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Showcase Presents: Challengers of the Unknown #1
Showcase Presents: Challengers of the Unknown, Vol. 1
Follows test pilot Ace Morgan, mountain climber Red Ryan, boxer Rocky Davis, and scientist Prof Haley after they survive a plane crash that should have killed them, as they undertake a series of adventures and perform good deeds.
544 pages, Paperback
First published September 27, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
August 23, 2025
Four men–Rocky Davis, Olympic Wrestling Champion; Prof Haley, Master Skindiver; Red Ryan, Circus Daredevil; and Ace Morgan, War hero and fearless Jet Pilot–are flying during a storm to an unnamed city to appear on a radio program called “Heroes.” Suddenly, the controls jam. Although Ace fights to regain control, it's no use, and the plane crashes. Miraculously, all four survive without a scratch. They decide to continue to seek risks and challenge the unknown together.
The rest is history. They are continually drawn into adventures, often with roots in either Fantasy or Science Fiction. They quickly acquire a fleet of vehicles, high-tech base, and even a fifth member, June Robbins, named “Honorary Challenger” by the team. She's surprisingly capable and independent for a female character of that time period, proving to be a valuable member of the team and not simply a damsel to be rescued in every story. The whole concept is basically Doc Savage without Doc: a team of adventurers travel the globe seeking the bizarre and the unknown, solving mysteries too outrageous for the local authorities to handle.
I've always loved the Challengers. Yes, some of these tales are pretty hokey. But the basic concept is just so much fun: a team of ordinary folk, no superpowers whatsoever, travel the world tackling cases normally handled by the likes of Superman or the Justice League. And we get vintage Jack Kirby art, some of it inked by no less than Wally Wood! There's an energy to the best of these stories that makes me grin from ear to ear.
It appears as if the title was originally conceived as one book-length story per issue, broken up into chapters, frequently with each team member getting a chapter to himself. But, early in the run, it shifts to two stories per issue. Not sure of the reasoning behind that, but I'm assuming it made sense from an editorial standpoint. There are times when I wish these Showcase (and the Marvel Essentials) volumes would include at least a brief essay about the material, just to help give it a bit more context.
A couple of random notes: after Kirby left, DC's records don't indicate who took over the writing, but there are a few issues where the new writer has Rocky and Red bickering with each other in a manner reminiscent of Ham and Monk from the Doc Savage books. It serves to drive home the similarities between the two titles. There's also an attempt to give the Challengers a recurring villain with Multi-Man. He drinks an alchemical brew that gives him, “... extra lives–and with each life I'll gain a different power!” The Challengers manage to dose him with an antidote, robbing him of his superpowers. But then, if he dies, he immediately resurrects with a different superpower. It was the 60's, so they definitely don't play that as dark as it all sounds, but it makes for an odd dynamic. Whoever was writing the book seemingly got rid of that gimmick pretty quickly and stuck Multi-Man with just one permanent power and no more resurrections, so perhaps they came to their senses.
The rest is history. They are continually drawn into adventures, often with roots in either Fantasy or Science Fiction. They quickly acquire a fleet of vehicles, high-tech base, and even a fifth member, June Robbins, named “Honorary Challenger” by the team. She's surprisingly capable and independent for a female character of that time period, proving to be a valuable member of the team and not simply a damsel to be rescued in every story. The whole concept is basically Doc Savage without Doc: a team of adventurers travel the globe seeking the bizarre and the unknown, solving mysteries too outrageous for the local authorities to handle.
I've always loved the Challengers. Yes, some of these tales are pretty hokey. But the basic concept is just so much fun: a team of ordinary folk, no superpowers whatsoever, travel the world tackling cases normally handled by the likes of Superman or the Justice League. And we get vintage Jack Kirby art, some of it inked by no less than Wally Wood! There's an energy to the best of these stories that makes me grin from ear to ear.
It appears as if the title was originally conceived as one book-length story per issue, broken up into chapters, frequently with each team member getting a chapter to himself. But, early in the run, it shifts to two stories per issue. Not sure of the reasoning behind that, but I'm assuming it made sense from an editorial standpoint. There are times when I wish these Showcase (and the Marvel Essentials) volumes would include at least a brief essay about the material, just to help give it a bit more context.
