "We've failed!" |
Yes and no. Deadman takes over the story, telling it from HIS perspective. (Remember that Deadman is ALWAYS invisible to mortals.) His behind-the-scenes version goes like this... Earlier in the day, Deadman visited Vashnu, the Indian fakir, his "old-time friend and mentor". Vashnu consults a crystal ball to witness a past event. A small-time thug named Seth Gross, who used to do a magic act, coldcocked Vashnu and stole the doll's coffin, purported to have great power. Gross then returned to a tower outside of town. Deadman flies to the tower. He recognizes the Challengers of the Unknown from photos. "Big-time company!" They gape at the "ghost" of Seth Gross on the gallows. According to Deadman, "Vashnu must'a taught him how to escape his physical being - and materialize his astral body - and that's no stunt for amateurs!" |
Gross "vanishes" from the gallows - but Deadman can still see him. Gross flies toward his comatose human form. Deadman gets there first - and possesses Seth Gross's body, locking him out! "Sorry, chum, no vacancies! This carcass is occupied!" Holding Gross's body hostage, Deadman demands answers. Gross confesses. Desiring wealth, he stole the "mystic ebony container" (doll's coffin). At the home of Professor McJames, he spiked the girl's milk (left on the doorstep!) with a potion to put her into suspended animation. Then he impersonated a ghost and used the coffin to suck out the girl's spirit as if she'd died. That left her body in a coma. Gross demanded the distraught father steal the museum jewels. He wails, "I have done no real harm! Her appearance resembles death, but she is still alive!" Except, counters Deadman, he's tormenting the father, ruined his reputation, and endangered the girl's life if that potion wears off! |
Deadman knows "what it's like to have your life cut short". And rushes off to get the tiny coffin. But, hang on, he's not thinking straight. He'll likely need an astral body. And the only one around is Seth Gross's. Back he goes and knocks Gross clean out of his own body!  A few fast punches soften up Gross's astral form. Then, for the first time, Deadman possesses not a body, but an astral projection! It hurts like hell, and he can feel Gross screaming to get out. This better be quick. It is. Deadman arrives just as the tiny coffin slips from the high shelf and shatters. So the ghost who snatches up the little girl's spirit is NOT Gross, but the friendly Deadman. The girl is "so frightened! Where's my daddy?" "Easy, kid. I'm taking you home." And off they zoom. Ace and Red are sure they failed, but Corinna senses they haven't. |
She's right. At the McJames home, a doctor is urging McJames to bury his daughter - she's dead. Just then, the girl awakes smiling. Deadman releases Seth Gross's astral spirit, but he's gone insane from the pain.  All's well as far as mortals are concerned. The girl is fine. The Challengers' testimony frees her father. "And nobody was hurt." But we wonder how the Challs figured they won. Only Deadman knows what happened to Gross. "His mind is completely shattered! An' in that condition, he can't re-enter his human body." But none of the mortals even know Deadman was there, the hero of the day! |
Comments The story is patchy, with two artists and three interwoven flashbacks in a convoluted psychic-babble plot. But the art is nice and the imagery vivid. The cover shows Deadman was an afterthought, since he didn't get included. (Covers are drawn and printed months ahead of the inside, which is why they're often inaccurate. The Challs still have fur collars on the cover.) Someone shoehorned Deadman's logo above the title, so the comic looks like "Deadman and The Challengers of the Unknown." Talk about being upstaged by the guest star! Deadman would return in COTU 84. Again, the Challs would never know he was there at all. |
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The story was drawn in two parts by two artists, with some crossover. The mesh was not perfect. Compare the two pics of Corinna Stark. And the cover, where she has a pony tail! |
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For continuity fans, Johnny Double was a one-shot tryout in Showcase. He was originally supposed to take the place of people in danger, "doubling" for them. But that idea got turned into The Human Target, which left JD with no gimmick. He became a generic PI who popped up occasionally throughout the DCU. Maybe it was his slang: a goofy mishmash of 1940's private dick, 1950's beatnik, and 1960's hippie. Too weird.  |