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DC Universe Presents #1
DC Universe Presents, Vol. 1: Deadman/Challengers of the Unknown
As a part The New 52 event that started September 2011, it's the start of a new series spotlighting some of the DC Universe's super heroes. Volume 1 collects the first 8 issues in the DC Universe Presents title. The first five issues featuring Deadman and the last three featuring the Challengers of the Unknown.
Ever since he died and became Deadman, Boston Brand has served the deity known as Rama Kushna, inhabiting bodies to complete missions that she dictates. But for the first time, Deadman may have a clue how to gain some control over his 'life.' This first arc of DC Universe Presents is written by Eisner-award winner Paul Jenkins (BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT, Inhumans) and illustrated by the dynamic Bernard Chang.
The Challengers. Out of time and on the run. Eight survivors of a fiery plane crash, bound by fate and death, are on a desperate mission to uncover the mysteries of the Unknown before the powers that saved their lives, claim them for eternity. This second arc is written by DC Co-Publisher Dan DiDio with art from the comics legend Jerry Ordway.
Ever since he died and became Deadman, Boston Brand has served the deity known as Rama Kushna, inhabiting bodies to complete missions that she dictates. But for the first time, Deadman may have a clue how to gain some control over his 'life.' This first arc of DC Universe Presents is written by Eisner-award winner Paul Jenkins (BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT, Inhumans) and illustrated by the dynamic Bernard Chang.
The Challengers. Out of time and on the run. Eight survivors of a fiery plane crash, bound by fate and death, are on a desperate mission to uncover the mysteries of the Unknown before the powers that saved their lives, claim them for eternity. This second arc is written by DC Co-Publisher Dan DiDio with art from the comics legend Jerry Ordway.
192 pages, Paperback
First published November 28, 2012
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283 people want to read
About the author
Paul Jenkins
1,267 books154 followersPaul Jenkins is a British comic book writer. He has had much success crossing over into the American comic book market. Primarily working for Marvel Comics, he has had a big part shaping the characters of the company over the past decade.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 57 reviews
June 25, 2018
So DC is reviving DC Comics Presents? I like the idea of an ongoing anthology title, especially if they're not going to insist too strongly on preset lengths for the story arcs. The idea of doing riffs on classic DC characters is appealing (and may I suggest the Sea Devils, the Silent Knight, and Space Ranger?)
So, in this volume, we kick off with Deadman. In a slight divergence from the way he’s been written in the past, he now gets assigned to specific people by Rama (just Rama, this time, apparently) and remains psychically tied to them even after he’s moved on to a new body. Honestly, I’m not sure if this is better or worse than previous appearances where he could just randomly possess whomever he chose to--he still does that to some extent in this story, but the bit about him being specifically assigned hosts and the psychic link are new. Anyway, DM tries to figure out the riddle of his existence, and makes some progress towards that goal. The writing seems to be inspired by Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman, but isn't as memorable as either. Still, I don't fault Paul Jenkins for trying, and the story really is pretty good for what it is. The art is lovely, sort of reminiscent of Marc Hempel. By itself, this story rates four stars.
The Challengers of the Unknown, on the other hand, doesn't really work for me. The team is re-imagined as a group of contestants on a reality show, but there's a plane crash, supernatural elements appear to be involved, living on borrowed time, some of them die, the reality show is somehow a hit despite the lack of a visible camera crew or microphones or anything, yadda yadda … Just … no. The original Challengers may have had their cheesy moments, but it's still a much better story than this remake by Dan Didio and Jerry Ordway. It takes everything good about the original and pretty much chucks it out the window. Kudos for trying, I guess, but the best thing about this story are the inside joke-y references to other DC characters like Looker and Dr. Thirteen. Two stars for this one. At least it was short ...
So that leaves us with an average of three stars for the volume. Come on, DC Universe Presents! I know you can do better ...
So, in this volume, we kick off with Deadman. In a slight divergence from the way he’s been written in the past, he now gets assigned to specific people by Rama (just Rama, this time, apparently) and remains psychically tied to them even after he’s moved on to a new body. Honestly, I’m not sure if this is better or worse than previous appearances where he could just randomly possess whomever he chose to--he still does that to some extent in this story, but the bit about him being specifically assigned hosts and the psychic link are new. Anyway, DM tries to figure out the riddle of his existence, and makes some progress towards that goal. The writing seems to be inspired by Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman, but isn't as memorable as either. Still, I don't fault Paul Jenkins for trying, and the story really is pretty good for what it is. The art is lovely, sort of reminiscent of Marc Hempel. By itself, this story rates four stars.
The Challengers of the Unknown, on the other hand, doesn't really work for me. The team is re-imagined as a group of contestants on a reality show, but there's a plane crash, supernatural elements appear to be involved, living on borrowed time, some of them die, the reality show is somehow a hit despite the lack of a visible camera crew or microphones or anything, yadda yadda … Just … no. The original Challengers may have had their cheesy moments, but it's still a much better story than this remake by Dan Didio and Jerry Ordway. It takes everything good about the original and pretty much chucks it out the window. Kudos for trying, I guess, but the best thing about this story are the inside joke-y references to other DC characters like Looker and Dr. Thirteen. Two stars for this one. At least it was short ...
So that leaves us with an average of three stars for the volume. Come on, DC Universe Presents! I know you can do better ...
September 2, 2013
Deadman (1-5). Paul Jenkins offers up one of the few reboots of the New 52 that was actually worth doing. He gives Deadman an intriguing new role as a redeemer of broken lives and wraps that up in intrigue, mystery, and a great new mystical world. The result is terrific, and makes me wish he'd been able to do a Deadman comic [8/10].