A couple of random notes: after Kirby left, DC's records don't indicate who took over the writing, but there are a few issues where the new writer has Rocky and Red bickering with each other in a manner reminiscent of Ham and Monk from the Doc Savage books. It serves to drive home the similarities between the two titles. There's also an attempt to give the Challengers a recurring villain with Multi-Man. He drinks an alchemical brew that gives him, “... extra lives–and with each life I'll gain a different power!” The Challengers manage to dose him with an antidote, robbing him of his superpowers. But then, if he dies, he immediately resurrects with a different superpower. It was the 60's, so they definitely don't play that as dark as it all sounds, but it makes for an odd dynamic. Whoever was writing the book seemingly got rid of that gimmick pretty quickly and stuck Multi-Man with just one permanent power and no more resurrections, so perhaps they came to their senses.
June 2, 2019
I love the crazy premise of this comic, and a lot of the Jack Kirby art is great. In a sense, this is the proto-Fantastic Four, which Kirby would help launch a couple years later when he jumped to Marvel. Frankly, though somewhat clunky in that 50s comic way, this is a better written comic. The weird monster of the week madness of it all is fun. I especially love when their lady friend June gets turned into the villain...more than once. She's almost as bad as Data on Star Trek: TNG. This goes on my list of comic properties I'd love to get a chance to write.
September 26, 2015
After reading the Jack Kirby collection of The Challengers of the Unknown, I picked up this Showcase Presents volume, which collects the Kirby stuff (four issues of Showcase, then the first eight issues of their own title) plus issues 9 - 17. So, I cheated a bit in reading this, because I had already read about half of it before, but whatevs, peeps.
The premise of the Challengers of the Unknown centers around four guys who have cheated death, and decided to spend the rest of their life, living on "borrowed time," fighting strange phenomenon of all sorts. They are a group of adventurers, and their missions, very much a product of the time when this was printed originally (late 1950s/early 60s), are mostly B-grade science fiction with a bit of fantasy thrown in. If you enjoy hokey B movies from the same time period, you'll get a kick out of these comics. Some of the plots get repeated with slight variations, but overall,they're inventive enough and stand on their own.
After Kirby left, veteran DC artist Bob Brown did the art, and while pretty good, lacks a lot of the visual "oomph" Kirby gave his pencils. The latter scripts are uncredited, unfortunately.
Of course, these comics are exposition heavy, and there's not a lot of characterization, but they're fun to read. No overly complicated plots, just two self contained stories each issue. I'll be picking up the second volume soon, and hope DC continues the Showcase Presents series for the Challengers to collect the rest of their Silver and Bronze Age stories.
The premise of the Challengers of the Unknown centers around four guys who have cheated death, and decided to spend the rest of their life, living on "borrowed time," fighting strange phenomenon of all sorts. They are a group of adventurers, and their missions, very much a product of the time when this was printed originally (late 1950s/early 60s), are mostly B-grade science fiction with a bit of fantasy thrown in. If you enjoy hokey B movies from the same time period, you'll get a kick out of these comics. Some of the plots get repeated with slight variations, but overall,they're inventive enough and stand on their own.
After Kirby left, veteran DC artist Bob Brown did the art, and while pretty good, lacks a lot of the visual "oomph" Kirby gave his pencils. The latter scripts are uncredited, unfortunately.
Of course, these comics are exposition heavy, and there's not a lot of characterization, but they're fun to read. No overly complicated plots, just two self contained stories each issue. I'll be picking up the second volume soon, and hope DC continues the Showcase Presents series for the Challengers to collect the rest of their Silver and Bronze Age stories.
November 18, 2024
Una premisa atractiva y acorde a las producciones cinematográficas aventureras de su época: El grupo de especialistas jugándose la vida en misiones insólitas. Por desgracia, los parámetros comerciales que encajonan al comic-book estadounidense desaprovechan el potencial con guiones serializados cuyos planteamientos - monstruos extraterrestres, alusiones mitológicas, gigantes o la infaltable historia medieval - apenas difieren de los vistos en muchos otros títulos de su tiempo. Tampoco ayuda el escaso desarrollo de sus protagonistas, donde se priorizan sus capacidades por sobre su personalidad (una leve excepción la ofrece June Robbins, su secundaria femenina). Aun así, su tono de dibujo animado sesentero y un par de giros que no se aferran a la resolución violenta hacen su lectura entretenida, sobre todo para el nostálgico.
July 1, 2019
These books are sheer fun. Back in my day, comic books had lots of adventure and thrills and yes, the superheroes--my favorite is still Superman. But even this volume, with no superheroes, just four men taking risks at every turn, is such a joy to read. I end my day by reading at least one story and that's a very satisfying way to wrap up the day. I love these books and I am so glad that DC decided to reprint them. It doesn't bother me in the leas that the stories are in black and white.
