Challengers Pinup Page!

Along with collector cards, minifigs, virtual Challs, and more.

Who's Who Deja Vu
Who's Who in the DC Universe 1
1990

The guys get another write-up in the loose-leaf Who's Who as warm-up for their 1991 revival. They're classified as a "Hero Team" and credited to Jack Kirby.

The background, written by Jeph Loeb, is boilerplate. The only new information is that Red's "public life as a sportsman provided an excellent cover for his work for the CIA. Much of Red's life of espionage has long been classified: some is only now coming to light."

Mention is made of Prof's hunt for "an alternative energy source to help our polluted environment". That search will, in part, blow up Challenger Mountain II and cause Prof's "death".

The pinup by Tim Sale is uninspired. Four guys posed awkwardly before a mountain is exciting?

Who's Who Deja Vu Redux
Who's Who in the DC Universe 16
February 1992

Before the 1990s Who's Who had even finished, the guys got another writeup as "The NEW Challengers of the Unknown". Again by Jeph Loeb, the text recalls their rise and fall and separation. But "what they found out was they need to do what they do best: challenge the unknown." Reunited, "gone were the purple pajamas and Bruce Wayne good looks They were older, tougher, and read to tackle the meanest SOBs in the universe."

Rocky is now a "remarkably good battle planner." Ace is the "spiritual guide". Red is a weapons expert and a "walking time bomb" with a love/hate relationship with Rocky. Prof and June are cited as "alive" in a phantom-like dimension, so the team has "two spirits as members".

This pinup by Tim Sale is more inspired, since he's grasped the characters. The three heroes have a smoldering menace. Look out, DCU freaks and monsters!

Not Magic

Some gamers are creating their own Magic: The Gathering-style cards for Marvel and DC characters.

See the original and other cards.

Why do they think the Challs have an "affinity for artifacts"? What, they're packrats?

Swiped art by Mike Nasser from COTU 81.

These Microheroes are amazing. One group in France has drawn every comic character and all their variations you can think of - like 40+ versions of Wonder Woman. There are TV and movie and literature and other characters besides, hundreds of them! Click here to see more Micro-Challs.

Weird to see the guys all the same height, though. Just don't look natural. But check out June in the yellow-red uniform!

Where's Red, Ace, and Rocky?

Ambush Bug Nothing Special 1 (1992) sports a pin-up parody of "Where's Waldo?" called "Where's Irwin?" Most everyone in the DCU is here, including three Challengers.

So where's Ambush Bug? In the can. He missed the photo shoot.

Ace wears his long coat, Rocky his dumpy sweater, and Red his combat jacket. (Ye Webmaster had to color-correct their hair.) Where's Prof and June? Dead, for the moment.

Here's the comic ad and promo poster for the (painful) revival by Loeb and Sale.

You can never get too much of a good thing. Here's some bonus material that surfaced from DC: The New Frontier.

Joe Acevedo's Hero Machine Pinups

Joe Acevedo, Custom Action Figure Master, shows how Hero Machine software lets you design your own superheroes or customize others. Note how June's uniform is tailored for the female form yet sticks to the original design. Check out details at Joe's website. And thanks, Joe!

A collector of sketches kindly lent us this drawing of Ace by Rich Burchett. Rich works in both comics and animation, and has applied a Batman style. Wouldn't an animated Challengers be a great series? Ye Webmaster has colored it. The original sketch is here. The collector's home page is here.

My son Hunter and I used to read Challengers' comics together. Knowing how much I liked them, he sketched the pinup above. He was 7 or so at the time.

Ken Penders drew a poster for a Challs proposal in 1988. He added new elements, such as Prof's beard, and restored classics such as Red's eyepatch. My son colored this copy.

Ken's promised a new copy, or even better, more original art. We're waiting, Ken...

Here's a full-size profile page from Who's Who in the DC Universe.

Here's a nice casual pinup of the boys from COTU 62.

Here's a later profile page from
Silver Age: Secret Files & Origins.

Note it says that Challenger Mountain is actually inside the Devil's Tower in Wyoming. A cute idea, but unlikely.

Here's a splash page from The Golden Age 4.

It must have taken some planning to get all these Silver Age heroes in one room for the photo!

Super DC Giant S-25, the Challengers' only giant or annual, featured reprints of Jack Kirby stories and this nifty pinup by Bob Brown.

The Vigilante has created these Freedom Force skins. Here's June. See the others at this link.