Challengers of the Unknown (6-8). Conversely, the second arc in DC Universe shows how not to conduct a reboot: you don't totally disrespect the original characters by turning them into vapid reality reality stars, then try to convince us of their transformation into true adventurers. You also don't muddy the waters with tons of extra characters that we don't care about, either when they appear or disappear. I'd also complain about how this arc only gave us the start of a story, with no closure … except I was bored enough by the end that I didn't care to read any more [3/10].
My overall rating of this book is largely based on the quality of the Deadman story, not the lack of the same from the Challengers story.
Challengers of the Unknown (6-8). Conversely, the second arc in DC Universe shows how not to conduct a reboot: you don't totally disrespect the original characters by turning them into vapid reality reality stars, then try to convince us of their transformation into true adventurers. You also don't muddy the waters with tons of extra characters that we don't care about, either when they appear or disappear. I'd also complain about how this arc only gave us the start of a story, with no closure … except I was bored enough by the end that I didn't care to read any more [3/10].
My overall rating of this book is largely based on the quality of the Deadman story, not the lack of the same from the Challengers story.
November 4, 2012
I was uncomfortable with a couple of parts, but on the whole, it was a really enjoyable Deadman story.
December 12, 2016
Deadman - 5 Stars
Challengers - 2 Stars
Challengers - 2 Stars
December 12, 2025
First arc 5/5, second 1/5
October 13, 2023
Issue 1 - 5 Deadman. 4 stars. Enjoyable story and great art (by Bernard Chang).
Four stars for Deadman. 2 stars for Challengers of the Unknown. The second story was boring, nonsensical and didn't have a satisfactory ending.
Four stars for Deadman. 2 stars for Challengers of the Unknown. The second story was boring, nonsensical and didn't have a satisfactory ending.
July 7, 2013
This one is hard to review because it’s two very different stories put together. I’ll give you a short review of each.
Deadman: Deadman is an extremely unlikable person when he was alive. Dead, he’s not much better. He still causes havoc and messes with people’s lives, but that’s his job. His job is to step into trouble people’s lives and help them sort through their problems by living their lives and using their bodies. His personal goal, however, is not the same. His goal is to figure out why the god Rama, who put him in this role, did so. The whole story is about how he gets some answers.
I thought the Deadman section of the comic was great. There are some quotable one lines in there. I caught myself leaning over to my husband to read something poignant to him twice.
The Challengers: The Challengers is about a group of people that are supposed to begin a reality TV show when their plane crashes. This is apparently some predestined kinda thing for all of them but the pilot Ace who wasn’t supposed to be there all along. It’s about how the challengers get weeded out by some mystical force as they look for answers as to why they were chosen.
Boring. I didn’t even want to finish it. If volume two is just about their journey, I’m out. If the second volume has Deadman in it then I’m reading it but then not going to continue The Challengers. I felt like it was just a really jumbled up story that would have been better off as a crappy made for TV movie.
Deadman gets four stars. The Challengers gets one. I’m giving it an overall two stars.
Deadman: Deadman is an extremely unlikable person when he was alive. Dead, he’s not much better. He still causes havoc and messes with people’s lives, but that’s his job. His job is to step into trouble people’s lives and help them sort through their problems by living their lives and using their bodies. His personal goal, however, is not the same. His goal is to figure out why the god Rama, who put him in this role, did so. The whole story is about how he gets some answers.
I thought the Deadman section of the comic was great. There are some quotable one lines in there. I caught myself leaning over to my husband to read something poignant to him twice.
The Challengers: The Challengers is about a group of people that are supposed to begin a reality TV show when their plane crashes. This is apparently some predestined kinda thing for all of them but the pilot Ace who wasn’t supposed to be there all along. It’s about how the challengers get weeded out by some mystical force as they look for answers as to why they were chosen.
Boring. I didn’t even want to finish it. If volume two is just about their journey, I’m out. If the second volume has Deadman in it then I’m reading it but then not going to continue The Challengers. I felt like it was just a really jumbled up story that would have been better off as a crappy made for TV movie.
Deadman gets four stars. The Challengers gets one. I’m giving it an overall two stars.
June 26, 2014
DC Universe Presents is highlighting anthology type series part of DC's New 52 reboot. The title focuses on lessor known characters in the DCU and brings them to life for an arc before moving to another character. It's sort of like the old Marvel Amazing Fantasies that introduced Spiderman and Iron Man.
The first arc deals with Deadman, who's a DC hero I know nothing about (or care about) save for his random Justice League pop ins. The story features the man with 1,000 souls suffering an existential crisis like only a superhero truly can. It is pretty enjoyable, but light on the action and heavily on the talking. Although I would say the dialogue is very well written.
The second arc brings back an ancient forgotten DC team called the Challengers of the Unknown. I liked the idea of making the team just a gaggle of reality TV stars, but the random artifact gathering mystical evil plot did nothing for me personally. It did little to move the characters in any sort of way to give them dimension, and it wasn't a very interesting plot.
Overall this is sort of a hodgepodge of the collection really only meant for super comic geeks who would probably know about these guys from the get go and just want to fill out all of this New 52 reboot. Deadman story gets a 3, Challengers gets a 1. The very good artwork helps boost this up to a very generous 2.
The first arc deals with Deadman, who's a DC hero I know nothing about (or care about) save for his random Justice League pop ins. The story features the man with 1,000 souls suffering an existential crisis like only a superhero truly can. It is pretty enjoyable, but light on the action and heavily on the talking. Although I would say the dialogue is very well written.
