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March-April 1957 |
A splash page introduces the Challs, an impressive bunch of guys.  Note Prof Haley's last name is given incorrectly as Harrison. |
The Challengers' second adventure opens with them recounting the challenge of The Sorceror's Box (Showcase 6) and eager for more. Prof, "If we have to die, let's not do it through boredom!" Rocky asks if they have any offers. "Someone want to shoot us through a cyclotron? Explore the riddle of the sphinx?" The Challs dump out a mail sack and start reading. "We can't expect the unknown to walk in and announce itself!" Suddenly... a pudgy bald German walks in, shaking like a leaf. "You must protect me from ULTIVAC! A creature of my own making... my greatest achievement... but he is now out of my control!" Felix Hesse explains. In Hitler's Third Reich, he held a high position in the Ministry of Science. When defeat came, he escaped by submarine to America. He was interred in federal prison with Floyd Barker, the bank robber. Together Barker and Hess devised a plan for "the greatest calculator of all time!." But "something strange and uncanny" happened within the machine - Twin lamps glow at the window. "ULTIVAC is the machine! ULTIVAC is alive!" |
Thus do the Challengers meet ULTIVAC. "Great day in the morning!"  (Page 1 later serves as the cover of COTU 75.) |
Great steel fingers grab Hesse. ULTIVAC sprouts wings and propellers. Red fires a shotgun. ULTIVAC takes off. The Challs have their next job cut out for them. Track down ULTIVAC! The Challs visit a top-secret laboratory in Washington, DC. They meet "Director Robbins." "Wow!" |
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Counter-intelligence (whoever they are) sent the Challs to June, who deduces, "The facts are fantastic! They indicate that the use of radioactive materials... has somehow developed in its brain case... A thinking process on a par with humans!" Or superior. June inserts a card in the country's most advanced calculator to find out what the Challs' chances are against ULTIVAC. |
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The shocking answer spit out on a punchcard? "ULTIVAC WILL FALL WHEN A CHALLENGER DIES!" Ace: "There it is, boys - a death warrant for one of us!" Rocky: "We're living on borrowed time anyway." |
Meanwhile, in a hidden cave, ULTIVAC builds robots in the likeness of Hesse. ULTIVAC sends them out to gather "supplies, oil, chemicals - the substance of survival!" A swarm of robot-Hesses go forth. But the FBI, "working closely with the Challengers", has ordered a dragnet out on Hesse. "Hesse" is spotted in many different cities, but the robots disintegrate to avoid capture. June gets a lead, a call from an electronic parts manufacturer. Hesse is there now! Red dashes out and June follows. Red finds "Hesse" and tells June, "Beat it, Doc. I've got a job to do!" June staunchly replies, "My name is June, and I'm staying with you! I'm as interested in finding ULTIVAC as you are!" |
They follow Hesse to a radical helicopter and steal aboard. The copter flies "countless miles over barren, foreboding hills" and descends into a crater. Hesse - the real Hesse - and Floyd Barker greet them. Barker is bitter. ULTIVAC "is the boss - for now! He keeps us around like pets... so we can repair him if he runs into serious damage!" Red is startled by "a voice that booms inside his head," so powerful he crumples. "I DETECTED YOUR THOUGHTS! YOU WILL REMAIN THIS WAY UNLESS YOU GIVE UP ALL PLANS FOR RESISTANCE!" ULTIVAC arrives. "I will not harm you... but you cannot leave." Yet the giant robot senses June does NOT fear him. It cradles her in one hand - like Fay Wray in the hand of King Kong - as shown on the cover. June replies, "You're the one who is afraid, ULTIVAC! Afraid of mankind! We must learn to understand each other!" |
Red seizes the opportunity. Swinging a steel bar, he smashes a power unit. ULTIVAC is confused by great gouts of flame. The humans dash outside. ULTIVAC is so confused, he can't use his telepathic powers. And Hesse pulls a surprise, a sub-sonic gun that short-circuits the robot, who crashes to the ground. Hesse and Barker are smug. They'll exhibit ULTIVAC as the sensation of the age! "Two tons of steel that thinks and talks like a man!" |
