Challengers of the Unknown (alternate series)

Challengers of the Unknown is the title of a comic book series used on various occasions by DC Comics. Most of these series dealt with the original Challengers of the Unknown. The concept behind this team was a group of individuals surviving a disaster (a plane crash with the original group) and deciding to collectively do something with the "borrowed time" they had left.

On two occasions DC used the name and concept, with a new set of characters, as the basis for a new series. The first of these two, an ongoing series that was part of the Weirdoverse line, was published from late 1996 to mid-1998. The second was a six-issue limited series published in 2004.

1996 series (volume 3)

Challengers of the Unknown
Cover of issue #4, art by John Paul Leon and Shawn Martinbrough.
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics (Weirdoverse)
Schedule	Monthly
Format	Ongoing series
Genre	Adventure
Publication date	February 1997 – July 1998
No. of issues	18
Main character(s)	Kenn Kawa, Clay Brody, Brenda Ruskin, Marlon Corbet
Creative team
Written by	Steven Grant
Penciller(s)	John Paul Leon
Inker(s)	Shawn Martinbrough

Started as a part of DC's Weirdoverse group of titles, the 1996 series was published for a total of eighteen issues, cover dated February 1997 to July 1998. The characters were a mix of races and were, like the original group, the only survivors of a plane crash:

• Kenn Kawa: A man of Japanese heritage and originally a game designer.
• Clay Brody: A white male, originally a race car driver.
• Brenda Ruskin: A white woman, originally a physicist.
• Marlon Corbet: An African American man, originally the pilot of the plane that crashed.

The 1996 series was originally conceived as the basis for a television series that never came about, as writer Steven Grant revealed in 2000:

COTU (as I took to calling it, to distinguish it from the Jack Kirby's original Challengers of the Unknown, nicknamed "The Challs") actually started a year earlier, when I was brought in to create a new COTU for a TV pitch DC wanted to make to Warners. Yes, it can now be told, and I freely admit, that we threw out the original team because, Space Cowboys aside, trying to pitch a concept built around four aging white guys to a TV market focused on a youth audience and pushing a veneer of multiculturalism (plenty of activist groups argue it's a pretty thin, even invisible, veneer, and they make a good case) would have been flat-out stupid, a waste of everyone's time and money. So: out with Ace, Rocky, Red and Prof; in with Brenda, Kenn, Marlon and Clay.

This team investigated paranormal disturbances across America as they were hunted by Saxon, a mystical being who also survived the plane crash that led to the team’s formation. Though the series was generally unrelated to superhero conventions and the broader DC Universe, the group participated in the Superman storyline Millennium Giants and later have original Challengers member Rocky Davis as a mentor. After the comic was canceled, the characters did not appear in any comics until 2011’s New 52 event that rebooted all DC Comics titles. When the Challengers appear in this new comic universe, it includes characters from the original and 1990s versions.

2004 series (volume 4)

Challengers of the Unknown
Cover to issue #1, art by Howard Chaykin.
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
Schedule	Monthly
Format	Limited series
Genre	Adventure
Publication date	2004
No. of issues	6
Main character(s)	Zach Dyamond, Tessa Crowne, Rydell Starr, Kendra Harte, Holden Crosse
Creative team
Created by	Howard Chaykin
Written by	Howard Chaykin
Artist(s)	Howard Chaykin
Collected editions
Challengers of the Unknown: Stolen Moments, Borrowed Time	ISBN 1-4012-0941-6

The 2004 series was a six-issue limited series, written and drawn by Howard Chaykin. Unlike the other two versions, this group didn't originate in a plane crash. Instead, it was made up of survivors of a large scale terrorist attack in Long Beach, California:

• Zach Dyamond
• Tessa Crowne
• Rydell Starr
• Kendra Harte
• Holden Crosse

Collected editions

Title	Material collected	Published date	ISBN
Challengers of the Unknown: Stolen Moments, Borrowed Time	Challengers of the Unknown (vol. 4) #1–6	March 2006	978-1401209414

External links

• Challengers of the Unknown (1996 series) at the Grand Comics Database
• Challengers of the Unknown (1996 series) at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original)
• Challengers of the Unknown (2004 series) at the Grand Comics Database
• Challengers of the Unknown (2004 series) at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original)