The second arc brings back an ancient forgotten DC team called the Challengers of the Unknown. I liked the idea of making the team just a gaggle of reality TV stars, but the random artifact gathering mystical evil plot did nothing for me personally. It did little to move the characters in any sort of way to give them dimension, and it wasn't a very interesting plot.
Overall this is sort of a hodgepodge of the collection really only meant for super comic geeks who would probably know about these guys from the get go and just want to fill out all of this New 52 reboot. Deadman story gets a 3, Challengers gets a 1. The very good artwork helps boost this up to a very generous 2.
April 26, 2013
Writer and recipient of the 2006 New York Times Academic Librarian of the Year Award, Jenkins (director, library services, Coll. of Mount St. Joseph; Batman: The Dark Knight) presents an anthology that spotlights the lesser-known but no less captivating comics characters. This first volume collects a five-issue Deadman arc and a three-issue Challengers of the Unknown arc. Boston Brand is Deadman, the ghost of a trapeze artist bound by goddess Rama Kushna to perform quantum leaps into the body of people in crisis, serving a personal path to redemption. The Challengers of the Unknown by DiDio and Ordway reimagines the classic Jack Kirby team as a group of D-list celebrities/reality show contestants globe-hop on a quest to reclaim magic artifacts.
Verdict: The Deadman arc is easily the strongest part of the book, with its focus on the nature of Deadman’s mission and his relationship to Rama Kushna. The Challengers of the Unknown, on the other hand, presents forgettable characters and a worn-out plot. An optional purchase for most graphic novels collections.
From Library Journal Xpress Reviews: Graphic Novels | First Look at New Books, April 26, 2013
Verdict: The Deadman arc is easily the strongest part of the book, with its focus on the nature of Deadman’s mission and his relationship to Rama Kushna. The Challengers of the Unknown, on the other hand, presents forgettable characters and a worn-out plot. An optional purchase for most graphic novels collections.
From Library Journal Xpress Reviews: Graphic Novels | First Look at New Books, April 26, 2013
June 12, 2013
The New 52 brings with it this universe spanning book that is supposed to spotlight characters not big enough for the own books. The first storyline starred Deadman and was very good. It was spiritual, philosophical, intriguing, and had enough action to keep things going. Deadman is someone I'm not terribly familiar with so I'm not sure how he changed in the New 52, but this version is very interesting. I enjoyed him and his take on the world. The art by Bernard Chang was very good and reminded by of J.H. Williams at times with the unique panel layout. The individual covers by Ryan Sook were phenomenal! Truly fantastic! The problem with the book overall was the second story starring the Challengers Of The Unknown. To be honest it was terrible. The premise is fine but the execution was beyond bad. The plot, dialogue, and actions of the characters were just really bad. It was painful to read. The art by Jerry Ordway was fine but nothing special. That's why overall, the collection is just okay. If the two stories are ever released separately, skip the Challengers tale.
April 5, 2013
Must say this at the start: "Deadman" and only Deadman gets the 4.
"Challengers": scrapes a 2 at best. Nothing particularly wrong with it, but it seemed by turns patchy and dull, didn't invoke any sense of being drawn from/a reboot of something notable, and overall didn't really feel like it was going anywhere. Having read other reviewers' comments, the source material is utterly obscure to a new reader. Lost interest very quickly. Next please.
Deadman, on the other hand, was highly enjoyable - lovely artwork, a promising take on the original material (I hadn't come across the character before, but it was clear he had "history" as it were... having now read Vol 1, which I came to after this collection, I think the modernisation/complication works well, on the whole). Very much looking forward to more of this.
"Challengers": scrapes a 2 at best. Nothing particularly wrong with it, but it seemed by turns patchy and dull, didn't invoke any sense of being drawn from/a reboot of something notable, and overall didn't really feel like it was going anywhere. Having read other reviewers' comments, the source material is utterly obscure to a new reader. Lost interest very quickly. Next please.
Deadman, on the other hand, was highly enjoyable - lovely artwork, a promising take on the original material (I hadn't come across the character before, but it was clear he had "history" as it were... having now read Vol 1, which I came to after this collection, I think the modernisation/complication works well, on the whole). Very much looking forward to more of this.
August 24, 2012
The Deadman story was okay... I thought the beginning was pretty interesting and the end was alright, but issues three and four could have been combined without much loss. It just got too much dialogue. Speaking of too much dialogue, DiDio is back again to give us Challengers of the Unknown. I really wanted to like this one, but it was boring and stupid. It turns an old team of adventurers into a reality show because that's "cool" and makes sense to older people I guess. However; they just kind of write off deaths and weird crap actually happening as part of the show. This seemed like a huge disconnect even in a comic universe. If five people died on a reality show, that show would be cancelled. Also, the story about magical talismans and an evil zombie was just bad. I doubt I'll continue this unless I hear of a section of stories that is really good.
Read
April 20, 2014For all that I moan about the New 52, I have to give them credit for some of the less obvious books they tried to launch. Anthologies never do well in the US comics market, and this one's been cancelled now, but at least they tried. The opening Deadman story is the only decent thing I've read from Paul Jenkins since Inhumans - it makes debatable sense, but the mood is intriguing. Sadly, that's followed by the architect of the whole damn relaunch, Dan Didio, making something like the 87th effort to reboot the Challengers of the Unknown. Like most of those attempts (Loeb and Sale being the exception), it doesn't come off - but even given the precedents, the reality TV angle ensures this is the most cringeworthy of those many failures.
January 19, 2013
The first part, with Deadman, was really good. Almost like a Hellblazer-Lite. The Challengers of the Unknown part was not nearly so good. Episodes of a reality show? Really? And all the characters are so one-dimensional. In a way, that's good, because "Challengers" was never about the people; it was more about the amazing, other-worldly stuff they found and the weird places they went. And unfortunately, this version is missing that aspect.
