It's 1956 and DC Comics wanted to try out some new material. They concocted a clever device to do just that, and call it appropriately "Showcase". We all know Showcase as the birthplace of the Silver Age of Comics when with its fourth issue (after three very lackluster comics) The Flash was revived and revised for a new sleeker more scientifically-aware reading public. The Flash was followed by another forgettable comic and would appear again in the eighth issue. Between those important comic came Jack Kirby's Challengers of the Unknown. The "Challs" debuted in Showcase #6 and returned immediately in Showcase #7. Like The Flash, here was Silver Age storytelling, a new slick polished product which stood out against the typical DC material. The stuff DC did at the time was not bad, it was just bland and here was Jack Kirby with something fresh and exciting and explosive. The Challengers were a hit, so much so that they returned in the Showcase #11 and #12 for another foray. After that they got their own comic book, the second of the Showcase titles to rate such treatment (getting beat by Lois Lane by just a month).
In the course of those four Showcase issues and their first year the Challengers of the Unknown, four men who miraculously survive an air crash and vow to use their extra time to help mankind, faced a wide range of threats. They begin by facing off against the sorcerer Morellian who gives them Pandora's Box and challenges them to open it safely. They try and unleash a range of menaces to the world from a giant who rises from the sea to a freezing sun. Next they face a supreme ambulatory computer named Ultivac. During this second adventure they meet June Robbins who becomes a member of the team, though apparently somewhat unofficially. When the team returns they face down the alien Tyrans who seek to dominate Earth from their hidden Antarctic base. And finally the chase a Red agent named Karnak who comes into possession of some potent magical vials. In all of these the four Challengers remain loyal to one another and to their oath to spend the extra time they have in life to face down the darkest of dangers.
The Challengers of the Unknown will face more menaces with their courage and wits when they get their own comic. That's their second year which we'll get to next week.
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