March 1, 2025
Fun, pulp-inspired (the Challengers are sort of a more democratic, four-man version of Doc Savage's "Fabulous Five," without a super-genius leader figure) adventure comic. Clearly a blueprint for much of the genre-defining superhero work Kirby would go on to do at Marvel in the '60s.
March 26, 2018
Not for me.
February 25, 2019
HQ like in the good old days
November 30, 2008
The Challengers of the Unknown live in a world where anything can happen, and, best of all, there aren't any superheroes flying around to grab all the fun. If something weird is going on in their world, they're the people you call. It doesn't matter that they're just four better-than-average humans - or five, once June becomes a very welcome distaff member - they're the best this world has to offer, and they always give it their best shot. You have to love the spirit of four guys whose go-to move, when confronted with giants of all varieties, is to run at them in a big gang shouting things like: "Let's all hit him -- together!"
The big problem with this book is that it can be very difficult to tell the Challengers apart in black-and-white. In a colour book their hair would help (red, blonde, brown and that strange hair colour only found it comics, the Superman blue-black). In black-and-white, you've just two blonde guys (one beefy, one slim), and two black-haired guys (one beefy, one slim), all in identical costumes. It got very frustrating, to the point that I began to think about getting my daughter to colour them in for me.
I never expected to say this about a comic, but it became much more readable once Jack Kirby stopped drawing it. What appalling heresy!
At the time, I thought it was down to the change of artist (to Bob Brown), but looking back through the book, I'm hard pressed to spot a really significant change in the way the Challengers are drawn. It's more down to the (usually uncredited) writing.
In the early issues the Challengers are pretty interchangeable, apart from their specialised skills (pilot, diver/boffin, climber, wrestler). Then for a few issues after Kirby leaves the art, they suddenly develop personalities, ones that oddly enough aren't a million miles away from those of the Fantastic Four (Kirby's next book). The climber develops a bit of a Johnny Storm look and attitude, and starts poking and teasing the wrestler, who's turned into a bit of a Ben Grimm. Towards the end of the book, unfortunately, they revert to being totally characterless, but by that point June's role has become more prominent, which balances it out.
I'm a huge fan of the Essentials and Showcases. They've let me read and enjoy hundreds of comics that I would never have shelled out for in more prestigious and pocket-gouging formats like the Masterworks or the Archives. And as someone who grew up reading the black-and-white British comics of the seventies, I've never felt the lack of colour to be a huge problem. But in this case, it comes very close to spoiling the book.
What saves it is the Kirby streak that runs through all his comics: the feeling of freedom, of imagination left to follow its nose. If you want to find out what lies beyond the realms of possibility, he's your man...
The big problem with this book is that it can be very difficult to tell the Challengers apart in black-and-white. In a colour book their hair would help (red, blonde, brown and that strange hair colour only found it comics, the Superman blue-black). In black-and-white, you've just two blonde guys (one beefy, one slim), and two black-haired guys (one beefy, one slim), all in identical costumes. It got very frustrating, to the point that I began to think about getting my daughter to colour them in for me.
I never expected to say this about a comic, but it became much more readable once Jack Kirby stopped drawing it. What appalling heresy!
At the time, I thought it was down to the change of artist (to Bob Brown), but looking back through the book, I'm hard pressed to spot a really significant change in the way the Challengers are drawn. It's more down to the (usually uncredited) writing.
In the early issues the Challengers are pretty interchangeable, apart from their specialised skills (pilot, diver/boffin, climber, wrestler). Then for a few issues after Kirby leaves the art, they suddenly develop personalities, ones that oddly enough aren't a million miles away from those of the Fantastic Four (Kirby's next book). The climber develops a bit of a Johnny Storm look and attitude, and starts poking and teasing the wrestler, who's turned into a bit of a Ben Grimm. Towards the end of the book, unfortunately, they revert to being totally characterless, but by that point June's role has become more prominent, which balances it out.
I'm a huge fan of the Essentials and Showcases. They've let me read and enjoy hundreds of comics that I would never have shelled out for in more prestigious and pocket-gouging formats like the Masterworks or the Archives. And as someone who grew up reading the black-and-white British comics of the seventies, I've never felt the lack of colour to be a huge problem. But in this case, it comes very close to spoiling the book.
What saves it is the Kirby streak that runs through all his comics: the feeling of freedom, of imagination left to follow its nose. If you want to find out what lies beyond the realms of possibility, he's your man...
