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June - July 1962 |
“How
would you like to be king for a day?” Prof’s about to find out,
when “Death Crowns the Challenger King”. There he is, trying to
bat fireballs with a sword – and magic powers that don’t work. So
we add betrayal and intrigue to the mix. A roaring start! “High about the Earth” (with no
other geographic detail), Prof and Red get a “sick engine” and have to
land their plane. Right where there “seems to be a city hidden
between those mountains”. How coincidental. They radio Ace and Rocky for spare
parts. “We’re on our way.” And sit tight. And
receive a visitor, who looks like a Mongol. And for once is
friendly. “Peace unto you, strangers! Welcome to – by the
great Juba!” They must see the king immediately! |
“Great suns!” They meet the
king and, “He looks like your twin brother, Prof!” (This despite
the king is Asian and Prof Caucasian.) Even more coincidental,
today is Coronation Day where, by tradition, “each king must brave the
perils of Bewitched Valley”. Prof ruminates, “Sounds pretty
dangerous.” (Duh.) Why take the risk? |
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Because they’re isn’t any risk –
sort of. The king drinks an “ancient magic liquid” from a flask
and gains “super powers to overcome the dangers”. However, wicked
men plot against the king and might “use the hazards of Bewitched
Valley as a cover for assassination”. Kings never really have it
easy. Minister Ulsing has long searched
for a replacement to help trap the conspirators, and here’s Prof.
King Moyata would rather face the dangers himself, but the risk to the
nation is too great. (Like, you couldn’t find another guy to be
king?) Prof argues he’s living on borrowed time, and “danger is
our business”. So drinks the potion to get started. Soon Prof is dressed as the king,
and Red is disguised as a local. A “loyal servant” (Ha!) named
Kidamina hangs the ceremonial robe on Prof, and he’s ready to enter the
valley to the cheers of his subjects. Bewitched Valley is no fake.
It’s got odd trees and weird floating blossoms. |
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Soon Prof must
cross The River of Death. The potion will give him power to float
over it. Watery hands rise to grab him, he leaps to fly and –
nothing happens! He’s pulled into the water to drown. The
ballon-like blossoms are his only chance. Drawing his sword, Prof
slashes loose some giant blossoms and uses them as floats to paddle
across. (Ah, the beauty of Silver Age comics. Water hands
and giant flowers, and no explanation. Love it!) Prof wins the “final tug-of-war” by
grabbing a branch and wrenching free of the watery hands. He
hopes the failure of the potion was an accident. (Surrrrre, it
was.) |
Meanwhile, Red finds, “Man, this town is worse than New Orleans at Mardi Gras time!” He spots “loyal servant” Kidamina
slipping a note to a beggar. “Why would a member of the royal
court do that?” Red humps the beggar and steals the note.
Which craftily announces, “The impostor has entered Bewitched Valley
wearing the cape which shall doom him!” Red accosts the traitor,
who confesses. The cape was dipped in a secret solution devised
by an ancient wise man to deny the super powers. But why destroy
an impostor? The villains have been busy.
“The people will believe the king died in the valley”. And the
real king is already a prisoner and will be killed. Red takes
charge. “Wearing that cape, Prof is a gone goose!” |
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Ace and Rocky finally arrive, after
“scouring the countryside for you. . .” Red interrupts, “We’ve
got to get your ship off the ground – double pronto!” While directly above, Red bails from the Challs’ jet. Prof dodges
fireballs wildly until Red drops within shouting distance.
“Prof! Throw off the cape!” Sure enough, the fireballs soar
upward and explode harmlessly. |
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But elsewhere, Ace and Rocky “have
their hands full”. They stand outside a castle where Kidamina and
his thugs hole up. The drawbridge is up, but some “explosive
pellets” shatter the chains and drop the bridge. Out in the courtyard, they see a
Giant Caripa, a sort-of yellow toad with red spots. Even magic
powers won’t stop such a beast, which are currently tame, but might
revert to a “killer-beast” in the valley . (Whew!) The
villains load it onto a catapult and fire the beast toward the
valley. BOING! (One tough beast!) |
Ace, Rocky, and the King rush to
the valley. But the first obstacle is a chasm lined with
“Metallic trees! Like a forest of ten thousand spears!” But
the King – who’s dressed like Prof and also has a non-jamming cape -
has also drunk magic potion. The Challs hold his robe as he
simply flies over the chasm. Rocky gushes, “Zowee! I’ve
heard of flying carpets, but this beats all!” Some distance ahead, Red and Prof
are almost out of Bewitched Valley – when they meet the ravenous Caripa
beast! “Strategic retreat! Let’s pull back, Red, and double
time!” The oncoming beast smashes a
boulder underfoot. Red shoots, but it’s “got a hide like a petrified
rhino!” Prof worries, “I’m – I’m afraid we’ve had it!” |
But a voice calls, “Har!
