Showcase 6: Challengers of the Unknown
The Great Credit Controversy

Despite numerous and varied efforts, no one is sure who did some jobs on the first Challengers story.  Here are some areas of contention.

Script: Dave Wood & Jack Kirby?

According to Joe Simon and Jack Kirby historians, Jack Kirby brought the proposal for the Challengers to DC. DC had a new title Showcase, and was looking for material.  DC bought the Challengers.  Yet the DC Archive Edition and Showcase Reprint Edition??? cite Dave Wood, a DC staff member, as the writer.

How could Dave Wood write SHOWCASE 6 when Jack Kirby brought it in the door as a finished product?  Did Jack bring just the art with some notes?  Did DC ask Dave Wood to flesh out the dialogue?  Did Wood rewrite Jack's dialogue?  Or did Jack toss Wood's script and write his own?  Whatever was written was handed to the letterer, but we don't know who he/she is.

"What's out there? Places we cannot see! Things we fear to touch! Sounds that do not belong to this world! Riddles of the ages lurking beyond a bridge without a name! Only men living on borrowed time would dare cross that bridge! Here are such men and the incredible adventure of The Secrets of the Sorcerer's Box!"

Pure Kirby, it matches the style Jack used for his later books such as THE NEW GODS, THE DEMON, FOREVER PEOPLE, and MISTER MIRACLE.  Certainly no one else at the time wrote like that.  So we're inclined to give the nod to Jack Kirby with maybe some input from Dave Wood.

Inks: Jack Kirby? With help from Roz Kirby?

There's no doubt Jack Kirby penciled the book.  But the ink job is up for grabs.

DC credits Marvin Stein for inking.  You'd think DC's Accounts Payable would get it right, since they have to pay royalties.  Yet, in an interview with Greg Theakston, Stein contends he never worked on any Challenger books.  (Unless he forgot, which is possible but unlikely.)

DC also credits Roz Kirby with some inking assist.  Again, in the JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR 17, Ken Penders presumes that, if Jack worked at home, Roz might have filled in black areas.  "Otherwise her contribution was minimal at best."

But if neither Roz Kirby nor Marvin Stein inked the book, who did?  Jack himself?

Editor: Jack Schiff

One thing we know for sure is the editor was Jack Schiff, because Jack Kirby recounted numerous times how he and Schiff fought like cats and dogs.  Exactly what prompted the fights is not clear.  The art?  The direction of the stories?  Deadlines?  Who knows?

All we know is, after Challengers of the Unknown 8, Jack Kirby quit and went to Marvel.  Where he created or co-created The Fantastic Four, the Incredible Hulk, the Uncanny X-Men, and many many more wicked cool characters.

DC's loss ­ and the Challengers' ­ was definitely Marvel's gain.  Fans of the Challs can't help dreaming about the magnificent heights the guys might have attained with Jack at the wheel.  As such - oh, well.

SHOWCASE PRESENTS CHALLENGERS OF THE UNKNOWN VOLUME ONE lists many writers as "Unknown", but at least the editors address the problem. A note at the bottom of the Table of Contents states:

Writers of the Unknown. During this period, Ed Herron and Arnold Drake shared the task of chronicling the adventures of the Challengers. But individual contribution is hard to ascertain. Until the 1970s it was not common practice in the comic book industry to credit all stories. In the preparation of this collection, we have used our best efforts to review any surviving records and consult any available databases and knowledgeable parties. We regret the innate limitations of this process and any missing or misassigned attribution that may occur. Any additional information on credits should be directed to: Editor, Collected Editions, C/O DC Comics.

Comments

The controversy of exactly who wrote what will likely continue forever. But many people are committed to challenging this unknown. Who knows what we might find?