Challengers of the Unknown - a novel based on the DC Comics characters

First, I found the House of Mystery novesl by Jack Olsek.  Then I discovered the Blackhawk novel by William Rostler.  Now, thanks to a friend, I was made aware of another novel based on the characters of DC Comics - this one based upon a group of adventurers that debuted back in the February 1957 issue of DC's Showcase comics (issue six, to be exact).  While credits did not appear on the pages, it has later been said the art of that original story was by Jack Kirby, and the story was by Kirby and Dick Wood.  The group appeared three more times in Showcase (issues 7, 11, and 12) before appearing in their own title, which initially ran 77 issues, was picked up for three more issues, and eventually picked up for seven more issues before finally being cancelled for good.  There have been a number of reboots, revivials, and restarts over the decades, but none of them seemed to really catch.  To be honest, I've never read any of the comics series, so going into this book, I knew very little about the team, other than the fact they were also advertised as "living on borrowed time."

 

Challengers of the Unknown is the name of this group of adventurers.  Originally, the team consisted of four men:   Kyle "Ace" Morgan, Walter Mark "Prof" Haley, Leslie "Rocky" Davis, and Matthew "Red" Ryan.  Eventually, a female member by the name of June Robbins was added to the team.  You will note that all four men had nicknames that were used, but June merely goes by her given name.  This book avoids the 'origin' trope, very briefly mentioning in conversation among the characters how they came to be together (the four men survived a plane crash that should have left them dead, so "living on borrowered time," the four decide to go out and do what they can to make the world a better place with the time they have been given).  Instead, the author, Ron Goulart (a/k/a Ronald Joseph Goulart), gives readers an exciting adventure that pits the Challengers against not only a lake monster believed to be myth, but also against an army of former Nazis who are hell-bent on reviving the Third Reich and taking over the world, starting with the South American country of Ereguay (fictional, of course).  The author, by the way, also wrote a number of Zebra Mystery puzzlers under the pseudonym of Josephine Kains (the reviews for which you can find on my blog!).

 

The story opens with each member of the Challengers facing a dangerous threat, which almost kills them - emphasis on the "almost" part.  They realize the attacks were meant more to scare them than take them out, and that is even before they get assigned to go down to Ereguay to look into a local legend about a lake monster that has been killing people in the area where a United States oil company is looking to establish a refinery.  The Challengers take the assignment, believing they will likely find there is no monster, but either a wild animal or some person working hard to make people think there is a monster.  But upon arriving in the South American country, they are asked by the president of Ereguay to look into another matter involving a potential dissident who is about to start a coup.  They divide forces, and soon both groups find themselves facing even more deadly danger, as they become targets of an unknown force who is definitely trying to do more than scare them.  They quickly learn there is a contingent of Nazi soldiers who immigrated to that country after the end of World War II and have developed a serum that will keep them young indefinitely - so as to allow them to build an army and finish what Hitler could not!  Rocky and Red get kidnapped out in the desert, while June gets kidnapped in the jungle, and the Prof and Ace find themselves facing off against a very real monster that has no hesitation about ripping a man apart with its bare hands!

 

The story moves at a pretty fast pace, and there are no lulls in the action.  Goulart manages to give the reader sufficient knowledge about each of the five members of the Challengers so that you have a good grasp on each of them, without bogging the story down with pages of exposition about their past.  Goulart sneaks in a couple of surprises here and there with regard to who can be trusted and who cannot be trusted, and the real monster of the story is not necessarily the one you would expect!  As with many superhero groups where there is only one female character, poor June is relegated to the sidelines quite a bit, and, of course, she becomes the victim that must be rescued by her male teammates.  She does have a couple of moments where she shines (showing some attackers that she is not to be underestimated) - it's just a shame that her own teammates (as well as Goulart!) fail to see her true potential on the team.

 

 The artist who provided the cover art is not identified, nor is there a signature on the art itself.  The back cover of the book merely states the "Cover Illustration copyright (c) 1977 by DC Comics, Inc."  However, thanks to Chad Lee Carter in a Facebook group called "Fear the Man-Thing," I discovered the cover artist was Enrique Torres (with an image of the clean art, provided by Mr. Carter in that group).  Torres, who is also apparently known as Enric Torres-Prat, is known for his work on many old Warren title (such as Vampirella).  More information about the artist can be found at Enric Torres-Pat.

 

One final thing I did want to mention is Goulart, in the story, reveals the chief brain behind all of the Nazi activity in Ereguay to be a man named Otto Wenzler (p. 88), who was reportedly killed in an air raid in Germany back in 1943 (but somehow survived).  That name sounded extremely familiar, and I thought perhaps that same character had been used in the Blackhawk novel I read some time ago.  Looking back, though, I did not see any reference to Wenzler in that book.  Some digging on the internet reveals this is the only book in which Wenzler appears, so I can't figure out why that name sounds so familiar...

 

Overall, the story was a fairly interesting read, it kept my attention from beginning to end, and I found the characters to be rather fun.  I may just have to pick up that Challengers of the Unknown Showcase sitting on my shelf and give it a read!

 

RATING:   8 electronic disabling devices out of 10 for good, old-fashioned comic-book danger, adventure, and excitement with fun characters and dastardly villains!