The Jack Kirby Collector 17
November 1997

Editor: John Morrow
Asst Editor: Pamela Morrow
Assoc Editor: John B. Cooke
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Synopsis: Two articles discuss Jack Kirby's work on the Challengers.

The "Marvel"-ous Challengers
by Chris Lambert

Many articles have compared the Challs to the Fantastic Four, Lambert begins. Both teams survived a crash. Both wear one-color uniforms, purple and blue. Each team has a hothead and a strong man and a brain. And so on.

Here Lambert goes deeper, analyzing story content. For instance. The Challs often meet sorcerors with gimmicks, and Dr Doom is really an armored sorcerer. Even has a time platform similar to Tiko's time cube. The Challs' Miracle Man is a fake magician just like the FF's Diablo. The FF's Molecule Man can form solid objects from the air with his wand, same as the Challs' Drabny can make things with his helmet. Robots are common, as are aliens, and even a pharaoh. Both teams get shrunk, both are slaves in an alien circus, both are victims of an alien brat and rescued by irate parents.

The author notes, "I couldn't help but wonder: What would have happened if Kirby had stayed at DC during the 1960s?.. Would the Challengers have counted Dr Doom among their rogues' gallery? Would the Death Cheaters have faced the Inhumans, the Black Panther, the Kree and the Skrulls, Him, the Watcher, the Silver Surfer, or Galactus?... Have traveled to the Negative Zone, Ego the Living Planet, fought against the Super-Adaptoid, Mangog, the Wrecker, or the holder of the Cosmic Cube?... The Death Cheaters would have gone on to be 'The World's Greatest Comic Magazine!'"

Lambert finishes, "For Kirby created not only the Challengers, he also created the Unknown."

A checklist of Kirby's Challengers issues include four Showcases, the first eight issues, the Super DC Giant, and DC Comics Presents.

Challenging the Unknown
By Ken Penders

Ken Penders (long time buddy and all-around great guy) examines the Challs through the lens of JK's life and work. When teamed with Joe Simon, the latter handled all the paperwork. After they split, Jack was stuck. His "lack of negotiating skills would prove his downfall numerous times." He lost both rights and recognition.

Ken notes, "Recently, Joe Simon has gone on record stating that he had a hand in the initial development of the COTU, and he may very well have, along with writer Dave Wood." The Challengers might have been the last project developed at Mainline, the publishing house Kirby and Simon ran.

With the general demise of comics, creators were desperate for work. Penders speculates, "When he approached Editor Jack Schiff with COTU, chances are Kirby had thrown out Wood's script and submitted his version along with his art. Most accounts credit Kirby as the solo creator, whereas it's only been in later years that any mention of Dave Wood or Joe Simon's involvement surfaces [It's likely Simon's] input was minimal at best."

Certainly the script matches Kirby's later work for DC comics such as THE NEW GODS and MISTER MIRACLE. Showcase 6 opens with bombast. "What's out there? Places we cannot see! Things we fear to touch! Sounds that do not belong to this world! Riddles of the ages lurking beyond a bridge without a name! Only men living on borrowed time would dare cross that bridge! Here are such men and the incredible adventure of The Secrets of the Sorceror's Box!"

Penders points out that all the Showcase issues and the first eight issues read the same, with the exception of "The Man Who Tampered with Infinity" in COTU 1, which "reads as though written by a different person." Perhaps Editor Schiff?

Ken then explores the art. Some panels were obviously inked by Marvin Stein, some by Wally Wood, and some by Kirby himself. It's a mishmash of who did what. Roz Kirby gets credit, but she probably only filled in black spaces. Ken notes DC has a hard time attributing credits, and it's no wonder.

Panel layouts, says Ken, went from wild curved and irregular shapes in Showcase 6 and 7, to a more staid grid by Showcase 11 and after. Almost a Marvel standard before JK switched to Marvel.

Ken takes a stab at Jack's world view. "Like other series Challengers was very much a vehicle he used to express his vision of how he saw the world Technology could only be trusted up to a certain point. What triumphed over all was the indomitable spirit, strength, courage, and compassion of man. Kirby was very much preparing for the future, but he was by no means embracing it. He saw warning signs all over the place."

And,"Fantastic Four is a more hopeful series, while Challengers is a more pessimistic one The FF look forward in wonderment to the next adventure." The Challs expect to get killed when their borrowed time runs out.

Ken finishes, "As for the Challengers, when Kirby returned to DC, I suspect he didn't do new material for the series for much the same reasons as he hadn't for Fantastic Four when he returned to Marvel years later: He had already done that. He was ready to explore new vistas, always venturing forth in search of the unknown."

Read more about Jack's life and work.

Visit Ken Penders's website.