The Challengers of the Unknown were created by Jack Kirby in 1957 and continued as a series until 1970. Since its cancellation their stories have only been published intermittently. This year, however, they’ve made three bids for the public’s attention: Darwyn Cooke’s wonderful DC: New Frontier, Howard Chaykin’s awful limited series, which was called Challengers of the Unknown, but had absolutely nothing to do with the original Challengers, and now this reprinting of Loeb and Sale’s eight part limited series from 1991.
Before going any further, I want to confess to liking the original Challenger concept: four adventurers, living on borrowed time, saving the world from their mountain base. They have been considered a dry run for the Fantastic Four — minus the superpowers — and it is easy to see the conceptual influence that this DC series had on the later Marvel series. (For those still keeping score in the Kirby versus Lee debate, Kirby was the sole creator of this series). I would like to see a revival of the original Challengers. Updated, sure, but I think their original premise has a lot of potential and I don’t know why new writers feel the need to move as far away from it as they can.
The most noteworthy thing about Challengers of the Unknown Must Die! is that it was the first teaming of Loeb and Sale, and I understand, the first work either did for DC. The story is entertaining with a strong, humorous vein. But it picks up from Kirby’s idea and starts running from it as fast as it can. The town at the foot of Challenger Mountain, Challengerville, is a Challenger theme park and merchandising Mecca. The tabloid Tattertale is to the Challengers what the Daily Planet is to Superman. It sends reporter Harold Moffat to find something to promote some public interest in the team. He arrives in time to see the mountain explode. The three survivors are tried and then move on with their individual lives. I’ve read that Loeb was a big Marvel fan before his start at DC and you can see it. One Challenger transforms into a Dr. Strange clone and a female lead uses MJ’s famous line. Another becomes an alcoholic and the third a psychotic killer. Throughout I kept asking myself why he felt these changes were necessary. Also, the light handling of the huge number of civilians killed by the explosion really dates the story. In a post 9-11 world a litigious mob doesn’t seem enough.
The production values also seem a little dated. True, DC is publishing this trade using the best quality printing standards, etc, of today, but the pages are still anchored in the technology of 1991. As much as we all complain about the ever rising prices, there really has been a print revolution in comics. If Sale’s work here could be re-done with today’s tools it would be really fantastic. Not that it isn’t. In the introduction Bendis writes of coveting Sale’s design ideas and it is easy to see this is not hyperbole. On every page he seems to stretch things as far as he can.
So, don’t confuse my disappointment at the choice of storyline with a dismissal of the book. It’s a little dated, but fun. There is nothing wrong with just be entertaining. Its only lasting significance, though, is in bringing Loeb and Sale together.
