 In this sequence from the Challs' origin issue, Ace utters his classic statement: "We're living on borrowed time." |
BORROWED TIME |
THE BOB BROWN CHALLENGERS Bob Brown had been a cover artist for DC's mystery line just previous to inheriting the Challengers with #9 (September, 1959) .He was the regular artist on the series for nine full years, doing 94 of the 138 adventures (so far) of the team. Brown's early career had included stints with Simon and Kirby on the Black Magic comic as early as 1952, and a mid-'50s DC placement on the last Vigilante back-up in Action. A staff of writers complemented Brown on the Challengers; best known was Arnold Drake, whose Doom Patrol was four years away, and Francis Herron, a name usually associated with the mystery line comics. Brown brought more natural anatomy and greater variety of facial expression to the Challengers, which enabled Drake and Herron to develop the characterization of the quartet, a weak point during Kirby's reign. In terms of dynamic layouts, Brown reverted the series to the DC norm - Drake and Herron lacked the visual plotting skills that Kirby was able to exploit as writer and artist. As part of a fifth anniversary celebration, Challengers #31 included the new team's treatment of the origin sequences. Given three and a half pages in Kirby's original presentation, the origin ran 12 pages in the redone version; the extra eight and a half pages went toward exploring the previously unrevealed individual origins of the team members. The second origin differs from the first in one small particular: after the fateful crash, Red remarked that even his watch had stopped - prompting Ace's gloomy speech about "borrowed time." In the original, Red's watch was still keeping time, again prompting Ace's speech, as well as visions of a "Timex" commercial. Herron and Drake built well on Kirby's foundations of character for the Challengers proper, but vacillated unforgivably on that of the lady Challenger, June Robbins. In one story, when the Challengers had their memories stolen by an "amnesia machine" (#9), June stepped in and led the Challengers through the adventures. In other appearances, June took a Lois Lane-style "protect me" role. Colorists were unsure of the character, alternating her blonde pigmentation with brunette (as early as #10) and even redhead (first in #26). In #24, June appeared in both stories in the issue, in one as blonde, and the other as brunette. In 1961, during which June appeared nine times, readers wrote in, demanding less of her. She was whittled down to five walk-ons in 1962, two parts in 1963, and a cameo in 1965's election of a leader for the team. Her next appearances would not be until the Challengers' revival in 1977. The Brown/Drake and Herron team invented most of the Challengers' props: Challengers Mountain, the secret headquarters of the group, was introduced to the series in #12. (Until then, the HQ had been a large, unidentified building in a large city.) In #53, the quartet abandoned Challenger Mountain for an undersea fortress. The undersea HQ was then in turn abandoned in #62, when the Challs shifted away from their super-hero mode. The revived Challengers (first in Super Team Family #8, January, 1977) would later return to Challengers Mountain. |
A horde of supporting characters was introduced by the Brown/Herron and Drake team: Cosmo, the Challengers' Space Pet, was to all appearances the most successful. This disgustingly cute creature (sort of an orange, pot-bellied raccoon) debuted in #18, and also appeared in #21, #25, and #32 - be forewarned. When the mystery of the origin of Cosmo was cleared up, the critter was given to the Challengers permanently by its former master-and that's the last ever seen of Cosmo. (I like to think the Challengers skewered and barbecued the little imp.) Two installments of the "Sons of the Challengers" take the team into its own future (via a circus medium's crystal ball) .The original Challengers have all grown to be an ancient 40 or 50 years old , with teenage sons-and a daughter. A portly, tired-looking June Robbins is married to Ace - other mothers do not appear. With the exception of Rocky, each Challenger has grown a little clone of himself. Rocky has fathered a daughter, Roxanna, and from there, it gets very interesting. The three-boys-and-a-girl composition of this group results in some little Lulu-type challenging of sexual myths, refreshing from the DC of that time. Gaylord Clayburn joined the Challengers as "the fifth Challenger" (#30) for one issue only - after his trial, the rich socialite declined to join, claiming membership to be too dangerous. This tale can be read two ways: the foursome never warmed to Clayburn during the course of the adventure, seeing mainly his money and flashiness. Perhaps Clayburn's sudden change of heart really derived from his recognition of their resentment. A minor character in the Brown years, Clayburn was revived in 1977 for the new Challengers adventures. |
