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BORROWED TIME |
CHALLENGERS OF THE OCCULT Jack Sparling, a vastly underrated artist (whose credits around that time included Secret Six and Bomba for DC), tried to kick off in a new direction right at the start. His gritty, cartoony style was quite a change from Brown's inhumanly neat layouts. Sparling was (and is) a fearless innovator, working occasionally with Neal Adams (during his Challengers period) to break out of traditionally-out procedures. Despite his efforts, Sparling was reviled by the fans, mostly for not being somebody else. Bob (Yes,-he-did-write-just-about-everything.) Kanigher provided the first non-Brown Challengers with a fine EC-style shocker, involving vengeance from the wave by a trio of executed criminals. Kanigher wrote four stories, sandwiching neatly the 'tie up all loose ends" issue by Mike Fried rich. The best, which also boasted a fine art job, was "The Dream Killers" in #67. Neal Adams's touch was heavy on the story, though the finishes were distinctly Sparling: a strange, surreal story half-in and half-out of dreams... and nightmares. Denny O'Neil became a regular scripter for the Challengers for the final seven adventures of this first run. During the late '60s, O'Neil was the industry's synonym for sudden and drastic change, which he certainly brought with him to the Challengers. Unfortunately, many of O'Neil's changes had already been tried before. The death of Prof - a four-issue death - led to a new, female Challenger being enrolled: Corinna Stark. Corinna was the daughter of Algernon Stark, Prof's supposed murderer: offsetting the logical scientific viewpoint of the original Challengers, Corinna was a sensitive, metaphysically inclined person. Where June was wholesome and a scientist, Corinna was mysterious, and versed in the occult. Corinna supplied several missing elements to the Challengers - she also gave O'Neil a chance to play with romantic angles. He developed a triangle among Rocky, Red, and Corinna within a short time span. Another change by O'Neil was the new costumes, designed by Neal Adams. Sort of a throwback to the old purple pajamas, they were worn in only five appearances. Jack Sparling left the feature with #71, inviting a fill-in job by Dick Dillin and Frank Giacoia, and a much-heralded but short-lived stint by present- day World's Greatest Super-Heroes strip artist George Tuska, who was then fresh from Marvel's Iron Man. |
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O'Neil's final issue is also his best-remembered. Guest starring Deadman (from the character's recently-deceased feature) , it featured Deadman artist Neal Adams on a 7 1/2-page interior sequence involving his character. The severe contrasts between Tuska's super-clean style and Adams fine-line inking set the two parts of the story off very well. The Challengers book dragged on for one year with reprints of Kirby's first episodes; a Challengers giant (#5-25) which reprinted some of their best stories and featured a new Jack Kirby cover, reuniting the artist with his creation after 12 years. After being discontinued in 1971, the reprint book was revived in 1973. For some unknown reason the colorists of these 1973 reprints colored the old [purple] outfits red with yellow pants-similar in scheme to the old "canary costume" of their super-hero days. New colors notwithstanding, the reprints were again discontinued in .late 1973, and the Challengers lay dormant. |
 Neal Adams and George Tuska split the art chores on this story, featuring Deadman. And isn't that a groovy, late-'60s sign-off in the last panel, baby? |
THE 1977 CHALLENGERS On the 20th anniversary of their first appearance in Showcase, the Challengers premiered again for three try-out issues in Super-Team Family #8-10. The creative staff chosen included Jack Abel (who had inked the final Bob Brown Challengers, back in 1968) inking over new artist Jim Sherman's pencils; Steve Skeates handled the scripts. New costumes made it clear that this was to be a new direction for the Challengers - most of the convulsions experienced in the book past issue #50 were completely disregarded. As previously mentioned, June Robbins a slightly bustier.June - and Gaylord Clayburne (now with an "e") were also, newly revised, fully intending to be full-fledged Challengers again! The first story involved the rescue of Henry Kissinger from the Bermuda Triangle, putting a political slant on the Challengers for the first time. After their run in Super-Team Family, the Challengers went straight to their own revived title with #1. [Editor's note: The revival started with #81.] Jim Sherman left the feature with the changeover, taking inker Jack Abel with him. Sherman no longer works much for the comics (although he recently began penciling the revived Fly for Red Circle), but he is well remembered for a brilliant stint on Legion of Super-Heroes. The new art team of Mike Nasser and Josef Rubinstein lent their Adamsesque talents to the feature two times. Skeates finished his continued story from the tryout issues and turned the series over to Gerry Conway. Nasser and Rubinstein in their turn gave up the artistic reins to Keith Giffen and John Celardo. While the game of musical chairs went on with the creative staff, Challengers became a gatherum for deceased series: Swamp Thing joined up for the duration in #82, followed by Deadman in #84 and Rip Hunter, Time Master in #86. This one, six-issue story tied up many loose ends at DC, and, when it was completed, Challengers was again dropped from the DC line. Keith Giffen, the last Challengers artist, is currently churning up some real interest in both Omega Men and The Legion of Super-Heroes, and seems to be on his way to a big career in comics. |
OTHER APPEARANCES After their long hiatus from regular publication, the Challengers saw brief action in the 1977 Englehart "Origin of the JLA-Minus One" (JLA #144), in which all of DC's '50s characters assemble together. Chronologically, the story takes place in 1959, sometime between Kirby's final issues and Bob Brown's first. A second extravaganza in May, 1978, included brief apperances of the quartet for Showcase #lOO's big reunion featuring everyone who had ever appeared in that title. Here again, however, if you blinked, you missed them. A 1981 issue of Worlds Finest, #267, teamed up the Challengers with Superman and Batman. The government ties introduced with the 1977 retrofitting of the title were more emphatic: these Challengers functioned like a skilled espionage team more than the swashbuckling Challengers of old. Cary Burkett, the writer, was painfully unfamiliar with the Challengers or else intended to completely change the group on this outing. Rich Buckler - a former cover artist - donated some fine artwork a la Adams, but captured neither the excitement and danger of the old Challengers, nor the sweeping majesty of the better Superman- Batman tales. The Challengers' last appearance to date was in Adventure Comics #493-497, otherwise now an all-reprint book. In these five issues, Bob Rozakis told a substantially remodeled origin story for the Challengers, illustrated by George Tuska and Alex Toth. The origin of the Challengers was a simple but effective one, however; this third retelling, which sought to explain why their airplane crashed, was a cumbersome continuity implant that added little to Kirby's original interpretation. Even the pleasure of seeing Toth's work in the last three chapters was somewhat mitigated by Frank Giacoia's uninspired inks. |
 A collector's item unknown to many Challengers of the Unknown fans: a paperback novel, written by noted science fiction author (and future AH contributor) Ron Goulart! [Editor's note: Read more about the novel here.] |
CONCLUSIONS The 25th anniversary of the first appearance of the Challengers passed without fanfare in January, 1982. In a way, that's a shame - the series has been part of comics history in a very real sense. The high adventure of the first Challengers style is just now coming into its own, with Raiders of the Lost Ark sweeping the nation at the box office, and Marvel publishing a regular comic devoted to The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones. The Challengers have proved to be a flexible feature, adapting to the current trends in comics without completely destroying the integrity of the feature. The conversion to an occult slant did have the potential for success, after all: the unknown covers a lot of very interesting territory, and they pledged to challenge it all! The biggest challenge the Challengers now face lies in the memories of comics fans. Newer readers are unfamiliar with these characters - they were dying out in the late '60s when Fandom became more organized. Their resurrection in 1977 paid more attention to colorful co-stars than to the Challengers themselves. If the Challengers are able to overcome these hindrances, who knows? Soon, the unknown may be challenged again. |