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January - February 1957 |
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"The paths of destiny often merge in strange places. This story begins with the radio program HEROES!" |
Four heroic women have just narrated "their thrilling exploits from their own lips".  The announcer - in a white tux to host a radio show! - promises, "Next week, we have four big surprises for you! Four men - all famous in their own fields! At this moment, they are being flown to this city in a plane piloted by the jet ace who is to appear with them." (Wait a minute The heroes are being flown in NOW for a radio show next week? What are they supposed to do for six days? Though there are four women on the set.) |
"Meanwhile, in the dark heavens" rain pounds the plane. Ace, "the man who shot down nineteen of the enemy in the Korean fighting," snaps off the radio. Someone rags, "Hey, jet jockey! Don't cut him off! I want to hear how great you are!" Ace replies, "You'll find out, pal! If I get us through this storm!" |
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Suddenly, the controls jam! "The plane goes into a dizzying stall - and plummets earthward!" The passengers are tossed like ping-pong balls. Rocky yells, "What happened?" Ace fights the controls. "We can't make it! We're going to hit!" |
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"The plane screams down from the skies and plows a terrible path through the trees of the forest below." The night grows still. "No sign of life." Then, "One by one, the men crawl from the shadows of the wreck - miraculously alive!" (That won't be the last time we hear of miracles.) The military officer notes, "Looks like everyone is present and accounted for - and alive to boot!" |
Rocky is stunned. "Great Scott! What a mess! Did we walk away from that?"  |
Red looks at his pocket watch. "We should be dead - but we're not! My watch should be smashed - yet it's unharmed, keeping time!" "Borrowed time, Red!" says Ace. "We're living on borrowed time!" Prof is in awe of himself. "Somehow I feel it too! And I'm not scared - in fact, I might enjoy taking a few more risks!" Ace nods. "No reason why we can't do it together - challenge the unknown! We've faced it just now and lived!" Rocky throws in his two cents. "Win or lose - it sounds great to me! Count me in!" |
(Another way to inject mystery is to retrofit the mysterious white light. For extended details of the crash, see Challengers of the Crashes.) |
"Under these strange circumstances, the most unique organization on Earth is born." (Organization? What, did they incorporate?) "One daring exploit follows another in succeeding months. The headlines blare the name - Challengers of the Unknown!" Ace Morgan Flies 2500 MPH, Breaks All Records. Daredevil defies unknown and wins. Prof Haley Goes Deeper Yet. Famous skin diver tests experimental suit under water. |
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In the News-Eagle, New Serum Proves Non-Fatal to Red Ryan! Given 100 to 1 chance - he lives! 'I'm living on borrowed time anyway,' says Red." Rocky Davis in Amazing Rescue. Saves exploring party in unmapped jungle. Faces unknown dangers and brings 'em back alive! (And what will "Bring 'Em Back Alive" Frank Buck, great white hunter, say about that?") (Note it's months from their crash to their first recorded adventures. Must be a lot of good stories buried there.) |
Later, in their established headquarters (where we see exactly one globe and nothing else).  Comes a letter from, "A man with a strange name - and a stranger offer. How'd you like to earn a million dollars, men?" (Notice how everyone wears suits and ties, even hanging around the house? Casual wear only came into existence after WWII, but was still slow to catch on in some media.) Prof reads. "He says it's a job for men who fear neither devil nor death!" Ace laughs, "Sounds like it's right up our alley." Red throws in, "Let's take the guy's dare!" His name is a corker - Morelian! |
Over a remote, wooded area in Northern Canada, the Challs spot an airstrip and a mysterious figure.  The mysterious Morelian chuckles, "Welcome, my reckless guinea pigs!" |
The "four daredevils are startled" by their awesome host. (How many wizards do you meet in Canada?) Morelian notes, "I see you gentlemen are dressed for action! You shall have more than your share, I assure you!" (And right here, be assured none of the Challengers are married. Only men could pick out purple shirts and gray trousers as a uniform.) |