CHALLENGES FOR THE CHALLS The most permanent additions made to the Challengers' supporting cast during these years were villains: Multi-Man, the Challengers' arch-enemy, was introduced as Duncan Pramble - one in a long line of assistant archaeologists to make trouble for the Challengers ( #14) .Pramble's theft of the ingredients of the Liquid Light formula was motivated by the same goal that moved Morelian, the Challengers' first foe: a desire for immortality. This time, the price for immortality was Pramble's humanity. Each time he died, Pramble reincarnated in a new form, usually with bizarre powers. Prof devised an antidote, but the team had to catch Pramble several times before the villain did not escape by simply killing himself. The antidote ran out in the "Return of Multi-Man" (#15) and Pramble literally died a thousand deaths, mutating to his ultimate form: the gnomish creature of later appearances. Those later appearances occurred in #20, #24. #30, #34, #40, #42, #45, #48, #55, #61, and a two-parter in Super- Team Family #10 and Challengers #81 during the 1977 revival. |
In this sequence from the Challs' origin issue, Ace utters his classic statement: "We're living on borrowed time." |
Volcano Man was the next arrival in the Rogues Gallery. Dr. Edward Gruner was the villain of Volcano Man's first eruption {#27), investing life into molten rock and directing a group of his creatures to nefarious deeds. When Dr. Gruner died, the Volcano Men lived on, returning in #32 to merge into one Volcano Man. All Volcano Man's later appearances were with the League of Challenger-Haters. Multi-Woman, a giant female robot, was the creation of Multi-Man in #34. Completely destroyed by the Challengers in that story, an identical Multi-Woman robot returned with Multi- Man in all the later Bob Brown Challengers. (She was conspicuously absent in the 1977 revival.) The exact relationship between the creator and his machine was unexplored, but scenes of the enormous female figure carrying the large-headed Multi-Man evoke the mother/child image in an entirely disturbing way. The League of Challenger-Haters marked the beginning of the super-hero Challengers. Probably guided by Arnold Drake, Kra and Drabney (from the Kirby Challengers) joined with Multi-Man, -Woman, and Volcano Man in #42, for an all-out attempt on the Challengers. To contain these ruthless entities, the heroes were equally ruthless: they constructed and operated their own jail. The Challengers ensured that their foes were helpless (as well as uncomfortable) by various contrivances; scenes of the Challengers unheroically taunting their captives closed their encounter on a rather chilling note. The League of Challenger-Haters broke out of jail, or operated dirty work from its premises in #25, #48, #55, and #61. The jail itself, populated, was an enduring addition to the feature, as the setting of some very exciting adventures, including the memorable team-up with the Doom Patrol. Cameo panels of the Challengers' jail popped up in the revived 1977 Challengers. After a certain period of time, every super-hero must battle Nazis. Francis Herron brought them to the Challengers in #34, when the Challengers defrosted a submarine full of frozen Nazis off the coast of Cape Cod. Other memorable stories from the pre-super-hero Challengers must include "Creature from the Forbidden World" (#11), a well-drawn Edgar Rice Burroughs-type fantasy adventure; "War of the Challenger Teams" (#29) , with enemy aliens orchestrating the battle; and "Two Hours to Die" (#41), a suspense drama lacking the usual fantasy/SF element, in which Prof was trapped underwater in a bathysphere with a limited air supply. |
