The Challengers of the Unknown have been invited to be part of the new Justice League Unlimited. They’re smart, skilled and massively experienced in investigating the weird. Well, anomalies have been popping up all over universe, individual members of the core team have been teaming with Leaguers to investigate, disturbing things have been occurring that are obviously linked to the Challs… and JL tech lead Mr Terrific isn’t sharing what he knows, or suspects. Nope, he’s sending them out on missions to provoke incidents that may provide information, then locking them away.
And if they’re not on a mission or under observation, they have to put up with his obnoxiousness.
Prof Haley is the spotlight Challenger this time, teamed with Atom Ray and Atom Ryan to investigate an anomoly on Dinosaur Island. Cue obligatory giant lizard…
… and surprise guest star.
Anthro! Not only the first boy on Earth, but star of the first DC comic I ever saw, a second-hand bookshop find in the early Seventies. Has he appeared anywhere since the History of the DC Universe?
Here Anthro and wife Embra are a lot more sophisticated than you’d expect, for reasons to do with the overall storyline. As for what two cave people are doing there in the first place…
I thought Dinosaur Island was ‘just’ a place where dinosaurs and co never died out, did we know about the timeslip angle?
Christopher Cantwell’s script is just my cup of tea, full of new mysteries and richer characterisation than we’d get with classic Challs. And speaking of whom, we get to see some of the guys and gals who were either temporary Challs or members of the replacement teams. I’m especially excited to see this lady again.
With luck she’s Chekhov’s Corinna, and will get to use her special talents later.
We also see a Challenger chipmunk in the crowd. Or something.
Anyone?
While Prof’s adventure with the Atoms is excellent, my favourite part of the issue is the quiet rebellion of the Challs, tired of being lied to by the League. As a very detailed recap at the start of the issue reminds us, Mr Terrific is basically using the Challs as bait to find out what’s going on in the aftermath of Darkseid’s supposed death.
After an encounter with an intriguing new figure the issue ends on an exciting note, so congrats to Cantwell.
And thanks to illustrators Sean Izaakse and Amancay Nahuelpan for captivating art. I think the former draws most of the issue, with the latter stepping in towards the end. Whatever the case, it all looks great, propelling the reader from beginning to end, selling the action and emotion in fine style.
I have to say, the Atoms ‘Challenger-fied’ outfits look a lot better than their baseline new looks in The Atom Project. Some of the credit must go to Romulo Fajardo Jr, who has a wonderful way with purple, and adds extra life of every detail-packed page. Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou gives the pages even more pop with well-chosen fonts.
Izaakse and Fajardo’s cover illo gives a sense of what’s coming up, and as an isolated image it’s a corker.
When this series began I was worried the Leaguers teaming with the Challs would skew the balance of the book, but Cantwell’s strong plotting hasn’t allowed that. Instead we have a story that’s definitely Challs-led and rattling along nicely. Who knows, maybe the Challengers of the Unknown finally have the series they deserve.
Too Dangerous For a Girl 2 
Cosmo the alien space raccoon (or something like that). He was the Challengers’ pet from issue #18 to #32 (1961 to 1963). Pretty sure he hasn’t been seen since the early 60s!
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Didn’t mean to be so secretive and post anonymously lol.
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How did you post that picture?
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Collin, you are a star, thank you very much. Maybe he’ll show up in the next Super Pets film. I hope he has a part to play in this mini.
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I believe Anthro appeared in Morrison’s “Final Crisis.” -Brian
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Thank you! I read Final Crisis but had a huge job connecting with it, so it’s no wonder I forgot Anthro.
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Anthro also appeared as a member of Team 13 in the popular Dr. 13 backup series* in Tales of the Unexpected.
*”Popular Dr. 13 backup series” is a really unusual group of words to string together, but what can I say? It was by Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang, and was full of cheeky, self-referential humor. It even got its own collection when it was through, which isn’t something you can say for a lot of backups.
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I have that paperback, I remember liking it… O can’t remember who was in that book bar Dr 13 and Infectious Lass.
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I’m loving this series but I gotta say, asshole Mister Terrific is not a good change for the character. Mister T has always been one of the most empathetic of big brains in comics. Of course, Ray Palmer was too. Maybe All In is anti-scientist? It’s already been anti-good looking costumes. At least this series isn’t as big a turn off as Aquaman but Arthur’s always been a character I have zero interest in.
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I’m very tired of !r Terrific, I was even before DC All In made him a bully – he’s everywhere, as if there are no other hero/heroine boffins.
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This is such a weird weird series. Don’t get me wrong. I’m enjoying every bit of it, but it’s just very weird to see the Challengers so intricately tied into the ongoing adventures of mainstream DC while still feeling completely inconsequential. Even though they have this series and are popping up in three or four other books at the moment, I can’t help but feel like once this mini-series is over they’ll go back to limbo until the next crisis event.
In the meantime, I’ll be quite content to enjoy what they’re giving us. The main team of five have never looked better. The creative team has an excellent grasp on what makes each of these characters tick. And I’m really enjoying having a chance to check in on long forgotten members of the team (even the characters from versions that I’d rather forget). I’m digging the team spirit vibes. These guys are sticking together and figuring out what’s going on.
I’m here for it!
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It’s the forgotten Challs who are really interesting me, I’ve never seen any from the original series other than Corina.
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I feel like there aren’t that many from there original run left to check in on. This might be Corrina’s first appearance outside of the silver age. Gaylord (honestly… that name!) showed up in the seventies, I think when the team briefly had an ongoing.
The only other character who I don’t think we’ve ever seen again is Red’s younger brother, Tito. But we’ve still got a couple of issues left.
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If Tino shows up he can use his real name, Martin!
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hahahaha! Yes! Tino not Tito! But also… we could do with a few more Martins in the funny books.
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