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June - July 1963 |
Volcano Men were created by a machine (in COTU 28), so you can have as many as you like. Plus they split into two when needed. Volcano Men threaten an island. The Challs disagree on a plan of attack. Ace favors liquid oxygen. Prof wants CO2 foam under higher pressure. The two almost come to blows, then march off in huffs. But secretly they fear the other will get killed with his bad plan. They reach the island as one volcano man climbs out of a volcano. But there's another on the other side of the island! If they merge, they'll be unbeatable. Prof attacks one with a crash suit and foam, but fails.  |
Red tries leading VM into the ocean, but he just boils water to steam. Ace tries LOX, but no dice. Rocky grabs the extinguisher to rush the monster. The other Challs tackle him.  Ace says, "If it makes you feel better, it took three of us to bring you down." |
Finally they work together. Ace's LOX acts as a screen so Prof can smother VM with foam, which works. With his / its oxygen cut off, VM crumbles to lava bits.  Ace reflects, "I hope we all learned something." Rocky jokes, yeah. He better go back to training if he's going to take all three Challs at once! |
"Cosmo Turns Traitor" |
The Challs are chasing Mastermind, "cunning new lord of the underworld", but he looks less like a criminal and more like a beatnik with shades, goatee, shaggy hair, and a black suit. Going too fast, Mastermind's car sails off a mountain, but then sprouts wings, becomes a futuristic flying car, and escapes. How?  |
An alien, D'Jann, saw them and saved their lives. He shot their car with a "substance converter" gun. (Okay, I'll believe in aliens in Colorado any day. But a windmill?) D'Jann seeks his pet, J'Suna (Cosmo). Mastermind convinces the alien they are good guys and the Challs are criminals.  |
Meanwhile, Cosmo helps the Challs track the villains. Fooled by Mastermind, D'Jann converts the car into a giant bow and a tree into a giant arrow, and fires at the Challs. Cosmo disintegrates the threat. As the Challs close on the windmill, giant boulders get converted into giant marbles, and come a'tumbling down. Cosmo diverts them with a wave of his paw.  Cosmo from an earlier cover. But Cosmo's sniffing up a storm and acting weird. He dashes away from the Challs to the alien, who's actually his old master come to look for him! Deserted by Cosmo, the Challs are captured by a falling cage. (How'd they survive all those other adventures without Cosmo?) |
Mastermind zaps the Challs with the transformer.  |
Rocky becomes a flame-man, Prof a cloud-man, Red a wind-man, and Ace a two-dimensional man. Locked up, they're a danger to each other. Red's wind blows flat Ace towards Rocky's flame. But Prof, floating overhead, thinks fast. He rains on them both, temporarily dousing Rocky and giving Ace weight. Then, a plan. Red's wind fans Rocky as hot as an acetylene torch, and he burns through the bars - then the roof beams. They're free. Cosmo got clunked by a falling beam and looks dead. D'Jann looks outraged. As Cosmo recovers, he orders the critter to hurl the Challengers to destruction over a cliff. But it's a ruse, and D'Jann grabs the converting gun. J'Suna / Cosmo told him everything. The Challs flatten Mastermind's gang. Then prepare to say goodbye to Cosmo. But D'Jann insists the Cosmo's powers are needed here on Earth. And Cosmo says goodbye with "Squnk squnk-squnk". |
Comments Not the greatest issue ever. Despite the ominous title, Volcano Man stories are always boring. No exception here. This story was reprinted in Brave and the Bold 98. And Cosmo almost seems more trouble than he's worth. One wonders if the Challs didn't say, "Gee, the little guy really belongs with YOU." Read more speculation in Cosmo's Biography. |
This house ad appeared in Tales of theUnexpected. The mishmash is interesting: comedy (Bob Hope), new superhero adventure (Atom with Hawkman), and old space-superhero adventure (Batman on an alien planet). Shows how DC was hung between old and new for a while.  |