CHANGES, DEATHS, ETC Bill Finger, well-known since the Golden Age for his colorful heroes and villains, joined the Challengers' writing staff sometime in 1965. My guess for his first story would be the uncredited "Haunted Island" (#43). Brown appeared to be working from a more descriptive script than usual - the entire horror movie style setting was something new to the Challengers. Brown's artwork underwent gradual change since beginning the feature; around #25, he started .working with a thicker brush. His delicate, feathering work gave way to a slicker, smoother inking style, more in keeping with the mid-'60s. With the super-hero action, Brown was more obliged to exaggerate human anatomy for emphasis and construct dynamic layouts - bringing back that aspect of Kirby's Challengers even as they retreated from the first concepts in the storyline. New costumes replacing the drab purple pajamas of Kirby's crew were introduced in #43: designed by the insane mutant kidnappers of the Challengers, they were yellow with a red hourglass chest emblem and shoulder-wings, boots, and belt. For some reason, the Challengers liked the new outfits - until #70, at least, when the third of the team's four costumes was introduced. |
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One-shot villains like the Gargoyle, Mr. Tic Tac Toe , and the Iron Dictator proliferated. Most were overshadowed by the League of Challenger- Haters' diabolical refrains. Among the few that were brought back for a second look were: Sponge-Man, a sponge diver afflicted with a disease that turned him into a human sponge, was introduced in #47. Capable of leeching sound and color as well as water, Sponge-Man was cured by a joint effort of the Challengers and the Sea Devils in#51. [Editor's note: Partly "cured" only to die heroically minutes later. See the synopsis LINK.] Villo, a screwball who was out to prove he was the worst villain of all, was the spotlighted villain in #50. Aided by his criminal ally, a computer named Brainex, Villo returned in #52, #54, and #55 - the only new villain to team up with the Challenger-Haters. Guest stars are also part of the super-hero standard: Doom Patrol was the first to guest in Challengers, in a masterful two-parter written by Arnold Drake (Challengers #48 and Doom Patrol #102). The League of Challenger-Haters and the original Brotherhood of Evil added to the excitement, while Drake, creator of three of the four groups involved, meticulously upheld the continuity of both features. The Sea Devils, on the other hand, seemed out of character in their guest shot (#51). Due to Judy's (the female Sea Devil) flirting with Ace (in order to make Dane, the Sea Devil leader, jealous), the two teams were at each others' throats most of the adventure. Toward the end of their tenure on the book, the Brown staff added a new Challenger: "Tino" Ryan, Red's younger brother. It really was about time for one of the "Legion of Death .Cheaters" (another Challengers' appellation) to meet with Mr. Fatal and Red was chosen for the honor. Tino blamed Red's death on the Challengers, and took time out from his career (as a rock-n-roll star) to try to kill his brother's former mates. After fending off his attacks for two issues, the Challengers finally confronted Tino and ended up making him a Challenger. Tino was reluctant - he had a career already that he liked - but he was a Challenger nonetheless until #63, to return in #66, #67, and #71. Red's death was only temporary - he was absent five issues before returning with a vengeance. Red would also be temporarily blinded in the final Brown Challengers (#63), losing an eye that was miraculously restored in #72. |
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Red blows himself up... But returns to the land of the living five issues later to discover that the Challengers have recruited his kid brother! |
In 1968, DC revived its old mystery line of the '50s, evicting the super-hero growths that had sprung up during the '60s (House of Mystery was the first, in June). Riding the crest of the wave, the Challengers converted to supernatural themes by July of that year with a borderline super-villain monster group: the Legion of the Weird. The lineup of the Legion included one witch doctor, one druid, one witch, and so on. The Legion fought the Challengers for a two-parter, ending with the blinding of Tino in #63. The score between the Challengers and the Legion was settled in #66. Brown left the Challengers to draw Batman and Superboy (the latter with Challengers' alumnus Wally Wood), switching to Marvel for his last three years: Brown died in 1977 after a memorable stint on Marvel's Daredevil book. With Brown departed, the writing staff - Drake, Herron, and Finger - all retired within five years of their departure from Challengers. |
On to Challengers of the Occult... |