April 23, 2013
I pretty much agree with what everyone else is saying about this collection:
The Deadman story is wonderful. Deep, philosophical, meaningful. Though provoking.
The Challengers of the Unknown story is dreadful. Vapid, vacuous, directionless. Instantly forgettable. I hope they never return to this storyline.
So, my rating is based solely on the Deadman story. Truly, it is the only reason to pick up this collection.
4/5
The Deadman story is wonderful. Deep, philosophical, meaningful. Though provoking.
The Challengers of the Unknown story is dreadful. Vapid, vacuous, directionless. Instantly forgettable. I hope they never return to this storyline.
So, my rating is based solely on the Deadman story. Truly, it is the only reason to pick up this collection.
4/5
July 2, 2012
Nice to see DC trying to give some of its lesser characters a turn in the spotlight, but both stories are pretty bland and make the heroes either uninteresting or unlikable.
You are better off with reprints of the older, original stories.
You are better off with reprints of the older, original stories.
September 24, 2019
4 stars only because i really enjoyed deadman, and getting to see more of the supernatural part of the new 52 universe. I ended up not finishing Challengers of the Unknown, just couldn't care about any of the characters or the story.
March 7, 2017
This first volume of DC Universe Presents collects issues #1-8. The first 5 issues tell the New 52 origin of Deadman. The last 3 are about The Challengers of the Unknown. I'm trying to read every volume published as part of the New 52 reboot that DC did so I'm constantly looking on Amazon for cheap used copies of the different books. I found an excellent used copy of this for $0.98. It just came in the mail today. I plopped down to read this right after dinner because, while Deadman isn't a favorite character of mine, I've always enjoyed books that he appeared in as a guest. I was really interested in seeing what a story focused solely on him would be like. The Challengers of the Unknown being thrown was an added bonus, but had no clue what that story would be like as I know absolutely nothing about those characters and have never read anything at all with them in it, as far I remember.
The creative staff for the Deadman issues consists of Paul Jenkins handling the writing and Bernard Chang doing the illustrations. The art looks good, but never impressive. There isn't anything in the art that is bad, yet there is no wow factor to it that makes it stand out in any way. If read tons of comics in the past 38 years. Comparing the art of this comic to all the ones I've ever read, I'd place this art just North of the median of the bunch. I want to use the term average to describe it, but it's just a hair better than that. For me the art is 3 stars.
In the first issue, Jenkins had Deadman fill us in on what happened prior to the first page. Deadman was a trapeze artist named Boston Brand that was murdered by an assassin. A higher being named Rama, who considers herself to be the bringer of balance to the universe, captures Brand's spirit and makes him become her champion in the pursuit of balance. She wants Brand, in his spirit form of Deadman, to take over the body of certain individuals to help them out in some way. After assigning him this task, she has thrust his spirit back into the mortal world without anything to go on other than being drawn to the next individual he is supposed to help.
After this intro into what is going on, the story really picks up as Deadman goes to location of the next person whom he is to help. Deadman plans on helping the guy out as Rama intended, but he has some plans of his in the makings as well. Deadman wants to know why he himself was specifically chosen for this set of tasks and what the endgame is all about. The rest of the book is about his search for answers and Deadman figuring out exactly how he is supposed to help these individuals.
I've read a couple of things from Jenkins before and never really been that impressed with his writing. This book is the best thing I've ever read of his. It is not mind-blowingly exceptional, but does feel like a pretty good episode of a TV series. Shows like MacGyver and the A-Team followed pretty much the same formula of moving from place to place helping someone out of a bad situation each. This story shows that this character could work well in that same format, if DC ever decided to do a Deadman TV series. Even if that never happens, this story definitely feels like it would work as a pilot episode that could Deadman move from person to person as the episodes roll by week after week with a few threads tying the individual episodes together as a whole. 3.5 stars for the writing. (Basically, the equivalent of a 7/10 star episode on IMDB.)
Dan Didio and Jerry Ordway are the staff on the Challengers of the Unknown issues. The 2 guys plot the story together with Didio writing the script out and Ordway on the pencil work for the art. The art for these issues is damn near identical to what preceded it. There isn't anything bad that I can see in the art. There isn't anything fantastic about it either. It's just simply okay. 3 stars for this art also.
The people that make up the Challengers of the Unknown are a TV producer named June, a group of D-list celebrities that she has put together for her reality TV series, and a pilot to fly them to their filming location. One of the other guys in the story must've been a producer too because June makes a statement to him in the first few pages about him being the one that picked out the site for them to film the show. The location he chose is in the Himalayas. What could go wrong with filming there? Well, for starters, the plane crashes in the first couple of pages and June wakes up in the mystical city of Nanda Parbat. She's trying to find her boyfriend who was one of the pilots on the plane. Remember when I said there was a pilot in the Challengers? Well there were 2 on the plane, but the people of Nanda Parbat refused to bring June's boyfriend in and help him because they said he wasn't part of the group.
How could June's boyfriend not be part of the group if he was with them? The guy that chose the filming location said this artifact that he had found spoke to him and told him where to film and who to bring with him. June's boyfriend was not one of those people. Therefore, when they all got to the Himalayas where the people of Nanda Parbat were waiting for them, he wasn't brought in because he never should have been there. The people of Nanda Parbat tell the group that the artifact is the key and that they should seek out the unknown, which is mighty vague. The Challengers get drugged and put to sleep in Nanda Parbat and awaken beside the rubble of their crashed plane. June's boyfriend is nowhere to be found.