Read
July 31, 2011(Would be five stars if Kirby drew every page of it. Read on for explanation.) Downsides first: there's a reason most people haven't heard of the Challengers of the Unknown: the storylines here are puerile and wince-makingly scientifically incoherent in a 1950s way, and in black-and-white format at least it is almost impossible, even after 30+ adventures, to tell the four main characters apart, part of DC Comics' now-70-years-old unswerving commitment to shunning all character development whatsoever. For historical interest, this is indeed, in 1957, the proto-launching of the Silver Age, with a premise that prefigures 1961's Fantastic Four premiere almost point by point, all the way down to an inaugural plane crash and four-way solemn oath and adoption of team name. “Challengers” also prefigures the similarly premised TV series “Run for Your Life” by about seven years. But the most impressive thing about this volume is that it is an unexpected place to find what one could argue is among Jack Kirby's best work. His lines had sharpened and his detail deepened considerably from Golden Age days, his compositions are as kinetic as his Capt. America work, and his inker, the incomparable Wally Wood, with whom he never worked again, was a perfect complement to Kirby—especially when compared to the late (1970-ish onward) Kirby, whose work was really overwhelmed, heresy though this is to say, by the heavy, unrealistically blocky inking of Royko and especially Joe Sinnott. The difference that comes halfway through the volume, when Bob Brown took over the pencilling from Kirby, is night and day: Brown's style is typical lame DC: static figures, inexpressive faces, and blank backdrops in alternating primary colors. By contrast, Kirby's panels have figures always caught in mid-motion, rich textured backgrounds, inventive and never repetitive perspectives, dramatic foreshortening, and wildly varying concepts for monsters and landscapes. That having been said, the stories Kirby actually scripted remind us—with their wooden humorless dialogue and high concepts that drown out characterization—that in many ways by 1959 he was still just awaiting his Stan Lee.
August 20, 2014
This the work of comic book legend Jack Kirby, or at least he co-created it. But all that's "legendary" about this comic is that it seems really old and dated and slow.
It's like there are four guys who like going on adventures together, and they each have different skills that generally summarize into "likes running around while aliens like to to kill you". But for some reason Kirby really likes to obsessively place characters into their specific skills.
It's not just that one Challlenger likes to skin dive, one likes to wrestle. He has to tell you in the beginning of each issue which one is which. And then he has to introduce to the reader again which one is which as the story goes on. Like "you know the skin diver, guess who's underwater now?"
It makes what is already a single issue storyline resolution with repetitive use of aliens and generic thieves even more simple, giving a formula.
I liked the stories that the book listed as being written by "UNKNOWN" and pencilled by Bob Brown better than the Kirby ones.
It's basically that Brown loses the pretence that these four white guys with crew cuts are especially unique individuals, and just go and ahead and have them get straight to adventures. I also like Bob Brown's artwork better in this book, I guess it didn't help that the stories didn't seem as creative as the work that Kirby did much later with Marvel/DC.
I don't know how I feel about the character of June. On the one hand, she is in fact a woman in contrast to the four dudes, and she goes on almost all of their adventures. But despite adventuring, they make a point of calling her an "honorary" member constantly. It's like feminism but not really? Also, she's not that much more differentiated as a character than the other dudes. She also likes adventures, generally wants good guys to win, etc.
So in general, this seemed like a really bland attempt to make science fiction or rugged outdoor comics into superhero adventures, and seem really bland. Like a glass of milk.
2/5 (mostly being kind because it read ok, even if it read that way because it was super simplified!)
It's like there are four guys who like going on adventures together, and they each have different skills that generally summarize into "likes running around while aliens like to to kill you". But for some reason Kirby really likes to obsessively place characters into their specific skills.
It's not just that one Challlenger likes to skin dive, one likes to wrestle. He has to tell you in the beginning of each issue which one is which. And then he has to introduce to the reader again which one is which as the story goes on. Like "you know the skin diver, guess who's underwater now?"
It makes what is already a single issue storyline resolution with repetitive use of aliens and generic thieves even more simple, giving a formula.
I liked the stories that the book listed as being written by "UNKNOWN" and pencilled by Bob Brown better than the Kirby ones.
It's basically that Brown loses the pretence that these four white guys with crew cuts are especially unique individuals, and just go and ahead and have them get straight to adventures. I also like Bob Brown's artwork better in this book, I guess it didn't help that the stories didn't seem as creative as the work that Kirby did much later with Marvel/DC.
