Challengers Of The Unknown

Challengers of the Unknown is a group of fictional characters created by DC Comics. This quartet of adventurers explored science fictional and paranormal occurrences and faced fantastic menaces. The stories had weird menaces, fistfights, wild vehicles and gadgets, spectacular terrain, daring escapes, and a sense of humor. Elements of this series were later used to create The Fantastic Four which helped establish Marvel Comics as a major competitor in the comic book medium.

Comic books had a strong need for content in 1957. Due to factors including Fredric Wertham's book Seduction of the Innocent and Congressional hearings on the subject, superhero comics had mostly vanished from 1949 to the mid-1950s. The revival of the Flash was seen as marking the return of the superheroes to popularity a few months prior. A team of larger-than-life adventurers with echoes of a World War II infantry squad were a natural fit.

The inspiration for the Challengers' adventures was the drive-in movie fodder about skin divers, test pilots, acrobats, mountain climbers, boxers, and other adventurers. The group's name may have also derived from a 1950 Ace Magazines horror title, Challenge of the Unknown.

The Roster was Ace Morgan, Professor Haley, Rocky Davis and Red Ryan originally. All were rugged, stereotypical adventurer names of the era. They did not have super powers, only super enthusiasm for adventurer. Sort of like a cross between Indiana Jones and Mission Impossible. Ryan was killed and briefly replaced by his kid brother Marty, a pop singer who used the anagram ID of Tino Manarry. Red Ryan returned from the dead, Tino was written out and towards the end of the original series a woman with an occult background named Corinna Stark acted like a fifth member of the team.

The group debuted in Showcase #6 (Feb. 1957). The series continued in Showcase for three more appearances (#7, 11, and 12) then moved to its own title. The title ran for 87 issues, ending in 1978. Three more series followed in 1991, 1997 and lastly 2004.

Reading the series is like traveling back to the golden age of 1950's action-adventure science fiction. The inspirations for the series were the action movies that attracted teenage audiences of the era -- stories about adventurers -- test pilots, mountain climbers, skin divers.

If you enjoy adventures in exotic locales, check out this under-appreciated title. And, since it is unfairly under-appreciated, the prices are less than the headliner hero comics (like Superman and Batman) of the era.







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