The group goes back home and begins to study the artifact they have. This leads them to find out that the artifact they possess is just one of seven in a set. They embark on a journey around the world to find two more pieces and come back home to a battle against the villain of the story. Just as it feels like Act 1 of the story is drawing to a conclusion, the 3 issues are over and there is nothing left but a notice that the story will be continued somewhere in the future. In all of the other stuff I've read in the New 52, I've never heard any mention of these people so I don't know if this ever received a conclusion or not. As I stated earlier, this feels like Act 1 of a three act story. What I have before is incomplete and I'm going to automatically deduct 1-1.5 star just for that. Even if this were whole the writing would probably on get 3 stars because there isn't anything spectacular about it. With the deductions, the writing gets 1.5 stars.
After averaging the score for the writing and art aspects of each story, my final rating for the book is 2.75 stars out of a possible 5 stars. The book is worth a read for the Deadman story alone if you even remotely like the character. Fans of previous iterations of the Challengers of the Unknown may get some enjoyment out of seeing what differences the New 52 versions had, but I highly doubt it. If you're not a fan of either, this isn't really for you.
The creative staff for the Deadman issues consists of Paul Jenkins handling the writing and Bernard Chang doing the illustrations. The art looks good, but never impressive. There isn't anything in the art that is bad, yet there is no wow factor to it that makes it stand out in any way. If read tons of comics in the past 38 years. Comparing the art of this comic to all the ones I've ever read, I'd place this art just North of the median of the bunch. I want to use the term average to describe it, but it's just a hair better than that. For me the art is 3 stars.
In the first issue, Jenkins had Deadman fill us in on what happened prior to the first page. Deadman was a trapeze artist named Boston Brand that was murdered by an assassin. A higher being named Rama, who considers herself to be the bringer of balance to the universe, captures Brand's spirit and makes him become her champion in the pursuit of balance. She wants Brand, in his spirit form of Deadman, to take over the body of certain individuals to help them out in some way. After assigning him this task, she has thrust his spirit back into the mortal world without anything to go on other than being drawn to the next individual he is supposed to help.
After this intro into what is going on, the story really picks up as Deadman goes to location of the next person whom he is to help. Deadman plans on helping the guy out as Rama intended, but he has some plans of his in the makings as well. Deadman wants to know why he himself was specifically chosen for this set of tasks and what the endgame is all about. The rest of the book is about his search for answers and Deadman figuring out exactly how he is supposed to help these individuals.
I've read a couple of things from Jenkins before and never really been that impressed with his writing. This book is the best thing I've ever read of his. It is not mind-blowingly exceptional, but does feel like a pretty good episode of a TV series. Shows like MacGyver and the A-Team followed pretty much the same formula of moving from place to place helping someone out of a bad situation each. This story shows that this character could work well in that same format, if DC ever decided to do a Deadman TV series. Even if that never happens, this story definitely feels like it would work as a pilot episode that could Deadman move from person to person as the episodes roll by week after week with a few threads tying the individual episodes together as a whole. 3.5 stars for the writing. (Basically, the equivalent of a 7/10 star episode on IMDB.)
Dan Didio and Jerry Ordway are the staff on the Challengers of the Unknown issues. The 2 guys plot the story together with Didio writing the script out and Ordway on the pencil work for the art. The art for these issues is damn near identical to what preceded it. There isn't anything bad that I can see in the art. There isn't anything fantastic about it either. It's just simply okay. 3 stars for this art also.
The people that make up the Challengers of the Unknown are a TV producer named June, a group of D-list celebrities that she has put together for her reality TV series, and a pilot to fly them to their filming location. One of the other guys in the story must've been a producer too because June makes a statement to him in the first few pages about him being the one that picked out the site for them to film the show. The location he chose is in the Himalayas. What could go wrong with filming there? Well, for starters, the plane crashes in the first couple of pages and June wakes up in the mystical city of Nanda Parbat. She's trying to find her boyfriend who was one of the pilots on the plane. Remember when I said there was a pilot in the Challengers? Well there were 2 on the plane, but the people of Nanda Parbat refused to bring June's boyfriend in and help him because they said he wasn't part of the group.
How could June's boyfriend not be part of the group if he was with them? The guy that chose the filming location said this artifact that he had found spoke to him and told him where to film and who to bring with him. June's boyfriend was not one of those people. Therefore, when they all got to the Himalayas where the people of Nanda Parbat were waiting for them, he wasn't brought in because he never should have been there. The people of Nanda Parbat tell the group that the artifact is the key and that they should seek out the unknown, which is mighty vague. The Challengers get drugged and put to sleep in Nanda Parbat and awaken beside the rubble of their crashed plane. June's boyfriend is nowhere to be found.
The group goes back home and begins to study the artifact they have. This leads them to find out that the artifact they possess is just one of seven in a set. They embark on a journey around the world to find two more pieces and come back home to a battle against the villain of the story. Just as it feels like Act 1 of the story is drawing to a conclusion, the 3 issues are over and there is nothing left but a notice that the story will be continued somewhere in the future. In all of the other stuff I've read in the New 52, I've never heard any mention of these people so I don't know if this ever received a conclusion or not. As I stated earlier, this feels like Act 1 of a three act story. What I have before is incomplete and I'm going to automatically deduct 1-1.5 star just for that. Even if this were whole the writing would probably on get 3 stars because there isn't anything spectacular about it. With the deductions, the writing gets 1.5 stars.
After averaging the score for the writing and art aspects of each story, my final rating for the book is 2.75 stars out of a possible 5 stars. The book is worth a read for the Deadman story alone if you even remotely like the character. Fans of previous iterations of the Challengers of the Unknown may get some enjoyment out of seeing what differences the New 52 versions had, but I highly doubt it. If you're not a fan of either, this isn't really for you.
