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Challengers of the Unknown
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The story continues (from COTU V3 7) in the desert. Red crouches in shadows with a rock. Two mercenaries talk on the radio. "Tell Dr Carcosa the perimeter is secure." They're warned to keep searching and shoot first. "They're not local yokels. They're the Challengers of the Unknown!" Red does a backflip over the mercs' heads, pitching the rock the other way. Thus he gets behind them and enters a cave.  There are Ace, June, and Prof in purple uniforms, and Rocky and Marlon in civvies. They're stuck for a while. Marlon won't sit still: they killed his partners. Ace counters, "Challengers have a habit of dodging death." Marlon argues he didn't like death the first time. |
Marlon recounts the origin of the B Team Challs. Eighteen months ago, he was co-pilot on a commercial flight. A brilliant light erupted. Then pure black. Marlon awoke in a crashed plane on the ground. Hunting, he found only death. But three more survived: the new Challs. (The anti-Challenger Saxon also survived, but it's not clear if Marlon knows that.) Then a second light filled the sky. "Different from the first, intense beyond measure, yet we could see perfectly." All the dead rose from their seats and floated into the sky. Marlon swore it had to be "the Rapture, the ascension of the blessed into Heaven". And Marlon wondered why he was left behind. He awoke with EMTs assisting him. The four survivors were pried from the plane. Who sent the SOS? Who knows? The four didn't discuss it for six months. Ace interrupts. Has Rocky told them? No, he's kept it a secret. They all have. That - as Red recounts the ORIGINAL origin - the Challs ALSO saw a light when the controls locked up and they crashed. Even June never knew about "the light", and the Challs never brought it up. Marlon wonders why they are chosen? Red doesn't recommend "wearing robes and calling myself Moses yet, but don't jump to conclusions and never be surprised." After all, Rocky thought his friends were dead. Rocky: I SAW you die. No, nor did June and Prof die in the explosion of Challenger Mountain. Instead, they were hurled into another dimension. |
Now June objects: that didn't happen! Red goes on. When the mountain blew up, Prof and June were buried in rubble. The press vilified the Challs. The team broke up. Ace turned to mysticism. Red went... wild. Rocky finished his education and led the team - right into a pocket of Hell where they met the ghosts of Prof and June and defeated a demon. June's turn: Nope, didn't happen. Prof was experimenting with electromagnetic fields. Forces - explosion, geothermic, whatever - opened a freak space warp. Prof and June (in yellow-red uniforms) landed on another planet!  They were treated well by the green scaley aliens, even given clothes (purple uniforms) but "frankly we never expected to see home again". |
Until yesterday, when a "wave" hit them. They popped into a "secured area" on Earth, at a secret facility presided by a Doctor No look-alike. THIS, finally, is the villainous Dr Carcosa, the man whose experiments junp-started the Challengers of the Unknown, though they've never known it. Dr Caracoas recognizes the Challengers and orders them killed and buried in the desert.  Even disoriented, Prof and June can clobber the guards. Prof notes the equipment is all government issue. "And we need backup!" |
Red takes over. It wasn't "yesterday", it was FIVE YEARS ago! Red, Rocky, and Ace had "finished with breakdowns and were trying to bring things back to normal", when they receive a signal. (No clue where this new headquarters is.) The Challs come running at the signal. "We're the only ones who use it, so who?.."  Prof. |
(Coloring note: The poor colorist is confused. Relying on old issues, who wouldn't be? The proper hair colors for the Challs new 'dos should be this.  Hair continuity - and two artists' interpretations - present more problems, but let's iron them out. Squint and you'll see that Red was already letting his crewcut grow out to shaggy curls. And assume it took a while to pinpoint Prof's exact position. Ace used the opportunity to cut off his ponytail and revert to a crewcut so as not to shock Prof and June.) (For full details on the jet disappearances, see the Challengers of the Crashes page.) |
Story time's over. Back to business. Prof found an air duct. The party heads down tunnels. Prof notes, "This is the first adventure we've all had together in six years. It'd be nice if they could live long enough to enjoy it." The bad guy, Doctor Carcosa, is alerted of intruders. He orders the Challs found and killed. Crawling into the main facility, Prof finds "Tesla field generators".  Nikola Tesla was a visionary or madman. In 1888, he invented alternating current, then turned to broadcast power - Oops. |
More mercs get the drop on them, ready to shoot. But they all crumble to gunfire. It's Saxon, who tailed them and slipped in the back. Saxon, Marlon explains, is a cold-blooded killer.  Saxon admits that. But everyone wants this place reduced to rubble. So do we do this, or what? |
Everyone meets everyone in "Last Days, Part 3!" |
Comment The three-issue story recounts flashback after flashback all out of order, so the sequence can be confusing. For a linear explanation, see The Complete History of the Challs. |
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