So, a few weeks later, ULTIVAC is trussed just like King Kong, in Yankee Stadium in New York. Yet the robot wants only one thing, and sends "invisible thought beams". "Where are you? June Robbins, you must help me!" June tries to "stop this terrible thing!.. ULTIVAC should be under government control!" Or none. ULTIVAC makes his move! Smashing his bonds like matchsticks, he scoops up June and stampedes through the city, crushing cars underfoot. Jets attack, unaware June is held hostage, but ULTIVAC shields her. Then, from the direction of Washington, DC, comes a jet flown by Ace Morgan! He orders ULTIVAC to release June and they'll talk terms. ULTIVAC trusts only June. Sending out vibration beams, he shatters the jet. Ace ejects just in time. |
Back in Washington, Rocky vows to "go after him and take him apart!" But Prof will take it from here. "ULTIVAC has run for cover under the sea!.. This is a job for an experienced diver!" Under the sea, June sits inside between ULTIVAC's eyes behind a "plasti-glass face shield". The robot finds another mammoth cavern. Prof is close behind in a diving suit designed for maximum submersion. "Suddenly the water boils into activity as an invisible vibro-beam seizes Prof!" Prof awakens in an underwater cavern - and sees June Robbins! June knocked Prof out because he was carrying a weapon. Why is she sympathetic? "ULTIVAC is a scientific marvel! If mankind could stop fighting him and earn his trust, ULTIVAV could solve many things beyond our present knowledge." (Better than, say, Godzilla could.) Exploring, the captives see ULTIVAC has done a lot of building. But now he's going out! Where? |
US Naval Intelligence knows. ULTIVAC is making for the East Coast. Rocky opts for Plan B. As the robot emerges from the surf, the Challs "erase all thought from your mind! Complete surprise will confuse him!" Red darts out with machine gun fire. Rocky attaches a specially-prepared bomb with magnetic clamps to the robot's leg - and destroys ULTIVAC. "However, nothing could be further from the truth." Undersea, ULTIVAC shows a television screen where his DOUBLE was destroyed. The robot vows to "strike back - with all his powers!" June pleads. "Wars never solve anything! Give mankind a chance!" The robot agrees to trust her wisdom. "I shall throw myself upons man's sense of justice. But be warned... I shall also be alert for treachery!" |
Newsboys hawk extras. "ULTIVAC ALIVE - SEEKS PUBLIC HEARING!" Thus, "the most unusual event in history is televised to the American people."  The robot states, "I am willing to apply my powers to the cause of helping humanity - if humanity meets me halfway!" June answers, "We can! We will!" |
 Rocky goes under the knife. He loses ground. Soon there's no heartbeat. The surgeon laments, "I'm afraid - he's gone..." Ace, Red, and Prof face facts. Rocky is dead. The prediction came true. |
June steps up. "Prof! Boys! I-I'd like to take Rocky's place! I think I've earned the right to be a Challenger of the Unknown!" Ace doesn't see why she can't join. Red considers "a lady daredevil... should prove interesting!" Then the doctors wheel out Rocky - alive! "Heart massage brought him around again!" Ace speaks for them all. "We're very grateful, Doctor!" Months later, the four Challs meet June and the new ULTIVAC -a stationary calculating machine. "Yes, the spark is gone, but as a pure machine, he is still contributing much to man's knowledge." And more challenges await in... Showcase! |
Comments A simple story with far-reaching implications. The Challengers save mankind with the individual talents AND by coordinating government help. And the anti-war message is nice, the basic moral to trust each other and try to resolve our differences peacefully. |
June starts as a brunette. Her hair color varies in later issues, even as a redhead, but eventually she settles for blonde. In this story, June's last name is ROBBINS. In some stories she's June WALKER. For more on June's last name, see the Superboy in Hypertime storyline. |
ULTIVAC's name is a takeoff of UNIVAC, the first commercial computer. Yet the word "computer" never appears in this story. ULTIVAC was resurrected by the Forgotten Villains to menace Superman and the Forgotten Heroes (DC Comics Presents 77 and 78). They included Dolphin, Animal Man, Immortal Man, Rick Flagg of the Suicide Squad, Cave Carson, and others.  |
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