Challengers of the Unknown

by Ron Goulart

Book by Goulart, Ron

Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction

155 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1977

About the author

Pseudonyms: Howard Lee; Frank S Shawn; Kenneth Robeson; Con Steffanson; Josephine Kains; Joseph Silva; William Shatner.
Ron Goulart is a cultural historian and novelist. Besides writing extensively about pulp fiction—including the seminal Cheap Thrills: An Informal History of Pulp Magazines (1972)—Goulart has written for the pulps since 1952, when the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction published his first story, a sci-fi parody of letters to the editor. Since then he has written dozens of novels and countless short stories, spanning genres and using a variety of pennames, including Kenneth Robeson, Joseph Silva, and Con Steffanson. In the 1990s, he became the ghostwriter for William Shatner’s popular TekWar novels. Goulart’s After Things Fell Apart (1970) is the only science-fiction novel to ever win an Edgar Award.

In the 1970s Goulart wrote novels starring series characters like Flash Gordon and the Phantom, and in 1980 he published Hail Hibbler, a comic sci-fi novel that began the Odd Jobs, Inc. series. Goulart has also written several comic mystery series, including six books starring Groucho Marx. Having written for comic books, Goulart produced several histories of the art form, including the Comic Book Encyclopedia (2004).

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of Goulart's more obscure works, but one of his best comics adaptations. Based on the DC book of the same title, the team heads for South America for some supernatural sleuthing and find quite a bit more than they expect. (Spoiler hint: pulp adventure always goes up a notch when there are Nazis to bash, right?) The sexist humor hasn't worn well, but June does seem to be more of an intelligent and capable character than her graphic iteration. This prose novel has more political satire and zany Goulart humor than the comics, but the characters themselves seem well portrayed. It's a good, fun pulp adventure.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

In einem fiktiven südamerikanischen Land erwartet die Challengers ihr Auftrag: sie sollen sich um Zarpa, the Claw, kümmern, einem Monster, dass in einem See haust und reihenweise Todesopfer fordert. Und natürlich hat die US-Regierung Interesse daran, dass es bei der Förderung der dortigen Erdölvorkommen durch eine amerikanische Gesellschaft keine Problemen gibt.
Aber bis es zum Showdown mit Zarpa kommt, dessen Pate Arnolds Schrecken vom Amazonas ist, müssen die Challangers sich zunächst mit zahlreichen Nazis abmühen, die dank eines Serums seit dem zweiten Weltkrieg nicht altern und immer noch die Weltherrschaft anstreben. Eine geheime Festung, Roboterwachhunde und alles mögliche an sonstigen technischen Gimmicks (Deutschland ist eben nicht nur vor den Volkswagen gut) sorgt für Gruselstimmung und Spannung. Verräter lauern allerdings nicht nur in den Reihen der Nazis...

1957 erschien das erste Abenteuer der Challengers of the Unknown von King Kirby als Comicheft und könnte als ein Vorläufer der Fantastic Four gesehen werden. Die vier Freunde Ace Morgan, Red Ryan, Rocky Davis und Prof Haley überleben wider alle Wahrscheinlichkeit einen Flugzeugabsturz und kämpfen fortan als Quartett gegen vorzugsweise übernatürliche Gegner. Zwar verfügen sie anders als die FF nicht über Superkräfte, haben aber die Angst vor dem Tod verloren, da sie nach dem Absturz das Gefühl haben, auf "geborgte Zeit" zu leben. Nach einiger Zeit wird das Quartett durch June Robbins erweitert, und diese fünf Helden sind es auch, die Ron Goulart in diesem Buch auftreten läßt, der einzigen Romanadaption der Serie.

Fazit: Flott zu lesen und unterhaltsam mit einer guten Portion Humor.

[Tentatively, Convenience · Rating 2 out of 5]

Here I am, reading 3 fairly intelligent bks & I blow them off to read THIS?! Ok, ok, it's been a bad few days, I wanted something ESCAPIST & easy to read. Even for Goulart, this was pretty shallow & formulaic. Apparently the characters are DC Comics heroes or some such. I've never heard of them. Goulart obviously hacked this one out to make a living. I reckon it was aimed at 12 to 14 yr old males. Nonetheless, I sortof enjoyed it anyway. [SPOILER ALERT:] Part of what redeemed it for me is the way it has the subtext of the CIA & big corporations, specifically an oil company, attempting to overthrow a democratically elected South American government that's about to nationalize its oil. Sound familiar? Gotta love SF that tells us little boys how capitalism 'works' under cover of a tale about a monster.

[Peter Wilson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cheesy, but still somewhat entertaining. This is basically like reading Scooby-Doo.

[Rob · Rating 2 out of 5]

Neal Adams' covers and weirdo villains like the Multi-Man made me a fan of DC's Challengers long ago, so when I discovered that the Ron Goulart novel existed, I was very happy. And then I read it. Goulart's interpretation of the Challengers seems less like it was founded in the source material than pulp novels featuring ensemble heroes like Doc Savage's Fabulous Five or the Shadow's cabinet; Rocky Davis and Prof Haley are echoes of Monk Mayfair and Ham Books. Goulart's colloquial dialogue for most of the characters also seems better-suited to pulp written decades before, with metaphors and idioms that are would have gone right over a young reader's head even back in the late 70s when this dropped. Throughout the novel, the heroes joke about the plight of people forced to live in barrios and the equality of women so when they are confronted with the task of thwarting Nazis, it seems more like lip-service to patriotic rhetoric and less like them standing up for what is right. The most sympathetic character in this book is the Zarpa. A poor man's Loch Ness Monster, its ambiguous origins were fine with me and the scenes when it appeared to slaughter humans encroaching upon its territory seemed like Goulart's strongest writing in this effort. I guess it was worth a single read just like terrible sci-fi movies of the 40s-50s-60s with horribly sexist heroes, stock villains, and derivative plots are occasionally good time killers, but like many of those movies, I probably won't read this novel again unless Joel or Mike and the robots are in the front row riffing on it.

