A career military pilot. A daredevil engineer. An academic scientist. A slow-witted strongman. A canny robotics expert. Fate brought them together. Luck made them survivors. Since then, they have joined together to face the weirdest things the DC Universe has to offer. They are the Challengers of the Unknown and they are the latest recruits to the Justice League.
Written by Christopher Cantwell, with art by Sean Izaakse, Challengers of the Unknown #1 establishes the team’s role in the new Justice League Unlimited. In the wake of Darkseid‘s apparent death, there are a number of anomalies emerging across the universe. With the aid of the World’s Finest heroes, the quintet of explorers will seek to make the unknown known.
The cover and first seven pages of Challenges of the Unknown #1 may be viewed below.
Challengers of the Unknown holds important place in comics history
First appearing in 1957’s Showcase #6, the Challengers of the Unknown were introduced at a notable time in comics history. Superheroes were just starting to make a comeback in American comics, after falling out of favor for several years. This coincided with an effort to improve STEM education in American schools. The comic publishers, perhaps remembering the arguments about how their comics inspired kids to become criminals years earlier, started publishing stories with science-friendly themes. The Challengers of the Unknown were perhaps the most successful of these Atomic Age scientist heroes.
Curiously, despite their influence, it is unknown who created the Challengers of the Unknown. Jack Kirby drew their first appearance and is credited by many as having written the story as well. However, some historians believe the writing was handled by Kirby’s creative partner Joe Simon, or writer Dave Wood.
In any case, historians also agree that Kirby reworked the basic idea for the team when co-creating the Fantastic Four in 1961. They went on to become an even bigger hit, resulting in the Challengers of the Unknown being largely forgotten today. However, the new DC All-In series seems ready to reintroduce the legendary team of explorers to a new generation of readers.
Challengers of the Unknown #1 arrives in comic shops everywhere on December 18, 2024.