Har! Look this way, you two-ton nightmare!” Red
laughs. “Here come the Marines!” Ace has a sack and pegs
“monster food from the dungeons” at the critter. “But don’t ask
me what to do when we’ve used it all up!” So they dash into the
woods. The whole point of being a
Challenger is to tackle the unknown and think on your feet to
survive. Here Ace has made a fatal miscalculation. “I
thought that hulk was too big to get through the woods! But it’s
clearing a path like a bulldozer!” The Challs use a familiar
tactic: they run like rabbits!
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But there’s always another way. Hanging in a tree are watermelon-like fruit buzzing with wasps. Ace orders, “Rocky – grab those melons and start heaving!” Rocky isn’t sure. “If bullets couldn’t stop it, how do you expect to slow it down with fruit?” SQUASH! SPLAT! The juicy fruit attracts the wasps and stings the beast. But that won’t last long either. The monster lumbers toward our heroes. Rocky says, “It looks like our master plan hit a snag, Ace!” Then the creature collapses. “What made the beast cave in?” Sleeping pills. They loaded the food with pellets. (So the Challs keep sleeping pills in their first aid kits?) The new king thanks his new
friends. Prof laughs, “You did your share, Your Highness!
Now I know what it’s like to wear a crown. . . And you know what
it’s like to be a Challenger!” |
"The Secret of the Space Spectaculars" |
“Space pods, secreted on Earth,
burst open, spawning three separate threats against civilization. .
. And a triple danger to the gallant Challengers of the
Unknown! For their very lives were in the hands of a mysterious
stranger – the man who possessed. . . The Secret of the Space
Spectaculars!” (Gallant. Oh, my, yes.) The Challengers, including June,
are on “furlough” heading for a vacation, when they spot a “brilliance.
. . too bright to be a forest fire!” Winging low, they see “figures
composed of lightning bolts running wild” and chasing a stranger.
This menace is “up Prof’s alley”. He suggests they use the
harpoon guns they brought for their vacation. (What the heck were
they planning to shoot?) They cut the lines off the harpoons,
lean from the canopy, and shoot. The metal harpoons ground the
figures so they can rescue the injured man. |
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June tends the stranger’s
electrical burn. Dressed as a magician, he’s Kandu with a one-man
“Space Spectacles Show” touring the country. The figures were
electrical robots under test, but the controls jammed. He gives
the Challs tickets to his “Space Magic” show. The next night, the Challs watch
Kandu walk on a light beam. Then he demonstrates “space
steel”. Just by standing on the platform, he waves and lifts a
section of the audience. How? But June has opera glasses
and chirps, “Good grief! Tell me I’m not dreaming!” “Impossible!” There’s no
wound on his arm! Prof wonders... |
The Challs “knock off the
chatter” and “stay on his heels” and follow Kandu to the
mountains. He sets up more strange equipment and – RUMBLE RUMBLE! An
earthquake? No, the machine made a giant egg hatch. A
“monstrous bird-beast” hatches. (Which makes this the second time
the Challs have met a roc.) The roc swoops over the land.
Beams from its eyes petrify trees and knock Kandu flat. Red Ryan
acts, yanking off his shirt and JUMPING on the passing roc to blind it
with his shirt. Until the shirt petrifies and he gets flipped
off. He flops in a treetop. “Oof! I sure goofed that
one up!” |
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Maybe not. The rough shirt
injured the bird’s eyes. It’s half-blind. Ace runs down the
slope to the edge of the canyon and begins yelling. “C’mon,
birdie, we’re down here. . .” Echoes bounce off the walls.
The roc flies at the source and – CRASH! “Scratch one monster
bird!” June runs to Kandu to revive him – and pulls off a mask. It’s an orange “space being!” True, but he’s not hostile.
