My Rating
“Today Is a Long Time Coming”
The old joke goes, “Two Challengers of the Unknown walk into a bar…” and the hijinks follow.
Clay Brody sits down for a drink at an upscale sports bar somewhere on the north side when a booming voice catches his attention. Someone in the corner is loudly bragging about defeating a creature named Tyrannosaurus X. Naturally, Clay turns around to see who could possibly be attached to a story like that.
Original Challenger Leslie “Rocky” Davis stands in the middle of a crowd of twenty-something women, happily playing the part of legendary adventurer and senior tough guy. The ladies seem completely infatuated with the old man, and Rocky is enjoying every second of it. Clay can only shake his head.
Boy, this is going to be a long night.
Rocky eventually dismisses his adoring fans and struts over to his younger counterpart. Two generations of Challengers are sitting across from one another, and it’s time to trade stories.
As the drinks flow, Rocky reaches into the past and shares tales from the glory days of the original Challengers. Clay has plenty of stories of his own, but comparing notes with one of the men who first carried the name gives him a unique glimpse into the legacy he and his teammates have inherited.
Did the original Challengers somehow save John F. Kennedy’s reputation during the Apollo space program? What exactly is the Xeron Empire, and how the hell do they know English? Does Rocky Davis really use a ghostwriter to punch up his books? And which generation of Challengers has the better stories to tell at closing time? Collect the series to find out!
Review
Here we have another crossover between the original and current Challengers of the Unknown, but this one takes a much different approach. Instead of throwing both generations into another world-ending catastrophe, Steven Grant slows things down and lets Clay Brody and Rocky Davis sit around swapping stories. Sometimes that’s all you need.
I really enjoyed Rocky in this issue. Here is an elderly adventurer surrounded by women young enough to be his granddaughters, bragging about battling something called Tyrannosaurus X like it happened last Tuesday. Rocky certainly hasn’t lost his confidence with age. Clay’s reaction to the whole spectacle makes the scene even better. You can almost hear him wondering what he’s gotten himself into.
The real highlight for me, however, is the artwork. I love how John Paul Leon and Mike Zeck intertwine the visual styles of the old and new Challengers of the Unknown. The modern sequences retain the darker, heavily shaded artwork I’ve grown to appreciate throughout this series, while Rocky’s stories evoke the more traditional superhero adventure style associated with the original Challengers. The visual changes aren’t simply there to look cool. They help separate two different generations and two very different eras of comic-book storytelling.
History
That contrast also makes the issue feel like a small celebration of the Challengers’ history. The original team came from an era of fantastic monsters, impossible inventions, alien civilizations, and larger-than-life adventures. The newer Challengers inhabit a darker world filled with paranormal investigations, psychological trauma, horror, and unexplained phenomena. Yet when Clay and Rocky sit down together, you realize the basic idea hasn’t changed all that much. Both teams willingly walk straight toward the impossible just to find out what’s waiting on the other side.
After the massive crossover business of the previous issue, I appreciated getting a more character-driven story. No mountain-sized monster is stomping toward London. Nobody is being sacrificed to an elder god. Sometimes two Challengers can simply walk into a bar, have a few drinks, and tell outrageous stories about saving the world.
And apparently pick up women while doing it. Rocky, you old dog.
A fun issue with some excellent visual storytelling and another welcome connection between the old and new generations of Challengers. Four out of five stars.Steven Grant writes a very compelling retro story based in the 1960s. I’m giving this one five stars.