A COMPLETE and EXHAUSTIVE History

of the Challengers of the Unknown

Challengers of the Revival

Super-Team Family,
Issues 81 - 87, Novel

Issues

History

Back to Basics

The Challs are back in purple and white, but retain the yellow hourglass symbol on a natty stripe.

When Henry Kissinger goes missing in the Bermuda Triangle, June advises President Ford to send the Challs into "The Devil's Paradise" (STF 8). They find dinosaurs and time-lost humans. And, unfortunately, Kissinger, thought by many people to be one of the most callous mass-murderers of the century.

It's implied but never stated that, for a while, the Challengers undertake secret missions for the US Government. Possibly these were dirty or just too weird for regular forces. Likely they need the money. They do need FAA permission to fly their jet. They might need Department of Interior permission to acquire another mountain. Or they might be co-opted some other way.

While the Challengers are off on secret missions, F Gaylord Clayburne III plans a comeback - and starts dating June. It gets serious enough that he calls her "my girl". (Super-Team Family 10) June goes along without saying much. What's her game?

The Challengers acquire another mountain in the Colorado Rockies, Challenger Mountain II (not recorded).

The nearby town of Hadley embraces their celebrity neighbors, perhaps too much. Hadley spawns Challenger mini-markets: action figures, bobblehead dolls, ice cream, cola, more. Hadley officially changes its name to Challengerville. (Not recorded, but evident by COTU V2 1.)

The Tattletale, a weekly supermarket rag, publishes many weird stories of the Challengers' adventures. Some are even true. (COTU V2 1).

"To Doomsday and Beyond!" (Super-Team Family 9) has the Challs trying to stifle a volcanic explosion. They uncover a lost race of aliens at its bottom!

For this and subsequent adventures, they don Challenger-tailored hazardous environment suits instead of the old white "Human Bomb" suits.

Able to dematerialize, and armed with nuclear detonators, "Multi-Man Rules the World!" (Super-Team Family 10) Or tries to. He threatens to destroy cities unless he's proclaimed king of the world. The Challengers beat on MM without effect, and he grabs June as a hostage!

At the same time, Prof has been diagnosed with an incurable disease, but never says a word. (Super-Team Family 10)

"Multi-Man's Master Plan" (a revived COTU 81) ripens as he seeks to destroy Los Angeles and Denver by overloading their nuclear plants. The Challs stop MM cold - so cold he loses his morphing powers and goes to jail.

But Prof collapses from some unknown fever. The only one who can save him is a doctor in Masschusetts - who's currently sacrificing virgins to a tentacled god!

F Gaylord Clayburne III is back. Ace comments that "every time that playboy gets bored he wants to play Challenger." (Super-Team Family 10) Gaylord tries to make time with June, who's setting her cap for SOMEbody. She's let her hair grow long and cut her uniform low. Ace finally tells Clayburne to take a hike, and he takes the hint.

More Monsters

"The Lurker Below" (COTU 82) begins with the Challs rushing Prof to the hospital. They've "barely had time to don new protective suits". (Protective against what? Germs?) The new duds are magenta with yellow stripes.

They head to Pennsylvania (Massachusetts was a computer glitch) seeking a cure for Prof with Dr. Heathcliff Monroe. Ace and Red are sent off on a wild goose chase to Borotavia. Rocky and June discover Monroe is a worshipper of a cosmic god M'nagala once hammered by Swamp Thing. The revived monster turns out to be (what else?) yet another Lovecraftian elder space-god. Monroe threatens to sacrifice June, and the Challs are over a barrel! (COTU 82)

Lurking in the shadows is Dr. Alec Holland, since he fought this ichory tentacled horror before, but he's reverting to Swamp Thing. Deadman also dives in, though no one knows it. The adventure runs through "Seven Doorways to Destiny!" (COTU 83). Clayburne works with Dr. Alec Holland. Monroe, holding Prof's life at stake, blackmails the other Challengers into casting a spell to bring M'nagaleh to Earth.

In "To Save a Monster" (COTU 84), the monster is defeated by spells, science, and guts. Prof is still infected, but Deadman inhabits his body and helps Prof conquer his fungus disease.

In this illuminating shot from COTU 82, we learn that, yes, even the Challs' skivvies are purple.

Swamp Thing is possessed (still in COTU 84). The Challs find he's mentally dominated by Duncan Pramble, the former Multi-Man. Swampie breaks the spell and MM stays in jail.

Red quits the team, jealous of Rocky mooning over June.

Giant monsters start popping up in downtowns. "The Creature from the End of Time!" (COTU 85) is from the far future. The cube technology is Rip Hunter's. That hero has been missing for ten years. Ace, Rocky, June, Swamp Thing, and Deadman travel to the year 12,000,000 A.D. to find Rip Hunter.

Prof, still weak, is left behind to man monitors. He's jumped by stray monsters. Red returns to the fold just in time to rescue him.

In the far future, three Challs find Rip Hunter a tool of the evil Sunset Lords. "The War at Time's End" (COTU 86) leads to "Twelve Million Years to Twilight" (COTU 87). The time travelers bring freedom to the future while Batman, Green Lantern, Prof, Red, and others fight monsters in the present. Finally the Challs, friends, and Rip Hunter's crew zip back to the present. Deadman and Swamp Thing walk away.

(The revival is short-lived. Like many other DC titles, the Challs are cancelled.)

Secret Missions

Coverage of the boys' adventures is spotty due to government secrecy. (And their book is canceled.)

Jumped by ex-Nazis, the Challengers dive into South American jungle to learn the secret of Zarpa, the Claw. (COTU the novel).

The Challs undertake a secret mission for "several months" to find and destroy a gravity bomb being constructed in the Andes Mountains. They FAIL and Red and Rocky are captured! (Explained in WF 267.)

At the Pentagon, Superman and Batman are briefed. Terrorists have launched a hovering "gravity bomb" that can hurl people off the Earth"When Strike the Gravity-Masters" (WF 267). Since the Challs failed the mission, Superman and Batman save the world's bacon with Chall help. A black mark for the Challengers, but they're likely cramped by government micromanagement.

Yet the Challs have already departed for another secret mission. Did they volunteer or get volunteered? Are they paid? Co-opted? Blackmailed?

Many questions linger about these interim "secret missions"...

With the boys so busy behind enemy lines, a mini-saga of Duncan Pramble, no longer Multi-Man, goes unnoticed.

Pramble breaks jail (implied but not recorded) and reaches a secret lab (assumed, since he has several).

Powerless, Pramble builds a robot in the six-foot bald pointy-eared form.: Multi-Man II. Pramble programs the robot as his stand-in until his powers return (revealed in COTU TP Multi-Man story). He turns the robot loose.

Pramble built too well. Believing he's the original, Multi-Man II joins the Injustice League (various Justice League spinoffs, Joker, and elsewhere).

Powerless, Pramble is recaptured and sent back to jail (implied, because when next seen (COTU V2 1) he's on parole).

Out in the cold...