June Robbins / June Walker

June by Karl Kesel and Tom Grummett

All art copyright by DC Comics

June's Appearances and History
As We Know It
with a Good Deal of Speculation

June Robbins is the biggest unknown in the Challengers' lives.  She's in, she's out, she's here, she's gone.  What is she after?  What does she want?  And do the Challengers ever understand her?  (Does any man ever understand any woman?)  The guys seem as befuddled as the fans.  Then, just as we think we get a handle on June, another June pops up and knocks us for a loop.

What can we say about June Robbins/Walker?  We have a few facts from her brief appearances.  Let's try mixing in some free association and see where it takes us.

A Future Young Inventor

June started early.  While still young, she exhibited at the F.Y.I. Show: Future Young Inventors in Las Vegas.  Her interest in computers and archaeology is already in evidence.

"From computer programming to archaeological digs, this device will come in handy for any challenger of the unknown."  What exactly the gadget does we don't get to see.

Other young scientists in attendance are Ray (The Atom-to-be) Palmer and Dr. Will Magnus, inventor of the Metal Men.  (Metal Men 1)

June is a world-famous cybernetist, maybe the world's best, working for the government.  June spent years developing Ultivac, the first and greatest computer ever made.  Ultivac gets highjacked by a crazed Nazi scientist and goes through bad times, but then addresses the United Nations as a thinking feeling being - until it's shot and damaged.  Ultivac loses his Artificial Intelligence and becomes an adding machine.  Useful, June notes, but only a shadow of what it might have been.

Ultivac's near-magical consciousness must have been a lucky accident, because June can't replicate it.  We can imagine June thinking, "That's gone.  Now what?"

By an unlucky accident, Rocky is shot and near death.  Since June's been so smart and helpful, the remaining Challengers offer her membership - until it's snatched away as Rocky recovers.  Sorry, June, no hard feelings.

Years of robotics work are gone and can't be fixed.  And the chance of a lifetime was snatched away.  It's not hard to imagine June running home and having a good cry.  (That's what men do, right?  Make women cry?)  What's a girl to do?

Throw herself into her next project, obviously.  But what shall it be?  Where does June next turn up?  A good question with a not-so easy answer.

June turns up in a brand-new Challengers uniform and short haircut!

June Robbins is introduced by Ace was "our newest Challenger" who helped out with "the giant robot thing".

June is a regular member of the team, dating Ace and giving tours of Challenger Mountain.  She soars to the edge of space as the Challs try to rescue The Flying Cloud.

And when the Centre rampages toward American coast, June helps the Martian Manhunter cope with a brain-barrage from the alien intelligence.  All FIVE Challengers are "at the center" of the fight and wind up heroes.  (NEW FRONTIER 1-6.)

Then June is gone.  No explanation.  Evidentally the team relented and made her a member, and just as evidentally, she gave up the uniform and flew away.  Why?

Enter June Walker

The Challengers get a call.  A criminal scientist is tampering with an "infinity machine" that teleports monsters from other dimensions to Earth.  June was an early casualty, swept up with a lab of valuable equipment stolen by  teleportation.  Rocky calls June an "honorary Challenger."  (COTU 1, "The Man Who Tampered With Infinity.")

But wait!  This is not June Robbins, but June WALKER!  Where did SHE come from?  Is her last name just a typo?  (Question: Do the Challengers call her June WALKER?  Or just the narrator?)  We'd think so, except much later we meet a true June Walker who did join the team in one alternate Earth, as an official member, not a "mascot".  But do did June Robbins, for a little while.  Which June is which?

The mystery deepens.

Deep in the Australian outback, a weird box-monster grows out of control.  The Challengers show up with heavy weapons, as does June, who flies in.  Someone keeps sabotaging their operation, and it's June!  Why?  June confesses.  She was working on a new computer when it predicted one Challenger would die on this mission.  June flew in to intercept the boys. Knowing they'd never abandon a mission, she sabotaged it.  But things worked out.  (COTU 2, "The Traitorous Challenger.")

Still, this is June Walker.

June was helping a scientist conduct research on a super-monkey.  It derived superpowers the unknown compound distilled from a meteorite.  June thought it strange enough to bring in her friends.  The Challengers draw straws to see how the compound affects a man.  Rocky flies into space, crashes, and nearly kills his friends with super-powers before his mind clears.  (COTU 3, "The Menace of the Invincible Challenger".)

That's June Walker's final appearance - for a while.  We're back to June Robbins, but we're still not sure what she's up to.  We can barely keep up with her.

Gregg Whitmore, an editor at the Grand Comic Book Database, offered one stunningly simple explanation for June's name change. He assumed she went from Robbins to Walker and back to Robbins during a brief marriage.

Wow! Could be. If so, who was the lucky - then unlucky - man?

June flies around the world digging into ancient ruins, often on her own. We see her in the Caribbean, Colchis, Egypt, Africa, over the Pacific, and elsewhere.

In South America, June works on an archaeological dig.  A strange "Star-Stone" that promises treasure turns up.  June makes her first effort at deciphering the hieroglypics, no doubt by employing a computer.  This is the early days of cybernetics, remember, when hardly anyone knew their capabilities.  (COTU 5, "Riddle of the Star-Stone.")

June's bio continues...