Challengers Of The Unknown 1958 2

ÒThe Monster Maker.Ó Ace fights a criminal who uses a mind-over-matter machine. ÒThe Traitorous Challenger.Ó June Robbins sees a computer that predicts that the Challengers will die if they battle an atomic creature.

Jack Kirby reinvented the superhero genre with his sprawling saga of the Fourth World—a bold storytelling vision that was decades ahead of its time. In honor of this extraordinary talent’s centennial, DC Comics is proud to re-present the groundbreaking work of the King of Comics in a brand-new series collecting his classic DC titles in all their four-color glory! After walking away from a seemingly un-survivable plane crash, test pilot Ace Morgan, mountain climber Red Ryan, heavyweight boxing champ Rocky Davis and underwater explorer Prof Haley make a pact to continue defying death and seeking out mystery around the world. Their motto is “Dare Anything,” and their assignments are the most unusual and incredible tasks ever encountered! There is no danger that they fear, or risk that they will not accept! They call themselves…the Challengers of the Unknown! Discover some of comics’ most daring writing and dynamic art—and thrill to the imaginative power of one of the medium’s greatest masters—in CHALLENGERS OF THE UNKNOWN BY JACK KIRBY, collecting all of the King’s stories from SHOWCASE #6-7 and 11-12 and CHALLENGERS OF THE UNKNOWN #1-8, accompanied by illuminating essays from former DC editor Paul Kupperberg and acclaimed Kirby historian John Morrow.

Four years before Jack Kirby and Stan Lee created Marvel's Fantastic Four, there was another adventurous foursome co-created by Kirby that set forth to challenge the unknown.

ÒTHE CREATURE FROM THE END OF TIME!Ó A giant box appears in Toronto, and the Challengers, accompanied by Swamp Thing and Deadman, investigate. When Deadman tries to enter the box, it opens and releases a monster. After they kill the monster, the Challengers haul the box and carcass to Challengers Mountain, where tests indicate the box is from the future. The heroes fly to Rip HunterÕs desert lab, which appears abandoned. Swamp Thing pushes a button and RipÕs Time Sphere appears with a skeleton inside. They use the time sphere to travel to 12,000,000 AD. Amidst crumbling ruins, they are surrounded by future-men and Rip Hunter in rags and a crown.

ÒSEVEN DOORWAYS TO DESTINY!Ó The cultists have June as a hostage. The Challengers get beaten down by cultists, some half-monster. Monroe explains how MÕNagala came from the stars, as recounted in SWAMP THING #8. He demands Rocky and Ace fly to England and perform an incantation from a mystical book and bring MÕNagalaÕs ÒfamilyÓ to Earth. They go, reluctantly. At Challengers Mountain, Clayburne (the wannabe Challenger) uses the computer to analyze ProfÕs infection. It recommends Dr. Alec Holland as an expert in Òbiochemical abnormalities.Ó Clayburne flies to Oregon, where Holland teaches, and he agrees to help. Outside London, Rocky chants at midnight in a pentacle, while Ace fetches a pack of jet fuel. MÕNagala-kin try to burst through a portal, all icky tentacles and squishy guts, but Ace chucks the fuel pod Òjust like JawsÓ and shoots, destroying the monster and shutting the portal. Clayburne and Holland land in Perdition, but in the dark, Holland starts to revert to Swamp Thing as his bio-restorative formula wears off. They find Prof half-consumed by icky polyps.

Major Sky Masters leads American space exploration.

Conventional wisdom holds that comic books of the post-World War II era are poorly drawn and poorly written publications, notable only for the furor they raised. Contributors to this thoughtful collection, however, demonstrate that these comics constitute complex cultural documents that create a dialogue between mainstream values and alternative beliefs that question or complicate the grand narratives of the era. Close analysis of individual titles, including EC comics, Superman, romance comics, and other, more obscure works, reveals the ways Cold War culture--from atomic anxieties and the nuclear family to communist hysteria and social inequalities--manifests itself in the comic books of the era. By illuminating the complexities of mid-century graphic novels, this study demonstrates that postwar popular culture was far from monolithic in its representation of American values and beliefs.

"Originally published in single magazine form in Secret Origins, 80 Page Giant 8 (more Secret Origins), Even More Secret Origins and Weird Secret Origins."