October 16, 2019
Lubię takie tytuły jak DC Universe Presents dlatego, że dają szanse zaistnieć postaciom, które nie są na tyle interesujące, aby stworzyć na ich potrzeby całe długaśne runy. Są ciekawe i zasługują na uwagę, ale w mniejszym formacie, a i jest to bezpieczne dla wydawcy, bo widzi jak rozkłada się zainteresowanie czytelników i w co można "zainwestować" w przyszłości.
Tak jest z Deadmanem. Za życia buc, po śmierci niewiele się zmienił, ale szuka odpowiedzi dlaczego znalazł się w takiej sytuacji, jakieś się znalazł, czyli w zawieszeniu pomiędzy światem żywych i umarłych. Za pewnego rodzaju mentora robi mu tu bóstwo nazywane Rama. Za pewną robótkę, zgadza się ono udzielić mu odpowiedzi na kilka pytań jakie nurtują Boston Brand, byłego cyrkowca wyczynowego, który jak się wydaje, przedwcześnie zakończył swój żywot. Ale czy na pewno.
Deadman jest nietypową postacią, która często gości na łamach innego tytułu, mianowicie Justice League Dark, asystując samemu Johnowi Constantine lub Zatannie. Tylko, że tam pełni raczej rolę przybocznego, choć jego zdolność "opętywania" ciał żywych czasami jest naprawdę przydatna. To też przykład jak dobrze rebootować tytuł.
Drugi segment omawianego tomu to z kolei przykład jak nie rebootować tytułu. Challengers of the Unknown to produkt skrajnie nudny, na zasadzie "zapchaj dziury". Postacie jaki wprowadza nie były mi w ogóle znane, mało tego. Nie były jakoś szczególnie zarysowane i przedstawione, przez co naprawdę miałem gdzieś co się z nimi stanie. Zaczyna się od katastrofy lotniczej i walki o własne życie. Ci ludzi to członkowie pewnego reality show, bardzo popularnego, którzy objeżdżają cały świat w poszukiwaniu przygód. I tak, ktoś ginie. I nie, obchodziło mnie to tyle co zeszło roczny śnieg. Zbyt dużo postaci, za mało ekspozycji(nie wierzę, że to napisałem). Wygląda to też bardzo średnio. Stąd ta ocena.
Sam Deadman zasługuje na takie mocne 7/10, zaś Challengers to już dla mnie dno i metr mułu. 1/10 Żywię nadzieję, że dalej będzie już nieco lepiej zwłaszcza, że w drugim tomie mamy i Black Lightning oraz Vandal Savage'a. Można zobaczyć, ale nie polecam.
Tak jest z Deadmanem. Za życia buc, po śmierci niewiele się zmienił, ale szuka odpowiedzi dlaczego znalazł się w takiej sytuacji, jakieś się znalazł, czyli w zawieszeniu pomiędzy światem żywych i umarłych. Za pewnego rodzaju mentora robi mu tu bóstwo nazywane Rama. Za pewną robótkę, zgadza się ono udzielić mu odpowiedzi na kilka pytań jakie nurtują Boston Brand, byłego cyrkowca wyczynowego, który jak się wydaje, przedwcześnie zakończył swój żywot. Ale czy na pewno.
Deadman jest nietypową postacią, która często gości na łamach innego tytułu, mianowicie Justice League Dark, asystując samemu Johnowi Constantine lub Zatannie. Tylko, że tam pełni raczej rolę przybocznego, choć jego zdolność "opętywania" ciał żywych czasami jest naprawdę przydatna. To też przykład jak dobrze rebootować tytuł.
Drugi segment omawianego tomu to z kolei przykład jak nie rebootować tytułu. Challengers of the Unknown to produkt skrajnie nudny, na zasadzie "zapchaj dziury". Postacie jaki wprowadza nie były mi w ogóle znane, mało tego. Nie były jakoś szczególnie zarysowane i przedstawione, przez co naprawdę miałem gdzieś co się z nimi stanie. Zaczyna się od katastrofy lotniczej i walki o własne życie. Ci ludzi to członkowie pewnego reality show, bardzo popularnego, którzy objeżdżają cały świat w poszukiwaniu przygód. I tak, ktoś ginie. I nie, obchodziło mnie to tyle co zeszło roczny śnieg. Zbyt dużo postaci, za mało ekspozycji(nie wierzę, że to napisałem). Wygląda to też bardzo średnio. Stąd ta ocena.
Sam Deadman zasługuje na takie mocne 7/10, zaś Challengers to już dla mnie dno i metr mułu. 1/10 Żywię nadzieję, że dalej będzie już nieco lepiej zwłaszcza, że w drugim tomie mamy i Black Lightning oraz Vandal Savage'a. Można zobaczyć, ale nie polecam.
July 13, 2021
*Lots of reading + no time review = Knee-jerk reactions!*
The Deadman stuff was pretty cool and interesting. A bit darker than I typically prefer, but I've been in the mood for obscure heroes, so.... here I am. The idea of a library holding the books of everyone's life... That was cool. The idea of a goddess trying to find a new question of existence--and how each host represented a different current question--was pretty smart and interesting. Definitely got the reader thinking. (And I totally called the new question! "Why me?" And I love how it ended with the more upbeat idea of: "Why not me?") That all said... the second half of the book... the "Challengers of the Unknown"... I couldn't get invested. I read it just to finish the book, not because I was engaged. I can't put my finger on exactly why, but... I don't know... maybe it's hard to get attached to characters who you know are living on borrowed time? Especially since we only got to know them for a few pages before that death sentence was delivered. Maybe they'd be more interesting teamed up with other more established heroes?
