Challengers of the Unknown Archives, Vol. 1

Challengers of the Unknown (1958) #1-2

by Jack Kirby, Dave Wood, Roz Kirby (Illustrator)

CHALLENGERS OF THE UNKNOWN ARCHIVES VOL. 1 reprints the original 1950s tales of four death defying adventurers and their impossible and unimaginable exploits. After surviving the crash of a small aircraft, test pilot Ace Morgan, daredevil Red Ryan, heavyweight boxing champ Rocky Davis, and marine scientist Professor Haley unite themselves in a mission to explore the unexplainable for the good of mankind. This beautiful hardcover edition tells the earliest adventurers of these four men of different backgrounds and personalities as they encounter powerful aliens, deadly robots, and creatures of unknown origins.

Genres: Comics, Science Fiction, Comic Book, Graphic Novels, Graphic Novels Comics, Comix

168 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 2003

About the author

Jack Kirby (born Jacob Kurtzberg) was one of the most influential, recognizable, and prolific artists in American comic books, and the co-creator of such enduring characters and popular culture icons as the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, the Hulk, Captain America, and hundreds of others stretching back to the earliest days of the medium. He was also a comic book writer and editor. His most common nickname is "The King."

Reviews

[Little Timmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had always thought if my high school buddies and I were some sort of super team we would have been something like the Challengers of the Unknown. Great collection of this Silver Age series. Recommended

[Dominick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Widely regarded as a precursor to the Fantastic Four (Prof, especially, seems a sort of proto-Reed Richards), the Challengers are a far less interesting quartet. Their absurd origin is that when they all survive a near-death experience, they decide, since they are living on borrowed time anyway, they will devote the rest of their lives to challenging the unknown, putting themselves at risk for the greater good. Not really any more absurd than acquiring cosmic ray induced powers, I suppose, but since it depends on psychology rather than a sort of deus ex machina, and therefore on something more realistic, is paradoxically becomes less plausible. Anyway, they go up against the usual array of mad scientists bend on world conquest, aliens, and monsters, usually prevailing by figuring out some unlikely method for defeating the enemy (my favourite is the giant vat of imagined acid uses to destroy the blades of the giant imagined vacuum cleaner that's about to suck in the Challengers--read the story, it makes sense, or whatever sense one can expect in such stories). The less than stellar restoration often damages Kirby's art, but his usual design and dynamism are nevertheless still evident, and there's no question he has a dandy eye for designing fascinating oddities. If you don't expect too much, you should find this an interesting diversion.

[Michael Bedford · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great read for fans of Kirby's work. It shines a light on a less well-known epoch in Kirby's career, the '50s. Churning out reams of art, writing, co-running a publishing house, and revolutionizing the genre he helped create were all in a day's work for Kirby.

The Challengers of the Unknown are a group of adventurers who all survive the same plane crash. Deciding that they're living on borrowed time, they dedicate their lives to, well, challenging the unknown. This puts them into some pretty hairy situations, let me tell you.

Grotesque monsters, amazing feats of heroism, and Kirby's signature krackle are all on display here in a fun-to-read precursor to his much more famous adventurer group the Fantastic Four.

[Carl Waluconis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Often when writing about the history of comics, it is said that Marvel started the Fantastic Four, but the DC Justice League of America was the forerunner of that title. Though it may be true that sales of JLA caused the publisher Martin Goodman to order Stan Lee to write a super-team book for Marvel, but long before these comics was the inspiration for the original Fantastic Four, the Challengers of the Unknown. Jack Kirby was integral to both titles, so his graphic fingerprints are all over both. In fact, not many superhero teams wore matching uniforms, but the FF outfit is the Challengers' jump suit, but with a different color and an initial. The Challengers also have team members such as an intellectual and a Rocky to borrow for characters. In terms of the stories, these first issues are fun and have the Kirby wildness at first. That seemed to make the DC editors nervous, so they called in another writer. I must admit that I like Kirby's crazy and maybe somewhat naïve writing style, sort of Kirby unleashed. One of Stan Lee's abilities was to contain the explosive imagination of Jack Kirby in a more regulated universe with continuity. Well, here is Kirby without Lee, but the real beginning of the FF. These have Roz Kirby, Jack's wife, inking some issues. In the later issues, the next volume, we have Wally Wood, a great art combine with Jack Kirby. A last note, reading these back to back is not necessary. In fact, comic books then were not written with continuity in mind. The goal for DC then was to make a self-contained adventure, all for a dime. I find it best to read a story from the collections every once in a while.

[Martin · Rating 2 out of 5]

While not terrible, I don't think the stories have held up well. There's no characterization, layouts are simple, and the illustrations vary widely in quality. Some pages are crap. Interesting primarily as a historical document.

[Rob McMonigal · Rating 3 out of 5]

As with anything Kirby, he had the Challengers fighting outer space monsters and weird technology as soon as he had sole control of the book. (Kirby also did this with Green Arrow in the 50s, after which he was promptly--and, probably, rightly--canned from the book. Green Arrow in Space doesn't work very well...gravity and arrows and all that!)

There's definitely a strong link between the Challengers and the FF. I enjoyed reading the origination of the characters that Loeb and Sale later used for their first collaboration, but I still remain unconvinced as to why Kirby is the "King" of comics. (Library, 04/06)

Trebby's Take: If you like the Lee-Kirby FF, you definitely need to read this.

[Francisco Becerra · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've always wondered why it was so difficult to manage the fantastic premise of CotU: four incredibly talented guys which survive a deadly accident unscathed. Soon they begin to confront... deadly beasts, supervillains, extraterrestrials and all the sort of common menaces during DC's Silver Age. I don't know if it suited best to call them "Challengers of the Weird" at the time. There are many good stories, but poor continuity (a common factor of the era). Later works will emphazise more bizarre tales that made the title live to its name.