Publication History
In 1957, comic books had a crying need for content. Due to factors including Fredric Wertham's book Seduction of the Innocent and Congressional hearings on the subject, superhero comics had mostly vanished from about 1949 to the mid-1950s. The revival of the Flash, seen as marking the return of the superheroes to popularity, had occurred only four months earlier, in Showcase #4. A team of larger-than-life adventurers with echoes of a World War II infantry squad were a natural fit. The group debuted in Showcase #6 (Feb. 1957).
The inspiration for the Challengers' adventures were drive-in movie fodder about skin divers, test pilots, acrobats, mountain climbers, boxers, and other adventurers. The group's name may have also derived from a 1950 Ace Magazines horror title, Challenge of the Unknown.
The Roster was Ace Morgan, Prof Haley, Rocky Davis and Red Ryan originally. Ryan was killed and briefly replaced by his kid brother Marty, a pop singer who used the anagram ID of Tino Manarry. Red Ryan returned from the dead, Tino was written out and towards the end of the original series a woman with an occult background named Corinna Stark acted like a fifth member of the team.
The series continued in Showcase for three more appearances (#7, 11, and 12) then moved to its own title, considered among Kirby's most notable from that period. After 12 issues total, Kirby moved on, although the title continued through issue #75, followed by two reprint issues. The Challengers were canceled with issue #77 in 1971. In 1973, three reprint issues were put out (#78–80).
Read more about this topic: Challengers Of The Unknown
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