He’s an interplanetary cop. His mission is to find some “space
pods” planted by alien criminals seen in a flashback. (You know
they’re criminals because they wear guns and an eyepatch.) They
knew the sun’s rays and Earth’s water would force them underground and
sap their strength, so planted pods to change the Earth’s
environment! They then departed, to return when the pod-beasts
had hatched and changed the landscape. |
Kandu doesn’t know where the pods
are hidden, so assumed a human magician’s role to search. Prof
reckons the pods are in the vicinity, so the boys get cracking. Kandu explains the criminals have a
device to control the monsters. The Bird-Beast would protect the
criminals from interference. The Builder-Beast would burrow
underground and create great caverns to live in. And the
Aqua-Beast would absorb Earth’s water. When they hatch –
disaster! Ace takes charge. Prof and Red will sweep north
of the city. Rocky, June, and Ace will search the wilderness to
the south. Using an alien-sweeper, the Challs
search, when a radio broadcasts an alien is robbing the city. Is
it Kandu? Did he lie, and is actually a space criminal himself? The Challs’ copter whirls over the
city. A spinning top-car has shattered a window and sucks up
jewelry. Ace offers to “drop down and pay our respects!”
But the top-car burrows into the street. Flying cement shards
trash the copter. The Challs and June spill out. (No seat
belts?) |
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The startled Challengers reappear inside a steel box with Red and
Prof. Kandu lets them out. “Something terrible has
happened!” No kidding. The Challs accuse
him of being a criminal. No, it’s more complicated than
that. (It always is.) A photo shows a human criminal stole
the machine and posed as Kandu the alien. (Who had posed as a
human...) Kandu was framed! |
Hours later, Kandu’s alien-detector
picks up a pod signal. Too late! “We have a battle on our
hands!” The Burrower-Beast is drilling into a mountain while the
Aqua-Beast lumbers toward a lake. Kandu offers a ray rifle to
shoot the Burrower, but you have to hit it on the beak. And –
RUMBLE RUMBLE! |
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The rising Burrower dumps the truck
of space weapons. And attacks. The ray rifle is out of
reach. Ace pitches a rock and hits the trigger. It nails
the Burrower right on the nose. It’s dead (off-screen). But they’ve attracted the
Aqua-Beast! And are trapped in a blind canyon! (As seen on
the cover.) They can only duck the steam blasts for a
while. They hope Red and Rocky show up. Elsewhere, the Challs’ jet and
Kandu’s locator have found the thief and top-car and
platform-thing. A low dive and Kandu’s “space magnet” snatches
the platform-thing. They soar away to find their fellows.
Swooping low, they shoot a beam from the platform and flatten the
Aqua-Beast. So everyone is saved. The
Challs can go back and catch the human thief. And Kandu can
return to his planet. Ace adds, “With our everlasting gratitude
for your mission!” Kandu counters, “My thanks to you! I never
would have succeeded without the aid of the Challengers!” |
Comments OK,
the first story is a THE PRISONER OF ZENDA knockoff. Pretty
common. Edgar Rice Burroughs did it in THE MAD KING and Mark
Twain wrote THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER. But I always wonder why
the hero always looks like the king and not, say, the village baker. And it’s awfully sloppy writing, even for kids. The writer could
have, for instance, had the king see Prof’s picture in a magazine, and
suspect treachery, so ask the Challengers for help. Same result
with more realism. But what the heck. Space Spectaculars – phooey! What a mess of
a story. Still, it’s got aliens and beasts and weapons and
double-triple-crosses, sort of, so would make kids happy. |
And the weirdness continues in “Today’s Most ~Electrifying~
Magazines!” Aliens, strange beasts, spacemen, cavemen – they’re all
available if you’ve got 12 cents. |
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This ad ran on the inside back cover for a long time. It’s funny
nowadays, with comics in “a spandex ghetto” to remember how companies
put out a variety of titles, including funny celebrities like BOB HOPE
and JERRY LEWIS (“America’s Funniest Comic Magazine”), funny animals
like FOX AND CROW, and even goofy babies. Funny too, though Marvel
fans never admit it, that LOIS LANE and JIMMY OLSEN outsold SPIDER-MAN
and FANTASTIC FOUR by like four to one. Any book with Superman on the
cover was like printing money. |
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The
superheroes were ganging up on the non-supers, as The Atom gets his own
magazine. Funny that the Plant-Man thinks he can conquer the
world once The Atom is defeated. And the rest of the Justice
League would let him? |
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And
here’s a weird product – Junket. You could collect “baseball coins”
(made of what?) of stars like Roger Maris by collecting Salada Tea and
Junket packages. Junket, according to Wikipedia, is a “rennet-based
curdled milk product. . . like a loose pudding.” Yum. Even better,
rennet is the lining of a calf’s stomach dipped in to curdle the milk.
What a strange world was 1962. |
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