[Mike Jozic · Rating 3 out of 5]

This has a vibe that is very close to the 1975 Doc Savage film. Definitely playing with humour and banter more than any real suspense or action.

Goulart also has an odd writing style. Rather than saying, '"Let's get to the boats before the bad guys," June exclaimed,' he writes it as, '"Let's get," June exclaimed, "to the boats before the bad guy."'

It can really throw off the reading rhythm.

Overall an entertaining read, especially for a fan of the Challs, but possibly not for everyone's tastes.

[Richard · Rating 2 out of 5]

Someone bought this book sometime around 1977 when it was published. Thought it looked good, but never quite got around to reading it. I bought it in 2023. Very nice copy—looks unread. Well, I finally did read it and found it about as good as suspected. Okay, but only moderately entertaining. The cover monster is really just a subplot. The main event is a military coup that the Challengers must find a way to thwart.

[Max · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sadly, this was not even a bit of disposable fun. The rampant sexism is cringe inducing even for the time it was published, and the characterizations are just not interesting or likeable enough to get you through even this slim page count. Avoid!

[David Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've owned this book for probably 47 years and just now read it. As expected, not very good.

[Anthony · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this in one shot on today's flight from home to Pittsburgh. Review to follow when I can get my head together...

* * * * * *

Anyone who knows me knows I have a soft spot for pulp adventure, and just about any pulp adventure I read is going to end up with around 3 stars: they're not always great literature, but rarely are they disappointing either.

Anyone who knows me knows I also have a soft spot for secondary (and tertiary) DC comics characters like the Challengers of the Unknown. I loved collecting the out-of-print original run of comics from the 60s, I loved the revival in the late 70s. I remember reading this novel (the only one written featuring the Challs) back in high school. I lost that copy, but found another not long ago in a Half-Price Books somewhere (probably Pittsburgh, but might have been Dallas).

Sadly, I cannot say it was as good as my teenage self thought it was. But it was still a rollickin' good pulp adventure.

What I didn't like about the book can be summed up with two words: Characterization. Dialogue. Aside from Ace Morgan and Red Ryan, the Challs feel "off" somehow. Prof. Haley in this version is a rabid womanizer, sort of a brainiac young Hugh Hefner. Rocky Davis is a wrestler rather than a boxer (I seem to recall in the comics he was ret-conned to have been trained by the great Ted Grant), a health-food nut (that I can accept). June Robbins comes across far ditzier than she should (and if it's meant to be an act for her reporter cover story, that's never stated in the book). And the dialogue -- I'm not saying the Challs have to have stereotypical speech patterns that fit their roles (Ace as gruff ex-AF, Red shouting "hey rube," Prof sounding like a thesaurus, Rocky sounding addled from too many blows to the head), but they should at least sound consistent throughout the book. There were points where I was jarred out of the book because something Rocky said was written in Prof's style, etc. Ron Goulart is a good writer with a strong sense of pulp history -- I was disappointed that he seemed to drop the ball on dialogue.

Now, for what I did like: pretty much everything else. The plot is classic pulp adventure: Challs get sent to South America to deal with a supernatural menace and end up encountering a human menace that is as bad or worse. Straight-forward action segues into trippy 70s supernaturalness with just a dollop of Lovecraftian mythos. The Challs, like their peer Doc Savage, overcome sometimes ridiculous odds to beat both menaces. Extra bonus: Wold-Newton Universe fans don't have to dig very far to make connections to Farmer's works and world.

Three stars for pulpy goodness -- grab this for a light, fun read (I read it on one short plane flight). Maybe someday someone will write more Challs novels with these original five characters. If any secondary DC characters could carry a tv series (SyFy at least, preferably HBO) or movie series, it'd be the Challs.

[Travis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Always been a fan of the old 'Challengers of the unknown' comics, so was thrilled when I found this in a used bookstore.

The Challengers vs the Creature from the Black Lagoon! How cool does that sound?
But wait, there's more! Lots of political intrigue, clever dialogue and pulp style action.

My only complaint is that in trying to flesh out the Challengers personalities, he switches some of them around. Professor Haley is suddenly a quick witted ladies man and Ace is the super serious leader of the team?

Though, I forgive Goulart, as he writes June, the team's token girl, as less of a damsel and a bit more 'Mrs. Peel' than she was in the comics.

[Andrew Kunka · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a decent pulp adventure that gets much better once Nazis are involved. I wish the novel dealt more with the team's rich history from the comic series. Outside of some introductory scenes, Goulart doesn't really showcase the individual team members' special skills, so they end up coming across as interchangeable. I'm amazed this book exists at all, since the Challengers of the Unknown comic series had only just been revived for a couple of issues when the novel came out, but otherwise had been in limbo for years. The revival barely lasted a year, as it stood.

[Michael P. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This dumb-seeming little book is a lot better than it ought to be thanks to the superb craftsmanship of Ron Goulart. Do you equate novels about comic book characters with bad writing? You should. This is a rare exception.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

read this in the eighties, foolishly led me to believe the challs were a well written comic despite reading a dozen issues.