On horseback, the Challs seem to ride "back into the Middle Ages!" Morelian had a castle transported "stone by stone" from Europe. At a lavish banquet, the host notes he paid them a million dollars to take the job. He'll give them a million more if they succeed. "We'll take our agreed percentage. The rest will go to worthy charities." (So the Challengers are, in fact, sometimes heroes-for-hire from the get-go. They'd have to pick up spare change somewhere, if only to buy jet fuel.) |
"Now the time has come for you to face the powers of darkness, gentlemen!" coos Morelian. "In the shadows of this great hall, I can feel the presence of my ancestors watching - daring us to tamper with the force created by them in the legendary past!" Prof scoffs. "This sounds like the old mumbo jumbo about hexes, poxes, and flying broomsticks!" Exactly. "Witchcraft! Black magic!... As a descendant of the great Merlin, I practice sorcery!" |
A wave of hands, an explosion of smoke -  |
- And the Challengers are transported to a dungeon! The guys look boggled, but Ace plays it cool. "I don't know what gimmick you used, Morelian, but what comes next?" "This ancient box - constructed in an age long forgotten. For reasons of my own, I want it opened - by you!" |
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Four chambers? What's in them? "Who knows, gentlemen? Like Pandora - you must open the box. The risk is yours!" "Like playing Russian Roulette with a loaded atom bomb!" notes Ace. Morelian grins. "Take any precautions you see fit! And if you come out of this alive, you will have witnessed things not see on this Earth since the dawn of man!" |
(Note how Kirby(?) builds suspense. We're riding a wave of black magic dating back to "ages long forgotten". We've got a box of magical dynamite to crack - with hints of horrors and wonders to come. Note the hieroglyphs on the wall, and the sinister face on the box, as if it's alive. We get terror with a delicious thrill. A solid dose of curiosity lures us on. Damn the consequences. We've GOT to open that box!) |
(Note too the problems with old comic books. The registration is off on this and other pages. Four-color comics were printed with magenta, cyan (blue), and yellow. Black was the fourth color. You had to run the pages through the presses three times to print the three primary colors. The mix of primaries - printed as little dots - gave you various colors. A little blue over lots of yellow gave you green. Since it was easiest to print primaries, many heroes wore red, yellow, and blue like Superman. "Registration" was lining up the color films with the pictures. In this case, the registration missed. The purple for the jerseys rides up past the shoulders. Hair color rises off heads. Oh, well, they were only comic books, meant to be read and thrown away. If you want perfection, buy the recolored Archive editions.) |
Wave your hands and blast into Chapter 2! |
Comments A four-page origin (three, really), a pile of headlines, then our heroes are off on a mind-bending death-defying adventure. And here's some of the fluff found on the way. |
From the inside front cover, a BB machine gun. Now you can put your brother's eye out faster than ever! For only $1.00!  |
Almost every DC comic included a cartoon. Casey the Cop, Super-Turtle, Doctor Rocket, Varsity Vic, Moolah the Mystic, Shorty and others were regulars.  They were drawn by Murray Boltinoff, an editor at DC, and fondly remembered by many. |
Comics had just been raked over the coals by Dr. Frederic Wertham and Congress, and comic companies bent over backwards to show comics were innocent entertainment AND educational. Hence the large number of educational inserts that tied into the title. Westerns had pages about real Cowboys and Indians, romance comics pages of dating tips, and so on.  "Whistle Magic" is typical for Challengers mags, evoking spooky superstition but no horrific images. |
Wildroot Cream-Oil was a common ad in comics, even though kids didn't use hair oil. A rarely-mentioned fact was that lots of reading-impaired guys in the military read the comic - and they had to keep their hair looking nice. Which, in those days, meant greasy.  The cartoon caption says, "Says he'll walk down. Wildroot Cream-Oil gives him confidence!" |