I don't know how I feel about the character of June. On the one hand, she is in fact a woman in contrast to the four dudes, and she goes on almost all of their adventures. But despite adventuring, they make a point of calling her an "honorary" member constantly. It's like feminism but not really? Also, she's not that much more differentiated as a character than the other dudes. She also likes adventures, generally wants good guys to win, etc.
So in general, this seemed like a really bland attempt to make science fiction or rugged outdoor comics into superhero adventures, and seem really bland. Like a glass of milk.
2/5 (mostly being kind because it read ok, even if it read that way because it was super simplified!)
February 10, 2013
This collections follos the Adventures of the Challengers of the Unknown, originally created for DC by the great Jack Kirby. The basic plot: Four adventurers survive a plane crash, declare they are on borrowed time and set off on a series of fantastic adventures. They later are jointed by a woman named June who becomes an honorary Challenger.
The collection is a bit hit and miss. On the plus side, most of the stories represent the truly amazing fun of 1950s Science Fiction with strange monsters, aliens, weird magic, etc. One of the highlights of this book is the introduction of Multi-man. In addition, the art of Jack Kirby makes these stories a treat. In many ways, the series would seem to be a precursor to the Fantastic Four which he'd create just a few years later with Stan Lee.
The downside is the lack of characterization. With the books in black and white, it could be a challenge to tell the characters apart, although the pugnacious Rocky became fairly easy to distinguish. As for the rest of them forget it. They also seemed to think the same and talk the same. So this was Fantastic Four minus superpowers and characterization. In addition, some of the plots could get repetitive as someone was changed into creature/given Amazing powers and then Challengers defeats them and destroy whatever technology/magic was at the root of it.
So, mixed feelings. There were some fun moments reading this collection, but it didn't leave me wanting to read Volume 2.
The collection is a bit hit and miss. On the plus side, most of the stories represent the truly amazing fun of 1950s Science Fiction with strange monsters, aliens, weird magic, etc. One of the highlights of this book is the introduction of Multi-man. In addition, the art of Jack Kirby makes these stories a treat. In many ways, the series would seem to be a precursor to the Fantastic Four which he'd create just a few years later with Stan Lee.
The downside is the lack of characterization. With the books in black and white, it could be a challenge to tell the characters apart, although the pugnacious Rocky became fairly easy to distinguish. As for the rest of them forget it. They also seemed to think the same and talk the same. So this was Fantastic Four minus superpowers and characterization. In addition, some of the plots could get repetitive as someone was changed into creature/given Amazing powers and then Challengers defeats them and destroy whatever technology/magic was at the root of it.
So, mixed feelings. There were some fun moments reading this collection, but it didn't leave me wanting to read Volume 2.
August 16, 2011
Reprints Showcase #6-7, 11-12, and Challengers of the Unknown #1-17. Ace, Red, Rocky, and Prof defy death and set up to explore the mysteries of Earth. The Challengers of the Unknown combines a sci-fi, creature of the month type comic with aspects of super-hero comics. The stories are sometimes inspiring and other times are just repetative. They do have a classic comic feel to them, but don't come looking for a plot...the Challengers can beat any obstical.
June 22, 2008
Four guys in purple jumpsuits work together to protect the world from an enormous amount of aliens, giant monsters, natural disasters and mad scientists.
Lots of fun as Kirby is just telling lots of great pulpy sci-fi adventures.
Only complaint is that the early stories are not big on characterization, so in black and white it can be hard to tell the guys apart.
Lots of fun as Kirby is just telling lots of great pulpy sci-fi adventures.
Only complaint is that the early stories are not big on characterization, so in black and white it can be hard to tell the guys apart.
February 16, 2013
Pretty representative of the awful comics DC was putting out in the late 50s and early 60s.....except for Jack Kirby's always masterful art. He's in classic form here in the first half of the book until no nome hacks take over the stories. Ugh. Would have given it one star but Kirby made it go up one notch.
November 29, 2014
A collection of comic book tales that is excellent as long as Jack Kirby is involved, but loses some steps when he leaves for Marvel. The feature never really recovered, despite several attempts at revival.
Four daredevils that live on borrowed time, have all kinds of adventures, usually involving some form of magic or super-science, including extraterrestrials.
Four daredevils that live on borrowed time, have all kinds of adventures, usually involving some form of magic or super-science, including extraterrestrials.
October 5, 2015
This collection starts off fantastically. The issues that Jack Kirby was involved with are delightfully fun. Unfortunately once Kirby felt things went downhill fast; really fast and very far downhill.
February 7, 2013
Nothing will defeat the Challengers!!!
November 7, 2013
good adventure comics.
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