The Deadman stuff was pretty cool and interesting. A bit darker than I typically prefer, but I've been in the mood for obscure heroes, so.... here I am. The idea of a library holding the books of everyone's life... That was cool. The idea of a goddess trying to find a new question of existence--and how each host represented a different current question--was pretty smart and interesting. Definitely got the reader thinking. (And I totally called the new question! "Why me?" And I love how it ended with the more upbeat idea of: "Why not me?") That all said... the second half of the book... the "Challengers of the Unknown"... I couldn't get invested. I read it just to finish the book, not because I was engaged. I can't put my finger on exactly why, but... I don't know... maybe it's hard to get attached to characters who you know are living on borrowed time? Especially since we only got to know them for a few pages before that death sentence was delivered. Maybe they'd be more interesting teamed up with other more established heroes?
February 12, 2019
In Deadman & Challengers of the Unknown, we see Deadman confront a minor god on behalf of his redemption and the origin story of Challengers of the Unknown.
I have seen Deadman in Justice League Dark, so his existence is not new to me, but I had never heard of Challengers of the Unknown. Since the two are combined in one volume, my guess is that the story of the Challengers of the Unknown did not make it very long, and I am not all that surprised. The basic plot is that a bunch of C-list celebrities on a reality TV show somehow end up chosen to find and reunite a bunch of ancient medallions. They travel the world, being killed off and providing entertainment for the viewers at home. The character development is thin and there is little to care about in their quest.
Deadman is a more compelling character, but the confrontation with the goddess falls flat.
Nothing too great in this volume. Not terrible, it just really does not stand out.
I have seen Deadman in Justice League Dark, so his existence is not new to me, but I had never heard of Challengers of the Unknown. Since the two are combined in one volume, my guess is that the story of the Challengers of the Unknown did not make it very long, and I am not all that surprised. The basic plot is that a bunch of C-list celebrities on a reality TV show somehow end up chosen to find and reunite a bunch of ancient medallions. They travel the world, being killed off and providing entertainment for the viewers at home. The character development is thin and there is little to care about in their quest.
Deadman is a more compelling character, but the confrontation with the goddess falls flat.
Nothing too great in this volume. Not terrible, it just really does not stand out.
June 7, 2020
Yet another first volume in the New 52 series, DC Universe Presents is a series for presenting a variety of stories and characters. This first volume contains stories about the character Deadman, doomed to possess the bodies of living people in order to help them out in some way. The stories are intriguing and worth a read. The second half of Vol. 1 contains stories about a group of people traveling together and trying to understand mysterious events after a plane crash. This set of stories is mediocre and can be passed over.
February 24, 2019
The Deadman series was good, well written, smoothly drawn, a classic pairing. Boston Brand is such an interesting character.
Challengers of the Unknown was horrible. The whole segment was just 50 pages of a deus ex machina. I never write reviews but this was totally worth the explaination of a 3 star rating.
Challengers of the Unknown was horrible. The whole segment was just 50 pages of a deus ex machina. I never write reviews but this was totally worth the explaination of a 3 star rating.
November 17, 2018
It's the underdog, non typical superheroes that usually impress the most. Good storytelling and relatable characters and their feelings, make gems like this one a memorable ride. I will definitely reread this one. Non pretentious existentialism is always a good choice for an easy foggy afternoon.
August 24, 2021
Me gustó la historia de Deadman.
June 9, 2024
Fantastic collection worth any price. Deadman story was just sensational and I loved the Challengers of the Unknown story also. I just wish they could have continued the story with The Challengers in another book. The artwork on both stories were superb.
July 21, 2025
Only reviewing the deadman portion 2.5/5
August 12, 2025
4 stars because of the deadman story, challengers was just alright
September 12, 2016
Reprints DC Universe Presents #1-8 (November 2011-June 2012). Boston Brand has problems...he’s dead. As Deadman, Boston can hop body to body and is changing lives. WIth the hopes of finally finding peace, Deadman questions if his next assignment will be the last. Plus, Challengers is one of the most popular reality shows on TV, and the Challengers travel the world doing incredible things. Being a Challenger however could mean death at any turn...and life is short!
DC Universe Presents Volume 1: Deadman & Challengers of the Unknown is New 52’s anthology series. This volume is divided into two parts. DC Universe Presents #1-5 is “Deadman” written by Paul Jenkins and art by Bernard Chang. DC Universe Presents #6-8 is “Challengers of the Unknown” and written by Dan Dido with art by Jerry Ordway.
I really like anthology series. As a Marvelite growing up, series like Marvel Two-in-One, Marvel Team-Up, and Marvel Comics Presents were great fun due to their changing characters and stories. The New 52 presented a relaunch of the DC Universe and DC Universe Presents promised “odd” DC characters getting full length stories…but it doesn’t work.
The Deadman story is almost a filler story. Deadman was a supporting character in both Justice League Dark and Hawk and Dove. Here, Deadman gets a solo story which explores both his origin and his abilities. The story works somewhat and feels almost like a Vertigo comic, but overall, it doesn’t feel developed enough.
The Challengers of the Unknown is a different type of trainwreck. I was really surprised that the Challengers were one of the first characters used by this title. I think the idea to make the Challengers a reality TV series was a decent one…if it had been done ten years ago. Here it feels a bit gimmicky and desperate to change up the idea of the characters. It sets up a bigger story, but the lackluster story here leaves it hanging.
Anthology books are good because they switch up their stories frequently. I prefer one or two issue storylines in anthologies and this collection shows that longer stories don’t always work. DC Universe Presents may have benefited from putting two stories in each issue like Marvel Comics Presents or Dark Horse Presents...it could have spawned a continuing readership. DC Universe Presents 1: Deadman & Challengers of the Unknown was followed by DC Universe Presents 2: Savage.
