Challengers of the Unknown [Paperback]

This book is actually a result of my internet surfing. (I mean my coming across it that is, not the creation of the actual book itself).

I don't remember the exact path that lead me here, but I was wasting time on wikipedia one afternoon reading about different comic book characters. And somehow I ended up on the wikipedia page for "Challengers of the Unknown".

"Challengers of the Unknown" is a super-hero group (although sans super powers) that Jack Kirby created for DC comics in 1960 before he went on to work for Marvel. This is often looked upon as the first draft of "The Fantastic Four".

Wikipedia went on to say that in 1974 "Challengers of the Unknown" made their debut as a novel by the famous science fiction writer Ron Goulart. (My book is copyrighted 1977, but I won't quibble).

There was a time in the not too distant past when I would have thought to myself, "Interesting. I wonder what my chances of ever running across this book in a used book store would be."

But thanks to amazon, everything is available now, and one day when I was feeling like I hadn't read anything fun for a while, I thought to myself: "This book is probably just cheesy enough to be a lot of fun. I wonder if amazon has any copies."

At 155 pages, it is incredibly short, and I was able to read the whole thing in a few hours. (I, being a slow reader, seldom finish a book in less than a day, but this one was cake). In that respect, it might not be worth the trouble of ordering it on-line, but it was more or less everything I expected: light, cheesy, fun.

The cast of characters is very reminiscent of silver age comics (or 1960s TV shows for that matter). The dashing leader and Jet pilot "Ace", the lady's man and professor, the former wrestler and muscle man, and the circus acrobat who doubles as comic relief. And of course the chick, who doubles as a reporter.

And although this team has no super powers, watching their relationship with each other and team dynamics it is easy to see how this lead into "The Fantastic Four."

This book also has a surprising political edge, which I guess shows it was written in the 1970s. The American CIA (or its comic book equivalent, the National Espionage Agency) is plotting together with an oil company to plan a coup in a fictional South American country because they don't like the politics of the democratically elected president. (Although I wish Ron Goulart would have done a little better thinking up fictional names. At first I thought the fictional country of Ereguay was just a typo).

For better or worse the book never gets too preachy, and simply uses this as their back ground story. (The main story includes a monster in a South American lake and a Nazi plot). But whilst I'm on the subject it is worth noting that these kind of things are not regulated to the realm of science fiction, but CIA coups have occurred several times throughout the 20th Century. (Guatemala in 1954, Argentina in 1973, Congo 1960, et cetera). Of course most Americans don't know about this because it's not taught in American schools.

This is a very jocose version of the Challengers. Telling the best jokes, or making the best wisecracks or sarky remarks seems to worry them more than a band of rejuvenated nazis, double agents or corrupt South American generals and politicians.

An alien swamp monster does worry them a little, however.

› Go to Amazon U.S. to see both reviews  3.0 out of 5 stars