Posted in: Comics, Comics Publishers, Current News, DC Comics | Tagged: challengers of the unknown, Outsiders, planetary

A New History Of The Challengers Of The Unknown In Today's Outsiders

Today, for the Planetary-inspired Outsiders, we have a new Challengers Of The Unknown by Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly and Robert Carey.

The Challengers of the Unknown were a quartet of adventurers, Ace Morgan, Prof Haley, Rocky Davis and Red Ryan, who explored paranormal occurrences, created by Jack Kirby for DC Comics, alongside Dave Wood and Joe Simon, in 1957, and ran until 1971. It was later revived in Super-Team Family briefly in 1977 and then in 1991. DC published two other series, also titled Challengers of the Unknown, featuring the original Challengers' concept combined with a new set of characters. The Challengers were revamped by Steven Grant in 1997 with a  new group of characters for 18 issues. Howard Chaykin had a six-issue miniseries in 2004 with yet another new group of characters and was entirely unrelated to the previous two incarnations.

In the New 52, they were revived as a reality television contest, with presenter Clay Brody, producer June, and pilots Ace and Maverick, lost in the Himalayas when their plane crashed under mysterious circumstances. For the Metal events, the original Challengers Prof, Ace, Red, and Rocky were on a mission to an Earth in the Dark Multiverse, which sent the Prof's dark multiverse counterpart to the multiverse, created a new Challengers, Trina Alvarez, Moses Barber, Krunch, and Bethany Hopkins, before the originals were saved, as part of the New Challengers team with Scott Snyder and Adam Kubert in 2018.

And now, today, for the Planetary-inspired Outsiders, we have another new Challengers Of The Unknown by Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly and Robert Carey. With aspects of all the former ones, with Lester Rocky Davis now Leslie Rocky Davis… and she's in charge.

"Year one. Following a plane crash, Olympic gold medalist Leslie "Rocky" Davis convinces three other surviving passengers to form a group of "heroic, two-fisted adventurers." Having successfully opened Pandora's Box, and following the subsequent mysterious death of their client, the Challengers are awarded a lucrative Pentagon contract to eliminate the "worldwide genie menace." Hundreds are killed when Challengers Mountain explodes, including two founding members. Due to personal and legal intervention by Superman, the team is reconstituted within a year and never held to account. Fourth-dimensional incursions are detected throughout Dayton, Ohio. The new Challengers respond, beating the dimensional portal into submission with their fists. The Challengers of the Unknown debuts as America's third-highest-rated reality program. The show is rated T for Teen due to "violent images." Now. The fourth iteration of the Challengers is formed through interaction with the Dark Multiverse. They have subsequently executed over 137 confirmed operations against unknown targets."

And might we have a new Century Baby?

Will the new Challengers Of The Unknown rise to the occasion and pop up elsewhere now? Outsiders #2 is published today by DC Comics.

OUTSIDERS #2 (OF 12) CVR A ROGER CRUZ
(W) Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly (A) Robert Carey (CA) Roger Cruz
MONSTERS OF THE UNKNOWN. What hidden tragedies lie inside the Forever Storm of the Enlil Triangle? On January 1, 2000, a storm kicked up near the Enlil island chain in the mid-Atlantic. And it never stopped. As a West Point cadet, Kate Kane encountered something monstrous in those turbulent waves…and now, she is returning to face it alongside the Outsiders! But can she control her desire for revenge in the service of Luke Fox's mission of understanding? What secrets will they discover deep beneath the monster-filled waves of the Enlil Triangle? And how will the Outsiders survive their encounter with the monster-hunting specialists of the DC Universe: the New Challengers of the Unknown? This new, boundary-breaking dive into the secret history of the DC Universe is just beginning! Retail: $4.99 In-Store Date: 12/12/20

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