DC Universe Presents Volume 1: Deadman & Challengers of the Unknown is New 52’s anthology series. This volume is divided into two parts. DC Universe Presents #1-5 is “Deadman” written by Paul Jenkins and art by Bernard Chang. DC Universe Presents #6-8 is “Challengers of the Unknown” and written by Dan Dido with art by Jerry Ordway.
I really like anthology series. As a Marvelite growing up, series like Marvel Two-in-One, Marvel Team-Up, and Marvel Comics Presents were great fun due to their changing characters and stories. The New 52 presented a relaunch of the DC Universe and DC Universe Presents promised “odd” DC characters getting full length stories…but it doesn’t work.
The Deadman story is almost a filler story. Deadman was a supporting character in both Justice League Dark and Hawk and Dove. Here, Deadman gets a solo story which explores both his origin and his abilities. The story works somewhat and feels almost like a Vertigo comic, but overall, it doesn’t feel developed enough.
The Challengers of the Unknown is a different type of trainwreck. I was really surprised that the Challengers were one of the first characters used by this title. I think the idea to make the Challengers a reality TV series was a decent one…if it had been done ten years ago. Here it feels a bit gimmicky and desperate to change up the idea of the characters. It sets up a bigger story, but the lackluster story here leaves it hanging.
Anthology books are good because they switch up their stories frequently. I prefer one or two issue storylines in anthologies and this collection shows that longer stories don’t always work. DC Universe Presents may have benefited from putting two stories in each issue like Marvel Comics Presents or Dark Horse Presents...it could have spawned a continuing readership. DC Universe Presents 1: Deadman & Challengers of the Unknown was followed by DC Universe Presents 2: Savage.
January 30, 2013
DC Universe Presents doesn’t have a featured character. Instead, the series basically serves as a platform to reboot minor characters into DC’s New 52. This book contains the first eight issues of the series, five of which are dedicated to Deadman and three to the ‘Challengers of the Unknown.’
For me, this was very much a hot & cold experience. I thought Deadman’s five issues were pretty damn special. Poor Deadman is murdered, but instead of passing on to heaven or hell (or wherever), his progress is halted by a strange spirit of some sort. The spirit charges Deadman with a series of tasks to perform in the mortal realm, which he is able to do by possessing the bodies of the living.
However, it eventually becomes apparent that there is more to the spirit’s agenda than meets the eye. To figure out what’s really going on, Deadman sets out on a quest that involves fallen angels, perilous bargains with demigods, arcane libraries and more. It’s not your standard superhero plot by any means, and reminded me much more of Sandman or Constantine than the usual DC lineup. I ate this story right up, and would pick up another Deadman story by this writing team sight unseen. If the entire book had been focused on Deadman, I would have given it an enthusiastic 4-4.5 stars.
Unfortunately, that’s not the case, and the Challengers storyline is considerably weaker. According to the geniuses at Wikipedia, this group was created by the great Jack Kirby back in 1957. So it’s nice to see DC paying tribute to their silver age stars, but this story fell flat. Basically, the Challengers are a group of D-list celebrities on some kind of sad reality show. Their plane crashes into the Himalayas and the group is thrust onto some kind of quest for weird talismans with the fate of the world depending on them. It’s all kind of rushed and not that well explained, at least if you aren’t familiar with who the Challengers are (which I wasn’t). Anyway, this story wasn’t a train wreck by any means (there are some nice silver age touches, including a very Kirby-esque Himalayan snow monster), but it wasn’t that interesting and definitely dragged the collection down a bit for me.
Ultimately, I can’t give this volume more than 3.5 stars due to my lack of interest in the last 3/8 of it. But I highly recommend giving it a read for the Deadman story alone, which I thought was inspired.
For me, this was very much a hot & cold experience. I thought Deadman’s five issues were pretty damn special. Poor Deadman is murdered, but instead of passing on to heaven or hell (or wherever), his progress is halted by a strange spirit of some sort. The spirit charges Deadman with a series of tasks to perform in the mortal realm, which he is able to do by possessing the bodies of the living.
However, it eventually becomes apparent that there is more to the spirit’s agenda than meets the eye. To figure out what’s really going on, Deadman sets out on a quest that involves fallen angels, perilous bargains with demigods, arcane libraries and more. It’s not your standard superhero plot by any means, and reminded me much more of Sandman or Constantine than the usual DC lineup. I ate this story right up, and would pick up another Deadman story by this writing team sight unseen. If the entire book had been focused on Deadman, I would have given it an enthusiastic 4-4.5 stars.
Unfortunately, that’s not the case, and the Challengers storyline is considerably weaker. According to the geniuses at Wikipedia, this group was created by the great Jack Kirby back in 1957. So it’s nice to see DC paying tribute to their silver age stars, but this story fell flat. Basically, the Challengers are a group of D-list celebrities on some kind of sad reality show. Their plane crashes into the Himalayas and the group is thrust onto some kind of quest for weird talismans with the fate of the world depending on them. It’s all kind of rushed and not that well explained, at least if you aren’t familiar with who the Challengers are (which I wasn’t). Anyway, this story wasn’t a train wreck by any means (there are some nice silver age touches, including a very Kirby-esque Himalayan snow monster), but it wasn’t that interesting and definitely dragged the collection down a bit for me.
Ultimately, I can’t give this volume more than 3.5 stars due to my lack of interest in the last 3/8 of it. But I highly recommend giving it a read for the Deadman story alone, which I thought was inspired.
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