DC Challenge Review (1985-1986)

I started buying DC Comics religiously in 1985 (although my mom started me in 1981, and I eventually went back into time), and saw the house ads for DC CHALLENGE in the famous CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS. As a sucker for epic team-ups like Marvel’s CONTEST OF CHAMPIONS and SECRET WARS (I even picked up SUPER POWERS- all of them), I was very disappointed that I never was able to collect DC CHALLENGE. Heck, I never even saw one in the $0.25 bin in the early 2000′s. I even was offering to make some trades and tried to barter with people online to get my hands on DC CHALLENGE in recent years, but to no avail…until NOW. Yep, I have DC CHALLENGE; aren’t I special? So…what was DC CHALLENGE?

DC CHALLENGE was a12-issue maxi comic book series that ran the same time and past CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS in 1985-1986. It was a round robin experiment in narrative because each issue would be written by a different author and illustrated by a different artist without consultation from the previous team. Each issue would end in an impossible cliffhanger and the name of the next chapter would be provided. Authors were free to use any character or concept from DC, with the exception of those whose more orthodox appearances they were currently writing. DC CHALLENGE’s tagline was “Can You Solve It Before We Do?” This was the last multiverse story.

• Issue 1 – “Outbreak!” by Mark Evanier; art by Gene Colan & Bob Smith (Nov. 1985)
• Issue 2 – “Blinded By the Light” by Len Wein & Chuck Patton; inked by Mike DeCarlo (Dec. 1985)
• Issue 3 – “Viking Vengeance” by Doug Moench; art by Carmine Infantino & Bob Smith (Jan. 1986)
• Issue 4 – “Atomic Nights” by Paul Levitz; art by Gil Kane & Klaus Janson (Feb. 1986)
• Issue 5 – “Thunderbolts and Lightning” by Mike W. Barr; art by Dave Gibbons & Mark Farmer (Mar. 1986)
• Issue 6 – “A Matter of Anti Matter” by Elliot S. Maggin & Dan Jurgens; inked by Larry Mahlstedt (Apr. 1986)

• Issue 7 – “Don’t Bogart That Grape . . . Hand Me the Gas Pump!” by Paul Kupperberg; art by Joe Staton & Steve Mitchell (May 1986)
• Issue 8 – “If This Is Love, Why Do My Teeth Hurt?” by Gerry Conway; art by Rick Hoberg, Dick Giordano, & Arnie Starr (June 1986)
• Issue 9 – “All This and World War, Too!” by Roy Thomas; art by Don Heck (July 1986)
• Issue 10 – “Jules Verne Was Right!” by Dan Mishkin; art by Curt Swan & Terry Austin (Aug. 1986)
• Issue 11 – “How Can You Be In Two Places At Once When You’re Not Anywhere At All?” by Marv Wolfman & Cary Bates; art by Keith Giffen & Dave Hunt (Sept. 1986)
• Issue 12 – “Fathers Against Suns”, with everyone

Are you sold yet?

A wise man once said: “Be careful what you wish for.”

DC CHALLENGE was high in concept but low on execution, but it’s saving grace is that most of the writers really had fun doing this (based on the letter pages). So…it was a labor of love. It really was a challenge for the writers and artists; it was a grand geek contest. It should have been an in-house experiment only, because trying to follow this maxi-series was virtually impossible. Theoretically, you could read DC CHALLENGE #12 only because it explains all of the dangling plots.

Like CRISIS, dozens of obscure and mainstream heroes and villains made appearances. One cool concept was a Nazi Earth. But the plot is nonsensical, and there’s really no characterization. This series was probably appealing to 1% of comic books fans at the time, and will never be reprinted in trade paperback or even mentioned by DC today.

I can’t criticize the writers too much because it was an original idea, they were really into it, and only a couple seemed ruined the story on purpose out of frustration (Paul Levitz and Gerry Conway come to mind). This series is quite harmless and self-contained. It’s fun and wacky. Butf or many issues the letter pages were more exciting than the actual story because the writer from the previous issue explained what direction he wanted to go in.

Frustrating things about this series: the seemingly random use of Adam Strange’s Zeta beams, too many aliens, characters from the 1940′s popping up for a panel or two just for the heck of it, subplots being dropped off and picked up, the fact that the writers had no idea what was going on, and lack of a clear focus. You know some CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTH naysayers (blasphemers) said that they couldn’t follow Marv Wolfman’s masterpiece because there were too many characters and a complex storyline. Well, DC CHALLENGE is 100x more confusing than CRISIS was. [Sidenote: since these two maxi-series came out at the same time, there are some scenes that are actually reminiscent of each other, such as the Outsiders in Metropolis and the Joker being in on a mystery.]

Ultimately DC CHALLENGE is rightfully a footnote in comic book history. Believe me, there’s no reason to unearth this- it’s not a hidden gem or a classic. It’s not even in continuity because it started out pre-Crisis and never acknowledged Earth-Sigma or the Crisis after 1986 (except a note saying that Uncle Sam’s Earth-X doesn’t exist anymore…arggghhh…my head just exploded now). If you must read DC CHALLENGE, just grab issue 12.

Spoiler Alert: Darkseid is the master villain in search of the Anti-Life Equation and is featured in DC CHALLENGE #11. Some things never change (see Grant Morrison’s FINAL CRISIS of the modern day).

DC Challenge #11 September 1986